A salute to the forests

We are at war with the trees, and fortunately for us, we have been losing.  Eventually however, through attrition, we will be victorious. With our hands held high, we will scream our victory with our final breath as we know it.

The ability of the forest ecosystem to respond to our complete neglect is astounding, but there is a tipping point.  For every road that is built, for every parking lot paved, the land base that supports our life is eroded.  Up until recently the sheer volume of vegetated land on the planet has ensured our wonderfully wasteful standard of living.

This weekend we give a salute to the trees in the festival of trees.  It is a small and very tiny step in the right direction for giving credit to something as wonderful as the forests of this planet.

November 20, 2016

Sling shots and wasp nests.  Mousetraps and kittens. Boys, cow pies and gulf clubs. These could be called recipes for disaster.  Most anything successful however, follows a recipe for success.  In most cases it isn’t a matter of reinventing the light bulb, success really should be as simple as following what others have proven to work already.

That being said, I have found that self-made recipes; or those that were concocted by our own trials and failures seem to be the easiest to follow.  Maybe it’s because they are crafted to our tastes and in our language, or maybe it’s just because we are more apt to follow something that we fought hard to figure out.  In any case, lately I have found that going back to those hard earned lessons are important to getting back on track.

The easiest example, and one I shared at the meeting, was the process of blogging.  My recipe requires a note book carried in my vehicle (most frequent place of work) to jot items that come to mind through the week. I require an alarm to go off during blogging morning as a reminder of required preparation and reminder that evening. I need to set time aside to read my teammates blogs.  That serves to both keep up with my teams success, and stimulate blog juices.

Every challenge of the I Ho chuan has a recipe for success. Coming up with a cookbook seems to be a combined process of taking ingredients from the team, but never leaving out that which you have worked hard to figure out on your own.

 

A Case of Misdirected Success

The path to success in developing mastery has always been routed in positive life changes that are sustainable. 2016 was a difficult year for our family on many fronts.  From job loss, to family health issues, challenges with learning needs of our kids, 2016 has had diversity.  In the aftermath of grading and promotion in Kung Fu, it is easy to look back and think that timing could not have been worse.  But that just wouldn’t be true.

There is a possibility that I approached things wrong in 2016, but I often felt that I was in a period of catch up.  There has been a growing list of items over the last several years that had been starved of my attention.  Those items really didn’t present themselves until I stood back from things and had a look at the bigger picture.  Achieving my goals was often at the expense of others, and that is not sustainability. 

2016 may have seen missed opportunities on some fronts, but wild successes on others.  Here is what I mean: 

My wife tackled the near death (leg 1 and 2) of the Canadian death race.  This is a marathon distance but through mud, up mountains, roots, rocks, forest. Her perseverance in the run blew me away even after 13 years of marriage. I couldn’t have been more proud.

The outdoor education center at camp Teepee pole was a smashing success.  (A big shout out to Brandon Regier and Stephanie for their help on this one).  The camp utilized the facility to teach campers of fish preservation in an outstanding presentation by Trout Unlimited. Good things are going to come from this in the future.

I spent more quality time with my dad than I have ever this past year.  That is time and memories that can never be taken away.

My son moved to a school that addressed his dyslexia (that would be irony if I spelled that wrong wouldn’t it?)  Leaving his friends, comfort and familiarity on his own will because he wanted to read.  His teacher has said his motivation and drive is extremely rare.

Our plight toward mastery in the I Ho Chuan is designed to show positive effects in our lives and the ones around us. If those fruits are not recognized, it may be wise to question whether they are sustainable.

This leads to the question, if our quest for mastery can’t be shared with the world, why on earth are we doing it at all?

November 11

November 11^th.  Our family crammed into West Edmonton Mall for the November 11^th ceremony today.  People of all ages, all ethnicities, there to remember. 

Remembrance of my great grandfathers and uncles that wrote from the front of WWII.  Letters written in anxiousness, loneliness and fear that no matter how many times I read, bring tingles and shivers to my spine.

Remembrance to my wife’s family who were forced to flee Chile and who lost brothers, husbands, and uncles in the Coup of 1973 when standing up for democracy in the presence of dictatorship corruption and power. 

Remembrance of Cpl. Andrew Eyklenboom who died in Afghanistan on August 11, 2006.  The first Canadian medic to lose his life since the Korean war.  To our friends, Gordon and Steven, our family will not forget what your brother sacrificed for our freedom.

The debt of gratitude that all Canadians have to our veterans can’t adequately be expressed.  To those men and women that serve today, and to those that have served in times past….we thank you.

May 9, 2016

May 9^th.  For the past seven years this has been a day of special remembrance for our family. There is no greater way to honour great beauty than to place ourselves together in the mountains, streams and flowers of God’s magnificent wilderness.

Very subtle Kung Fu photo bomb 

Earth Day

Today is earth day, and I feel fast.  You should too.  We are both flying at 107,182 km/hr as passengers of earth around the sun. It’s a dangerous place to live also.  Half a million detectable earthquakes each year, average of 100 lightning ground strikes a second.  With only .003% of its available water available for humans, and one third of its land mass deserts, it can be a pretty inhospitable place.

But it is also magnificent. 3.04 Trillion trees, give rise to a precise gas mixture that keeps my skin from melting off, and which makes the smell of a fresh rain wonderful.

A precise distance from a star, with an orbit and rotation of mathematical genius.  Allowing for the only place in the universe to support water in its three states, liquid, gas and solid.  I ponder this while breathing the moist air and drinking a glass of ice water…..mmmm good.

With an estimated 10,000 stars in the universe for every grain of sand on every beach on earth; you would think finding a substitute would be easy peesy.  According to scientists much smarter than I…it’s not.  So let’s take today to contemplate the gift of life in such a miraculous setting and use every other day to love it, enjoy it and protect it.

Rice flour, my new best friend

I was lost in a particular thought last week while savoring a most tender and delicious glazed donut from the Italian Bakery.  Over the past couple years I have followed the journals of I Ho Chuan members and received enlightenment when it came to challenges of the dietary order. Huge changes from giving up meat entirely, to increasing water consumption, to removing gluten.

Realistically though, how hard could a gluten free diet be? Seeing how well my 10 year old adapted to a dietary restricted way of life, made the whole process look fairly easy.  Over the past couple years, we have had our challenges, with a few minor arguments, and a bit of frustration.  All in all he is an amazing little guy that has adapted and taken on the responsibility like a champ.

I, as a father that is supposed to show empathy, especially in the early stages of the adaptation of my child to a gluten free diet, was a complete failure.  Recognizing that failure over a most wonderful and glutenous snack, I decided a dose of empathy was in order.  Perhaps a little rash, I decided this was the week that I would strike out on the same dietary restrictions as my son for the next seven days.

It isn’t just the constant reminder of the things you can’t have, like the smell of fresh bread in the morning bakery department, the oodles of garnishes and spices that are on the restricted list, the craving of rich thick homemade pasta.  That is the mind over matter part, which is acerbated by the warped and twisted physical response of my body.  A constant hunger, or at least the feeling of an empty tummy, an apparent loss of energy, change in sleep patterns and mood, a ravenous search to find a suitable substitute to fill the carbohydrate demand you left behind.

 

There are substitutes, and in a lot of cases more healthy ones.  It has meant more fruit and vegetables, more water consumption, alternatives to wheat flour carbs (most I would argue are an acquired taste).  I am not sure if this gets easier, or weather a week is even close to long enough to find out.  At the end of all this though, if nothing else, I will have a greater appreciation for what my son has accomplished, and is continually challenged with.

Personal goal number 1

This past week found me making progress toward one of my personal goals.  What started as a personal goal devoting volunteer time a couple years ago, has led to a really cool goal for this year.  Camp Teepee Pole is a youth camp near Sundre Alberta.  Last year a building was donated as the start to an Environmental Awareness Center.  The building will be a place for teaching about plants and animals, water conservation, ecosystems, preservation, and whatever the heck else I can think of…

The building itself is eventually planned to be near free energy, collecting rain water, solar energy, wood heated and so forth.  It is definitely going to be a work in progress for years to come.

I am really excited for this project, the sky is the limit, but…I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.  My goal this year is to have the center with some content for the kids by July camp time. Others with much more skill in the construction field are looking after the building development.  So, this is a bit of an appeal to the I Ho Chuan group to those that have experience with this sort of thing, or those that don’t but just have some good input, or potentially resources that might help me out.

 

March 28, 2016

Our family is one of many impacted this past period by the downturn in the economy. As a generation that has grown up in the absence of much hardship (80’s kid I confess), I have been extremely blessed.  I haven’t seen wars that require conscription, soil that has dried up and blown away for years at a time, political unrest or violence, starvation or excessive poverty. Because of this fact, I often feel guilty at what I take for granted.

In writing on this, I by no means want to belittle the current situation in our province, with the understanding that although our family has seen impact, there are others that have seen two incomes lost, business failures, massive increase in costs and more families dipping well below the poverty line than ever, and I remain very empathetic to those situations.

I am reminded years ago earlier in my training when our family was looking at potentially moving to Grande Prairie for work opportunities.  I approached Master Brinker at the time because walking away from Kung Fu at that point seemed like the most viable option in light of the fact that there was no training facility of Silent River calibre.  Well circumstances have a way of changing, and things always work out in one way or another.  What I remember most was Master Brinker saying that the time away from the Kwoon could be the best thing for my Kung Fu training.  Notice how I said time away from the Kwoon, not time away from Kung Fu training.  At the time I really had a hard time understanding this, but I think after many years I may have a better appreciation for this.  I believe, (and feel free to correct my interpretation in comment!) was that necessity for change and adaptation would in the long run make me a better martial artist.  It would require added effort to make classes via video conference.  Less face to face accountability would mean more self-discipline.  It would require developing a system to be your own critic, and to be more reliant on being self-taught.  I really believe that year in Grande Prairie was monumental in helping adapt with my time in and out of town for the years to follow.

To bring this back to my original thought on current economy, I could regard this past year and a half as turmoil, terror, and the year upcoming as doom and gloom, or I could I approach this with the same positive and wise perspective that was gifted to me years ago.  The fact is the current situation will require some major adjustments to our way of living, but at the end of 2016 I can be sure that we will be streamlined into a more efficient, leaner and meaner, version of our current family.

March 20, 2016

This week was the perfect example of how not to blog.  Somewhere this week I forgot the secret to blogging consistency; that being preparation.  Journaling is no different than any other part of training in the martial arts.  For me, it is a system of mindful notes that I take through the days that will constitute my journal entry at weeks end. 

That lack of mindfulness of the past week has caused two things.  The first being a lack of good ingredients for a journal entry, and the second being a feeling like I’ve ripped myself off.

Sometimes we need a reminder why things are important to us.  In this case it was good habits that yielded rewards that I began to take for granted.  Drop those good habits for even a week, and there is a sense that something is missing.  This week was just a reminder that taking breaks from good habits just don’t serve us like we think they should.

March 6, 2016

Well, I’m going to continue on with chit chat about weapons this week.  I really appreciated the discussion about the weapon challenges of the team members this past meeting.  Challenges like training the non-dominant hand, working with injuries, expectations in taking on a school form, vs. coming up with your own.

I didn’t speak much about working with the dart this past meeting.  I think it is because I am trying to wrap my head around where I am at, and how I am going to get where I want to be.  I want to learn new and interesting techniques, but I know under the time crunch for beta version at the end of the month, I won’t be able to do that. I have found that coming up with a rope dart technique is very very challenging. When something formulates, it seems to take an incredible amount of repetition to be able to duplicate just the single technique.  If I look at the basics, the simple shoot has so many little details that a person could spend a year simply perfecting the accuracy and power in that alone.

Speaking of the basic shoot, to me, the dart is a weapon that requires extreme accuracy and precision to be effectively called a weapon. Doing techniques that show fancy spins and wraps are entertaining, but if the dart cannot hit a small target (accuracy) and duplicate that result (precision) then it hasn’t been mastered. If the dart is flung with accuracy and precision, but lacks power or is canted off of straight from the body, its effectiveness is again minimized.  This is really where it differs from the meteor hammer which relies more on blunt force trauma.

So this is the duel going on in my head. The fight between flamboyancy and effectiveness.  In reality I know just perfecting the basics may take a lifetime to master.

February 28, 2016

The first week entirely devoted to Monkey team was a neat experience.  New weapons, enthusiasm, confusion, excitement. 

For me, it will be the first time I am returning to a weapon I spent some time on.  My past experience with the rope dart was interesting because training on this weapon meant most of the techniques were constructed by winter practice in a 8x12 foot living room with many things to break.  As a result, the form from that time resulted in something very linear, hemmed in by the confines of my training area.

My hope for the rope dart this year is to apply some class to the form, incorporating something more than a string of linear techniques pasted haphazardly together. I want a form that is going to show the dart well enough, but rather show the Kung Fu and intent to the motion.

I think I have my work cut out for me. Space is always tough to find, so that element has not changed.  What is different however, is that I have a vision of what I want in my brain, hopefully I can get that to translate.

February 21, 2016

On our way back from the banquet yesterday evening, while stopped at the red light by the McDonalds in Stony Plain heading back to Edmonton, a drunk driver narrowly missed killing my son and I.  How is that for a concoction of emotions throughout the day.

The driver, estimated at travelling over 130km/hr ricocheted off two vehicles also stopped at the light beside us. If his vehicle were ten feet further south, we would have been the prime target of this vehicular missile. Vehicle parts rained down like confetti, my son thought a gun had gone off from the sound of the collision and he was crying. The sound of panicked people resonated.

Today, I had a great deal to reflect on.  I thought mostly on being in a room with the Sheep team only a couple hours prior, Sifu Brinker reminding us the importance of taking in this very moment.  That exact miracle experienced exactly that way will never be experienced again. Cherish it. Remember it.  Be thankful for it.  

February 14, 2015

This year will be the first banquet that my two kids will attend.  For whatever reason, circumstances have never worked in our favour for them to be a part of the awards ceremony in times past.

I am most excited at this because I don’t believe I have done a good job at relaying exactly what I do at Kung Fu.  I think there is a real realm of mystery with a lot of my friends and family as to what it is all about.  Most often I find my audience is lost in the first explanation that Kung Fu is not synonymous with Judo, Karate, or Tai Kwon Do. 

No doubt, my kids have come accustomed to household weirdness such as nunchuk socks, rakes that get articulated on the front lawn, or an extension cord becoming a rope dart for a moment.  That's all in good fun, but more importantly, my focus should be placed on the true nuts and bolts of what Kung Fu is to me. I am hoping that in the future I do a better job of translating the importance of Kung Fu in my life to the people I most care about.   

     

February 7, 2016

Recently on a radio-thon generating donations for a charity that was aiding with homelessness, a comment was said, “Really we are all just one decision, or circumstance away from being in a similar situation as people struggling on the street”.  That really hit home with me, and made me think about the importance of mindfulness in our days and decisions.

The thought was further solidified today while backcountry skiing in the mountains well west of Banff with a very good friend of mine. Our plan was to ascend up Vermilion Peak. The route required a switchback uphill climb through a tree region burned several years ago to the alpine and then a traverse along the ridge to the summit. As it would have it, the burn region had changed in that the undergrowth was very significant making the old route impassable. The gully had a major life threatening slide that probably had released yesterday covering tracks from skiers either that day or the day before.  From a snow stability stand point this can be an indicator of both good and bad things which I won’t go into here. 

At that point, the current avalanche conditions, the condition of the snowpack, temperature, weather, inexperience with the location, we turned around with very little consideration for continuing and headed for another location.  On our way down, we met 10 other individuals that made the decision to continue to climb up the avalanche path.  I can’t get out of my brain that had this slide happened at the wrong time today, there would likely be 10 buried bodies.

Just two unrelated things this week that really emphasized the importance of mindfulness in all that we do.

January 31, 2016

The I Ho Chuan is a program that focuses on a year of Mastery. In its collection of students that sign up and commit to the challenge, are people at various stages of their martial arts journey, and sometimes a real eclectic group from various walks of life.   Through the weekly journaling requirement, the team is brought to an understanding of the struggle and needs of each of their teammates, and I for one, love this about the group. It has been in the honesty of the journaling of my teammates that my perspective of the I Ho Chuan has changed over the four years of my involvement.  Let me explain.

First off, let me clarify I haven’t been involved in the I Ho Chuan since it’s infancy, or prior to the programs patterning from the Ultimate Black Belt Test.  Prior to my involvement, which was a grading requirement the year I first signed up, the I Ho Chuan to me appeared as an elite group of people, hand selected for guaranteed success of the program. To be completely honest, at that period of time, I don’t believe the I Ho Chuan group sold itself very well to the rest of the school.  I was proof of that.  I wouldn’t say I was scared that I couldn’t handle it, but rather most concerned that I really did not fit into this group of exceptional people that seemed to lack life challenges and flooded with time and talent.

 

Fast forward a few years to 2016.  The more you train, and learn about people, the more you realize their struggles are so much similar; or maybe nothing similar, but equally daunting to your own. It’s in that realization that my perspective shifted to understand that the I Ho Chuan is a group of ordinary people, doing extraordinary things.  It’s that simple.  It doesn’t require a secret handshake, team members don’t wear capes, and they don’t have x-ray vision, thank goodness.  I can finally quit wearing my lead lined boxer shorts.

Is the I Ho Chuan for everyone?  Maybe not, but I do believe there isn’t a single student at Silent River that wouldn’t benefit from at least one year in the program.  Most exciting is seeing the skills adopted from a year in the I Ho Chuan when people take the tools, and apply them into a successful balance symbiotic to their own life situation.  That no doubt requires discipline in the application of the tools without the support of the team. I want to get there some day.

I realize this blog outlines most of what team members mostly already know.  The reason I write about it though, is because I strongly believe the perception of the I Ho Chuan is very important to our Kwoon.  Can you imagine if all the students of Silent River adapted to the principles of mastery as outlined in the program? But how can that happen if they have the preconceived notions I had five years ago?  I think this is an aspect we can work on, but until then, it can start with the Chinese New Year celebration.  There isn’t a better venue than that for displaying how ordinary people can set their mind to doing extraordinary things, without the need of a cape.

January 24, 2016

I am probably the worst patient a Doctor could have.  Cancelling appointments, only going through with a portion of the required testing, rarely filling a prescription given, next to no follow up.  I am not proud of it, I just do not like admitting a problem. 

Recently a dull nagging shoulder pain seemed to have persisted for about a month.  My wife booked an appointment with a sports therapist that she had visited and had very good success. I had my doubts, but following the meeting he tested my strength in various positions, and with a bit of pressure in just the right place the shoulder injury subsided. 

Now I am pretty sceptical about a fix that could be as simple as a two minute meeting, but the pain is gone. According to his explanation, two vertebrae in my neck were out which had pulled my upper rib out of place putting pressure into the shoulder. He replaced all said bones into the proper slots, and so far it has made an entire difference.  I have never had results this instant with any consultation with a chiropractor, acupuncture, or otherwise.  It reiterated the importance of proper maintenance of our bodies in the care of people that know something about it.

With that being said, I am hopeful that the fix will allow for ramped up practice and training coming in light of the upcoming News Years ceremony. 

January 17, 2016

With just over a month remaining before the Chinese New Year celebration at Silent River, time is at a premium.  Currently I am juggling around aggravated muscles and joints, while trying to cram in the much needed practice of forms and weapons.

At times it can seem overwhelming, but not unexpected. Every year there is always a sense of urgency in getting things done.  Because I have limited opportunity every year to perform in the various demo’s through the year, I always feel there is a thick layer of rust that has to get worked out for a public performance.  Battling the demo challenges also means battling the feeling for the need for cram training.  I am brought back to the old saying, “Everything in moderation….including moderation”.

So with that in mind, repetition is on the menu. My highest focus is on the Sai, Lau Gar, and Kempo at this point.  Learning the dragon dance is good, but in the words of the kids these days, I feel like a NOOB. Burying the old habits in forms I am familiar while learning new habits in the form of the Dragon will prove to be a mixmash of Kung Fu awesomeness for the upcoming month.

January 10, 2015

The year of the monkey will represent the 10^th year that I will have been training in the martial arts.  A decade is a long time for some things.  From my perspective, I realize I could have spent 9 years exclusively on the intricacy of one Kung Fu technique, and would likely still need more time.  Training in Kung Fu seems like a very small drop in a very expansive ocean doesn’t it?  The thought of it all makes me wish I started training 20 years ago.  

That being said in the last 9 years in reflection I can say I am slower now, but am also slower to anger. I care slightly less about time, and more about timing.  Instead of seeking to be a spectacle, I seek more to be spectacular, at least in relation to where I was when I started martial arts.  Recognizing where we have come from is great, but can you imagine if we could see ourselves on another chosen path in the absence of the great influences in our life? It would make our current accomplishments all that much sweeter.

I see where I have been, I see where I am at, but seeing exactly where I am going to end up is foggy to me.  And I am ok with that.  That lack of clarity is just the result of the expansiveness of Kung Fu.  Where I am at now was foggy to me 9 years ago also.  A path that is well trodden is comforting in its familiarity, but it’s the unknown that makes me excited about the next decade to come.   

January 3, 2016

Alright, I am going to admit it.  I can’t stop thinking about my personal goals to be set for the next year of I Ho Chuan.  I know we still have a good length of time in the year of the Sheep, but I just can’t get it out my mind.

I haven’t forgotten that the year of the Sheep has close to two more months.  Don’t get me wrong, I am still fully engaged in knocking off this year’s requirements.  In reflection of past years however, while evaluating what made the successes possible and ways to beat the failures, I have come to the conclusion that 2016 is the year. 

2016 will be the year of tackling the personal goals of past I Ho Chuan years that were not successes.  And there are some doozies.  It will probably mean one of the most challenging I Ho Chuan years I will have taken on.  But I think I am ready.  Bring on 2016, and for those that I missed talking to prior to Jan 1, Happy New year everyone.