Dear Family,

Am recuperating from the training week here at the homestead. Just watched two episodes of LOST. Gavin downloaded the entire 2nd season from bit torrent, so we have been watching them slowly. He jumped way ahead of me, episode-wise, while I was gone, so I am trying to catch up. I just watched #17, which was a doozey. Lots of good stuff in these episodes, and I am glad I don't have to watch it on TV with all the commercials and such.

C, I wear the green side of the sash out, the right side in. The significance of the sash colors is interesting: Instructors "Shifu" (pron. Sherfoo) wear black on one side purple on the other - they wear the black out. The black and purple signify night (being 'in the dark,' eh?) dawning slowly into morning - with purple being the hint of dawn. Senior Instructors "Shibo" (pron. Sherbow) wear dark green and dark red, with the green out. The green and red signify a fullblown sunrise, and the red especially signifies that the knowledge is "getting into the blood" and the person is starting to embody the knowledge, not just understand it theoretically. As far as the green goes, I can't remember exactly, but it has to do with nature - we are more than anything else a Taoist art, and Taoism is really the study of nature.

Masters "Shigung" (pron. shergong) wear red and gold - with red on the outside. those colors signify shining, glowing, the epidome of the art. Beyond that, there isn't much else. One becomes a grandmaster only after one has made someone else a master, but it's not necessarily a new level of achievement in an 'understanding' sort of way.

So that's the structure from instructor and beyond. Before instructor you go through the five animals, with associated sash colors:
1. tiger - yellow
2. praying mantis - green
3. crane - blue
4. snake - silver
5. dragon - black

For the students you will notice a progression in colors - from light to dark. So you go from beginner to black sash, and the colors go light (yellow) to dark (black). then the instructor colors go from dark to light.

My promotion boils down to this: I have more responsibility, and will be learning more cool stuff.
JP, glad to hear you are settling into your nest. we should talk soon! Dad, sorry our talk was so short last night. I was tired, and drained. We need to think about when I will come for a visit in august!

C, can't wait to see twip pictures.

love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 7/10/2006 09:23:00 PM