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.