I went to the river yesterday, and happened to glance at my legs as I sat in one of the few deep pools. I’m actually developing some musculature there. So far, so good.
The movement called Windmill Kick, near the end of the form, is proving to be the one major piece of any of the three sequences that I can’t do the most basic version of the posture. It works like this: the left and right hands are spread, palms facing down, about forty-five degrees apart, at shoulder height; the right leg kicks up to the toes of the right foot touch the left palm; the foot then swings across the open space until the toes touch the right palm; only then do the foot and leg lose altitude, coming to rest behind the practitioner. It’s the most difficult move, and I can’t really do it accurately. Everything else goes smoothly, at least physically.
So this is going to be a goal for a little while: master the windmill kick. I’ll let you know when I succeed.
[…] to the Seven Stars and Ride the Tiger, and after it is Windmill Kick, which I’ve addressed before but not in […]
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[…] and then I would have been wearing only one shoe. Or I could have spun on the floor; but then my windmill kick would have been too close to the open closet door. Or I could have pulled my groin in shoving the […]
[…] Today during the form, after Five Gold Coins and Eight Pieces of Silk, I was performing a spin. Its name is full spin, and it is a 360° turn on the right foot, just after Ride the Tiger, and just before Windmill Kick. It’s not particularly difficult, but some days I “get it” and some days I don’t. That is, some days I perform the maneuver correctly, and it’s easy to just move on to the next posture or movement; and some days I need to steady myself and re-balance after the spin to get my bearings and do the Windmill Kick, which is itself not particularly easy. […]
[…] foot grazed the outstretched left palm, and then hit the right palm, on the way to the floor. This is what I was trying to achieve a week or so ago. I have a feeling it’s not going to happen again for a little while… these things take […]