May newsletter

Welcome to our May newsletter, it’s been another busy month of gradings, sparring and evolving.

Breathing correctly, the powerful life-hack.

You can last over 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, but only minutes without air! Around 40% of today's population have obstructed nasal passages and half of us are mouth-breathers and when we are congested, airflow decreases, bacteria can flourish and poor health and illness take hold. Studies are now showing how truly important the way we breath is, and that it can even help to heal us of some serious illnesses.

Over the years I have trained in a large variety of breathing methods, some will calm you down and will boost the parasympathetic nervous system, helping us heal and cope with things such as anxiety, depression or sleep disorders (there are doctors that claim they can completely cure these problems with breathing techniques). There are other techniques that boost the immune system to fight illness, to the point that patients in a study were able to boost the immune system to rid themselves of e.coli using breath and meditation.

The way we breathe has a huge affect on our psychology and physiology and although there are a multitude of different breathing techniques and we will be going through quite a few different ones in our Tai Chi, Adults and 7-13’s classes… we will keep it simple in the 4-6’s…. they tend to breathe a lot better than us oldies anyway. Below there are some simple instructions to get you started if you want. It’s a way to affect your breathing in a positive way and help open your airways (over the centuries our airways have shrunk due to bigger brains and smaller jaws).

• Stop breathing through the mouth and breathe through the nose (the nose will warm and purify the air).
• Slow your breathing down (optimal breaths are 5.5 second inhales and exhales).
• Don’t let the shoulders and rib cage move too much and breath deeply so that you expand the front, sides and back of the stomach.

It’s that simple (to start). Something else to consider, Nitric oxide, we produce 50% more through nasal breathing. If you want a superpower this is it, science has discovered that it can improve heart function, blood pressure, immunity, cognitive function, and decrease inflammation, but also helps improve your performance during a workout, aids in weight loss, improves digestion, decreases anxiety and depression, decreases neuropathic pain and aids in wound healing.

We’ll be looking at other techniques over the months, some that create calm, some to boost energy, focus and the immune system.

Dates to remember

Tuesday June 21^st the hall is being used so classes on this day will move to Friday June 24^th. Or you can use one of our other days if you prefer.

Our summer shutdown August 1^st – August 14^th although a part of our monthly fee you can make these classes up before and after August as a bonus. I’ll also be putting on some free extra classes over Gloucester park in July and August, we’ll do some weapons training and get a chance to learn some of the staff.

7-13s grading days:

Yellow and Yellow orange belts = June 13^th, 14th and 16th

Orange belt and up = November, December or earlier if you're ready

4-6 years

• We have been working through our ninja levels congratulations to:
• Joshua Vincent, Ezra and Aurora level 1 Ninja
• Joey, Rufus and Rocco level 2 Ninja
• Sharav and Theodora level 3 Ninja
• Rishik Level 5 Ninja
• Congratulations to Humza and Riley who have both levelled up to the 7-13 years class!
• I will be putting in more breathing exercises to see how this age group get on with them. Slow controlled breathing has a great affect on aligning the body and mind and can be very calming for this age-group.
• Lots of jumping and crawling (monkey), these are seen as some of the most fundamental movements we can do for the greatest gain. Climbing is another one, but we wont be doing that in the class :D

7-13 years

• Gradings congratulations To:
• White yellow belts: Lilith, Rares, Rehaan, Matthew, Henry, Olivia, Sophia
• White orange belts: Harmony, Damari, Dennis, Albert, Daisy, Vinny
• We have moved onto section 2 of Mizong Kao, in this section we will be pushing, throwing and locking.
• Some great effort with some really complex moves, we have some talented fire benders :D. Fantastic for the brain and body. Well done everyone.
• We have started to look at some of our traditional weapons. Our first one is the 9 section chain, one of our flexible and easily hidden weapons. These kinds of weapons were historically used as backup weapons when a sword or spear were not around or if you were in a situation that weapons were not permitted to be carried openly. They can easily be hidden and although are predominantly used at long range can also be used at short range.

adults

• A tough sparring session this month, everyone was exhausted. We were working on improving the front hand and leg jab to set up rhythms in the opponent.
• Higher grades have been working on the 10 step Tai Chi form to really come to an understanding of moving from the centre and Chinese martial arts body mechanics.
• Yan qing jia: The framework form we have just started. This form can take 20 minutes to over an hour to complete, it’s slow and then fast with balances held for between 3 and 10 seconds. It’s full of low stances and balances and forces you to focus the mind, stretch and strengthen the body. An integral part of the mizong system and a great way to build iron legs.
• Cha chuan: Muslim fist, a fast and exhausting form with plenty of jumping, squatting and running.

tai chi

• We have been working through the 10 step form and linking the breath with the movements.
• Cloud hands: cloud hands is an important move in Tai Chi, it focusses on circular defensive movements (which can turn into attacks) we have been looking at controlling the opponents direction by sticking to them and moving them in a circular pattern and so affecting the O.O.D.A. loop (observe, orient, decide and act)..
• Breath: We have been looking at slowing the breathing down and the hissing breath with elongated out-breath, very good for depression and anxiety.

What I’m learning/ reading at the moment

training

Animal movements:  (bodyweight exercises from the Shaolin temple and modern primal movement ideas) Martial arts have always used animals as inspiration for movement and intent of movement. I’ve trained a little in Monkey style and my first Martial art “Muay Thai” has it’s history in the system of Ling Lum (to do whatever works… or fight like a monkey).

The names of the moves from qingping jian 2: (with help from shifu Kevin who has done all of the research and hard work) The names can seem a bit weird as the translations are difficult, but they can give a real sense for what the movement should be or feel like.

Courses

Jim Kwik - super brain (nearly finished, my brain isn’t super but I’ve learnt a lot).

Journaling – I’m using this to understand my own thought process

books

Breathe (the science of breathing)

Wabi Sabi (the Japanese wisdom for a perfectly imperfect life)

Dates to remember

No classes on Monday the 20th, these classes will be moved to Friday 24th June. Tuesday the 21st there will be very limited parking, suggestions are that if you are driving you can use the asda car park which has free parking for 3 hours or you can use one of our other days, or take your lesson over to another week.

Our summer shutdown August 1^st – August 14^th although a part of our monthly fee you can make these classes up before and after August. I’ll also be putting on some free extra classes over Gloucester park in July and August, we’ll do some weapons training and get a chance to learn some of the staff.

7-13s grading days:

Yellow and Yellow orange belts = June 13^th, 14th and 16th

Orange belt and up = November, December or earlier if you're ready