Experimentation With Cat Stance Movement

About a week or so ago, on the FMK YouTube channel, Sifu Freddie put up a short but interesting clip where he talked about the difference between being a creator/artist versus a collector. This presents a very important challenge, as most 'martial artists' I know (myself included) tend to be students of one or more systems, and are working at learning or mastering the curriculum of these systems... not so much at developing their own thing. But then, where is the 'artistry' in it? I think, for the most part, I have been a collector - of systems knowledge, of techniques, of exercises, of drills, of mannerisms, of forms, etc. And in a way, that's pretty much how you have to start off. Just like a budding musician might learn her instrument by practicing other people's songs. But will she ever come up with her own? That's the difference. And to date, as far as martial arts go, decades in, I still just try to learn other people's songs. So I'm wanting now to accept Freddie's challenge, and start working on some of my own creations, using the various tools and skills I've collected. And I'm sure it'll be difficult, but fun

Last night, I had the intention to set off toward addressing this challenge first thing in the morning. But then dawn rolled around and I found myself lacking some energy. I went out and skipped rope, ran, stretched. Picked me up a bit, but also wore me down some in other ways. Then I was looking at these two trees, very close together, and wondering what I could do with them. You'll see in the beginning of my attached video some inverted push-ups with them. Then I take my body off the ground completely and go horizontal, using a third tree, and play around with some movement between them. Finally (and this part I did not include, because it didn't work out), I attempted the inversion off the ground as well... So much for Amazing Feats Of The Body, Part I

Next, I put on my bag gloves and relaxedly did some work with the trees. This went on for quite a while, and I've just included the opening first third or so of it here. At some point, while doing this, I began playing with the cat stance, moving around a particular tree, and then kind of got a little pattern going. I probably practiced various renditions of this pattern twenty minutes to a half hour, slowly, and never entirely happy with the distancing and feel of everything. I've tacked the last bit of this onto the end of my video, and so concluded my morning experimentation. Nothing entirely amazing or successful, BUT I am attracted to the challenge Sifu Freddie has set, and intend to pursue it at length for all of the future