Forms & Knee Troubles

My Kung Fu journey started before I signed up as a student. It started sitting on the bench watching some of the instructors, usually brown belts doing their hand forms. It was the forms that really got me thinking and interested in joining Kung Fu. 

As a student it probably wasn’t until about green belt that my love for forms really started to grow and continued to grow. Even with the many challenges over the years there has always been a whole lot of everything that keeps me engaged, improving and connecting so many dots. 

My path forward with regards to forms is becoming murky now. I say this because on one hand, I’m experiencing all these wonderful aha moments and progressions within my forms and Kung Fu. On the other hand, due to issues with both knees, it feels as if I’m regressing. My stances are getting sloppy which is affecting transitions, timing, flow, speed and power. 

Strength, stability and almost constant aches and pains seem to be a regular occurrence these days. Lately I’ve been noticing my left knee has become painful with a single step. It can be fine at times and then suddenly it’s not. When this happens, I immediately focus on how I’m stepping. And I find if I concentrate on really connecting with the heel first and rolling my foot forward, the pain and discomfort is reduced. It can feel as if I'm moving at the pace of a snail. This is something I will need to explore further.

Ongoing knee issues have taught me how to make adjustments, like a pre-pivot or staying more upright as opposed to a squat. They’ve also taught me to push myself, find a way forward and not give up. What’s becoming more apparent though is my stances are suffering. My body compensates to protect the knees with shorter and higher stances, (less bending & weight on the knees). And a proper left lead cat stance is challenging due to stability of the right knee. I can still execute these stances properly and carefully when I slow way down and focus on what needs to be done, but that’s much harder to do within a form.

Although the knee issues are problematic, they require me to be more mindful and my awareness has grown as a result. Now when I stop to correct or sink into a stance, I can feel the difference it makes. I'm connecting the hows and whys, which is very cool. I know from experience, correct stances and alignment helps with my six harmonies, facilitating improved technique, flow, speed, and power. 

Along with the frustration of having issues with both both knees, there have been lots of positives. There are times when I have to remind myself how much the growth I’ve experienced in my Kung Fu and life in general has been due to my knees. I am more connected to my body than I have ever been in the past. I've also realized how lax I've become with doing knee exercises to strengthen and support the knees, so knee exercises have now become part of my daily routine.