Cultural Differences

Here is some funny art about cultural differences that I found posted at Frog in a Well.

Underwear

When I was studying Chen Style Taijiquan with Zhang Xuexin we practiced outdoors in San Francisco which can be quite foggy even in the Summer. One day he showed us how many layers of long underwear he had on: Five, plus a pair of polyester slacks. Keeping my legs warm has been a part of my practice ever since, but I've never gotten past two pairs of long underwear, and that on a very cold day.

Before that I sometimes went "commando." (For those of you not familiar with modern slang, that means "without.") Unfortunately I did about 6 years of Indian Classical Dance, which is highly rhythmic, improvisational, and has footwork simular to Flamenco but done with bare feet and 8 pounds of bells wrapped around each ankle. I say unfortunately not because it wasn't a great experience, it was, and I certainly improved my gongfu because of it. The problem is that I think I busted a nut. I mean all that foot slapping took a toll on my testicular ligaments.

All this is just to say that I need to wear underwear. The problem with that is that most underwear has tight elastic which can really cut off circulation. Elastic tends to shrink, so even a comfortable pair of underwear can become uncomfortable over time. I don't know about you guys (ladies?) but I need to have my kua open when I practice. I need to feel the "gate" between my torso and my legs surging with qi, or blood/lymph, or breath, or whatever you want to call it. Inhibition sucks.

Many years ago I had a girlfriend who happily braved the gay section of Macy's to by me two sets of silk underwear that were extremely strong and comfortable. I loved them. Unfortunately, by the time they started falling apart, we had broken up and I had to go to Macy's by myself, only to find that this line of underwear had been discontinued (Alfe was the name I believe.)

When I first met my current partner I was so frustrated I had taken to snipping the elastic with a pair of scissors, which looked mangy and which she was kind enough to remind me of at a party last night.

Then I discovered Rips! Rips rule! Totally comfortable, absorbents, supportive--all that stuff. They are the only drawstring boxer-briefs on market and they are really well made. My circulation is flowing.

The packaging is rather "pretty" with a peace sign, a heart and the Chinese character for "prosperity" printed on it. This suggests that they may or may not be marketing to martial artists. Still, they are great, they are on sale ($13), and if a thousand of you buy them from Amazon, I promise not to talk about underwear again!

Heat or Ice

Yesterday, having just gotten into my warm car after watching the latest Stephen King movie and nearly freezing to death talking to a fellow movie goer in the wind, I saw a small group of high school girls crossing the street. Very sort pants, low socks, t-shirts. One of them had big lumps of plastic wrap around her knees and ankles. I suddenly registered that they were athletes and that the plastic wrap was holding large amounts of ice on the unfortunate young womans legs.

Many people think sitting in an ice bath after a workout is a good way to train. Most people who would be reading my blog know that Chinese medicine almost never uses ice.

There are a whole bunch of theories about why ice is good, but my experience tells me that mostly it is terrible. It is better than nothing on burns, but if you have burn cream, it is better. There is no question that ice can bring down swelling after an injury. For a really bad injury I would put ice on it right away. But as part of a training ritual, it is barbaric. It develops bad, tense, stiff, muscle quality and in the long run it probably leads to arthritis.
I love hot tubs and steam baths. When I was young and road my bicycle at high speed over steep hills to all my appointments, swam in the freezing cold ocean, did kungfu and dance for 6 or even 8 hours every day, and sat still (or slept) in stupid classes at school--a nice hot bath once or twice a week was very close to Nirvana. Still, as a training method it contributed nothing. I was tired and stiff because I was training too much of the wrong thing. It would be better just to train right. Too much hot drains the qi.
Cleaning and scrubbing the surface of your body every time you sweat is really important to maintaining good muscle and joint quality. This is why internal martial artists, especially when they get older, try not to sweat most of the time. If at the end of your practice you aren't near water and a place where you can be naked, at least towel off and change some of your clothes.
A short little dip in hot water, a one minute ice massage after a sprain, fine; Don't make a habit of it.

Ibex Clothing

I've been writing a bunch of material on Daoism and will likely post it on it's own page in a few weeks.

Also I've been reading Frank Allen's new book, the Whirling Circles of Ba Gua Zhang, published by Blue Snake Press, so I'll be reviewing it soon.

This week I started teaching new Shaolin Classes for 8 and 9 year olds. It is a 25 week residency in a public school and we meet twice a week (4 classes total). Will likely have a performance at the end.

I also gave my Taijiquan students at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine their final exam, and did a demonstration for everyone.

So instead of writing some high fa-luting little ditty, I've decided to tell you about my favorite workout shirt! The Ibex form-fitting wool shirt. They are strong, thin and light weight. They don't get stretched out and they don't shrink. They actually fit me, which is amazing.

They don't smell bad the way synthetics do. They are totally amazing because the fabric breathes so well when I'm sweating and keeps me warm and dry the rest of the time, which is really important in San Francisco fog. I just totally love them. I have two short sleeve and three long sleeve shirts. One of the long sleeves is 17.5 Microns (fabric thickness) and has a zipper, that comes halfway down the front. I wore it everyday on my two weeks of mountain adventures this summer. It took me two years but that one has finally come to the end of it's life.

I can't find the 17.5 on amazon.com but the rest of the shirts are there, and if you buy one by clicking on my links, 15% goes to me! I haven't sold anything at all from my site yet, but it sure would be cool to make enough money to cover my beer expenses.

Mens Shirt

Womens Shirt