Yoga: Day 1

Since yesterday I started doing yoga. The reason why I am doing yoga is actually for my mother. My mother (60 years old) suffers from fibromyalgia and finds it difficult to exercise because of the pain. For those that don't know what fibromyalgia is, here is a short description: fibromyalgia is a medical condition characterized by chronic widespread pain and a heightened pain response to pressure.

So to make her healthier, lessen the muscle pain and keep her motivated, I decided to do yoga with her. We decided to do the 30 days of yoga with Adriene, you can find her video on YouTube under the name yoga with Adriene. I really recommend it.

To be honest I really underestimated yoga. I hate to admit it but, I had stereotypical views about it. You know not a really workout just sit or stand and do some poses, what could be difficult about that. So after day 1 (video: ease into it) my view totally changed mainly because of the muscle ache in my shoulders and back. I consider myself reasonably fit, I go cycling once a week (at least 60km) and every even day of the month I work out my muscles. So I never thought yoga would give me muscle ache but the stretching really gives you a nice workout.

So I guess that I relearned that only after you have experienced something, can you truelly judge what it is like.

Book genre: Xianxia

About a year and half ago while reading online novels/books I came into contact with a new genre "Xianxia". This a Chinese book genre that is similar yet different from the western fantasy genre. To better explain this genre I need to describe another genre first namely "Wuxia". The reason why I must first describe "Wuxia" is because "Xianxia" is a book genre that is derived/evovled from "Wuxia".

The literally English meaning of "Wuxia" is martial hero. Books with "Wuxia" genre are basically martial arts stories. To best describe them in Western genres, it would be a blend of historical and a bit of fantasy genre. So essentially ‘real’ (historical Chinese) world filled with people who do incredible things through martial arts and internal energy. Internal energy basically allows them  to leap long distances across rooftops and skip across water. To better understand this genre you can watch the famous Chinese TV show "The legend of the Condor Heroes".

 As for the English meaning of "Xianxia" is immortal hero. This genre is basically a fantasy genre (Chinese folklore/mythology) based on "Wuxia". A general description would be martial artist that cultivate internal energy to become immortal, fly through the air and perform magic. The "Xianxia" genre also leans heavily on Daoism. If this description awakens your interest in the genre, I would recommend you to visit the website Wuxiaworld. This website was created by RWX a translator (Chinese-English). RWX is the person who contributed the most on the international hype of this Chinese genre. On the website you can read books that are being translated, I would suggested read Coiling Dragon by IET. It was the first (Xianxia) book I read and it's competely translated.

For side note there is also a genre called "Xuanhuan" this means mysterious fantasy. The stories are basically  "Xianxia(Chinese folklore/mythology) remixed with foreign elements and settings. To notice the difference look for the presence of Daoist elements. If they aren't present it is a Xuanhuan genre.