A Good Day

I left our annual boot camp yesterday inspired and proud. Sixteen hours of sweat, endurance, and comaraderie can be the life-altering experience that becomes the catalyst that ignites the spark that defines a life.

The boot camp is focused at challenging and inspiring. Pushing yourself beyond your arbitrary limits is the only way to eliminate mediocrity and make mastery a part of daily practice. Illness and injury are limits that are not arbitrary but how we respond to them often is. It all comes down to participation and engagement. Mastery is a relentless pursuit and anyone devoted to it understands that 99% of it is just a matter of showing up.

I was fortunate to be part of something extraordinary yesterday. It is an anchor experience that will colour my motivation and training forever.

“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.” - Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924)

Patience, Trust, & Progressing Wisely

Something I have thought about a lot over the years is why the rank of black belt is so difficult to attain. I don’t mean difficult as in physically difficult but difficult as in hardly anyone who sets out to achieve it actually does. I am convinced the issue is approach. The approach I am referring to is all or nothing. Our western culture is based upon consumption and instant gratification. We want what we want and we want it now.

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked what I thought of weight training when it comes to kung fu. My intended reply was that weight training to build strength is one thing but training to build bulk is another. Bulk interferes with natural motion and thus it interferes with kung fu. My student’s all or nothing response to my answer was a reminder of why westerners have so much difficulty with the martial arts.

An all or nothing, quick fix approach forces a person to choose between two incompatible activities. Kung fu or weight training for bulk. An approach with wuji (balanced, without extremes) allows the pursuit of both disciplines with the understanding that mastery in kung fu will take longer. Either approach has consequences but one is more sustainable than the other.

The benefits one experiences from a lifestyle change are only there as long as the changed lifestyle is maintained. For example, if you want to lose weight, and keep it off, whatever you do to lose that weight must be maintained for the rest of your life if you wish to keep the weight off. Kung fu is no different. Never sacrifice something over the short term if you are not willing to sacrifice it over the long term. Sustainable practice is the key. If you enjoy weight training for bulk, you do not need to eliminate it to master kung fu. You can have your cake and eat it too, it just takes longer.

You have the rest of your life to train and your practice can enhance your lifestyle without limiting it.

“He that can have Patience, can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin (1708 - 1790)

Sixteen Years

Time is relative. Obviously. Yet it may not be so obvious. I have been thinking about what time represents and more specifically what sixteen years represent.

Sixteen years is the required age for acquiring a driver’s licence. I know it was a lifetime for me to get to that age. I have vivid memories of daring deeds and experiences all accumulated before I was eligible to drive.

When my daughters were born, it was a lifetime before I had to worry about them dating or driving. Again, many vivid memories of their life milestones over their first sixteen years.

The squirrel chattering at me while I write this was not around sixteen years ago, nor will he be around sixteen years from now.

Sixteen years ago I mortgaged my house to get a permanent home for Silent River Kung Fu. I look at photos from those first few weeks while we worked to turn two empty bays into a unified training space, and cannot help but smile at our naivety. There’s Sifu Hayes and I grinning from ear to ear while we grouted the tile that we had carefully laid throughout the building only to have to jackhammer it all out a couple of days later. There’s the memory of crushing the main water line during those first renovations but somehow managing not to puncture it. We had no expertise but we all shared a vision.

While the memories of our initial construction exploits remain vivid, they seem to come from two lifetimes ago. So much has happened in the past sixteen years. The kwoon has expanded, along with the mortgage, and the spirit and love of a whole new generation of martial artists is embedded within its walls.

Sixteen years. Seems like a lifetime when you are a kid. Seems like a lifetime if you are paying off a mortgage. A lot can happen in a sixteen year time period, but most of us only have five of those in our lifetime.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Anchor Experiences

Life is hectic. The faster the pace of my surroundings, the more hectic my state of mind. It is a constant battle to adapt my environment to my rhythm and resist the pull to join the pace of the rat race. The vividness of the memory of many amazing moments have been lost because I have not been in the proper state of mind to mindfully experience the moment. Without proper reverence for the present, a memory’s grip is fragile, making it difficult to keep. Some days I am more successful than others but that is why it is called a practice. There is value in perpetual effort despite knowing that complete achievement is impossible.

My I Ho Chuan team had a great Canada Day this year. We spent most of the day with each other, performing, laughing, and sharing the experience. A spontaneous demo and experiencing the joy of new Canadians receiving their citizenships made the day one I will never forget. I consider that day seized.

“The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds.”- Tyron Edwards (1809 - 1894)

Great Class

Had a phenomenal black belt class on Friday. The past few months have been the most productive classes I have taught for that rank. The consistent attendance by a core group of black belts has allowed the classes to progress logically for the first time for as long as I can remember. Even the vast range of experience levels has not hampered the flow of the class. We are accomplishing more than I thought possible and I am excited to see how the class progresses moving forward.

I am sure the new class time is helping the situation. Having my most advanced students for the first class of the day is allowing me to approach every class fresh, without the interfering rhythms generated by preceding classes. For the first time I am able to resolve a way to impart advanced theoretical and abstract knowledge in a way that benefits the new and experienced alike.

My goal was to document the advanced concepts that were covered on Friday’s class but when I tried to put the lesson into writing, it did not translate well enough to retain its clarity. Yet another reason why there is no substitute for first hand experience when it comes to mastering the art of kung fu.

“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” - Oliver Wendall Holmes (1809 - 1894)

Right Speech

It has been five years since I spent a week in Colorado practicing the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. It seems impossible that five years have passed as the experience is still vividly etched in my consciousness. It was the first time that I have immersed myself so completely into the practice and I can’t argue with the effectiveness of the experience.

Zen, like any discipline, is a practice. The benefits of the practice are directly proportional to the effort put into the practice. I have been a practitioner for most of my adult life but that week in 2009 was the first time I have been completely immersed for so long. My daughter noticed a difference in me when I returned from my retreat — I moved slower and I talked slower. I remember how calm my mind was and how simple life was. It was no more than a couple of days of being reintegrated into the rat race before my state of mind began to slip back into a different, hectic rhythm. I could feel the unwanted change happening but resistance seemed futile. My mind was adopting the rhythm of my environment.

My practice continues to evolve everyday. As I simplify my life, I get closer to the ideal I experienced in 2009. I have been focusing on reducing my possessions and creating  space in my environment. I have been working hard to repair poor relationships and improve the good ones. Decluttering my mind in these ways allow me to slow down and stay in the moment.

This week I have narrowed my focus on practicing right speech. Words are the most powerful tools I have to create happiness in my life. A word takes but a moment to utter but its effect can resonate for a lifetime. I know my words reflect my mood but I also know that my mood is affected by my words. Staying mindful of what I say, and how I say it, creates  peace in my life.

“Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivation loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and month other people, ethnic and religous groups, and nations.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Intensity

An abstract concept like intensity in kung fu is one of those things that is difficult to define but is something I easily recognize when I see it. This can be frustrating for a student who is constantly being told to show more intensity in their techniques.

In a nutshell, intensity in the execution of a technique, is defined by the six harmonies. The three external harmonies are easily understood but the three internal harmonies, less so. Intensity falls in the realm of the internal harmonies — specifically intent.

What is intent as applied to kung fu? Intent is the sense of purpose behind an action. It is the spirit, the heart, the soul of a technique. Motion without purpose is just motion. Motion with intent is kung fu. A technique with intensity has intent behind it. With a sense of purpose behind my technique I bring mindfulness into play. That mindfulness triggers my eye for detail and attention to my skeletal authority, my centre of balance, and my force vectors.

It would be incorrect to assume that intensity is only applied in the execution of a technique. Intensity as defined above should be applied in every action and effort, no matter how mundane. Intensity is an attitude that must be religiously practiced before it can be consistently applied.

“The most distinguishing feature of winners is their intensity of purpose.” - Alymer Letterman