monkeygirl

As far as mounting on a wall....if you can find a stud in the wall, your local hardware store should have the necessary materials to hang heavy objects on walls. You may need to use a few depending on how much the thing weighs, though.

13 is wayyyyyyyyy too hormonal of an age to have a healthy romantic relationship. Then again, I don't know many people of any age who have a "healthy" romantic relationship. Anyway, I'm a senior in high school and I've never had a boyfriend or anything I could call a "real" date. Group dates, going to a movie with a guy but not calling it a date, supposed-to-be-first-dates that both of our parents crash... yeah. I remember at your age I wanted a date soooo bad. Now, I have too many other things to worry about and I could kinda care less. I mean, if somebody asked me out I would think about it, but I'm frankly tired of crushing on guys when nothing ever happens...ever. What's more, I look at the "couples" in my school, and they're ridiculous! Most of them are just dating each other because of physical attraction and nothing more, so they get bored of each other after a week. After a few tries, none of the girls want to date a certain guy, because he's built a terrible reputation of going through girls like toilet paper. The "gorgeousest" senior guy has been through dates with about 6 different girls so far this year, all of them boring and terrible from what I understand. I guess my point is this... 1. Don't push yourself to have a girlfriend just for the sake of having one. 2. Think with your BRAIN. Ask yourself what you like about her. If it doesn't include her personality, chances are you two will have a miserable time together. 3. If you do find a special girl you care about, then talk to her. She won't always be the prettiest or the most popular, but she will be the one that makes you the happiest. Anyway, that's what I would personally appreciate from a guy.

If you're looking for meditation techniques...these are just sort of relaxation things. I don't do it often, but when I do, this is how I like to do it. Sit in a quiet room of comfortable temperature. I prefer dim lighting because I close my eyes. That way when I open them later, it isn't a shock, which sort of ruins the whole experience. You could light a scented candle that you like. Maybe play some light music, but it's probably better if there aren't any lyrics. You're trying to get to a state beyond words. If you've ever studied art and the brain, you're trying to get to your Left Brain, basically. Keep relatively good posture. Sit up straight, but relax your shoulders. You'll breathe better. and your mom will be happy. Now, you want to envision something. Maybe it's a happy memory or an environment. For me, I like to imagine landscapes, like a sunset on a rocky beach, or the pool at the bottom of a jungle waterfall, or rolling green hills, or anything equally corny. It should be a place you'd like to be, anything that relaxes you. While you have this vision, focus on your breathing. Take deep, steady breaths, and everytime you breathe out, imagine that the stress is leaving your body, little by little. Like squeezing a tube of toothpaste, or shoveling dirt or something. (This also works especially well for pain! Exhale and imagine the pain leaves with the breath) Once that is finished, the next step will leave you energized if you choose to do it. Inhale steadily, taking in as much air as your lungs will handle. Once you've reached max capacity, hold it there for a count of six. Exhale, breathing all of the air out, and hold that for a count of six. Do that three times. Breathe normally for a little while, and when you're ready, gently open your eyes (if you closed them). I usually do it for about 20 minutes or so. This is a good time for prayer, if you choose to do so. That part is strictly optional though. Meditation is by no means limited to religious activity, which is great because it can be so incredibly relaxing. Sometimes people do group meditation, but I don't like that very much. I guess it depends on how you deal with stress. I internalize things and like to be left alone to deal with it my own way. Others probably prefer to be with people, so group meditation would be good for them. An alternative to meditation is a cool "left-brain" exercise I've done once or twice. Some artists like to do it before they begin to work in order to "get in the mood" so to speak. Get a pencil and some paper, and a finely detailed object. This could be a balled up piece of paper or the palm of your hand...anything that has a lot of contours. Now look very closely at the object. Never take your eyes off the object, just start to draw and let your hand move along. Don't think about what you're drawing, just try to notice all of the little lines, and make your hand copy them exactly as they are. After I did that for a few minutes, I felt like I was on another planet. It's kinda weird, like daydreaming about nothing at all...but pretty relaxing.

During a cardio workout or a long night of sparring, we played music to keep the energy flowing, especially for people who maybe didn't like to spar that much. It keeps your mind off of how tired you are, or how afraid you are of that enormous guy you have to fight next... During katas and such, it would probably be too distracting for the majority of students. However, it can certainly be done. The only place I can do kata anymore is in my high school's yoga room, which is basically a closet in the weight room, so there is always rap music blasting in there. The doors don't provide much soundproofing, so you have to kind of find your zone. I suppose it would be an interesting concentration exercise to see if students could perform complicated tasks while listening to a variety of music...Veggie Tales, Metallica, etc. However, that's getting off-topic. Good groups/CD's to use: Soundtracks provide a nice mixture of groups so people aren't stuck listening to an entire album by a group they hate. The Rocky and Mortal Kombat soundtracks were always popular in our dojo. During weekend sparring sessions, we'd let students bring in whatever music they wanted to, so long as it was appropriate and kept a good beat. Metallica and classic rock were big hits on the weekends.

I'll move this to the Getting Started in the Martial Arts Forum. Even though you're not exactly "getting started" for the very first time, I think it will be more helpful there.

Welcome to the forums! I am moving this to the Equipment forum, and also changing the thread title so people will know what you're asking about.

I'm going to move this to the Health Training & Fitness Forum.

I'm going to move this to the Weapons forum.

Well, I've personally never had razor burn, but I can just offer some shaving tips: -shower first to soften the skin and hair -shaving WITH the grain of the hair reduces resistance, ingrown hairs, and irritation...although you may have to sacrifice a bit of a closer shave. -I've always thought warm water was better for your skin than cold when it comes to shaving...it's not a shock for the skin. -gel, not foam. Much thicker. -sharp, sharp blade!! -moisturize!! This keeps your skin supple and healthy, and may even soften up your facial hair a bit. Your lady friends will appreciate softer stubble to reduce that painful "beard rub" effect. You will want two kinds of moisturizer: day and night. Your day moisturizer should leave you feeling refreshed and clean, not oily and bogged down. You might want to stay away from moisturizers that have acne medications such as salycilic acid/benzoyl peroxide, especially for your day moisturizer. These acids actually dry out your skin, and it'll probably get flaky. Since you have dry skin problems anyway, you probably just want to avoid anti-acne or other harsh face washes (like Noxzema!) altogether. If you have acne problems, just keep your skin clean, don't touch it, and watch what foods you eat. Your night moisturizer should be nice and thick. You may even want to put one drop of lavender essential oil into your nightly moisturizer. This is great stuff!! It helps with acne (and is an exception to the acne stuff I told you earlier), speeds the healing process in your skin, and lavender is also naturally relaxing, so it helps you sleep at night. -when you dry off your face, use a nice soft towel, and dab...don't rub! Pat at your face until it's just moist...you do not want a really dry face. Then, when you moisturize directly after that, your skin will actually absorb more moisture. All of those tips will hopefully help with both your skin dryness and your shaving problems. You said you have a moderately oily skin type, but dry skin problems. Could you elaborate on that? My final suggestion--and I hesitate to make this--would be to think about using one of those "epil-stop" sprays you see on TV. To be honest, I don't know how well (if at all) they work, so I would consider it a last resort. If it works like the commercials say they do, however, it should solve many of your problems. No blade involved, and it prevents the hairs from growing back, drastically reducing irritation. You said your skin is sensitive though, so that adds to my hesitation to suggest such a product. Here are some general tips for oily skin: A lot of people tend to want to wash and wash at oily skin and never moisturize, in an attempt to "zap out" the oiliness. To a point, this will dry out your skin...but it will probably be TOO dry. Even more washing will cause your body to produce more oil to save its parched skin, leaving your epidermis even oilier than before. Use a gentle soap and a light moisturizer for your face and any other parts of your body that are oily. Dryer parts need heavier moisturizers/lotions. *phew!* That was long.

Happy Holidays!!! Hope everyone gets to spend it with their loved ones.

Is #11 "O Holy Night"? If so, I be da mayor of who-ville

Congrats! And nice avatar

I'm going to move this to the Chinese Arts forum, but I do want to say this: You may find some online resources for Tai chi, but it's extremely difficult to learn even the basics of a martial art that is new to you over the internet...and quite possibly even harder to attempt to teach someone that art. If you have no real-life background in the art, it's going to be pretty difficult. Maybe a good place to start would be with some basic videos, so you can imitate motions instead of/in addition to reading about them. Good luck, hope you find what you're looking for.

32 pounds?? That must have taken forever to cook!!

Welcome to the forums!! Good luck with your training, hope you love it By the way, I'm moving this to the Introductions Forum.

Pretty much a normal day with different food, sadly. My family talked about what we were thankful for, but that was about it.

In addition to Shorin Ryuu's suggestion (which is a good one), I'm going to move this to the Health, Training & Fitness forum.

A little obscurity never hurt. For example, you could use "Goju Ryu Karate" or something (I'm sure I spelled it wrong, I'll pass it off as typos). It's obviously a form of martial arts, but adds a sense of mystery. Meanwhile, your genuine martial artist readers are impressed by your ability to cite an actual style instead of the generic "karate" tag that gets slapped on every Joe Miyagi dojo. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think Seven Star is referring to the fact that a genuine black belt is extremely difficult to attain in Brazilian JiuJitsu. A brown belt is a pretty huge accomplishment in that style. It adds a sense of realism and believability. For my suggestions: styles like TKD and Kung Fu are a little too general and "cheap" sounding, and/or don't fit what you're looking for. You could always play the "Jeet Kun Do" card, which many argue is really more of a mindset than a style. Also, it was created by Bruce Lee, so that's a bonus. Depending on her "past", perhaps she received direct training from Bruce, or from one of his "disciples", and then she took things from there, adding to her repertoire as she saw fit, according to her training. For the cool forearm-breaking: The guy on the ground grabs her ankle and yanks it backwards. She starts to fall forward, twists midfall so she would land on her side (the same side as the ankle he grabbed), controls the landing and lands shoulder/arm first, meanwhile does an axe kick with her free leg so that her heel comes crashing down on his forearm. Then, (the bad guy having released his grip, and the toughest opponent running at her, now behind her) she does a backwards somersault towards the toughest guy and pushes hard with her arms while kicking out as if to do a handstand...except that she times and angles the double-kick (like stomping with both feet) to nail her opponent in the stomach, thereby launching him backwards. She lets her momentum carry her through the roll and then she's on her feet! Of course, this tough guy could grab both of her feet...in which case, she could push up against him, causing him to resist (he'll be pushing down), then bend her knees and pull him to the ground in front of her. (the ol' letting-go-in-tug-of-war trick) Meanwhile she could grab his ankles so that as he falls he "pulls" her up. It would kind of look like a "circus roll". Aah I love fantasy fight choreography, because it would probably never work if it wasn't all staged.

Hey, don't get down on yourself! That's what we're here for: answering questions. If that involves a little problem-dumping...so be it. And about the four months of training thing...I think we've all been there. Between three months to a year of training is probably the most dangerous amount. You have just enough knowledge to make you think you're deadly, and not enough to realize that you really are deadly...to yourself. The flip side is that many of us don't end up in situations where our absence of sufficient skill is made apparent. Consider yourself lucky that everything turned out okay, and that you've had this opportunity to learn a lesson without anyone getting hurt. Who knows, if something had happened, maybe you COULD have taken care of yourself...but that's not the point. I've had four YEARS of training (and that really isn't much in the grander scheme of things), and I still wouldn't want to get into a situation like that. Sure, a little part of me would find it thrilling. But the smarter part of me asks: what if he had a knife? A gun? Friends? Even if I have had some training in that kind of defense, I don't like the odds. Remember: the best offense is a good defense, and that means prevention! That goes for a lot of things in life. With all of that said, I'm moving this to the Strategies & Tactics forum, since it really is about self defense. Welcome to the forums

I was standing outside of my aunt's front porch, which is surrounded by black railing and corner posts. I used to play on that railing a lot as a little kid. Now as a little teenager, I can't help imagining action scenes on those railings, where I leap up and swing around on the corner, delivering a flying sidekick, etc. I also leap into "action mode" now. For example, a state police helicopter landed on our campus while looking for a bank robber. At the time though, nobody had a clue what was going on. I was walking alone, so I started hiding behind bushes, hopping around, trying to assess the situation. Then about 50 curious students came by and blew my cover.

1. I'm sorry, I tried to make it clear in my original post that I understood this. What I was trying to say was that even if Capoeira did not have that fighting aspect to it, I would still want to learn it. 2. Yes, fighting can be an expression of yourself, I don't disagree with you on that. I have just always tended to look at fighting as the "martial" side (even though it has some art in it), and kata/forms as the "art" side (even though it has some martial in it). It's sort of a yin/yang thing: every black has some white, vice versa, etc. Hopefully that clears some things up

If your instructor is a girl, DON'T be the guy that comes up to her and asks if she can stay after class or come over to his place for a "private ground sparring tutoring session".

I think every person should be able to defend themselves, but I don't think that every art (or every aspect of a single art) needs to be practical and teach you how to defend yourself in a real situation. Personally, I have a fairly good knowledge of self-defense, including street smarts and how to prevent the fight from ever happening. I enjoy the self defense (martial) aspect very much. However, I also really enjoy the artistic side to martial arts. For example, I'd love to study Wushu and Capoeira, even if they had nothing to do with fighting or self-defense, because their beautiful artistic sides fascinate me. In this way, the martial arts are a type of intense dance centered around fighting movements. They train your mind, tone your body...and for me, kata and artistic stuff is very relaxing and "soul-enriching". At the same time, I love to fight ...both realistic fighting and tournament-style point fighting. So, not every art needs self-defense, but every person does. I think this is an important distinction to make. I don't honestly think there is any one all-encompassing art that will make everyone happy...so if you want a few different aspects, you can cross-train in a few different styles that specialize on self-defense or point sparring or weapons or kata or NHB fighting. And then, each of those aspects have many sub-aspects (multiple weapons, smooth slow katas vs. hard fast katas, etc), and a style to go with it. It all depends on what blend you want. If you do it right, I think cross-training provides an extremely valuable level of personalization for the individual martial artist. Of course, you may not be able to achieve the same level of mastery as a person who concentrates on one art their entire life, but I think it can still be efficient. And if hours in the week weren't an issue, cross-training in all of those arts at once would be incredible. Of course, that's a pretty lofty ideal, but it's still a nice one

I hear Oklahoma has some snow. We might get some snow showers up here in PA tonight. It's strange that we have more White Thanksgivings than White Christmases.

Okay, thank you for the information...this thread is heading to the Chinese Martial Arts forum.