February 29th - Relaxing Saturday

Morning Thoughts

I woke up at 06:30 am without an alarm. Its cool here, just like every morning so far but I feel relaxed and ready for a good weekend.

The weekends at Maling Kung Fu School are always nice as you get to choose what you do with your day. Some students stay in their room all day playing video games or watching various movies, others go out and train, some head out to the village or town to buy things and then some just do their own thing... whatever that may be.

For me, stretching and training are key to do everyday but to a lesser amount on the weekends as recovery is really important for all of us "warrior monks" here. I also spend my weekends talking to my family and studying various things. Recently, I've been studying how to make games with Game Maker Studio 2 and studying Chinese. Both are a fun way to keep my mind "engaged" as my body and spirit is challenged here more than anything.

Yesterday's devotional passage helped my spirit. The last sentence said, "Be a big dreamer, don't make little plans", and that is just a great uplifting message.

My "Big Plan" is to become a "Kung Fu Master" or a "Warrior Monk" or a Jedi... I'm not sure yet. I may not know what title I'll have but I do know that I want to be good at Kung Fu. I see this martial art as a way towards a fulfilling life. Its not the way to a fulfilling life but a way. It won't make me wealthy but it will make me rich in other ways; a healthy body, confident mind, and strong spirit. And that is what I think is important at the moment.

Horse Stance, the basic stance of Kung Fu

 Evening Thoughts

Tonight was a great night. I was able to focus on stretching for an hour today and because of that I finally was able to do horse stance (马步) for two minutes! Our Master Bao said that if we are able to do Horse Stance for two minutes at a time then our forms and Kung Fu will be okay. What we all think this means is that if we can do Horse Stance for five minutes then our forms and Kung Fu will be good. Now, I just have to work on my other stances like Low Stance (仆步) and Cat Stance (虚步).

That is all the training I did. For the rest of the night I played cards with other students, played darts, talked, cleaned my room and ended the night by watching Braveheart. A simple relaxing Saturday. Maybe Sunday will be more training and study focused.

How did you all spend your Saturday?

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