Hey guys, here are some pics of a recent Iron Wheel Fist class & some from our Holiday Open House at the temple. We were working on counters to a cross punch, slipping outside, parrying inward, and responding with a cross to the body. This is followed by stepping past the opponent and sweeping. The main altar is behind the students. Before class I offer incense to the Buddha and to Guan Yu. Behind me is a smaller altar for memorial plaques for the deceased. Lotus lanterns hang from the ceiling with prayer cards for sangha members & their families. Not sure what I'm teaching here, but I love the glowy effect in the eyes. There's a better view of the memorial altar, and one of the space heaters. There is no AC or heating in the Dharma hall, so it gets nice and chilly in there in the winter. Me, demonstrating footwork with a strike probably. The thing I'm holding is a Dharma stick, not an actual weapon. It's like a clapper, used to call attention, and to bring focus at the beginning and end of meditation sessions. It is also occasionally used to supply "object lessons" for students during Dharma talks, koan interview, or Iron Wheel class. This a pretty average Monday night class. There's a few other students, but class size usually stays between 4-7 people. The students are all young adults, which means I get to push them hard. All have previous martial arts training, mostly TKD, though I have a Marine with a MCMAP background, two Beejers, and an Aikidoka. Here's some pics from our Holiday Open House. We had quite the spread of food. Korean BBQed short ribs (galbi) marinated by one of mothers and grilled by my teacher, fresh fruit and the usual fermented vegetables, escargot made by yours truly, sauteed mushrooms and onions, rice, and of course...soju... That's my teacher at the head of the table. Pretty much the same pic as the first, less blurry, though missing the young lady from the body left in the first pic. The obligatory candid shot. My teacher pours another glass of wine for one of the other students while another takes a toast. MaverickZ attempts to stab me with a chop stick, as the young lady across from us is completely unphased, smiling placidly. The evening continued with the singing of random Dave Matthews songs, tours of the temple, and of course, more soju. It was a good night.
Classes are two hours long. We start with meditation & calesthenics. After that, the lesson plan varies on the subject of study for the day. If we're doing throws, we work on break falls. Mit and shield work for striking. Ssireum. Limited sparring based on whatever techniques we're working on. We usually save all in sparring for Fridays, along with gongan interviews with my teacher.
ive never tried my hand at ssireum, but looks fun. What are gongan interviews btw? ive not heard of that.
Ssireum is a blast, and between that and tubeop, gives the students a good sense of working with an opponent's balance, and how to take it away. Gongan
