Coloured threads

Since January, I have managed to complete a few projects but been very remiss in posting the results.

One item I have been very pleased with is the Maia shawl by Lisa Naskrent.
I completed it in time to use it all winter and have worn it every evening for a few months. It's perfect, large enough, warm enough, soft enough. I used the Araucania botany lace and Huasco. With hook #3. I used 3 skeins 1/2 in total (1 for first 9 repeats, 1 for next 5 repeats and 1+1/2 for border)

I also started and finished a granny square blanket, in DK cotton, lap size (10x10 squares). I saw a lovely picture of a blanket on pinterest, and that inspired me to try to make one with such warm dark/light theme. Of course, browns not being my favorites, I switched the tone to pink/purple, much more to my taste. There's no blocking as I have still not figured out how I can do it.

Also an assortment of smaller crochet items:
- little crochet amigurumi owls from here (craftpassion, by Lee Mei Li). I added a drop of lavender essential oil in the stuffing. That was a success with kids for Christmas (yes it was that long ago). Personnally I think they look cool upside down as well, in a pokemon evo-style.

I think that gives them a little fierceness. Eyes are squinted in focus, arms raised in preparation for something...

And then I did a few useful things like iphone cases, ipad case,  and small lunch bag (I don't know where the original pattern came from, though I would like to!).

I finally finished a bag, in granny squares, with Lang's Yawhol Magic bought in Verona last year. There a was a similar bag on display in the shop with that yarn, which made such an impression on me I bought the yarn. I think the shop was Mercerie Dian on via Armando Diaz.
The lining is a lovely Liberty tana lawn cotton in the same shades of fuschia/purple. The handles are "rope" for interior decoration from Moline in Paris, braided (the ends need a brilliant idea to look better).

So I really have not stopped making things. And I finally started working on a kit from Facilececile, the Antonietta basket.

This week marked the end of my first year living here in the States. This second year will have more Tai Chi in it!

On how practicing martial arts is like doings lab research

Waiting for buses can (!) have positive side effects. There's little to do apart from reading or thinking - although chatting with strangers may be an option. My thoughts drift easily towards training.
In a circular sort of reflexion, I came up with an interesting pattern.

Reflecting on what motivates me I have long known that 2 main factors drive me. These are very basic  and already in place in childhood, but they can still be powerful long after.

The first one is curiosity, the need to know "why" or at least "how" since the first one is often impossible to answer. The need to understand is probably the most powerful and has led me away from the clinic into the world of research.

The second one is the need to do things, myself. To simply do, create with my own hands, to make. That impulse has had an impact in my professional choices in the past.

Given these two factors, there are many career choices that could have taken advantage of such drives. Obviously, doing lab research is one. After all, you can choose the questions you want to find an answer to and sit at a bench trying to make it happen.

But how is that relevant to martial arts?
I admit to some generalization here by speaking of  "martial arts", and extend it from my own experience of Taiji Quan ( or tai chi chuan, TCC) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). I do not restrict that to internal or external, since whereas TCC is an "internal" martial arts, BJJ  is not even classified. Some people debate whether it's a martial art or a fighting sport! I personally have no doubt it is a martial art, and more of an external martial art. Although there are internal characteristics in BJJ I think, which would make for an interesting discussion.

To answer my own question, I think the need to know "how" can be gratified by learning techniques and applying them correctly, and even in the strategy game. There are different types of learners, but the analytical learner (that I am), fits here I think. Both TCC and BJJ have a strong element of technique, even if only in the initial stage or a branch level. I will not say root as the core probably should be feeling in both, but that is more difficult to achieve and will still need the technique to express itself.
The second impulse, the love of doing, finds its outlet in the physical expression of the arts. You are after all making it happen, or trying. No passive observer, you are at the center of it.

So for me, doing research and practicing TCC and BJJ, are expressions of the same seeds, fuelled by the same fire. A true expression of myself. Is it a wonder I consider BJJ a martial "art"?

I wonder what motivates other people doing martial arts. How it fits with their professional careers. Not all people have the chance to have a career, as opposed to a job and that career may only be temporary, but that's where the heart is.

ps: I now have the privilege to accessorize all in blue in BJJ. Did I mention blue is my favorite colour? Blue gi, blue T-shirt, blue belt....


pps: my instructor never seemed to object to the solution I'd found for the stripes washing away every time. Since I do wash my belt every time (or almost), the tape stripes never stayed on. After a while I thought that tradition is all well and good, but should not get in the way of the spirit of the thing. so I tried embroidering the stripes. I'll have to wait a while now, but I liked it (thicker thread would be better). No hassle, stripes stayed put from wash to wash.

Thoughts on BJJ and Taiji principles

It has been a while and winter here has not been easy. More on that in another post maybe.
I want to put down a few thoughts about BJJ training (which is now 4 days a week) and the connection with martial arts and TaiJi Quan.
While I am still very much the beginner, knowing, well barely grasping, a handful a techniques with HUGE gaps with the strength of blackholes, I feel I am seeing and getting a better map on concepts. Whether that's because of my science background or my Taiji Quan I don't know.

So I know there are such things as flow, timing, feeling and relaxation. I do expect that feeling requires experience as in Taiji.
But Knowing is one thing, seeing is another.
There are a few other concepts and principles I am playing hide and seek with.

- Yin/yang give and take.
I've understood that there is a take/give balance sometime ago, that is if you partner is taking something from you (submission, sweep...) they are giving something with it, which you can take advantage of. Now of course, knowing there is a gift somewhere does not mean I know what it looks like, because, well, i have very little experience. But I do keep my eyes open.
Other people may conceptualize it differently, but i like the yin/yang imagery.

- connection
The principle of connecting to your partner I see applies as well. I see it, but I do not know how to do it.

The other concepts I'm still trying to glimpse are the space and relaxation ones.

- Space.
I have been realising that controlling the space should be one of my main goals during rolls. If  I am offensive and trying to maintain control, I usaully need to close space (with exceptions). When defending, however, I need to find or create space. This reminds me of the "opening and closing" that you express within your body in Taiji. Maybe one far-away day I will be in a position to look for opening/closing within myself in BJJ.

- Relaxation
The other principle is how to be relaxed. The chinese "Fansong" . And here just like in Taiji i mean "relaxed but not collapsed". I still can't be relaxed. But I feel I'm not most times. And I see the tension in the other beginners. They are my mirror. While i am still looking for "relaxed", i see the direction it is NOT in. I am trying to be aware of my own breathing and work where it comes deep and slow, avoiding the quick, shallow, loud breathing that i hear from most other white belts. That is wrong. Not the way to roll, methinks.

I tend to think that Taiji gives me a frame of reference and tools that I can use in BJJ.
How is it for people with external martial arts experience I wonder...

Apart from learning techniques (including escapes +++ and hip mobility) my current general goals are to keep Moving with purpose and structural strength, wasting my strength outwards less, I suppose.
Let's see if  I can do that and if it helps. I am probably overthinking things, but that can't be helped...