It takes about a year, minimum, in Lung Shou Pai kung fu to go from getting your black belt to testing for your second degree. The second degree test is, in some ways, less strenuous than the first. It’s less rigorously defined, for one thing. You aren’t called on to demonstrate everything you’ve ever learned. You demo everything the lower-ranking classes have been working on, plus all the forms that you’ve learned in your time as a black belt student. For me, that meant eight levels of colored-belt material, plus Ssu Wang (the first black belt empty hand form), the chain whip, and the kwan dao. Plus an endurance test and a 3-man pyramid sparring test.

I did well on everything. I didn’t work as hard preparing for this test as I’d planned, but I felt like that ended up being a good thing. My endurance was never an issue, my familiarity with my material was as good as I could’ve wanted, and my sparring felt pretty acceptable, even if I did get a shiner. I always get hit in the left eye. I should probably do something about that.

I’ve got two years of training before I get tested again. That one will be another serious, comprehensive examination, but now that I can relax and breathe again I have a lot of stuff I want to work on. Tai chi, for instance. Chin na, too. During a break from testing, Sigung showed us some chin na applications that did things I hadn’t even considered.  I’d like to put in some work toward developing my sparring using more forms applications so that my fighting is concretely kung fu, not kickboxing.  I want to do some documentation on some of our higher-level material. I’m looking forward to the change in pace.

Also, I need to get my new certificate framed.