Ironic Wolf

Chinese philosophy sounds really neat to western ears.

So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to (the idea of) the other.
by Lao-Tse.

In this spirit of duality, comes two little spheres, the baoding balls.

What a challenge could it be; rotating two small spheres in one hand? With my first trial I discovered that I only could rotate them with my right hand and still only in one direction!

Here are the different difficulty levels, described for a right handed:

1. Rotate two spheres in the right hand clockwise
2. Rotate two spheres in the right hand counterclockwise
3. Rotate the spheres in the left hand clockwise
4. Rotate the spheres in the left hand counterclockwise
5. Try to speed up points 1,2,3,4
6. Rotate two spheres in the right hand clockwise, in such a way that
   there is no contact between the two spheres
7. Rotate two spheres in the right hand counterclockwise, in such a way that
   there is no contact between the two spheres
8. Rotate two spheres in the left hand clockwise, in such a way that
   there is no contact between the two spheres
9. Rotate two spheres in the left hand counterclockwise, in such a way that
   there is no contact between the two spheres
10. Try to increase your speed
11. Rotate three spheres in the right hand clockwise
12. Rotate three spheres in the right hand counterclockwise
13. Rotate three spheres in the left hand clockwise
14. Rotate three spheres in the left hand counterclockwise
15. Try to rotate as fast as you can
16. Repeat the previous points with bigger spheres!!

After two days of training I am hung at point 5. I see no improvement in my speed. Following the principle of least efforts I try to improve the way I move my finger to only make the required movements for the spheres to rotate; perhaps that should do the trick.

Since I spend a lot of time in front of my PC I put the baoding balls next to it. I really enjoy them as it’s a great way to take a micro-break and rest my easy, wrist and neck.

You can find the whole Tao Teh Kind atGutenberg.org

Tags: Baoding, Baoding Balls, counterclockwise, difficulty, finger, lao tse, philosophy, Rotate, training

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Hazardous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.