Strength and Energy

Kung fu, while being a great way to get get into shape, is so much more than a physical activity. Of course there is all the character development that comes from learning discipline and respect, and there is the obvious self-esteem benefits: followers become leaders and angry people become calm and compassionate. The less obvious benefits from practicing the art, at least for those who never achieve the higher ranks, comes in the form of cultivating your chi, your internal energy.

Energy. Everyone has it but not everyone can use it. It takes years to develop your awareness of your chi and decades longer before you can control and use it. Using chi comes from mindfully practicing the six harmonies or more specifically, practice the three internal harmonies: sprit with intent, intent with chi, chi with strength.

From my experience, the biggest thing in the way of a person mastering those three internal harmonies is their attitude. When I say attitude, I mean the intent behind their actions — what is the thought process behind what they are doing?

Physical output requires engagement. Engagement of the muscles, and the alignment of the skeleton. Internal output (energy) requires letting go and releasing. Yes, a very abstract concept but nevertheless an important concept.

“The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.” - Edsger W. Dijkstra (1930 - 2002)

Effort and Right Effort

Mastering anything requires effort. The great thing about effort is that it is never wasted. The discipline you develop from applying yourself, even if you are unable to attain your goal, has value. The great thing about discipline is that it is transferable to all aspects of your life. 

There is effort and then there is right effort. Again - no effort is wasted BUT if you are not mindful in your effort, there is a risk that you may confuse effort with progress. For sure effort is needed if you want to progress but like an engine running at 10,000 rpms, effort does not always mean you are getting traction and making progress toward your goals.

Right effort is mindful effort. You are not just actively working but you are mindfully working to maximize the benefits of your effort. This is where a mentor can be priceless. A mentor can help you refine your efforts and fine tune them to help you achieve your goals faster and more efficiently.

I have been blessed with many great mentors in my life. I have learned that having a good mentor is like having a good tool. It is has value if you use it. Put in the effort and use your mentors to help you direct it correctly.

“We all carry the seeds of greatness within us, but we need an image as a point of focus in order that they may sprout.” – Epictetus (50 - 135)

Connections

The pandemic has lasted longer than anyone expected and I think everyone is suffering from the relentlessness of the situation. As we approach another lunar new year without the likelihood of being able to celebrate together for the second year in a row, I am becoming more aware of how much I rely upon special events to maintain and reconnect with my friends and mentors. 

Yesterday the Canadian Ging Wu celebrated the grand opening of their new location. I had no idea how much I missed connecting with my peers and mentors right up until I arrived at the event. Seeing Sifu Bok Koh, Sifu Ben Mah, Sifu Bill Gee, Sifu Dale Lee, Sifu Michael Yong, and Sifu Brendan Lee reminded me of how important they all are in my life. At a minimum we tend to reconnect at Chinese New Year events every year but it has been two years since any such event has been possible so yesterday’s event really nurtured my soul.

Kung fu has made me who I am and I owe everything in my life to the art. Nothing though is more valuable to me than the connections I have made on this journey.

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

Poverty

I have been meeting with other members of our community to discuss poverty reduction strategies. Today we discussed the resiliency aspect of the topic and I found myself handcuffed by my thoughts. 

If we're working within the existing parameters that have created the issues that presently exist, how can resiliency be addressed? 

Treating symptoms is not the same as solving problems. A municipality committed to eliminating poverty is not going to make a lot of headway unless we have a provincial government with the same level of commitment. 

One step at a time. 

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." - Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

Time to Heal

The past two weeks have been a challenge to train, teach, and engage. I have significant inflammation in one of my knees that is conspiring to keep me off the mats. 



I usually try to push through and around these issues when they flare up but this time seems to be different. Any type of activity is exasperating and prolonging the situation.



As what tends to happen in these situations, life has presented me with an opportunity. A focus group I am part of has a few meetings coming up that are going to interfere with my teaching. Hopefully by taking some time off the mats to attend these meetings, my knee will get a chance to recover enough to allow me to get back to training and teaching the way I am used to within a couple of weeks. 


Always one step forward, no matter what. 

"Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Intent in Hindsight

A fundamental tenet of mindfulness is aligning our actions with our intent. This is why intent plays such a crucial role in the six harmonies of kung fu. Yet what is often missing in a person’s approach is an awareness of realtime intent.

We all can identify instances and situations where we are embroiled in a pursuit that we used to have a deep passion for but now we just seem to go through the motions. What used to stimulate us has just become white noise. What we used to do for pleasure and benefit is now an inconvenient responsibility. What used to be a career is now only a job.

Even though they seem to be polar opposites, the difference between mastery and mediocrity is surprisingly small. That small difference can be found primarily in your intent. Completing the exact same actions with two different attitudes will generate two different results.

If I am completing a task as if it is a hoop to jump through as opposed to it being tool to help me improve myself, the outcome I experience from completing that task can be vastly different. Maintaining a positive intent in our actions is crucial for mastery.

Positive intent cannot be in hindsight, it must be present when we take action. This is where many people fail. They complete their task and reflect after the fact on the benefit of doing such a task. If the awareness of the benefit arrives only after the task is completed, the proper attitude at the time of action was not in place.

Differentiating between a hoop and a tool cannot be an analysis that takes place after action. Your action is what is important so what you are thinking at the time of the actions is just as important. Therefore hindsight is not helpful when analyzing whether or not you did something because it was a hoop or a tool.

Intent must be maintained in realtime, not hindsight.

“How you look at it is pretty much how you’ll see it.” - Rasheed Ogunlaru (b. 1970)

Evolutionary Growth

We tend to, and have been conditioned to, expect instant and obvious results when we apply ourselves to accomplishing a specific goal. A person only needs to checkout the average gym in January every year and then compare the energy and crowds to what you see a couple of months later. All the potential and intent the new year brought has been mostly burned up by March.

What is missing for most people is the understanding of the importance of incremental progression. Lao Tzu has said that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” On an intellectual level, we all understand that. On a practical level, very few accept this.

Approaching our progression and growth as an evolutionary process changes everything. Setbacks become gifts, hoops become ladders, and destinations become journeys. Our perspective and understanding can open doors of opportunity or it can slam them shut. It is either the biggest limitation to our success or the strongest catalyst in our personal growth.

"One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again." - Abraham Maslow (1908 - 1970)