I would love to learn some interesting moves, even if not to perform them, Katara. I'd be very glad if you'd present us with some demonstrations of your learnings from the class.

It could help me with fully developing Ashen Hand, my character's martial art style.

And don't worry, I won't hold Avatar Rp staff creditable when I break a rib trying your moves.

Oh, how invigorating. I feel like I could incapacitate a horde of burglars, now! Keep the lessons coming, this is very intriguing and relaxing. I'm eager to learn more of these stretches, and perhaps some real stances.

I'm eager to connect Firebending scenes with the stances and actions themselves, to find any resemblances.

Martial Arts are wonderful! They're a beautiful art form while building fitness, self control, patience, and personal strength. I would love to find a school to practice in again (it's been a while)...

Anyway, that's some great move you're learning! Stretches are all important for gaining flexibility, and with the loooong stances of Northern Shaolin it is completely necessary. That's pretty awesome, and I look forward to hearing more about your lesson!

What do you think about the horse stance? One of the final tests in our class was to hold the horse stance for five minutes straight. Has the teacher done the Jeong Jeong thing where he says, "Wider!...Wider!"

((Ai Lin - Nope! Well, not to me, at least. ^-^ Apparently, I've got a very good horse stance. Something about being a "natural." Little does he know about my Avatar obsession, *lol*))

The Horse Stance[/u]
Just a reminder, it is extremely critical for you to have stretched before hand. If, on the off chance that you actually stretched after reading my first post, and it's been a while, DO IT AGAIN.

Now, the Horse Stance is a very aptly named stance, as it is very akin to straddling a horse's back. For this stance, I want you to stand at the ready position (dont know what that is? Go back to lesson 1!), then step out with your left foot. NOTE: ALWAYS step out with your left when assuming horse stance. Bending your knees, squat slowly until you reach an sitting position. Careful, it's easy to lock your knees at this point; a very bad habit. Keep it loose.

Now, the most common thing for people to do in Horse stance is to stick their bottoms out. That is a biiig no-no. I want you to suck in your butt muscles. This will help strengthen the lower back.

Feeling good right about now? Not yet? Then how bout holding the Horse stance for a count (a slow count!) of twenty, then straighten to ready stance and repeat five times.

Once you've done that, it's time to practice some punches!

Basic Punch, Horse Stance[/u]
The first thing to do is to get into ready position, followed by the horse stance. Taking your left arm, slowly punch out, about shoulder level. Remember how your fist is palm up? While punching, rotate your hand so that it's palm down. When punching out, make sure you dont lock your elbow. Keep it slightly bent, to avoid breaking or "popping" it. Now, just as slowly, bring it back to the origingal horse stance.

Do the same with the other arm, alternating arms, for a total of 40 reps (20 for each arm). Start off slow, and then gradually increase speed. Dont punch at full power yet; your arms arent strong enough, and you could pull a tendon or a muscle — or worse, a ligament.

[End Lesson 1, part 2]


Before I move to lesson 1, part 3, I'd like some feed back. Is this good stuff? Am I being clear in my instructions? Have you tried the moves? How did your body feel afterward? (and so on.)[/color]

lol Those martial arts teachers just don't know that the Avatar fan is a natural at martial arts! We study the episodes with great interest. Neat! Good job, Katara! The instructions are clear and make sense. The beginning stretches are great for loosening up, and the moves themselves are the backbone of the art itself. My vote is continue with the lessons. I feel a lot of people will benefit from this instruction, and it gets me back into the habit as well.

This is surprisingly similar to basic karate, actually. It's invigorating, as I said before. It didn't take long for the Horse Stance to feel natural to me, infact, when I sat back down to type this, I found that I missed the posture. The stance and punching method feels smooth, fluidic, tranquil.

I'd like to try more. And by the way, I'm very out of shape, but for some reason I have this natural ability to adapt easily to workout and workout pains. Easy for me to lose weight fast too. Must be in the GENES.

Show us some more, Katara!

I can't quite get the kick right, Katara. Either I'm phyisically incapable or I'm just getting the movement wrong. Can you explain it better to me, I think maybe I'm missing something. Or, if you have some form of visual aid, that'd help too. I'm having a hard time figuring it out, i'm afraid. Sorry.

I'll give it a shot, but I've been trying and have had no luck thusfar. Infact, I'll save it for tomorrow: I'm getting tired, maybe tomorrow when I've got more energy I'll be able to perform it without trouble, so I wouldn't worry yourself too much about demonstrating via pictures.

I could probably find a video on youtube, too.

Oh, this is so cool. I've always wanted to take martial arts training. Now, I have that chance. Your really cool for doing this Katara. Big thanks. I've found everything you say pretty easy to understand, and I have been able to do the exercises and such. Only thing I'm having trouble picturing in my mind is the horse stance kicks. Its really confusing me. Some pictures would be really good if your able. Thanks again for doing this.

Wow, I know alot of this stuff, but we call the kick that your doing a front ball kick at my dojo. Glad that you pointed out to pull the toes. Anyway, the instructions seem simple and accurate. Keep up the good work Katara. Hey, what belt are you anyway?

Well, I FINALLY get how to do the kicks. Took me long enough. Anyway, I now have a daily exercise, thing. I really enjoy it. Lol. Good explaining Katara. Keep up the good work. I look forword to the next lesson.

This is quite interesting. This will be very helpful while RPing for me. I myself took karate in 1st grade and we used the same ready stance and the same punch. And the horse stance seems alot like a squat, except you are making a up and down motion (and I put a hundred some-odd pounds on my back!).

It seems somewhat odd to me that you turn to your left when kicking with your left. It seems like I can get more power when my right leg is back so taht I can put my hips into my kick. But that might be a different thing entirely.

And in the Side Kicks, do you lean to the side with your lowered arm? I didn't really understand which part of your upperbody is used as a counterweight and how you lean.