A Martial Adventure in Suburbia

Another notch on my martial bed-post!

2006-02-16T22:51:00.000Z

Had fun in training today - another notch on my martial bed-post. Some martial achievements can’t help but make you smile.

I was all fired up from a stressful meeting at work yesterday.
I was really looking forward to a 6 rounds on the heavy bag this lunchtime. But I was forced to stop after only 2 because... I broke the punching-bag!!!

There was probably something wrong with the chain – but it sure did feel good. One minute I was hitting it – the next minute –CLANG – as a good 4 feet of the metal support chain fell to the floor glancing off the side of my head (ouch!). I was stunned and angry for about half a second but this soon turned into a beaming smile as I saw the punching bag hanging there - broken. I have finally “beaten” my first punching bag!

The nice thing is that now that I have seen and feel this happe once, I will try to approach every future heavy bag session with the intent and belief that I can truly “beat” the bag into submission!

Monkey say, Monkey do...

2006-02-13T21:42:00.000Z

My 3 year old is really beginning to impress me with her kung-fu. It is interesting trying to teach her things without actually demonstrating (I often hold a low horsestance as part of my own training whilst trying to describe movements to her). It is strange. Being able to explain a movement without needing to resort to demonstration really tests your understanding. It is harder than you think – try it!

The intricacy and subtlety of the crane system also makes this extremely difficult to do. A 3-year old however, doesn’t understand subtlety (at least mine doesn’t!). This forces me to not only explain movements but to distil these explanations.

The movements she performs do not need to be perfect but the fundamental principals within them need to be correct. This forces me to think hard about each movement: which principals are fundamental to the movement? What principals are a nice-to-have (more subtle or advanced) but not essential to the movement being effective? What is just window-dressing to the movement? What principals, if not followed or understood could actually damage the practitioner?

If my 3-year old’s movements are relaxed, fun for her to do, true to fundamental principals and not causing her any damage – I am happy.

Everyone gives the Chinese arts a hard time with their flowery naming of movements. However, there is often a distilled simplicity in these names that captures the essence of the principals contained.

Even my 3-year old knows where to put her hands in relation to her eyes if I ask her to perform “Beauty looks in the mirror”!

I wish I knew more of the translations for the Chinese names of my movements and principals. I only know those of my first form and some of those in my soft-style form. I will need to try hunting these down.

After finding the names, I guess the next step will be to learn Mandarin! I bet some of the depth of explanation is also lost in their translation to English…

Asking the right questions.

2006-02-07T00:20:00.000Z

I am really working on my wrists at the moment. The sword has really helped me realize how important strong and flexible wrists are. I am always harping on about the importance of foundation yet I feel I have neglected the obvious. The wrist forms part of the triad that helps to generate 3-part-power. The crane system is very intricate and full of subtle wrist movements. The necessity for these movements to remain effective means the wrist needs to be both flexible and strong. This has forced me to refocus on the “sitting limbs” principal within my first form. It is always amazes me how many answers are still waiting for me within my first form! I just need to progress to the level where I can begin to start asking the right questions…

guilty as charged

2006-02-02T20:48:00.000Z

Ok ok ok ok....
So I've been lazy with my blog! I blame it on the british weather - dark in the early evening means I have been training at lunchtimes (it is harder for me to make blog entries during the day...). Anyway despite being lazy with my blog - I have been keeping up with my training (allowing for Xmas excess!). My newest discovery - my wrists are pathetically weak. How do I come to this conclusion - one word - BROADSWORD! ;-))

more on this soon...

Kung-Fu Flu

2005-10-22T09:16:00.000Z

I feel really out of shape at the moment. I haven't trained properly for almost a one and a half weeks! :-(

My daughter was sick… again… 3 year-olds seem to swap diseases at school on an almost daily basis!

She was ill for about 4 days…and then she passed it on to my youngest daughter (who was ill for 2 days). In turn, my youngest passed it on to me - its taken me a whole week, I am on the mend but still not 100% (must be weak chi!). I have now passed it on to my wife who is just starting to fall ill. By the time she recovers…. My 3-year old will have brought something else back from school... sigh.

Anyway - desperate times call for desperate measures. After the majority of initial recovery has taken place (a few days of feeling sorry for myself, an overdose of daytime TV, multivitamin juice and chicken soup!) I find I need to get my body back into its routine. It is amazing how fast you deteriorate when you take a break from training.

The good news is that if your foundation is good - the speed with which you can recover your ability is also pretty fast.

As with all things that have stopped, the hardest part is to get them moving again in the first place. INTERTIA. All movement starts from stillness.

Thank god for tai-chi. It is the perfect way to get your body used to moving again before shocking it into the rigours of hard-style training. After recovering from a bout of illness I tend to do about 3 days focused solely on my soft-style. The rest of the week I perform my hard-style patterns but as if they were soft-style patterns. Helps my body get used to the correct flow of energy again. They are all chi-kung exercises anyway.

After a week of "being nice" to myself - it is time to start recovering fitness.

Apart from running (which I hate) - one of my favourite ways is to do rounds on the heavy bag. Start with 5 two minute rounds and work up to 7 three minute rounds. I bought myself an i-shuffle recently so that I can listen to Bas Rutten yelling at me to hit harder and faster.

[N.B Don't you just hate it mid-workout when a earphone falls out! You have to take off your boxing gloves to replace it and then put them back on again before you can continue! - Infuriating.]

Anyway, Bas's work out tape is great. I like him - My favourite MMA fighter. He reminds me of a grizzly bear that could twist you up and spit you out!. :-)

So this weekend - I'll finish up my hard-style patterns (softly!) and next week whilst at work - my lunchtimes will involve Bas yelling at me to hit the heavy bag!

Don't Worry... it gets easier.

2005-10-14T22:08:00.000Z

Whilst I was training this lunchtime I couldn’t help over-hear a passing comment between two boxers who were taking turns working out on the heavy bag. After a few rounds one turned to the other and said “Don’t worry, after a while it gets easier…”

It was a simple statement. In many ways when you first hear it, it is one that rings true.

I didn’t have much time to dwell on this during my lunch time session as I was doing my patterns. (When I do my patterns – I just let my mind go – thinking of nothing and/or everything, my space, my time to rediscover my body – I can’t think about anything in particular when I do my patterns as I endeavour to “become the pattern” with my whole being. If my mind is tangled with thoughts and is not “free”... How can I become anything at all?...).

My favourite time to think about my martial arts is during running or stretching. This evening, I was thinking about the boxer’s statement whilst I was stretching.

I believe that the martial arts, if practiced properly, should NEVER become easier – only harder.

People talk about “mind, body & spirit”. Of these three wars, I believe spirit to be the hardest. One’s spirit shines through brightest when you push-on against adversity. As you progress in martial training you become more and more comfortable facing greater and greater obstacles. To fight the “war of spirit” in a truly martial way is to constantly seek out ever-greater obstacles to overcome. As my instructor used to say “learn until you die”.

In other words – if something is getting easier – you are not trying hard enough. Your martial aspirations are not great enough. If you are finding it “easier” to hit the bag for a 3 minute round… then hit it harder.

If you are finding lasting the 3 minute round “easier”… then try a 5 minute round.

This is yet again the danger of complacency.

One’s training path is like climbing a mountain with no summit. By all means celebrate your victories by occasionally looking back down the mountain path to take in the view. Just don’t forget to keep climbing!

To grow one’s spirit - one must constantly test its boundaries.

Hmmm… Better dig out my gloves - I think I’m going to share some quality time with my heavy-bag this weekend.

Bagua in High-Heels

2005-10-07T08:27:00.000Z

Apologies for not having written an entry in almost 2 weeks! Rest assured I have still been training! :-)

For the first time in ages I had the chance to spend some time with a group of my close friends without my family. I was invited to a friend’s weekend stag-party abroad! ;-) I couldn’t bring myself to let all those guys get out of control in a strange city full of blondes - so I felt obliged to attend. >;-)

We all had a great time. It was also nice to spend some quality time with one of my dearest kung-fu brothers.

All the usual boys only antics were on the cards: strip clubs, night clubs etc. (Understand dear reader, that I only attended so as to ensure that the voice of calm, moderation and reason was present within the group – What a load of CRAP! It was great fun!).

So what does this have to do with kungfu you ask? Well when you are obsessed – you see kung-fu in the strangest places. I had to giggle to myself when I realized the level to which I have tuned myself to do this!

I was watching a (rather attractive) young lady performing a pole-dance in a strip club. Was I as a married man thinking all manner of dastardly thoughts???…sort of.

I was noticing how her footwork walking around the pole in both directions reminded me of Bagua footwork (in high-heels!). I was noticing that when she hoisted herself upside down and clamped her legs around the pole she was in fact applying a Brazilian Jujitsu triangle choke! Now that is what I call obsession! ;-)

At various night-clubs, I dusted the cob-webs off my dancing shoes. I remembered how much fun dancing was again! Fun and aerobic exercise do not often go hand-in-hand so it was great for me to rediscover the fun and energy within dancing.

Another important lesson from dancing is rhythm. Picking up a rhythm and moving your body in accordance with it is a very martial skill. Once you can move to a beat, the martial application is to sense the “beat” of an opponent – then fight in the “off-beat”.

Anyway – a great time was had by all who attended. In future I must endeavour not only to balance my martial life with my family life – I cannot afford to ignore my friends – they are too precious to me.

Since my return I have been training at lunchtime whilst at work. I have found a nice hall (it even has a punching bag!) that I can use for free. In the past I have had the hall all to myself however as of late other martial artists are turning up to practice.

Everyone is very open and friendly but there is an element of looking out of the corner of your eye to size each other up. Childish competition – but quite fun! If it makes me push harder during my training session who am I to complain?

I have met a couple of kickboxers a few days ago – great aerobic fitness, extremely strong but their movements seem very “blocky”. They were working out on the bag (using gloves) whilst I was doing my forms. I could sense them thinking “that’s all very pretty – but I bet he can’t throw a decent punch” - I couldn’t resist so I dropped down and did some knuckle bouncing up and down the room. At the end of our sessions we got to talking and agreed that it might be fun to spar together in future.

The following lunchtime we had a great time sparring. Everything was very linear so once I had figured this out it was pretty easy to enter from the side and counter. I did learn a lot about the way they used their knees and I also realized that I completely underutilize my own elbows. Must work on this.

Yesterday in the hall there was a guy skipping his guts out. He asked what I was doing and I told him kung-fu. I asked if he was a boxer and he said no - he was a fencer!

He asked if I did sword… Not yet unfortunately.

We got talking because he said the way I was using my stance and waist to generate whip in my staff had similarities to the way they did things in fencing.

I was most impressed by the way this guy moved. He showed unbelievable agility whilst in impossibly low stances. Fencers seem to feel completely at home in a really low bow-and-arrow stance. The difference between him and me is that from his stance he can REALLY REALLY move. You can’t see him “start to move” - he is just “already there”. Must practice.

Run Forest, Run!

2005-09-27T21:33:00.000Z

Of all the necessary evils in martial arts training I hate running the most!
I just hate that “verge of cardiac arrest” feeling! Running was also one of my pet hates when I was forced into it at school.

I used to wonder which was better for a kung-fu practitioner – being a long distance runner or a sprinter?
My instructor once answered this question by stating that you should aspire to “sprint a marathon”.

At least I have found a decent running route – forest, small hills and even a tiny secluded lake (which is great for practicing patterns on the waterfront!). There is nothing I find more laughable than people who drive to the gym so they can pay to go on the running machine (…well maybe people who take the lift up to the gym on the 4^th floor so they can pay to go on the stepping machine!)

The other bad thing about running on machines is that when you are tired you can just stop – when I get tired half-way through my running route… I still have to get home (so I have no choice but to keep on running!)

As much as I complain about it, running can give you time to relax and think. I also have some of my best daddy-daughter conversations whilst I am running (On occasion, I run carrying my 3 year-old on my shoulders.). She loves it. It is great to spend time with her without any distractions.

For ages I used to think that I just couldn’t run. I used to stop several times whilst trying to complete a route. This was until one of my friends asked me if I would be equally defeatist if I only had to walk the route. Since walking doesn’t even register as exercise with me, I claimed that I could walk almost indefinitely. With this established, my friend therefore simply insisted that the next time I felt like stopping mid-route, that I just reduce my running speed to walking speed (still bouncing with each stride – but with much much smaller steps). This seems to have done the trick for me – I don’t stop anymore.

The Three Little Pigs...

2005-09-22T22:50:00.000Z

I don’t think I have ever been more motivated to improve as I am at the moment. By directing my own training, I am better able to explore my strengths and weaknesses. I can begin to really play with and enjoy my kung fu.

Self direction is good. But I must be conscious to avoid self-deception! I must not neglect my foundation training. Sooner than you realize, neglect will turn foundations from brick into straw…

Personally, I find that foundation training is one of the more difficult things to motivate yourself to do regularly (and properly!) when training on your own.

In my experience, solid foundations are far easier to develop within a class environment. Competitive desire, positive anger and outright fear are all primal emotions. These raw adrenalin soaked feelings are the ones that help you push beyond your limits.

Each person’s pain/endurance/strength threshold is a moving boundary and irrespective of experience – it is never a nice feeling testing it! The problem is that “testing it” is the essence of foundation training - The harder you push, the stronger/more resilient/resistant to pain you will become. Your body actually changes.

In class, my instructor would use “gentle persuasion” to help his students exceed their perceived limitations. Hold a static pushup (taming the tiger) – and he would stand on your back at the point of collapse! Stretch - and he would pull/push you just beyond your perceived snapping point! Fail to do a push-up/sit-up through exhaustion and he would ask for another 50 – you might almost be tempted to protest until you glance up to see that he was brandishing his “gentle persuasion stick”!

When training on your own, even when you know what you need to do - squeeze out another few pushups | sit lower into that stance | keep elbows in tighter | throw more into your fingers | stretch wider – self-motivation can fall short. Even with the best of intentions, fear of an imaginary “gentle persuasion stick” just doesn’t get the same results.

As most will already know – without a good foundation – you are nothing. The three little pigs learnt this the hard way!

As you progress in the crane system it becomes more subtle and refined. The first essential steps however, are all about developing a strong foundation. Combat is not romantic. It is not about who knows the most flashy moves. More often than not, victory is decided by who lasts longer, hits harder and is able to withstand more damage.

I have come to a novel solution for solitary foundation training which seems to be working for me at the moment.

The more I train the more I realize that if done correctly – your patterns are the only tool required to progress foundation training.

I go through all my patterns 3 times – once wearing iron rings, once in extra low stances (simultaneously giving my daughter a piggyback ride if she is available!), and once with intent i.e. each movement as if I was fighting.

Soon I hope to augment this routine with a new exercise that I am trying to teach myself - the Jin Jing (Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic).

Da Mo (an Indian priest) noticed weakness and ill health amongst the monks of Shaolin Temple. The story goes that in a desire to help them, he went into a cave and meditated on the problem for 9 years! Da Mo surfaced from his solitude with a number of exercises. It is these original exercises that mark the birth of shaolin kung-fu.

One of DaMo’s original exercises is the “Muscle-Tendon Change”.

Now if that doesn’t sound like the root of all foundation training I don’t know what does!

I suppose only time (and lots of practice!) will tell…

Flinching Crane

2005-09-20T12:06:00.000Z

Hooray – Got my first ever comment since starting this blog! It was left by Kit Lok who maintains his own martial-arts journal. It is nice to know there are other people out there with similar ideas.

I learnt an important lesson today…

I have been taught my foundation patterns traditionally. My instructor forcing me to drill the movements until principals clicked into place. They stopped becoming awkward sequences of movements and started becoming just the way I move.

You need to override natural reflexes (empty your cup) and replace them with martial reflexes until the martial reflexes become natural. You don’t think about your movements, you just react appropriately.

This is easy in theory but difficult in practice. A classic example of this is when you watch beginner students of a traditional style spar. In class, people aspire to the beautiful, graceful, subtle but devastatingly effective traditional movements and stances. Once sparring starts, these aspirations are suddenly replaced with bouncing, one-sided kickboxing.

Don’t get me wrong – I respect kickboxing. Kickboxers tend to be VERY fit and it is a VERY effective means of self-defence. (This is why beginners gravitate to these techniques in a sparring situation – as a beginner; it is the easiest way to feel comfortable and effective defending yourself.)

The thing is – the martial arts aren’t always meant to be easy - and I want something more. I aspire to be able to completely outclass an opponent. Furthermore I want to be able to outclass an opponent long after the strength and physical conditioning of youth has left me.

Watching demonstrations in China – it is not the youthful wushu practitioner flying all over the stage that leave the greatest impression. If you have ever seen an 80-90 year old master perform you will know what I am talking about…

Watching a master take to the stage clutching a walking stick. Seeing their eyes almost glow as they “switch-on” and perform for the crowd. The gasps of disbelief as the old man moves with “real intent”. Is this the fountain of youth? During the performance the “old man” seems to be just twenty again! Then in an instant - it is over. Momentary shocked silence followed by the crowd’s roaring applause. The adulation is greeted by a warm toothless smile as people fall over themselves to offer the master a chair and help him put his jacket back so he doesn’t catch cold. Awesome.

Closer to home, I remember several times watching my instructor spar multiple people who were fitter, stronger and bigger than him. The outcome was always the same. He “outclassed” his opponents. He didn’t just win. He completely “controlled” his adversaries in a way that sometimes made spectators actually laugh out loud. The laughter was not trying to belittle the valiant efforts of the opponents – it is just that when for so long you have strived for that “perfect movement” – it is utter joy to see the principals applied with your own eyes. It makes you believe anything is possible again - inspirational.

I have recently begun to teach myself a number of staff patterns. Today my three year-old taught me that I still have some work to do!

Whilst I was practicing with a chunky southern staff (cut to eyebrow height), she decided to pick up a long light plastic tube from a nearby flower bed, smile, and charge at me flailing it like only a three year old can!

Where were my blocks?! Where did my cat-stance go?! I’m supposed to know where my staff and my body is – yet why was I suddenly so concerned that I might get my hands smacked with the tube as I tried to block. FLINCH. FLINCH. FLINCH.

Well and truly beaten by a three year-old girl! Not my greatest martial moment!

My empty-hand foundation patterns have been ingrained into me as principals. I use them. I react in accordance with them.

My self taught staff patterns are still as yet immature. They are still just movements – not yet principals.

I must break each staff pattern down and work, work, work the principals. Lesson learnt.

Eye of the Phoneix

2005-09-16T18:51:00.000Z

It was my birthday yesterday! A day of indulgence instead of training!

Today however it was back to business as usual. Actually not quite usual – I was helping my parents move house so I had to amalgamate my training into the task. Strength training involved lifting box after box up 4 flights of stairs. Quite good actually after the first 75 boxes, the strength in your arms begins to leave you (Parents had over 250 boxes!). This forces one to use economy of movement rather than brute muscle power. (i.e. low horse stance, grip the box in the arc of your arms (like the tai-chi warm up exercise where you imagine you are holding a barrel. Note to self – must find the Chinese name for this! Anyone out there know it?!) and then lift with a straight back.

The second exercise I did is responsible for both my index fingers feeling raw! After we carried the boxes, we began to open them. Each flap of corrugated cardboard flapping loosly on its hinge was too much of a temptation for my phoenix-eye! Impact correctly and you make a hole in the cardboard the size of a 10 pence piece. Impact incorrectly and the cardboard simply dents and the flap flops closed on its hinge.

Phoneix-eye is quite a subtle move that requires good focus. It is interesting to see that although it is no problem for me to move a heavy bag with either hand. The focus of my left hand is far inferior to my right when it comes to the more intricate movements such as this. I must work on this.

For every box I opened there were four flaps of cardboard – that was 2 attempts for each hand. Fingers raw. Typing painful!

Jelly

2005-09-14T22:36:00.000Z

I barley moved during my training today.

I was re-reading my Tao Te Ching earlier this afternoon. “All movement starts from stillness”. This reminded me to practice some of the more static foundation exercises. For my whole training session, I repeatedly held both taming-the-tiger and low horse-stance positions until I collapsed. I enjoy that sickly sweet feeling where your whole body starts to shake uncontrollably – the battle changes from one of physical strength to one of mental resolve.

These exercises provide a number of good lessons (As well as turning your body to jelly!):

Humility - Regardless of how strong I become or how stubbornly determined I am to hold the position….eventually…. I will no longer be able to.

Strategy – Whilst in training it is good to grow by testing and push beyond our limitations. In an actual combat situation, we should only fight battles that we know we have a chance of winning.

Squished Squash

2005-09-13T21:46:00.000Z

Grrrrr…Squash game cancelled for the second Tuesday in a row! (My daughter is unwell so I needed to help out at home). Squash is great for my kung-fu. Deep lunges into low stances coupled with quick unexpected changes of direction. Best of all, I play someone who is better than me so the pace of the game is blistering and completely exhausting for me. It is amazing how important aerobic fitness actually is. Anyone who has fought tournaments will confirm this simple truth. Missing my squash game means I’ll have to make up my aerobic fitness later in the week (I’ll go on an extra long run this weekend.).

Instead I focused on stance today. I did all my patterns in an extra low stance today and finished up by going through my taichi form s-l-o-w-l-y whilst wearing my iron rings. Brilliant – felt like my arms were moving through treacle.

"Perform" Under Time Pressure

2005-09-12T21:53:00.000Z

Typical Monday. Got back from work a little later than expected. Kids took a little longer to get to bed than expected. And what with reserving time for making dinner and watching some TV with my wife (I promised.) - Training time is consequently shorter than anticipated!

In limited time circumstances, there is still a way to make the most of your training. I pretend that I am in a grading or performance situation.

I put myself into a mental state where there can be no second chances.

I will perform all my patterns back-to-back. I have one chance. No room for error. I do not “practice” the patterns – I “perform” them. Every move as fast ,tight, precise and powerful as possible. Every jump that little bit higher, every extension stretched that little bit further.

I try to impress an imaginary audience. I imagine that I am once again in China being scrutinized by my peers during a demonstration. Perhaps even more terrifyingly, I imagine that I am being graded by my instructor. I try desperately to project enough energy into each move so that instead of reading his newspaper in expressionless distain, I can get him to glance up out of curiosity for just an instant.

In a “real” situation there are no second chances. Sometimes it is good to train this way as a reminder.

Self-Preservation

2005-09-11T20:30:00.000Z

I just found out that one of my good friends and his pregnant wife were involved in a serious car accident. Both were un-hurt thank god. We should not get complacent. This has made me realize that it is time to replace my old car for one that has ABS and multiple airbags. I ferry my kids around all the time in my old beat-up car. This is no-longer an acceptable risk. The martial-arts are about self-preservation.

Training in the rain...

2005-09-11T12:32:00.000Z

It was raining this today. I had to force myself outside to do my patterns.

Years of training in a “class” made me accustomed to the relative safety and warmth of a sports-hall environment. It is very easy to take a dry, flat, sprung wooden floor for granted. Glancing down, you can check the alignment of your feet against the parallel lines of the floorboard joins. Training on wet grass is an altogether different experience….

Sinking to reach a rooted stance becomes much more involved. The hydraulics of the legs and ankles need to work independently to reach a rooted equilibrium that is stable enough to contain the power manifested through the hands.

During sticking-hands practice, perception through touch sensitivity of the hands and arms is used to predict an opponent’s intent. This triggers the whole body to react appropriately. I have found that training on wet, uneven ground causes the same kind of touch sensitivity to be developed through the feet. If you step into a dip or bump in the ground, you have to sense this and adjust your stance instantly in order to maintain the required rooted equilibrium.

Training in the rain also has other consequences. Clothing becomes uncomfortable and sticks to the body, rain-drops are a distraction obstructing the vision and de-sensitising hearing.

The worst thing about training in the rain?

The “you total nut-case” look I get from my wife as I return in-doors trying my utmost not to drag mud across the house!

The best things about training in the rain?

There is something that just feels inexplicably powerful about training outdoors whilst hearing thunder. A storm feels like it can energize you!

When your movements are focused and the energy is flowing… there is nothing quite like watching water droplets fly off the tip of a staff to confirm to yourself that you are doing things correctly!

When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see?

2005-09-10T11:02:00.000Z

Martial artists are often an unnecessarily arrogant bunch. It is strange, the only real way to progress is to be honest with yourself, be self-critical and work on improving what you are bad at. Become a perfectionist. Turn weaknesses into strengths.

In my experience, the stylists of the Chinese arts are exceptionally bad at doing this openly. Behind closed doors we all strive to self-improve but in public, in a class or in front of junior students, people have a tendency to pretend to know more than they actually do.

I find it refreshing that training on my own I can be brutally honest about what I do and do not know. At first, it was frightening coming to terms with how little I actually understand in the grand scheme of things. But dear reader, I now relish this lack of understanding!

I am an exponent of a scholar’s style. I am lucky that my lust for knowledge will never dry up. There is so much subtlety in the Crane system that one life-time is nowhere near enough to absorb all the knowledge and skill that is there for the taking. The path I follow trying to make sense of this knowledge is up to me now. My kung-fu has truly become a journey of self-discovery. And like all great journeys, it is the path not the final destination that is important.

I have mentioned previously that I know “how to learn”. I owe this skill to my teacher. This is not about techniques – it is about being able to look at movement and understand the principals behind it. A technique applies to a particular situation whereas a principal can be applied to any situation.

Numerous trips to China observing other martial styles and appreciating their principals has greatly helped my own martial development.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

At class I was often training in front of a mirror. This provided a false sense of security. You could check yourself quickly to see if you were doing things correctly or so I thought! I now realize that in a mirror – you only look for what you want to see.

I don’t have a mirror in my garden so I decided to set-up my video camera and film myself training. I could then watch the footage to monitor my own progress.

What an eye-opener!!!

There is a huge discrepancy between the way I think/feel/perceive that I am moving and the way I am actually moving. An awareness of exactly where your body parts are at a point in time is called proprioception. Until now - I never knew mine was so bad. If I can’t control my own body what hope is there of controlling an opponent! Precision is essential to the Crane system.

Going forward, I will substitute a video camera, brutal self-honesty and a genuine desire to improve for the watchful eye and motivating snarl of an instructor.

Lesson from a 4-month old baby

2005-09-10T06:58:00.000Z

Something must be working...
I am starting to see kung-fu in everything again.

This morning I was watching my 4 month year old daughter on her play-mat. She can almost roll over. She does not have strength in her limbs so she does this efficently - she trys to pull her feet up, arch her back and looks back and to the side over her shoulder causing her to almost roll over. This is interesting. If I am not mistaken this is actually a drill performed by Brazilian Jujitsu practitioners called the "upa" drill. I understand it is one of the best ways to roll over when trapped underneath an opponent who is holding you down.

How interesting that at 4-months old, this principal seems innate natural and instinctive. As we grow we some how lose touch with these "reflexes" and have to recover them somwhow through training.

The First Step

2005-09-10T01:28:00.000Z

Sometimes in life you just have a eureka moment.

Instead of wasting time wondering why your life has turned out the way it is… you just smile and get on with living it.

I am a normal guy, perhaps too normal:

I am married, have two wonderful kids and a pet cat. We all live in a semi-detached house in suburban London UK. To pay the bills, I am a contract information architect (I try to lubricate the inevitable friction caused when a human-being comes into contact with a computer system). I hate my commute to work. I love making my kids smile. Like I said before – normal.

Oh except one thing - I love Kung-Fu. (Specifically Fujian White Crane Kung-fu – a Shaolin Southern style.)

Before the constraints of family life I used to attend kung-fu classes about 5 times a week. I did not consider that a lot – in china they train 6 days a week 8 hours a day.

I have thus far survived the many troughs and plateaus of martial training. I have returned to training after an extended leave of absence. I have trained my way through recurring injuries. I have fought my way through various plateaus of fitness, fear, skill and understanding.

Kungfu is “hard work”. One can only progress through single-minded determination that inevitably demands a degree of self-sacrifice.

For the serious martial artist self-sacrifice is a no-brainer.

But nothing could have prepared me for the impact of having a child.

All of a sudden, the sacrifices one chooses to make effect more than just yourself!

All of a sudden – I didn’t want to spend time traveling to and from class – it meant I missed putting my daughter to sleep and kissing her goodnight.

From one day to the next my priorities changed. My dedication to attending class changed. I watched my kung-fu plateau.

After my second child was born, the kung-fu that I loved so much was fast becoming a chore.

I no-longer bounced into class wondering what I was going to learn. I enjoyed class but was constantly watching the clock. I wanted to put in a minimal level of work so as to maintain my foundation training and then rush back to my family.

I was in a no-win situation.

At home, I felt I was letting my family down as I was always trying to make excuses to rush off and train.

At class:, I felt I was letting my instructor down as did not have the time to practice properly.

I was in a vicious circle where I felt I was doing nothing but letting people down. That’s when it happened...

My Eureka moment.

I realized that my kung-fu was MINE.
The only person I was letting down was myself!

I am privileged to have been trained traditionally. I have been taught how to learn. I know when something feels right and am quick to spot the principals within movements.

I have the utmost respect for my instructor and hope that he can understand. In order to grow I have to rekindle my passion for training. I have to find the balance between the love of my style and time devoted to my family.

The regimented nature of attending a class is not conducive to this. I also do not wish to dishonor my instructor by dwindling my attendance to “once-a-week-ish”.

Training on my own now allows me to own and love my kung-fu once again. I can practice DAILY in my garden at home – guilt free as my wife enjoys a few glasses of wine, my children play in the garden next to me whilst I enjoy another martial adventure in suburbia….

I have become the “Lone-Crane”. My martial journey is now truley my own. I must find the drive to improve from within myself. Every aspect of Shaolin training is incremental – A journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step….

I will attempt to update this blog every couple of steps…..