Oh happy day :) the sword arrived this afternoon...woo! it's very very pretty...yay! I can't wait to get home now and start going through the forms (no not pieces of paper...the sword forms...moves and stuff that you practice in a sequence :)).

I've read through the first half of the Tai Chi Sword Forms book now and there's a lot in there about Chi and how to harness it through meditation, (for those that don't know 'Chi' is Chinese for Energy...the Japanese version is 'Ka' and the Indian is 'Prana'...it's the stuff that chakras are based around...if you believe in any of that kind of thing) Tai Chi, as with many other martial arts, is just as much about mental development as physical and it places a lot of emphasis on developing your Chi. Now as keen as I am to learn all this lovely sword fighty stuff i'm not 100% certain on this Chi stuff...I like the idea and i'm pretty much convinced but there's a cynical side to me (yes I know that must come as quite a shock to you all!) that's thinking "yeah, right!"...however, if it can do for me what these people seem to say it can then i'm all for it :)

Let me give you an example...you know in martial arts films when the characters hold their free hands in a point? (I won't describe it further as you'll know it if you've seen it and it's difficult to explain if you've not) well this, apparently, does more than look cool :) it is a way of balancing your Chi with the sword...and even better, they reckon that a master can use this as an 'energy staff' to strike his opponent with!...now is it just me or is this all starting to sound a little 'Jedi'?...eeeeeexcellent, give me a few years and i'll be able to confuse the weak minded with my focused Chi powers...'these aren't the droids you're looking for'...:)