November 7th - Studying Lohan Quan (自学罗汉拳）

 My Thoughts 💭 个人想法

Even though I slept in a lot today I am still keeping to my goal of writing everyday. I am also going to stretch today and practice each of my forms. In case you didn't know I only know 五步拳 ＆ 十步拳 but I have tried to teach myself two other forms: 五形拳 ＆ 先天罗汉十八手.

When I first studied marital arts with my dad we rarely did any forms, I remember doing 2 forms that are long forgotten. We mostly studied how to punch and kick effectively and conditioned our bodies a lot. When I got into karate and judo in California I didn't like forms, I was always drawn into sparring and bag work. Same with Muay Thai in Shanghai, I loved the conditioning and hard work but when I was in Illinois studying Tae Kwon Do I began to like forms when I was taught a "mountain form". I don't remember the form but I do remember it had a lot of mountain stances.

Now that I'm studying on my own again I've realized the value of forms. You can always practice forms no matter what equipment you have, what space you have, what time you have. Just like push ups and sit ups, forms can be used as a warm up or cool down depending on how intense you do them.

I'm also super excited as I can finally apply for my Chinese visa! The school that I'm going to finally gave me the recommendation papers to give to the Chinese Embassy. It's all coming together now, all I need to do is keep working and not spend money so that I will be able to travel, explore or extend my time at the school. Not gonna lie though, I'm probably going to buy some cool kung fu uniforms and shoes while I'm there.

Today's Move 🥋 今天的动作

Today's move is called 预备势 (yù bèi shì) or "Preparation Gesture". It is the first move in 先天罗汉十八手.

Chinese Explanation:

身体自然站立

两脚与肩同宽

两掌相合立于胸前

掌心相对，掌指向上 

头正身直

目视前方

Your body stands in its natural position. Two feet shoulder width apart. Your two palms are brought together in front of your chest (as if you were praying). Center of palms are face to face and your fingers face upward. Your head and body are straight. Your eyes look forward.

This is a very iconic starting posture in Shaolin forms. Its one way to tell whether the form being performed is Shaolin or not as most Shaolin forms begin and end with this posture.

This is apart of my "Learning 先天罗汉十八手" daily move series that will be going thru all 23 moves over the next 23 days. Hopefully at the end we will all be able to perform this wonderful form!

Today's Review 📖 复习

Nouns - 名词

宽 kuān "width, wide" (noun)

目 mù "eye, item" (noun) 

内容 Nèi róng "content" (noun)
疑问 yí wèn "query, question" (noun)
评论 píng lùn "to comment, comment" (verb/noun)

频道 pín dào "channel" (noun) 

特点 tè diǎn "characteristic" (noun)

对方 duì fāng "the opposite side (other side)" (noun)
缺点 quē diǎn "shortcomings, weakness, defect" (noun)
印象 Yìn xiàng "impression" (noun)

脾气 pí qì "character, temperament" (noun)
幽默 yōu mò "humor" (noun)

暂时 zàn shí "temporary, for the moment" (noun, time)

爱好 ài hào "hobby, interest" (noun)
伴侣 bàn lǚ "companion, mate, partner" (noun)
相亲 xiāng qīn "blind date" (noun)

Verbs - 动词

合 hé "to close, to join, to shut, to combine" (verb) opposite: 分

相对 xiāng duì "opposite, face to face, relatively" (verb, adj)
视 shì "to look at" (verb)
订阅 dìng yuè "to subscribe" (verb)
列出 liè chū "to make a list" (verb)
使用 shǐ yòng "to use" (verb)
掌握 zhǎng wò "to grasp, to master, to know well" (verb)
放假 fàng jià "to have a holiday" (verb)
上当 shàng dàng "to be fooled" (verb)
打架 dǎ jià "to fight" (verb)
留学 liú xué "to study abroad" (verb)
鼓掌 gǔ zhǎng "to applaud" (verb)
握手 wò shǒu "to shake hands" (verb)
撒谎 sā huǎng "to tell a lie" (verb)
操心 cāo xīn "to worry" (verb)
总结 zǒng jié "to summarize, summary" (verb/noun)
吸引 xī yǐn "to attract" (verb)
想办法 xiǎng bàn fǎ "to find a way" (verb)
摘 zhāi "to pluck, to pick" (verb)
令人 lìng rén "to cause someone to do sth, to make someone" (verb)
羡慕 xiàn mù "to admire, to envy" (verb)
影响 yǐng xiǎng "to influence, to effect, influence, affect" (verb/noun)
包容 bāo róng "to pardon, forgive" (verb)
熟悉 Shú xī "to know something/someone well" (verb)

Adjectives - 形容词

准确 zhǔn què "accurate" (adj)

自然 zì rán "at ease, natural, free from affectation" (adj)

深 shēn "deep" (adj)

共同 gòng tóng "shared, common" (adj)

Adverbs - 副词

相 xiāng "each other, one another, mutually" (adv)

并不 bìng bù "not at all" (adv)

互相 hù xiāng "mutually, each other" (adv)

Conjunction - 连词

即使 jí shǐ "even if, even though" (conjunction)

不仅 Bù jǐn "not the only one" (adv) "not just... but also..." (conj)

Well, this is pretty cool. I organized all of my words that I've been going over the past few days and I will study them but just rereading them, maybe make a sentence with it and maybe type it out on the computer a few times. I seem to be learning a lot of verbs and a lot of nouns. Hopefully I'll be studying prepositions and conjunctions more so I can create better sounding sentences in Chinese.

Things take time, there will always be highs and lows, but if you can make it through them then you will come out a better person.

How are you all doing?

-Johnny