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“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.” – Confucius (551 - 479 BC)

After fifteen years of blogging every week, this will be my last posting for the foreseeable future.

I began my blog as part of the requirements for the Ultimate Black Belt Test. My first posting went up on November 4, 2007 and I have not missed a weekly posting except when I was taking part in a UBBT event in Alabama without access to a computer or the internet. After Master Tom Callos retired the UBBT project, I continued my weekly blogging as an act of discipline to set an example for my students.

I have nothing but gratitude for everything that Tom Callos has brought into my life. So much of my current daily practice came about because of his guidance and encouragement. I have not regretted accepting and implementing his advice on anything, and the fifteen years of weekly blogging is probably the most powerful gift he has given me.

Not all of my posts were good or even pertinent. Often my postings were more about the discipline of following through with my promises and commitments as opposed to the thoughts and ideas I was recording. Regardless of the intent behind any particular post, I learned a lot about myself and the world around me from the process. No regrets.

My focus from this point on will be shifting from my own personal training and evolution to that of my students. I have been blessed with a long, prosperous career in the martial arts and I want to devote my remaining time to improving my student outcomes, influencing positive change in the martial arts industry, and promoting egalitarian ideals and initiatives within my community.

Ending my run is a bittersweet moment for me. I have mixed emotions about my decision but I am at peace.

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss (1904 - 1991)

Traditional Forms

I have been blessed throughout my life to have had access to many mentors. I owe all my accomplishments to their experience and their willingness to share that experience with me. One can go so much further if they can benefit through the wisdom of those who have gone before.

This past week I was very disappointed to see one of my past mentors post a video about forms training in the martial arts. In his video he included an old video of himself grading for his black belt where he provided commentary as his old self performed a form and applications of his form against opponents. His running commentary was a cynical analysis of how useless his form and bunkai would be in a real self defence situation. Every aspect of his performance was put down and disregarded as useless. 

I am seeing more and more schools eliminate teaching forms as part of their curriculum. This approach has been trending ever since the martial arts were introduced into the west and it is threatening the very future of the martial arts.

First off, if forms training did not apply to real world self defence, traditional marital arts and forms training would not survived over two thousand years. There is a reason why arts like kung fu have been around for a couple of thousand years - it works. It has been my experience that those who do not value or teach forms training do not understand forms training.

Forms training has many benefits and applications in the modern world. The three main benefits are:

• Health. Forms training reinforces the body’s proper structure by reinforcing better posture and ideal alignment of the skeleton. This in turn supports proper organ location, spacing, and function. Overtly, forms training provides a good cardiovascular workout while building muscle mass and flexibility. Forms training is the also the best form of moving meditation I have experienced. There is a reason why martial arts training has proven beneficial to reducing stress.

• Skill. Everything physical that one learns in the martial arts is found in forms training. Every movement has a purpose. That purpose can be the expected self defence applications associated with the movement but the purpose can also be less obvious. Some of the techniques within a form are about flexibility and efficiency of motion. In hockey terms - the drills a team works on in practice have real world application in a game by helping the players develop speed and efficiency within their own skill sets.

• Fighting. Before the advent of protective pads, sparring in the martial arts was much more dangerous. It was impossible to practice your technique and applications at full speed because of the danger it presented to your training partners. Forms training was how a fighter trained and prepared safely. All the best forms practitioners I know are also the best fighters.

Forms training is the essence of traditional martial arts. You cannot eliminate forms training from your training regime and continue to call yourself a martial artist. While all martial artists are fighters, not all fighters are martial artists.

“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about.” - Wayne Dyer (1940 - 2015)

Teaching and Learning

The biggest hurdle that most students of the martial arts face when attempting to master their art is being able to differentiate between knowledge and skill. Knowing how to do something is not the same as being able to do something.

If I want to learn how to use a computer program and take a course to teach me how to use the program, if I do not immediately start to apply the knowledge, I will lose everything I have gained. Application reinforces knowledge.

In kung fu one can learn a new technique but if one does not take the time to actually apply the technique, the skill to use the technique is not acquired despite knowing the technique itself. It is akin to not being able to pull off a David Blaine illusion even though you know exactly how the trick is done. David Blaine has practiced a lot more than you have in order to do the trick as well as he does.

Teaching is one of the best learning tools any of us has when it comes to mastery. When you teach a technique it reinforces your own knowledge by forcing you to look deeper into the intricacies of a technique so that you can explain it better to your student. We instantly become aware of the hypocrisy and mediocrity within our own training when we realize that the eye for detail we are applying to our students’ technique is not always being applied to our own technique within our training. By teaching, our eye for detail becomes contagious and will permeate to our own training.

“When one teaches, two learn.” - Robert A. Heinlein (1907 - 1988)

Discipline

I had the privilege to see one of my living heroes speak this week. Henry Rollins has always inspired me with his social consciousness and his willingness to walk the walk and not just do the talk.

This was the second time I have seen him speak and he did not disappoint. He spoke, non-stop, for over two and half hours without a break, water, or interruption. If you know Henry Rollins you know how quickly he speaks. Anyone else presenting the same material would have needed an extra half to full hour to cover it all.

If I were to ignore the inspiration from his words, I still would come away totally inspired by his discipline. Discipline is in my wheelhouse but Henry Rollins’ discipline is on another level.

Living in a province whose mantra is consume, exploit, and take care of only your own, it was invigorating to spend that time with hundreds of other people, all masked no less, who reminded me that there is a lot of good out here.

“Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.” - Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986)

Positive Cycles

Something I wrote for a student struggling to find the time to train . . . 

Everyday we are all faced with decisions. Sometimes success is only a positive decision away. It is a lot easier to make a positive decision when you have clarity in your goals. Why are you studying kung fu? Obviously you have spent years practicing it for a reason. If that reason is empowerment, then you already know that there are benefits to all aspects of your life when you train in kung fu. If your training is benefitting all aspects of your life, how can cutting kung fu to focus on other aspects of your life even make sense? 

You have separated your kung fu from your life to the point where it may have already just become yet another stressor. If your training is relegated to "When I have time", there really is no future in the art for you until that perspective/priority changes.

Think about your diet. Very few of us eat clean. We rush about our day sometimes only feeding ourselves with what is handy and convenient instead of mindfully consuming food that nurtures us. Yet when we consistently clean up our diet, we feel the immediate benefits - clarity of thought and reduction of stress. Those benefits give us more time to mindfully prepare our future meals. The cycle has now become self-perpetuating - in a positive way.

At the same time, it does not take much to let things slide. A day here and a day there where, in a weak moment, we let down our guard and eat something we know is not good for us but it is more convenient. Our clarity begins to erode and is not so clear, our thoughts not so efficient, and our stress begins to build. Once again this cycle now becomes self-perpetuating - in a negative way.

If you want to stay on a positive cycle, STAY ON A POSITIVE CYCLE! It really is that simple. If you want to get on a positive cycle, GET ON A POSITIVE CYCLE! That too is really that simple. There is no magic to earning a black belt. Train. If you do not want to train? Train! Positive cycles do not just randomly start. You need to make the correct decisions - one at a time, every time.

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” - Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 - 1973)

Beliefs and Behaviours

It is unfortunate that our actions do not always reflect our values. It is never a simple matter to fully understand where our true values lay yet most of us are quite adamant about what we believe in and hold to be true. Yet if one were to analyze their daily actions, they would soon realize how much hypocrisy has crept into their lives.

If you are an advocate for animal rights and are against animal cruelty but purchase products that are tested on lab animals, you are actually supporting animal cruelty, not fighting against it.

Perhaps your real values are about money, not animal rights. Or maybe life has become so hectic that you are unable to make mindful decisions. At this point you either have to admit that your values are not what you thought they were or that you are a hypocrite.

With all the divisive political rhetoric out here, reconciliation is going to be difficult unless everyone first understands themselves and their actions. The problem is not the destructive behaviour out here, the problem is the the lack of mindfulness. Behaviour will never change unless there is clarity in action. Knowing why we do things is the fundamental foundation of positive change.

“Voting is not something that we do only once every four years; it’s a daily way of life. We vote with our wallets through every purchase decision that we make. For example: there is only one reason why grocery stores in Hawaii sell mangoes that are imported from Ecuador: people keep buying them. Tropical fruit grows right here on the island but we can’t blame the stores for supplying what we demand. If we change our ways and only buy local mangoes, however, then they will only sell local mangoes; it’s that simple.” - Timber Hawkeye (b. 1977)

6th Wave

We have had to make some changes at our school to address the sixth wave of the pandemic. We launched our endemic plan a few months ago but the current situation here, on the third year of the current pandemic, is the worst it has ever been.

The real problem we are facing right now has been endemic throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Suspending all restrictions during a significant infection wave of a three year pandemic is why we are here. The problem is lack of leadership. This lack of leadership though is no longer the fault of the UCP government, that fault lies squarely on each of our shoulders. 

We all have the right to forgo masks and isolation at the expense of every vulnerable and immune-compromised citizen. Unfortunately we also have the right to suspend the use of common sense:

• People not considering the incubation period of COVID-19 before the onset of symptoms. 
• People not understanding that they are contagious for two days prior to showing symptoms. 
• People not understanding the limitations of a rapid test and the likelihood of testing negative, despite being symptomatic, for days before finally getting a positive confirmation of COVID. 

All of those factors are fueling the current pandemic wave because people are not isolating after a known exposure. The majority of us are waiting until the onset of symptoms or worse yet, a positive rapid test confirmation before isolating. Under those conditions, you have already spread the virus before you even knew you were infected. You’re closing the barn door after the cows have got out.

“Common sense is not so common.” - Voltaire (1694 - 1778)