Latest News

Hey everyone, well i just wanted to update the blog. Not much to write, but I will let you in on what has been happening lately at the center.

We had a visitor, his name was Scott Stroot, and he was our music teacher while he was here. He was a great guy, taught us a lot. We learned some basic guitar chords, as well as some strumming techniques. He also introduced us to read music. we now have a book which we follow, and it teaches us step by step how to read those little symbols...hehe. I now have a lot more respect for guitar players, its not easy at all. I used to play with my friends, "guitar and piano" but only by ear. but now that i learned the basic structure of how it should be done professionally i realize how much work is involved. by the way Shifu is making us learn 3 songs by the end of the semester...... since we have so much free time. But its for our own good right. what am i doing writing? i should be practicing guitar.

Anyway I also learned how to make bread, and have been baking every weekend. To my surprise it has came out pretty good so far. but I'm going to have to do even better, because since i began baking bread, Shifu thought it would be better to buy a bread machine. He did. So i have some competition now.....maybe he is trying to tell me something? Well the reason why i started to make bread wasn't for fun, i decided to do so because i wanted to train my hands and fingers. I think its a good way to improve my Chin Na grip.....what do you think?

well i have to go now, have a meeting with Shifu in a couple of minutes, he injured his shoulder during the seminars and i volunteered to massage it. So off i go....

I will finish this post when i get the chance.

until next time

PNM

The New Year

Well another year has began. We lost two more 1st generation disciples because of different reasons. Ricardo had some visa problems so he had to return to Portugal, and Tom got in a car accident and is now unable to train so he was sent home by Shifu. In the other hand we gained three 2nd generation students. The new disciples are all pretty cool, i haven't had any problem with any of them. they seem to be taking their new lifestyle well, and they appear to be training hard. I sense that they will be a good addition to our brotherhood here at the YMAA retreat center. In a more personal level, I am feeling good, the new training is difficult, but i am enjoying it very much. Like i mentioned earlier, we are done running the mountain which has given us enough time to do many new things. Some of the new training includes practicing sequences, basic staff conditioning drills, basic bag work, hitting wooden poles for arm conditioning, balancing skill, and staff stinging to build accuracy. We are also still doing all the old training, especially arm conditioning because Shifu says, that we are not ready yet. I feel like this second year is flying by. As i predicted it has been much easier than last year because I am becoming more accustomed to living here. My mind is more focused, and I can meditate better and for longer periods of time. And my physical body is stronger and I can endure more straneous activity without injury. I think that the training has deffinetly payed off so far, and am anxious to see the final result of the ten years. Shifu has even asked Jon and I if we wanted to start small circulation, but we both refused and told him we needed some more time. But since he asked us this he must feel that we are ready.....or maybe he was just testing outr morality?. Shifu is really amazing and sometimes i think he has powers....lol seriously. Sometimes The guys and I would talk about something during dinner at the cabin, and the next day Shifu would bring up the same subject. This and other things have happened on many ocasions. He is very good at sencing energy. And I am glad that he is my Master. I Wish that one day my GongFu can be as good as his, and to one day be as humble as he is.
My magazine article came out this month as well, it is my 1st, and I am very exited. The magazine is called (Kung Fu Taichi magazine) and the article that I wrote was about "Basic TaijiQuan practice". I hope that all the readers will enjoy it, and please tell me if you liked or disliked something, it will help me in the future...thank you.

by the way sorry for not posting anything for SOOOOOO long, I will try to blog more.

PNM

change

Yesterday, Wednesday 29th of April, we unofficially graduated from running up the mountain. We have now moved on to training stances, stepping speed, and basic kicking, and punching.
I have to say its not at all easier, but its a lot more fun in my opinion. I am not the type of person to run for enjoyment, I did however run everyday until I turned 15 or so because I played futbol "soccer" back in Chile, although futbol consists of mostly running back and forth, its a game and i still love it to this day, this is why it is a relief to know that mountain running is over. Anyway we also changed many stationary drills like staff conditioning, and are now doing the drills while walking jumping, and skipping in different angles. Also, we are now doing Ma Bu "horse stance" on two bricks instead of one, its pretty scary, but its not to bad, I think all the root training is paying off. I see all of us becoming stronger, faster and better all around, and I am happy because its not easy being here, that is why it is so important to have a strong will and focused mind.
Today I understood a little bit more about my meditation, i understand now what Shifu means by semi-sleeping state. I feel anxious to get deeper, and find out how deep it gets, i have meditated before for about five years on and off, and about one year everyday for an hour straight, that's right before i came here. when I arrived it was difficult, because I had to change my whole strategy and pretty much start from scratch. In my previous meditation, i got pretty deep sometimes, experiencing in many occasions very strange things that if i told you, you probably wouldn't believe me, but last year I arrived here, at YMAA retreat center, my home, and have started practicing Embryonic breathing meditation. I have not enjoyed it as much i have to say the truth, but I trust that Shifu knows the best and quickest path, and so I have submitted to his way. Now that i have advanced a little bit in this short time here, I have hope that all of us here can get very far.

thanks again for reading

PNM

back to normal

About three weeks ago I had a dangerous injury to my left knee. While practicing tumbling exercises I landed wrong and slightly tore a ligament. It was pretty sore for the first couple of days, and I was pretty concerned about it, but i have been massaging it and avoiding running and jumping training, and I am happy to say that It feels much better and I am now able to run again with no pain at all. I have always been a fast healer and I am really glad because I already missed three weeks of leg training and don't want to fall behind. I'm still baby sitting it, but like I said it feels much better and believe that I should be back to normal pretty soon.

Today we began shooting our next project, the first of a series of Taiji quan application videos, which will be uploaded online. I am not sure when they will be uploaded, but we should finish shooting tomorrow, and probably finish editing by next week, so since Shifu is coming back from Boston on Monday he will probably let us know when they should be uploaded. I will keep you all posted, I'm sure you will enjoy.
thanks for reading......

1st ping pong tournment

Last friday when we went grocery shopping in Eureka, we saw a ping pong table on sale and we just could not resist, (for training reaction of course) anyway the next day after cleaning the house, Jon and I built the table , it was crazy hard, especially since there were no instructions on how to build the thing. We looked at the small picture on the box, and finally 3 hours later it was done.........although we still have some extra pieces that we don't know what to do with, we were glad it was over. After that I had no motivation for playing i was tired of just looking at it, so we had dinner and everybody did their own thing for a while. But around 8 pm or so we decided to have the tournament. It was so much fun, we all played each other and Ricardo took the first belt with 3 games won. Tom, Jon and I were second with 1 game won each.
It felt really good to do something different, since our daily schedule does not usually leave us any time for new things. we usually just watch a movie, or work on our articles or on what ever else needs to be done. Now I can't wait for next weekend, so we can play the next tournament, and so i can take ricardo's belt away.. hehehe......better watch out man, i'm coming.

welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog, my name is Patrick Manriquez, I was born in Santiago, Chile and I am currently studying under Dr. Yang, Jwin Ming, as one of his 10 year program students.
At first I did not like the idea of having a blog, because I really don't like talking about my self, its just not my style you know, but Shifu thought it would be a good idea and so this is the reason i created this blog.
Well i have been a student of Chinese martial arts, for about 6 years now, i began training Choy Lay Fut, and Sanda, under Sifu John Wai in Plantation Florida. I also have practiced many Qi Gong excersises, from many styles, on my own and through lessons of various teachers, and taught Qi gong forms for about 1 year and a half. My goal is to keep training all my life, and find out what our true potential really is ( thats how i got the name for my blog).

I will write on this blog as much as time allows me, and let everyone know my experiences and thoughts on my life here at the YMAA Retreat Center.
Thank you for being interested enough to read what i have to say, and please comment and express your thoughts, and let me know if you want me to write about something specific.

Thanks again
Bless