Mantis Newbie

[unixfudotnet]

Hello,

Most of my focus has been on my Taijiquan development, Yang family right now. I do work on my Pai Lum kungfu stuff as well, as the school is a Pai Lum school. But yesterday I started taking private lessons with my Sigung on seven star praying mantis.
This is much harder than I expected, but I am liking it :) I like the movements and logic behind it all. I am definitely adding more stretching into my daily workout routine, and SiGung instructed me that I need to be more flexible for the mantis stuff (as opposed to the Pai Lum stuff).
I just wanted to say it seems pretty awesome, from at least the first class (will be taking one private class per week in addition to my normal 3 days a week classes).

[ursa major]

Hello unixfudotnet,

Welcome to the world of Tang Lang. Are you permitted to discuss your lessons to-date? It would be interesting to hear what you are learning and how it reflects on your training. We have many discussions on specific techniques and methods.

BTW: is that unix as in O/S?

Best regards,
UM.

[unixfudotnet]

Originally posted by ursa major
Hello unixfudotnet,

Welcome to the world of Tang Lang. Are you permitted to discuss your lessons to-date? It would be interesting to hear what you are learning and how it reflects on your training. We have many discussions on specific techniques and methods.

BTW: is that unix as in O/S?

Best regards,
UM.

I only had one seven star praying mantis lesson, and that was yesterday. I was taught some basics so far, stretching with more focus on getting my legs stretched out more, as it seems to be more important. Also how to make the mantis hand, which is harder than it looks at first, but I believe I have it down now. Also theory of how mantis "works" and what the hand positions are for and such. Then practiced some punch and hook drills in a low bow stance punching and hooking sideways, then did one in a horse stance that was close, but had both arms working. The hard part was making sure I had the form down correctly, SiGung kept correcting me. But I kept at it for about an hour after the lesson (which I followed by a Yang taichi class), then practiced a bit more when I got home. Mantis seems to make sense, it is hard work, but I need hard work ;) Oh, and the bow :)

I just had one lesson, so not much was learned except basics, which I assume will happen for a couple/few more times before moving to a form. I am not sure, I just do what SiGung tells me to do, and ask questions when I do not get something :) He is an awesome teacher. I am just going to get down what he told me to do perfectly and keep stretching more so than I was previously

My previous martial arts training has just been at this Pai Lum school, with my main focus on Taijiquan. I am a Pai Lum student before a Mantis student, but Mantis sure is interesting.

Yes, unix, as in the OS. I am a software developer, and only work on Unix and unix-like operating systems. Senior developer at this company. This job keeps me from doing more classes and lessons, but such is life at the moment, and I love my job :)

Please excuse me if I was long-winded, heh.