If I Knew Then . . .

I think I have written about this sometime in my past recently. The longer I teach, the more I realize how much I know.

My understanding of the some of the more advanced concepts of kung fu seems to be more on the tip of my tongue than it has ever been. The knowledge has been there for a while but my ability, or maybe my willingness, to transmit the knowledge to my students has not been present.

I don’t know why it takes so long to reach the point of chap sau but I do know it has everything to do with experience. Direct transmission is not easy to achieve but it may be a lot easier than I give credit for. Some of the lessons of my instructors were directly transmitted to me but it took thirty years of practice and application before I realized the knowledge was even mine.

If I had only known what I actually knew then.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.” - Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)