Mastery

Mastery is a process, it is not a destination. Nor is it perfection, but rather mastery is the quest for perfection. Mastery typically has many beginnings, anyone who makes new years resolutions understands this, but mastery has no end. A process must be maintained to produce results. Lose the process and you lose the results.

Focus is a key component of mastery. In the beginner stages of kung fu I emphasis the value of narrowing focus. Unlike medicine, you can sometimes cure a problem in your kung fu by treating the symptoms. Narrowing your focus on symptoms like shallow stances and poor skeletal alignment will lead to progress on mastering the six harmonies - your ultimate goal.

The biggest obstacle in attaining mastery is perspective. Perspective is continually evolving and it is affected by everything, especially ego. If you ever have doubt about how much your ego influences your decisions and actions, think about the last time you lost your temper. Did your subsequent words and actions serve you or did they just reinforce and escalate the situation? I find that ego becomes a bigger problem for my students as they progress through the ranks. Their training becomes more competitive where they judge their own progress by comparing themselves to others. They become so focused on the symptoms that they ultimately lose sight of the big picture and remained focused on only bettering themselves physically and for the wrong reasons. They forget what their training is really all about.

The value of our training is not found in our kicking, punching, or sparring. The value is found in the self realization we achieve through our craft. Our craft is a physical manifestation of our practice. Our practice, if it is to truly serve us, must transcend the mindless physical and enlighten us into becoming more engaged and cognizant human beings. Then and only then will it become something that will serve us and our loved ones for the rest of our lives.

“The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” - Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

Another Lion

Our lion/dragon dance may have set a record for the highest density of dancers per square metre without a fatality. A good way to start the new year.

We welcomed two new black belts into the Silent River Kung Fu fold on Saturday night. Our Chinese New Year Banquet tends to be the highlight of the year for the school and thanks to our I Ho Chuan team, this year was no exception. A year of dedication to mastery and the principles of the UBBT generated great results. I couldn’t be more proud as an instructor.

Good food and great friends made memories that will last a lifetime.

“Meditate.Live purely.Be quiet.Do your work with mastery.Like the moon, come outfrom behind the clouds!Shine.”
Buddha (563-483 B.C.)

Year of the Snake

The start of a new year is an opportunity to begin anew in earnest. Of course we begin anew everyday but in the trenches of everyday life it can be difficult to keep that perspective in the forefront.

The past Year of the Dragon was a brutal year that I am not sorry to see gone. It was one of those years where so much was coming at me from all angles that the relentlessness of the year became an oppressive force on my outlook and mindfulness. Chinese New Year is a great opportunity to take a big cleansing breath and begin anew. It is a chance to wipe the slate clean and mindfully pull back into the present moment and let each day live up to its full potential without being hampered by excess baggage.

Tomorrow I am going to bring in the Year of the Snake by completing 1000 push ups and 1000 sit ups while only consuming 1000 calories. Opportunity is knocking.

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

The "Real"? Thing

Coca-Cola has launched a new advertising campaign that attempts to rebrand themselves as part of the solution to the obesity epidemic. This follows their earlier campaign where they attempted to present themselves as a “green” company by focusing on their use of recyclable plastic in their beverage bottles. Of course they failed to mention that the vast , and I do mean vast, majority of those bottles end up in the landfill and are never recycled. Nor do they highlight the amount of water they waste by producing their Dasanai bottled water and the subsequent water crisis their industry has brought to countries like India.

Coca-Cola is not unique. As long as stockholders remove themselves from accepting responsibility for unethical advertising and business practices by the companies they are invested in, the dollar will continue to reign supreme over public health and the environment.

In the end, the ultimate power resides in the hands of the general public - the consumers. Our spending habits reflect our values and affect corporate policy and in turn government policy.

“Our personal consumer choices have ecological, social, and spiritual consequences. It is time to re-examine some of our deeply held notions that underlie our lifestyles.” - David Suzuki (b. 1936)