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Tough Mudders – Support the Cause!

My oldest brother, Anthony Lorenca, is participating in the Tough Mudder down in Austin, Texas in October 2012 to raise money  for the Wounded Warrior Project. The Tough Mudder event consists of 10-12 intense obstacle courses which test the strength, mental toughness, endurance, and camaraderie of the teams of participants. “Tough Mudder has already challenged half a million inspiring participants worldwide and raised more than $2 million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project.” Help support this Tough Mudder and his team by donating here, or sign-up a team of your own if you think you can make it through the Tough Mudder in Frederick, MD on Saturday, September 8 and/or Sunday, September 9!
The Wounded Warrior Project aids injured service members with recovery and readjust their mind, body, economic empowerment, and engagement in the community! Any contribution amount is appreciated by all of our Armed Forces!

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Thoughts While Home

This week has been crazy and awesome.  As I sit down to write about it, I realize one of the major differences in my life here and my life training in Wudang. There, when I train my mind is either off or focused on what I am doing, and outside of that I have fairly few demands on my attention and I have plenty of time to reflect and plan. So writing a blog happens fairly naturally.

Here at home, I work at an architecture firm, I teach, and I do demonstrations and talks about Wudang. There are always demands on my attention, and reflection often has to wait. So while in Wudang, the physical side of my training seems my prime concern, being home is a training ground for my internal art. This is where the theory meets reality.

That said, I had a wild but fun week. Thursday night I attended a Chinese embassy celebration of the Chinese New Year at the Meridian Center in DC. Definitely one of the neatest evenings I have had in a while. There were a lot of diplomats there, a beautiful musical performance, and two Chinese art exhibits, one of woodblock prints and one of modern paintings on porcelain. I was there with my kungfu sister who is working hard to establish avenues for the sharing  of Wudang culture and wisdom with D.C. and the U.S.

Friday was spent at the Bullis School in Potomac. I did a collaborative demonstration with two Shaolin monks. Of course, they were masters and I am still a student, so it was quite an honor to share a stage with them. I really enjoyed meeting them and other amazing members of the kungfu community in the D.C. area. It was wonderful to meet other people who dream dreams like my own.

 

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January Qigong Seminar

January 9th through February 14th, I am pleased to be offering a seminar in Qigong at Balanced Life Skills. Qigong has been one of my favorite discoveries in the course of my martial arts education, and I am always excited to share my love of it with others.

What is Qigong? Imagine the practice of martial arts as a line. One one end is fighting, and on the other end is purely health oriented exercise. Qigong would fall near one end of the line, and it might look like this:Literally “Chi Work,” Qigong is a kind of moving meditation. In a series of dynamic poses combining breathing, flexibility, strength, and mental focus, it seeks to nourish the internal health of the body. It is adaptable to the level of the student; a sedentary newcomer and a conditioned athlete will both find challenge and growth.

There are uncountable permutations within this broad category of exercise, each with its own focus, theory, tradition, and practitioners. In Wudang, I have learned a few different Qigong practices. My favorite is Five Element Qigong.

In the seminar this year, I will be focusing on Five Element Qigong, but will range as well into other aspects of my own practice that have informed and enhanced the experience of Qigong.

The seminar will be held, January 9th – February 14th,  on:

Mondays 5:0o PM and 7:00 PM

Tuesdays 11:00 AM

Students should plan to attend at least one hour-long session a week, but are welcome and encouraged to attend additional classes for more guided repetition. Those interested are welcome to try a class in the first week for free. Seminar fee= $10/week

 

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Back in Maryland

Wudang improvised Christmas Tree

Just a quick post to let everyone know I am back in Maryland for the holidays. This is very exciting and refreshing for me. I get to see old friends, eat familiar foods, and bask in the comfort of familiar culture. There is a joy here that can’t be captured in words, when despite having learned to accept adversity in everyday life, there is little adversity on hand to test me. That is what coming home from China means to me.

It also means I’ll be around to talk, teach, and demonstrate on what I’ve been doing in Wudang. I have scheduled classes on Saturday mornings in North Beach through Calvert County Parks and Rec. I hope they will be a hit. Though I am still working out the details of my schedule at Balanced Life Skills, I am sure you will be seeing me around. Particularly, look for demonstrations in the first week or so of January.

Happy Holidays to you all

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Why Martial Arts?

I’ve had the chance to try a few different kinds of exercise and methods for improving the body and mind. Soccer, PE classes, lacrosse, yoga, running, swimming, and other pursuits. My experience here in Wudang has helped me understand how vitally important maintaining your body is (I’ve come to think of it as rather like brushing your teeth- you feel better if you do it, and if you don’t, you won’t have much to work with a few years down the road). But so much of my training here is only tangentially martial in nature. So sometimes I wonder, “Why martial arts?” Couldn’t I be just as happy studying yoga or some other art that would keep my mind and body connected without the occasional traumatic punch to the face? Why do I instinctively feel that there is something special about martial arts?

I have quite a few answers for myself, but recently I have been thinking about a new way in which the “martial” bit of martial arts is crucial. What it does is it teaches, in very clear, black and white terms, the lessons of personal responsibility and acceptance. Under the supervision of an attentive teacher or master, the dynamics of a fight or sparring match (and the preparation for such)  strip away excuses and provide clear consequences. Getting hit stinks. You quickly learn to want to avoid that at all cost. But if you got hit, it is because you let your opponent hit you. Hitting you is your opponent’s job. There is no, “I wasn’t ready,” no,” That’s not fair,” no, “Can we do that over?” At the same time, you can’t dwell on the pain of the last hit. You have to accept it instantly and move on, or experience it again, and worse.

Under a good teacher or master, this acceptance of pain and responsibility spreads from the fighting scenario into daily training, and from there into daily life. If you got hit, you need to prepare better, train harder. If you didn’t train hard enough, it’s because you felt ill because you ate too much or didn’t sleep enough the night before. If you didn’t sleep enough, it’s because you procrastinated at work or school and had to stay up late to finish a project. You are %100 responsible for all of these things. At the same time, when once you mess up, you have to accept it and use it to get ready for next time, because next time is coming. There are other ways to learn these lessons, but the martial arts are teaching them to me in clear, non-negotiable terms.

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Thanks to you!

After only 28 weeks (and many cups of coffee) since joining BLS, all of you have become such an important part of my life! That might seem silly to say, seeing as most of you come in only once or twice a week and see me for a few minutes before taking a seat.

However, my eight hours a day largely involves you! Whether it’s planning the next event, staring at attendance sheets and enrollment spreadsheets, overflowing your inbox with emails, or trying to fix a mistake on your account (just kidding, Mr. Joe!), I spend the majority of my day with you – or at least thinking about you!

And that’s made you important to me. It means a lot to me when I learn about your weekend, or get presented with your child’s hand drawn pictures and cards. The laughs are contagious and high-fives are endless! I am surrounded by smiles, stories, and ideas that shape my outlook each day, which are always positive and inspiring. I can’t even begin to count how many of you have influenced speeches for my communications class, or unknowingly given me great advice which I apply to my own family.

Thank you is all I really want to say. Thank you for making my work days so enjoyable and not feel like work. Thank you for making Balanced Life Skills such a pleasant place to be each day. And Thank you for being a part of my life! I hope I can be all of that for you in return, every time I see you, if only for a few minutes once or twice a week.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!