09/20/2026
Comment PART 2 if you want to see where my training takes me next π
I didn't know pain could shrink the whole world until the bamboo hit my arm.
For a second there was no mountain, no master, no reason I'd come to Dengfeng. There was only the part of me that wanted to pull away and never offer my arm again.
I couldn't make the pain disappear, so I stopped trying to. I let myself feel it, took one breath, then another, until I could feel my feet under me again.
That was the reset. Not pretending I was calm. Finding my way back to it.
When I was ready, I stood in my stance again, still afraid of the next strike. I wasn't letting the fear decide for me anymore.
I came to the mountains near Shaolin to learn kung fu. What stayed with me wasn't the stance or the strike. It was that gap between losing my composure and choosing to come back.