First Cup with Jeremy - 20211222 The Martial Arts Morning Show from whistlekick
Channel: whistlekick
Date: 22/12/2021

Wednesday!

Today on First Cup with Jeremy (The Martial Arts Morning Coffee Vlog Show from whistlekick):

Frank Wood
From anydayguide.com
Dongzhi Festival
In China and other parts of East Asia, winter solstice is marked with a traditional festival called the Dongzhi Festival. Falling between December 21 and December 23, it is celebrated by the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, but only Macau recognizes Dongzhi as a public holiday.
The Dongzhi Festival is celebrated on the shortest day of the year. Its origins can be traced back to the ancient yin and yang philosophy of the cosmic balance and harmony between two opposites. In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang are two opposite forces: shade and sun, dark and light, cold and warm, north and south, passive and active, female and male.
While the two forces may seem contrary, they are in fact complementary, interconnected, and interdependent. There’s no yin without yang and no yang without yin. Their dynamics is seen in all forms of change and difference, from the annual cycle to gender roles. People are not supposed to resist this duality or choose one of the forces; what really matters is the harmony between yin and yang.
During the cold season, the dark yin energy prevails. Things begin to change during the Dongzhi solar term that marks the winter solstice. As days grow longer, the positive yang energy begins to flow in, and each day brings people closer to balance and harmony. The Dongzhi Festival marks this important milestone in the annual cycle.
Originally an end-of-harvest festival, the present-day Dongzhi is a time for family reunions and get-togethers. One of the festival’s traditions is the cooking and eating of tangyan, small balls made of glutinous rice. They are considered to be a symbol of family unity because their name is a homophone for the Chinese word for “union”.
Tangyan are typically served as a dessert. They can be boiled or deep fried, white or brightly colored, plain or stuffed with sesame, sweet bean paste, tangerine peel, chopped peanuts, etc. Unfilled tangyan are usually served as part of tong sui, a sweet dessert soup. Each family member gets at least one large tangyan and several smaller ones.
In northern China, people also eat savory dumplings on Dongzhi. This tradition is believed to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing, a physician, writer and inventor of the Han dynasty. According to legend, on a cold winter day, he encountered a poor man suffering from chilblains on his ears. Feeling sympathetic, Zhang Zhongjing ordered his apprentices to make ear-shaped dumplings filled with lamb, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm and prevent their ears from getting chilblains.

Joshua Blum
Something I thought of when listening to yesterday’s episode on taking a break. There are lots of ways to take a break from martial arts, and I don’t think it needs to be a binary thing. You might take a break from training in one art to investigate another or something complimentary, like an activity that would enhance, for example, your strength or cardiovascular fitness, etc. You might have to take a break due to an injury but use that time to work on something else, like the mental parts of your training, kind of how Bruce Lee’s back injury gave him the time to compile years of notes into what would eventually become JKD. You might have a life event (like having a child) that makes it basically impossible to be in a training hall, so formal training is no longer possible for a time. When I was in medical school and residency, there was so little time for just getting basic needs met, and I never had regular hours, so during those years, I wasn’t able to do any formal training in a school. But, by that point, martial arts were such a part of my life, it never occurred to me to stop practicing. It just looked different. So I think it can take many forms depending on someone’s unique circumstances.
Thankfully, it is easier than ever for someone to continue learning even if there are no teachers around. That said, what are the martial arts book(s) that have had to most influence on your training?
Mine would be Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams, Stretching Scientifically by Tom Kurz, Dynamic Stretching and Kicking by Bill Wallace, and a number of the Stephen K Hayes books from the 80s that were in my local library.

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