People often ask before signing up what they will be able to do. “It depends” is true and useless, so here is a concrete list.
This assumes two one-hour sessions a week, with no prior experience.
The body
Three basic stances - horse, bow, cat. Not deep and not held long, but with the knees and pelvis in the right places.
Weight transfer. Moving from one stance to another without the trunk wobbling. This is the largest part of the first three months and the least impressive to watch.
Basic strikes and blocks. Three or four, performed slowly and in the air.
One short sequence. Eight to twelve movements, beginning to end, though not yet beautifully.
The breath
Belly breathing at rest. The first thing that changes, and the only one you will notice outside the hall.
A breath that holds through the warm-up. After three months you are no longer gasping fifteen minutes in.
Exhaling on effort. Not automatically, but you can do it consciously.
Mobility and balance
Hips. The most measurable change. A deeper squat, a wider stance, less lower back ache after long sitting.
Shoulders. More overhead range and less tension at the end of a working day.
Balance. Standing on one leg with eyes closed typically doubles within three months.
What you will not be able to do
It is only fair to say this too.
You will not be able to defend yourself. Three months is far too little for anything that survives under stress.
You will not have deep stances. That takes a year or more.
You will not be doing Sanshou. Or only the first, cooperative stages.
Your sequence will not look good. Beauty is a consequence of repetition, not of understanding.
It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.
What you will notice outside the hall
This is in fact the most interesting part, and nobody expects it.
- Better sleep - the most common first effect, usually in week three.
- Posture - most often somebody else points it out to you.
- Less back ache after long sitting.
- You notice when your breath closes. In traffic, in a meeting, in a conversation.
What happens across those three months
Month one: chaos. The body aches, your head is no use, everything is too fast. Normal.
Month two: first sparks. Something happens by itself, posture improves.
Month three: the plateau. It feels like you have stopped progressing. That is not a standstill but consolidation - and this is where most people quit, because nobody tells them it is normal.
Get through the third month and somewhere in the fifth or sixth comes a jump larger than everything before it.
Practicalities
You can join at any point in the year. The beginners’ group trains Mondays and Wednesdays - Qi Gong at 17:30, Kung Fu at 18:30, Ziherlova 44 in Ljubljana.
