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.