IF YOU CAN STAND (OR EVEN SIT) UP...

 by Phillip Starr

One of the many excuses I've heard from students as to why they're unable to practice at home is, “I don't have enough room.” My teacher once told us that if we had enough room to stand up (or even sit), we had adequate room for practice. We might not have had adequate space for performing the form we'd been working on, but we did have enough territory to practice lots of other things that seemed to always need polishing.

I recall a story about the “father of Japanese karate”, Gichin Funakoshi, sitting up in bed when he was near the end of his life and practicing the basic forefist thrust as well as a number of other fundamental techniques. He COULDN'T stand up, but he continued with his daily training! Can we do any less?

While I was living in China, I suffered a stroke. When I realized (two days later) that I was in a hospital in Liuzhou, my first thoughts were about my training. How was I ever going to be able to practice again...especially something like baguazhang? The hospital, although it was the best in Liuzhou, had no form of physical therapy/recovery for stroke victims. I couldn't stand and my speech was slurred (kind of like a rockstar the morning after a big party). With some effort, I was finally able to climb out of bed and stand beside the bed while hanging onto the siderails for dear life. A couple of days later, I forced myself to walk around the perimeter of the bed.

My first attempt at walking across the room without holding onto anything was because of my bowels and my hatred of bedpans. The “squatter”, which is to be found throughout China, was the driving force (besides my desire to train again, someday) behind me learning to walk again. The restroom in my room (there were three of us) had a squatter rather than a flush toilet. And squatting was out of the question.

My sister-in-law, Ping, discovered that the room four doors down the hall had a flush toilet. And with gritted teeth, I held onto the rail along the wall of the hallway as I managed to pull myself to that porcelain goddess! After a few more trips, I figured, “Well, I made it this far. Might as well go to the end of the hall and back.” And so it began. I continued doing this until I could amble down the halls without the aid of the rail. When I went home two weeks later, I'd walk longer and longer distances around the lanes that ran through our housing complex. My legs became stronger every day.

When I returned to the U.S., I started practicing fundamental techniques and taijiquan every day – often as much as three times daily. After a time, I was able to practice even baguazhang again! It was a long, difficult process but I kept hearkening to my teacher's words, “If you can stand, you can practice.” And I did. Currently, I have all but completely recovered from the stroke and I'll never forget how I got through it.

If you can stand or sit up, you have room for practice.