Second Guessing

This week I am dealing with the possible reality of my sixth knee surgery.  Going through this five previous times, I am pretty adept at recognizing cartilage problems.  The physical issues are real and disconcerting but the psychological toll this type of things takes on a person is much more significant.

I have no idea what I am doing that is tearing up my knees. The most significant tears came during my hockey years and were the reason I gave up the sport competitively.  I am never aware of an incident that has damaged my knees, I just wake up one day and notice there is something wedging in my joint.  Every time this happens, I find myself second guessing things. Should I have gone roller blading last week? Why am I still doing those stupid flying kicks? Do I really need to spar so aggressively?

The years go by and the body revolts. While I have a few regrets about breaking bricks with my fists in the past, I have no complaints about the active life I continue to be blessed with.  I still feel like I did when I was fourteen, just with more inflammation.

“If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” - Micky Mantle (1931 - 1995)

Goals vs Deadlines and Forest for the Trees

The old advice to work smarter, not harder holds merit in almost every situation including kung fu, in spite of the fact that hard work is essential to succeed in kung fu. I remember Steve Jobs saying that referring to clock frequency to compare the speed of a Mac to a PC was the equivalent of measuring a car’s speed via the tachometer instead of the speedometer. Engine speed is not the same as road speed. One kung fu equivalent would state that effort does not necessarily equate to results.

Logically, one would assume that the more effort you put into something the better the results but that is not always the case. The example I like to use is this - if I want to get to Jasper and I have a jet that flies the speed of sound, the speed of my jet is not as big a factor to my arrival time than the direction I choose to fly the thing. I can get to Jasper by flying east, eventually, but I will get there a lot quicker if I fly west.

We all have goals but not all of us make progress on our goals. The problem for most is that without a deadline to achieve our goals, we tend to never start working toward them. Deadlines motivate. The deadline serves the goal.  The problem that many run into is with perspective. If one is not careful one ends up serving the deadline and forgetting about the goal.

All my training goals come down to one thing - mastery of kung fu. The pushups, the form repetitions, eating healthy, meditating, reading, sleeping - everything I do is to further myself down the path to mastery. If I do not keep that goal in front of me, the deadlines I put on myself start to become my goals instead of tools to achieve my goal, and once that happens my training perspective shifts from serving my mastery goal to serving my deadlines. I do 50,000 pushups/year because I need to keep my shoulders and core strong and healthy for kung fu. If I am only worried about the numbers, I am not mindful of my technique and I actually do damage to my shoulders, ultimately going against my original goal of mastery. Forrest and trees.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey (1932 - 2012)

Canada 150

Another Canada Day is behind us along with another bunch of dragon dances, lion dances, and kung fu demonstrations. Our school had a lot of responsibility this year as we were recruited to perform all day in Spruce Grove and we had also committed to performing in Stony Plain for their celebration.  I got to spend the entire day outside with the majority of my time being spent feeling the earth beneath my bare feet. I can’t complain about that.

My gratitude today extends to the amazing group of people I shared the day with. Of all kung fu has given me in my life, what I value most is what you all bring to my life -  your dedication, your leadership, your commitment to community, and above all, your friendship and laughter.

Consider Canada Day 150 seized.

“Canada, when others build walls, you open doors. When others divide, your arms are open wide. Where you lead, others follow.” - Bono (b. 1960)

Knowledge vs Skill

When training in kung fu, achieving a black belt is difficult, but achieving a high ranking black belt is even more difficult. There are many factors that make achieving a high rank difficult but what I see as holding most people up is their inability to differentiate knowledge from skill. This limitation is evident by how they conduct themselves during class drills and in lower black belt cases, their approach to teaching their students. Students, rather than getting in as many repetitions of a drill as they can, spend too much time discussing the technique with their partner and intellectually analyzing their execution. Some instructors will exasperate this student tendency by spending too much time explaining a technique and not giving the students enough time to practice the application of the technique. I try to address this issue by using the catch phrase “Less yak and more smack”.

Having knowledge of a technique is not the same as having skill with a technique. Understanding how the technique can be applied and the mechanics behind that application goes a long way toward learning an application, but the only way to achieve mastery is through repetitive application of the technique. In a perfect world every student would take what I tell them in class and faithfully apply the lesson during daily practice, getting in thousands of repetitions at home between classes. Unfortunately the common reality for the majority of students tends to be that the full extent of their weekly kung fu practice time is their two hours of weekly classes.

Rule of thumb - if someone is talking, they are not practicing. If the instructor is talking, students are acquiring knowledge but not skill. Skill only comes from consistent application of knowledge.

“We have more information than we have skills to turn it into useful knowledge.” - Mark Rolston

Time Travel

This is another post directed specifically with my black belts in mind but I am sharing it publicly in hopes others may benefit.

In last week's black belt class I introduced the concept of time traveling to my students. The purpose of the lesson was to expand the way they were looking at the six harmonies and how they go about perfecting them within each technique. I made a statement that a good black belt is a time traveler who can manipulate time. Upon further discussion with one of my black belts, I realized that the term time traveler is not totally accurate as it implies certain aspects that are not possible. A better term would be 'time manipulator' but I think I will cater my Doctor Who fetish and use 'Time Lord'.

I assume that we all can agree that time is affected by perception. If you're having a good time, time flies by. If you're reading this post and find it boring, time just crawls by. If we agree that perception can affect time, then we have to agree that time is not linear, perception-wise. It is this lack of linearity that creates the concepts of real speed and apparent speed and colloquial terms like 'flat footed'. It is non-linearity that opens time up to be manipulated by a skilled practitioner. To put it another way, you don't need to actually be fast, you just need to be perceived fast by your opponent. Manipulating time is a skill every black belt must master. As you age and your reflexes slow, you have to find other means to maintain your speed.

As a Time Lord you will have a deeper understanding of the six harmonies, starting with pureness of intent. The method we covered last black belt class was specifically addressing Hung and achieving harmonization of your hips and shoulders when adding the explosive beginning to the form. Rather than starting at the beginning of the technique and trying to time your body based upon the beginning, we practiced starting at the end of the technique, in this case the double block, and working our way backwards to the beginning. If intent is pure, all the points upon the line of application will support the end result. So start with the end result and use it as a trigger to how to begin. Be a Time Lord.

"There is no truth. There is only perception." - Gustavo Flaubert (1821 - 1880)

Acts of Kindness

One of the proudest moments of my teaching career came from a comment one of my students overheard in a restaurant across the street from my school. A couple of senior ladies were at the till to pay for their meal when they were told by the waitress that someone had already paid their bill. One of the senior’s commented “I bet it was one of those kung fu guys across the street. They believe in acts of kindness.”

How great is that? Traditional martial arts are definitely as much about kindness as they are about kicking and punching. The fact that two senior ladies who have never trained in kung fu know this, shows that Silent River Kung Fu’s influence and efforts are being recognized by our community. My responsibility as an educator is to ensure these esoteric values are also recognized and embraced by my students.

The challenge we who train in the traditional martial arts face is not unlike the challenge facing society in general. Many of us make decisions based upon fear and while that is understandable, especially if you feel threatened, it is not always the most logical or productive approach to nullifying a threat. A person who only trains to fight, will only have one option in a conflict. Kung fu teaches empathy and compassion and It teaches us how to physically protect ourselves. It is the strength of our character and our empathy that gives us the option of resolving conflict without violence, and the wisdom to recognize that option exists.

Don’t weaponize yourself or your children out of fear. There are so many other things that are much more likely to harm us than kick or a punch. We all are getting our butts kicked everyday more by our acceptance of mediocrity, our limiting beliefs, our diets, our poor relationship skills, and our indifference. Don’t train to fight. Train to live.

“The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit.” - Morihei Ueshiba (1883 - 1969)

Community

Yesterday’s parade was, as always, a welcome reminder of the importance of community. Seeing all the seniors out of their lodges and watching the parade along with the rest of the community warmed my heart. I was concerned that we would miss a lot of them because of the new parade route but it seemed like they were all well represented.

I got to spend part of my day with my nephew too. The parade happened to correspond to his 4th birthday so we got to celebrate that milestone with him drumming with me on the Silent River Kung Fu float. I hope he has good memories that stay with him.

The best example of community was all my students who took part in the parade and helped decorate the float. Every moment each of them volunteered went a long way in brightening the day of everyone they encountered, especially mine. Never underestimate the power of a single act.

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” - Leo Buscaglia (1924 - 1998)