Ice Lessons

or how I learned the ground is always yang!

One of the most amusing, humbling, and challenging moments I recall was in the backyard of my friend and fellow internal traveller, Jan. (He currently teaches Jiulong Baguazhang in Toronto)

We had scheduled a time to get together to practice one blustery February and were feeling some bravado about the weather…“Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail…” That it was winter was something we would beat with our superior Baguazhang skills!

After surveying the yard we picked a spot that seemed the right size for our circle walking and push palm practice. There was lots of snow and we were looking forward to practicing in our boots. This would prove that we were at a special level…right?…

We began. We bowed and started to walk with our arms connected. My first few steps were fine, until I went towards him to attempt a push. My foot slid out behind me and suddenly I was in the snow! Underneath it was ice!

Suddenly, the superior Bagua skills more than met their match. Without the ability actually press the ground from the feet, the entire practice took on a new feeling…not falling down! Martial strategy became standing up strategy. Step, slip, re-balance…step, slide, lose control…slow down, step, grab partner to avoid falling…both fall…get up…laugh…rethink the entire session!

There was a lesson…..ok, several lessons, that day. The main one being, nature usually wins.

“Maybe we should slow down.”, said Jan with a knowing grin. As I recall, this was after 3-4 attempts to engage our Baguazhang practice together, only to be humbled by the ice.

So we slowed down and focused on our stepping rather than pushing each other. The step that immediately came to mind is the Mud Walking step whereby the front foot remains flat on the ground while sliding forward, and the body weight is kept on the rear foot. Seemed logical.

It worked in as much as the lead foot could test the surface. But the moment either of us pushed the rear back in order to propel the body forward, the foot slid on the ice.

Ice=1 Mud Step=0.

We then start to walk very slowly using the Nine Dragon Rolling Step, and focused on the feeling of the body’s momentum. One step…two…three…body moving forward…more steps…this was working! As long as the stepping was matched to the forward motion of the body, we could actually navigate the ice. Right up until one of us tried to push into the other (it was supposed to be martial practice, after all!)

After getting up off the ground, again, for the third time we started to notice moments in which one could actually push the other, but it had to be timed in way that used the momentum of the body, rather than pushing it forward.

This lesson has stayed with me all these years. As has the joy of that afternoon when we had to face the reality of nature, physics, and the real value of humility.

And by the way, frozen ground is always yang!!