Day 2: Mastering the Basic Sword Flowers

I really wish there was a close up of just her hand as it did this. I keep wanting to twirl it like a baton, and that's not right. And even though she moves slow, it's still way roo fast for me. What I am going to try to do is to take screenshots on my computer and focus only on her hand and make a step by step guidebook. I have always struggled with eye hand coordination as it pertains to sports and unfortunately my learning style is text and photos in a process. I have the exact same problem with dance as I do here. Once I see it on paper, I can get it better, so I am gonna try to make my own booklet to learn from.

I am really struggling with the outside flower. I do not understand whether the sword rotates with your wrist or if your fingers rotate it. I hope my question makes sense. I tried to view it in slow motion, but I am still confused. I am dislexic so be gentle with me :'(

This is so exciting! I'm practicing the moves with a long wooden spoon until my sword arrives :D

Love this and honestly I thought it was going to be harder to master. Left side is abit harder but practice makes perfect 👌

It is SO IMPORTANT to work both sides. I am hoping there will be some practice using two swords. I generally prefer dao, but most of these techniques apply well to dao and jian

My right wrist has such a lower flexibility than my left

Forced my husband to watch and make sure I was staying in form. 😅 hula hoop flow prepared me for the figure 8's. Am happy that experience is working here.

Usually I have trouble following along new things like this. Really appreciate the slow speed and how much it was broken down. Not going to lie I still slowed down the speed to half and replayed a couple times, but it really helped! This was fun, going to practice!

My arms!😭⚔️😂 So excited to practice and get better at this!

Ok, so I am taking this one again because I kept getting confused yesterday when I did it. It’s so hard to get my mind wrapped around the flower pattern for no apparent reason lol. The second time was much better but I’ll probably come back to this a few times! Good focused explanation that’s going to be easy to find later, too.

Came back to mention the slow down tool in the video for anyone who struggled following along! I slowed it down a bunch and it became much more clear.

Day 1: I'm feeling really good about these sword movements already! My carpal tunnel is acting up though :( I appreciate practicing both right and left because even though I'm right handed- my left is easier because of the carpal tunnel in my right wrist! Does anyone have advice for thise who may suffer from carpal tunnel? Or am I just doomed to make it worse lol

I had to watch the fingers to see that when doing the inside flowers, you keep a full grip on the sword rather than letting the fingers release as on the outside flowers. Also, when doing the regular inside flowers, she starts with the thumb facing in, but as she points the sword down, the thumb points down and the palm faces out, then the palm faces toward her body as the sword is horizontal, then as she brings it back up, the palm is up briefly before she twists her wrist back to the same starting position with palm and thumb facing to the inside (i.e., to the left if using her right hand). However, when doing the inverted inside flowers, she initially starts with turning the thumb and palm up then out as she lifts up, then facing her as she brings the sword down,, but after cutting back up the thumb and palm are facing back to the outside when finished, so to begin again, she twists the wrist so that the palm faces inward again.

It took twice as long, and my dyslexia is surprisingly making this HARDER, but getting there!

Is each half of the figure-8 at a 90-degree angle from each other, or should each flower be on the same plane for this exercise?

I didnt realise how much of an arm work out this would be! I LOVE IT. This fits perfectly into my already established fitness routine. xo

Day 2, As I don't have my sword yet I used a light stick. I think the main thing is getting the wrist and arm actions right. I am looking forward to trying it with my sword. I think today went well though.

I LOVED this class! I'm so excited to do all the course!

Hi all! Sabina, I am struggling with the outside flower. I slow the video down to .25 speed but still it's like a brain freeze to track which way your hand is turning... under or over? backward or forward? Your outside flower looks like a big open circle close to your body. I can't make so big a circle at all and my sword is more pointing away from my body, making a much smaller 'circle'. I am releasing the 3 fingers, and trying to figure out if you're bending your elbow more - it just feels awkward and jerky. I guess that's normal for a beginner but, any tips? :) thx!

Why does the mirroring switch back to original when I go to full screen?