Why Kung Fu

With the year coming to a close, many will be planning to start 2016 with a list of resolutions. Some of these resolutions will have people seeking out a martial arts school to begin training. Everyone has their own reasons that pull them toward the martial arts lifestyle but, for most, the reasons for sticking with the training tend to be different than the reasons for beginning the training.

I, like most, began my training because of an inspiration. Yes, Bruce Lee has always been a hero of mine but the incentive driving me to my first class was not visions of the Little Dragon but rather a phone call from my best friend telling me he had just enrolled in a kung fu class. Before kung fu I was not a ‘join the club’ sort of guy, I did not have much follow through, and I definitely was not a person who easily ventured outside my comfort zone.

I began my training for purely egotistical reasons. Being athletic I have pretty much excelled in any physical activity I have pursued and kung fu was no different. It did not take long before I noticed the physical benefits of the training but I could also sense something more. Something my young self could not quite put a finger on. Something just a little out of focus and only in my peripheral vision. It was not quite tangible but it was there nevertheless. Thirty-two years later it is now in the direct focus of my older self. Time, and the clarity that comes with experience, have given me appreciation and understanding for the more valuable abstract aspects of kung fu.

I am who I am today because of kung fu. I have met amazing people, witnessed miracles, and I have experienced an awakening. I no longer avoid the unknown, I embrace it. I no longer accept mediocrity, I pursue mastery. I have replaced insecurity and anger with compassion. I reject conspicuous consumption and I live simply. I have eliminated my regrets of the past and I no longer worry about the future. I understand the miracle found in every moment of every day and I know that the only guarantee in life is change. It is in my nature to grow old, it is in my nature to become sick, and it is in my nature to die.

Kung fu is so much more than kicking and punching. It has given me the clarity to understand what it means to be free.

“The challenge isn’t to be a great martial artist, the hardest work is to be a connected, compassionate, engaged, forgiving, participative human being. You learn the martial arts so that you may take what you practice so diligently on the mats –and then apply it to things that genuinely matter in the world.” - Tom Callos (b. 1959)