A new kind of therapy.

Seeking a solution.  That is why I lay on this table with a very large magnet masking taped to my head.  There are several things that you should leave to the professionals. A couple that come to mind are trapeze, jumping multiple buses with a heavy bike, crack sealing the Hoover dam and perhaps……biomagnetism. 

But what the heck, my muscles have felt like piano wires for the last two months.  A ten hour world wind trip to Fort McMurray on the weekend did not help the Sciatic one bit.  And let’s face it, my father in law can be quite convincing when he wants to be, and he is a chemist.  So, with a series of magnets I have now become his Frankenstein monster for the day.

The sciatic pain was greatly reduced for the most part. The skeptic in me attributes it to other explanations, none of which are any more logical.  But for now I will sit on these small magnets as I write this blog and if that doesn’t work, at least they work great for holding up the kids art on the refrigerator.

What’s next you ask?  Sticking my fingers in light sockets for electroshock therapy, Eating drywall (sorry to those that actually have that condition) or perhaps what I need most is just good old fashioned REST.

 

vincekrebs@blogspot.com

Intensity

 So following a couple more visits with the witchdoct….I mean chiropractor, he is very happy with the progress that has been made over the past couple of visits.  He even said that I should return to Kung Fu but only at a 70% level.  OK, the fact that I didn’t take a break from classes is our little secret….got it?

In our past class, (which was magnificent by the way) I think many of us rediscovered something that we have been missing for a while.  INTENSITY.  When we first started I was wondering how do I balance intensity with strict orders to perform at a 70% level.  What I discovered is that intensity does mean kicking your legs to overextension, stressing joints beyond the stretch limits of tendons, and dousing the brain in gallons of adrenaline. 

Intensity in the past class seemed to come from deep down, a rising energy that could not have been displayed any better than by Sihing Tymchuk’s demonstration of his front thrust kick.  Thank you.  I think everyone felt your intensity with those kicks.

Where I think I can save the 30% in the gas tank according to the Doc’s orders is working on staying loose and fluid in the techniques which is what we all strive to achieve.  It can only mean good things and greater improvement in my situation.

vincekrebs@blogspot.com

Nerves of Steel?

Iris’s dilate to take in the reflecting light from the sheeny coat of the approaching grizzly bear.  That wavelength of light is transposed to chemical, and then to electrical pulses running down a system of channels to a complex matrix of pathways within the brain.  Brain computes….more electrical pulses….brain sends electrical pulses back down the narrow highway to the length of the fingers….hand tightens around the Pringles container…..Brain computes…..more electrical impulses to the other hand tightening around the large stick.

Nerves.  Without nerve function what are we but massive piles of bone and goo.  But when the aches and pains catch up with us, how many people consider that the problem may be related to nerve function.  I for one had never considered it up until a recent appointment with a Chiropractor.  After a pretty lengthy run through of some scientific, electronic, voodoo, pixie dust type testing, nerve function is a consideration for some of the problems I am having with over tightened and damaged muscles, stiff and soreness, lack of sleep and tiredness, and the inability to properly heal.

I had always envisioned my nervous system more like copper wiring in the walls of my house.  Bomb proof and never changing.  Don’t mess with it, don’t think of it, cause the lights will always come on. Well according to the Chiropractor, my nervous system more closely resembles a box of Walmart Christmas lights. 

While I am not a big fan of amplified noises of Rice Krispy type sounds coming from my spine during a bone crunching session (Chiropractic appointment), the explanation and reasoning surrounding stimulating nerve function and healing seems sound to me.  I am going to keep up with it for a while with some pretty big expectations.  I will keep you all posted.

As for the Grizzly bear, he felt a tube of Pringles wasn’t worth dying over…….Foolish bear.

 

vincekrebs@blogspot.com

Bridges, Ropes, Darts, and so forth

This is one of those blog posts you hope your mom doesn’t read, because the truth is, she is still the boss. When I mentioned to my sister about possibly taking on the rope dart this year, her response was, I think you will enjoy that, you have always like fidgeting with ropes.  Little does she know how true that is.

You see growing up, I dabbled a bit into rock climbing which required a pretty good understanding of knots, rope systems, hardware and so forth.  Having minimal terrain to practice our craft, and minimal brains to properly think things through, boys with rappelling gear climbing rope and the cover of night, make for a bad combination.

Not to go into the details, (like I said, Mom and Dad are still the boss), but one such incident of narrowly missing a CN train on a very high and very narrow bridge that would have rivalled the kids from Stand By Me, and another involving mass panic and tear down after remembering mom was due to travel that very bridge coming off of night shift, should have all put a love of ropes in the past.

Truth is, I do like fiddling with ropes!  And the rope dart is one of those really cool weapons that I am finding extremely challenging, extremely unpredictable, and well, just down right enjoyable.  Progress is REALLY slow, and while sometimes I doubt my decision when I see the progress of the team around me (most of the time after taking a bean bag off the coconut) I am enjoying learning it, and believe I made the right decision.  I hope things eventually come together and all doubt is erased as things progress through the year.

The Hip Bones Connected to the what?

Well I don’t like complaining about injuries. But lately, I have something going squirrelly with my hip and all the parts and pieces attaching my legs. The problem is getting old really fast.  I have tried stretching, bending, flexing, kicking, rolling, jumping, crying and nothing seems to be working to fix the problem that has been frustrating me for the past couple of months.  It is beginning to render some of my kicks virtually useless, mainly the right leg dragons whip and left leg round house.  Can’t figure it out. I am wondering if maybe the pain in the inner thigh is tied to the sciatic nerve?  Who knows, I didn’t go to school for that I guess.    

 

 

Oh Guilt Where Art Thou Gone.

Guilt has been a friend of mine, and quite often my worst enemy.  It has been closer to the forefront of my previous engagements in the I Ho Chuan than I like to admit.  There is one domain however, that guilt feared to tread, and that was with my work schedule.  Because of this fact, the question has come up whether I rate work higher in importance than Kung Fu.  That is a question with no answer.

If Kung Fu is a Swiss watch, than work would be the gears.  Can’t have a clock without gears, so the priority is my work.

Kung Fu, however I absolutely hold as higher value to my life.  I have mentioned my main priorities are Faith, Family, and Kung Fu, in that order.  Oddly work did not even make that list.

I guess my answer is that importance does not always equal priority which does not always equate to value.  I think this is important when we travel down the dangerous road of evaluating a person’s engagement without fully understanding the reason for the absence.  If I miss a demo or meeting for work schedule, I may be assigning a higher Priority to my work engagement which does not mean I value it less than the event.

Knowing that work priority = Kung Fu value is what allows me to deal with the guilt of being away. If I did not think this way, I would have been consumed by my career seven years ago and likely quit Kung Fu near the outset.

Therefore, if I am doing everything in my power to maximize my Kung Fu value, without upsetting the work apple cart, (rescheduling, turning the odd job down, etc.) then I feel I am on the right track.