We just had a great visit with Liu Chang’I sifu, my Feeding Crane teacher. I first met Liu sifu in 1996, and we both found it rather surprising that 30 years has passed since then. Luckily while time has passed at least neither of us is really any older… It had been a few years however since we’ve been able to train together and it was nice to touch hands, to get some corrections and insight into my training, and to just hang out. Not surprisingly we did a lot of training- evenings with the group here, quite a few hours in my home training space, and a really good weekend seminar. It was wonderful to see some familiar faces like Keith, Veronica and Sarah among others, and folks from other seminars and from Chip Quimby sensei’s dojo. A great mix of new faces, some experienced folks, and the people I train with weekly.
In our closed door training we got to focus a little more on refinement, detail in the upper levels of the ji ben gong, touching hands and of course some techniques and forms. As always I am lucky to have such motivated and skilled students and training partners. In the weekend seminar I was really impressed with the level of attention and effort everyone showed. From people there for the first time to more experienced people, young to older, different backgrounds and experience levels, everyone worked hard, helped each other, and we had a great time. Sifu had good things to say about the weekend and is looking forward to next time. I particularly want to thank Chip Quimby sensei for hosting us, and bringing so much energy and effort to the weekend, and Benita, for all the work organizing and communicating. Of course I’d also like to thank Liu sifu for his instruction. We covered a lot of material, from power generation to application, sensitivity drills to forms, and while we barely scratched the surface of the system it was both a great introduction for new folks and an excellent reminder and opportunity for refinement for Feeding Crane students.
Sifu and I also got to spend some time both doing one on one training, and just hanging out, sharing stories, talking about the art and each others’ lives. From a lovely seminar dinner, meals with training partners and friends, a visit with a local Daoism discussion group, to a lovely dinner invite from the owner of Changsho restaurant, we were busy, possibly ate too much, and had a good time,. For me some of the best moments, outside training together of course, were sitting around talking about the practice, how to keep growing it, and how the art may continue into the future. A lot came of some of those discussion that will hopefully shape some interesting things in the future, but for now it was just great to see him and both reminisce and plan for what’s ahead.
I’d like to thank everyone who participated in both our dojo training and the weekend seminar for their effort. That’s what makes this kind of thing happen, and makes it worthwhile. It is a fascinating art, in my opinion something special in the modern martial arts world, and it is a pleasure to both be able to share it with others and to keep pursuing it myself. I’m looking forward to the next time sifu and I can get together. Meanwhile, if you are interested in pursuing your own Feeding Crane training please feel free to get in touch. It is a gem of an art and I always enjoy sharing it with other interested people. Take care, and enjoy your training! I’ll be doing the same.
