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i've taken up this recently created dance form of martial arts called wu dau... or something. Not a clue how to spell it... oh well, that to the side. Despite constant pain and such I'm game to have a crack at it.

It was made by a lady called Michelle, a professional dancer and shiatsu master who had an accident and was no longer able to dance. In her journey through the pain, this is what she came up with... or so I'm told. I might look it up online later.

It concentrates on doing happy things with the energy points and stimulating the meridians... sort of like Tai Chi but faster. It's got the same base origin as acupuncture and acupressure and works with the same points on the body. The basic idea is that we have energy, not just blood, flowing through us. if there is a blockage in the energy flow there will result in stiffness and pain. If you can stimulate those various points it does happy things for the various bits of the body they tie into. It also has an effect on the physical body. Ditch the blockage, ditch the pain and the physical, no longer having to cope with the pain, slowly comes right... or at least I think that's how it works.

anyway, it helped this Michelle chickie with her back and the pain so it should work for me to right?

There are five dances touching on the chinese elements and running in this order, Air, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth. Fire is the longest and Earth is the shortest.

Each dance is done for 2 to 4 reps depending on the dance, to make sure the energy points the dancer is working with have definitely got everything up and moving and there's a lot of leg work.

atm, I can only one rep of each... if that and I haven't had a proper shot at fire yet cause my legs are usually munted by that time but there's no rush. Build slow, don't force or push yourself and that credo really works for me cause I wouldn't even if they told me too.

I think I like it though. It's giving the euphoric effect good exercise is supposed to give a person, that i used to get from the other form of home made marital arts (Hon Du Ru- a mix of ninjitsu's, jujitsu and whatever else he saw that seemed to work and was based on circular motions.). When you did it right, the endorphins really kicked in so that climbing the hill was no prob... on bad days though, I felt like I'd been tossed down a flight of stairs.

It'll probably help more still if i take a pain killer or two before I got too. razz

Anyway, even at $12 a week I think it's worth it cause I think it is something I'll try at home... which is what I was after in the first place. Something I'd be willing to do at home so I can shift some of the freight of my poor, over taxed bod.

Well, we'll just see how things go.