Stepping into the role of Sifu

     I have been busy the last few weeks teaching a beginner's Shaolin Kung-Fu series through Free Arts of Arizona.  It has honestly been some of the most rewarding time I've spent in my life. There are 10 kids raging in age from 10 - 16  and they all seemed enthusiastic.  I gained a new appreciation for all my teachers. Especially my own Sifu.  He has often made teaching seem effortless, apart from being an amazing martial-artist he is also a very good teacher. He is great at building a rapport with his students as well as being explain and demonstrate the finer aspects to his students. 

I've ran classes before, I've filled in for my instructor a number of times. I teach groups of beginners regularly at my kwoon. One thing I've noticed about teaching martial arts is that you truly have to understand the material you are teaching. When you are going through a form or an individual technique, your body has to go through the movement and you have to be able to describe what you are doing as you are doing it. Hand Placement, Stances, the targets you are striking to while you are performing your movement. You can't go off of a pre-packaged lesson plan written by someone else.

     Teaching also allows you to work out your own questions with your movements. Try going through your techniques mentally. Perform any simple movement - i.e. A round-house kick, A horse stance, A straight punch, A joint-lock. If you've done it any number of times before, executing the move will be seamless you won't need to think about it.  Then try and perform the movement slowly and try to talk through it as if you are teaching an absolute beginner the movement for the first time. I gaurantee you that you will probably stumble a few times if you don't completely have it down or if you haven't really thought about it. Teaching will also give you a deeper level of understanding of your art. This is why I'm more than happy to help my fellow students before during and after class because I'm also deepening my own understanding of the art so I'm grateful to them for giving me that opportunity.

      There are also the things you teach without words, the things you do by your actions while in a training session. Do you show discipline and focus during your class time. Are you giving your students the deeper lessons of Kung-Fu? As I sat for the first time in front of the kids I was tasked to teach, I realized what an awesome responsibility that was and I was extremely nervous. I am also learning how to be a better teacher, I have learned to spot when I am losing my students' focus and attention. When to provide positive encouragement and when to provide firm discipline. The importance of a lesson plan for each lesson. Which students require a little more instructions to be pulled out of their shells. Its still a work in progress but hopefully one day I'll get there.

Its been a long time/ since I left you/without some posts to step to....

My blog posts have been sparse and intermittent, I have not had much time to blog which I hope to change soon. I've been working on some of my new years resolutions with some success. Although less than I would have liked. I've removed some goals and added some new ones since then.  So here is how I've done so far

 Original Goals

1) Train Daily - My goal was to rain every day. Whether it is working on technique, strength training, endurance. I committed  doing at least one training session of at least 20 - 30 minutes at a time.

Training Results

       I've started training for 1 hour to 1.5 hours each morning. My workout consists of 2 parts - qigong and forms. For the qigong I do Yijinjing postures and/or Hua-To's 5 animal frolics. I go to a nearby park early in the morning and work out. I've also been experimenting with including conditioning programs like P90x outside of my daily training sessions to improve my strength. I've started and stopped the P90x a couple of times. I've had 2 week trials but I have not been able to not skip days due to time constraints and muscle fatigue. I need to look at re-orienting my schedule so maybe I do my conditioning work in the morning and
my form practice /qigong in the evenings.


       I've noticed huge improvements in my cardio-vascular conditioning, flexibility and reflexes. My stances are more solid and I've also been able to understand certain movements more intuitively. This has also led to improvements in class. I've become a better teacher when instructing students and my sparring has improved tremendously. It was hard to wake up an hour earlier everyday but after two weeks it became like clockwork. I didn't even think about it. It became a habit like brushing teeth and I was bothered if I didn't train so if I missed a morning, I would do make ups at lunch time or in the evening.


2)  Martial Arts Program - It was a goal at the beginning of the year to start a non-profit martial arts program for at risk youth in my area.

 Martial Arts Program Results

 I'm partnering with Free Arts of Arizona and I'm extremely excited because I am going to teach a beginners Shaolin Kung-Fu series for 9 weeks starting June 1st! 


3) Diet - My goal was to go to a Vegetarian diet at the beginning of the year. My diet has been 70 percent Vegetarian /30 percent Vegan.  I'm trying to slowly cut out all animal products from my diet (I still consume limited amounts of dairy in the form of cheese).

Diet Results

I've lost 15 pounds going from 180 - 165 lbs. I've cut my body fat percentage from 15% to 9% and lost 2 pant sizes going from a 34 to 32. I feel more energetic but I feel like I've also lost some upper body strength as I haven't been doing as much strength training. I also have not quite figured out the right protein balance as  I'm experimenting with different plant based protein sources such as hemp powder, beans, nuts and tempeh.

4) Meditation - Here was my meditation goal - "I will meditate daily for a total of 20 to 30 minutes a day. Whether it is doing it early in the morning or late in the evening. I can combine it with my training schedule."

Meditation Results

This is the area that I've struggled the most because I have not practiced seated meditation much in the last 6 months. I've found more success with more motion based meditative movements such as walking meditation, Taiji and doing things like Yijinjing and even sometimes yoga. I haven't yet fully mastered the art of sitting still and I would like to be able to sit in zazen (seated meditation) for at least 15 minutes. So if I reread my goal then I have had success but I would like to be able to explore seated meditation more.

Added Goals

5) Learning Mandarin - I would like to be able to eventually read and write Chinese. I think this will give me a greater understanding of Kung-Fu. I've signed up for a 6 month subscription to learn conversational chinese at www.melnyks.com which I've really enjoyed.  The podcasts are free but you have to pay for the worksheets and transcriptions. I've experimented with using MIT's Open Course Ware to see if I could self study using their course content for Chinese I but I found that I did not learn as much as I did with the conversational Mandarin at Serge Melnyk's site.


6) Explore the philosophies of Ch'an Buddhism and Taoism - I wanted to have a more in depth knowledge of Ch'an Buddhism and Taoism to also further my understanding of the art.  I've been studying online at www.buddhanet.net which is a fantastic resource for Buddhism. You can find general introductions to Buddhism as well as translations of sutras in all the different branches of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana). Shaolin Chan Buddhism belongs to the Mahayana branch.


I've also picked up a few books that I've also found valuable to increasing my knowledge in this area. I'll compile the list and post them on here at some point.




7) Knowledge of Chinese Medicine. In particular the knowledge of Acupuncture points and Qi meridians - I've always wanted to get an in depth understanding into pressure points for Martial arts as well as for healing.  My goal is to first understand the meridians and then work on knowing all the points in the human body.


8) Skill in  joint locking (Qin-Na) and ground fighting - I would like to work on getting more skill in joint locking as well as ground fighting (throws, take downs, sweeps as well as defense on the ground). My instructor is a fantastic wrestler and we have been exploring all the throws and joint locks in many of our existing Kung-Fu forms. My goal is to be able to skillfully apply Qin-Na locks as well as take downs. I've neglected to improve on this as I've relied too much on my striking skill.  We've had new students who come from grappling based arts who have shown me that I have neglected this area of training for too long (special thanks to Big T for kicking my but and showing me I needed to improve my ground skills)


9) Complete the P90x program from start to finish - I have not been able to finish the P90x program all the way through. The DVDs are sitting on my kitchen counter taunting me daily. my goal by the end of the year will be to have completed it once.

Training with classical weapons in the age of the Gun

In my Kung-Fu school we train with classical chinese weapons. Staff, Broadsword, Straight Sword, Chainwhip, Kwan Dao (Halberd), Tie Cha (Sai), Er Chie Kuen (Nunchaku), Spear, 3-Sectional Staff and others. Some people would question the benefits of training with such weapons when the most commonly used weapons are pistols, rifles, shotguns and other projectile weapons. The classical weapons were the military weapons of their day, so shouldn't we be training with the current military weapons of our time?


There are some benefits to training with classical weapons. Here are a few:

1. It challenges your mind when learning how to handle a classical weapon  

    Each weapon you train with has a unique feel, training with a staff has a different feel than training with a spear.  There are different principles involved in correctly using both.  Flexible weapons like the nunchaku, spear, 3-section staff and chain whip all have a different feel than using non-flexible weapons. Long weapons have different advantages and disadvantages than using short weapons. You have to learn the strengths, weaknesses and principles of each weapon until you can truly use it effectively.  By learning to use each weapon effectively, you are training your neural pathways in different ways which will enhance your mental development.

2. You train your body so that you can make the weapon an extension of it

     True skill with weapons occurs when the practitioner handling the weapon makes it a part of him/her.  The weapon becomes like another limb and the practitioner has full and complete control over it. Having broken my nose with a 3-Sectional staff, I can tell you that this is way easier said than done. It takes countless hours of practice to acheive this feat. But once you do you gain an advantage over your opponent because you can extend your reach and fighting ability with it.

3. The Weapons train your body in ways that your empty hand techniques do not

     Training with weapons also trains different areas of the body in ways that empty hand forms do not. One of my staff workouts incorporates using different staff spins using both hands 50 times each. My shoulders, forearms and wrists are extremely sore afterwards but it is a great workout. Each weapon works the body in a different way.

4. Everyday objects become weapons

     

     When you train with classical weapons, you can substitute them for everyday objects. A detachable broom handle can substitute in place of a staff, A garbage can top and a stick can substitute for a broadsword and shield. You can use an umbrella or a cane as a straightsword or broadsword.  There are certain weapons forms that incorporate the use of benches which can be substituted for chairs.  A tragic example of this is how the 9/11 hijackers took control of the airplanes using simple boxcutters. Pre 9/11, the security teams at the airports screened mainly for guns and knives but the attackers  used boxcutters  as weapons against defenseless passengers and flight crew. So after the security screening the passengers were unarmed but unfortunately the terrorists were not. 

5. Training with weapons can increase your overall skill

     Training your mind and body differently can improve your overall martial ability. Also when you understand the true principles behind using a weapon, you no longer need to use it. Legend has it that Xingyichuan (Mind-Form boxing) was created by General Yue Fei.  It was supposedly based on spear fighting techniques. If you understand the principle that the weapon embodies,  you can discard the weapon and use your whole body in its place.  

The dialogue between the King of Qin and Jet Li's character 'Nameless' at the end of the movie 'Hero' exemplifies this point. The King is discussing the levels of swordsmanship. 

"Swordsmanship's first achievement; is the unity of man and sword. Once this unity is attained

even a blade of grass can be a weapon.The second achievement is when the sword exists in one's heart. When absent from one's hand, one can strike an enemy at paces even with bare hands.  Swordsmanship's ultimate achievement is the absence of the sword in both hand and heart. The swordsman is at peace
with the rest of the world, he vows not to kill and to bring peace to mankind"*

  *taken from the website - http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/h/hero-script-transcript-jet-li.html

Love is the Secret Ingredient

If you love it enough, anything will talk to you.
George Washington Carver

I have gone through a love/hate relationship with training. When I first started studying kung-fu, I loved it and I could not wait to wake up the next morning to practice. I would take every opportunity after class to go over something with my fellow students. Then I went through a phase when training became a chore. It became something I was supposed to do and not because I loved it. I began to question why I began studying kung-fu in the first place and at one point I thought about quitting altogether. I had many drastic changes going on in life and kung-fu seemed like one obligation that I could do without. My attitude changed and I have come to love my training again. When I am practicing in the park first thing in the morning, my hands are cold and there is silence save for the occasional jogger or person walking their dog. I enjoy training, whether it is doing Qigong, Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua, Black Tiger Fist or any of the other material I am working on. I end my workout feeling so invigorated and alive. I love the feeling I get when I am going through forms. Trying to push myself to move as powerfully and as gracefully as I possibly can. To push myself so my stances are lower, my movements are fast, my punches and kicks powerful. I feel truly alive and free.

I think that if training becomes an obligation rather than an act of love, it will become something that we dread instead of value. It'll become something to check off our list. We won't pour everything we have into each session and in doing so we cheat ourselves of the opportunity for true growth. The opportunity to make our art a part of ourselves and to get the chance to gain true mastery instead of mere competence.

I have come to appreciate the gifts of Kung-Fu training. The ability to hone the mind, body and spirit. The gift of being able to apply what I have learned in the Kwoon to other areas of life. To apply the same skilled practice and focus to my work and my home life. I have learned to love Kung-Fu and all martial arts for the many gifts they give. Discipline, Focus, Respect, Strength, Health and Inner Peace. I love the soreness I feel after an intense training session. I love the camaraderie with other students. The many different areas of training (Internal, External, Hard, Soft, Empty Hand styles, Weapons). I love the poetry of the forms. How two people can do the same technique completely differently and everyone can give it their own essence. I am grateful for all that martial arts has given me and I am in the process of trying to come up with a way to pay that gift forward. I hope that maybe one day after I have poured enough love and sweat into the art, I will be able to truly understand all that it has to say.

Shiny Colored Belts and the myth of the Black Belt 'Expert'

The system of belt ranking that many modern martial arts schools use was invented by Kanō Jigorō the founder of Judo. It was originally devised as a tool to allow students to measure their training progress and to give greater granularity to martial arts training. Students would be able to track their progress against the expectations of whatever belt level they were supposed to be.

The Black Belt symbolizes for many people the highest achievement that one can achieve in any art. Tell someone who does not study martial arts that you have a black belt or black sash in any art and you immediately become viewed as an authority or expert in whatever art you supposedly study. Sometimes people have multiple black-belts in different martial arts styles and are expected to be experts across many disciplines. In Kung-Fu there were three levels - Student, Disciple and Master. You were a student from the time you started your studies until you displayed a certain level of competency. Masters would then make the most promising of their students disciples and teach them more of their art and include teachings previously unavailable to students. Discipleship was given to students who were not only sound technicians but also displayed strength of character. Then after further training, refinement and many years of long and hard study. A disciple would become a master himself.

You can purchase any belt or sash you want from any martial arts supply store. It doesn't make you any more skilled than you were previously. A black belt merely signifies that you have displayed a certain competency while studying your chosen art. It can be like getting a college degree after four years. You are competent in your chosen field but you are by no means an expert in your area. Just like the quality of an education varies between schools so does the quality of black-belts vary between students. Some schools promote their students on a much more lenient scale and require less from a black belt or black sash student than do other schools.

There is a danger of putting too much emphasis on the belt or sash that you wear. Sometimes people get obsessed with belts. They become so focused on the next belt and getting to the mythical black belt that it becomes a race. Never satisfied with truly grasping their current level, they are in a huge hurry to get to whatever is next so that they can get to the promised rank - the black belt/black sash. Rank fuels their ego and finally there is a point where the ego is so big that they finally assume that they have learned all their is to know about their chosen art and finally they quit. Sometimes it is because they get humbled during class after sparring a student who they assumed was inferior because they had a lesser rank. Once they get humbled by the lower ranking student, the ego cannot take the bruising so they question the material instead of questioning their commitment to training.

In my 8 years of studying Shaolin Kung-Fu, I am always amazed at how much more there is to learn. Just when I think I have gotten to a level of competency, there is an additional level to get to. There are not just additional physical challenges, but mental and spiritual ones as well. You have to learn how to subdue the ego so that you aren't so impressed by your own achievements. You merely have to set the bar higher for yourself, to try to improve so that you were better than you were the last time you were in class. To make it to the next training session/class. As the Old Master wrote in the Tao Te Ching - "The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". Focus on the next step, not the journey.

Community and Practice

I have always found it strange that I could never do as many push ups by myself as I could in class. Is it the venue that gives you the extra bit of strength? Is it the instructor encouraging you to push yourself past your preconceived limit? Or is it just having more people around you that gives you that extra bit of strength.

I've been thinking about the importance of training with a group of people and how it helps you become a better martial artist. Most of my closest friends I have met at the Kwoon. There is something about training and enduring hardship that makes people bond quicker. I spent many hours after class drilling techniques with students in my group. Asking senior students for help, providing help to junior students who needed it. I don't think I would have been able to gain certain insights had I not been training in a community. To paraphrase Morpheus in The Matrix, "There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path".

There are certain disciplines that you can learn on your own and become expert at. Martial arts is not one of them. No matter how much you practice on your own, you can never truly manifest your skill unless you practice with others. It is one thing to learn a technique and spend hours honing it. It is quite another to use it in a sparring match against different students with different body types and temperaments. You quickly find out how vast the difference is by knowing a technique and experiencing a technique until it is part of you. You may find a technique works well against a smaller opponent but you find yourself frustrated because a bigger stronger student shook off your attacks with ease and delivers a painful counter. You have to experiment and find what works and what doesn't.

Most of the learning I have done has been after the training session where I spent hours practicing with fellow students. We would share insights and give each other pointers. Sometimes you need someone else's point of view to see when you are doing something wrong. Sometimes I get frustrated during sparring sessions when nothing I am trying seems to work. I would ask students I sparred with after class how they would always get in a technique on me and they would tell me whether I was telegraphing or leaving an opening. This sharing of information is invaluable to improving. I've had to bury my ego many times when people would wipe the floor with me but it was a great learning experience. I frequently give pointers to junior students if they need help.

Most students learn initially by mimicking their instructor. It is only after diligent practice studying alone and amongst other students and that one is able to go from copying to ownership. You make your knowledge a part of you.

I've made many lasting friendships in the Kwoon. Most of my closest friends are my fellow students. There is something about enduring hardship that makes fast friends. I experienced something similar in the Marines. I've poured sweat, broken bones, strained muscles, tendons and ligaments but I have gained far more than I have ever invested. I could not have gleamed a portion of the knowledge I have received had I not been part of a community.

Micro Training

In modern society it is hard to find huge chunks of time to do anything. If you work 40 plus hours a day and have a family, it is hard to block out a two hour period in a day unless you do it first thing in the morning or schedule it at night. If you have school, your schedule is equally as hectic since most of the studying is done outside the class room. Anecdotal studies say that it takes 10,000 hours to master any skill. If you spent an hour a day training, it would take you approximately 27 years to master martial arts. It also takes deliberate practice to focus on areas of weakness so that you can master the skill.

So how can we log enough time to achieve martial arts mastery, if our day is loaded with other tasks that require our attention? The answer is micro training, short workouts that can last from 5 - 20 minutes in which your training has a single focus. Here is a sample of some micro-training sessions:

you want to work on punching technique, you can take a short break at the office and find a quiet space with little distraction(At my office there are courtyards where there aren't any offices within walking distance). You spend 10 minutes doing sets of punches - 100 horizontal fist punches, 100 vertical fist punches, back fists, hammer fists, reverse punches. The entire workout can be done in 5 - 10 minutes depending on the speed.

You can do isometric exercises at your desk.

Then you can spend your next session working on techniques mentally. Visualize an opponent attacking you a variety of different ways. What would be some of your responses. if you have the space - do some light shadow boxing.

Work on movements like forms - you can do one form at a tai-chi like speed. Or go over more than one form if you have the time.

If you work 8 hours in a day you can get through 8 sessions. If you do each session for 5 minutes you have 40 minutes of focused training time. If you did 10 minutes that would be an extra 1.5 hours you trained in a day. You can easily add this to your regular morning or evening workout routine to supplement your training.

Resolving to keep resolutions in MMX

As is customary at this time of year, We are all making our New Year's resolutions on what we want for 2010. I have made tons of resolutions through the years but very few stick. My goal this year is to keep to my goal list. Since the primary focus of this blog is martial arts and Kung-Fu in particular. I am posting them here to keep myself accountable to the few readers who read this blog (thank you for your comments and input) I think accountability for resolutions is a good key to keeping them. I also think that defined goals that can be accomplished incrementally will also allow me to accomplish my resolutions. Having a fuzzy, pie in the sky goal like - "I want to be Kung-Fu awesome" is not as readily achievable as - "I plan on improving my overall strength and flexibility by 20%" or "I will cut my body fat percentage by half". The latter can be measured and progress can be gauged. I guess it is the engineer in me that likes something quantifiable. Being awesome is subjective and can only be defined by others. So without further adieu here is my goal list for 2010 as it pertains to Martial Arts

Train Daily - I will train every day. Whether it is working on technique, strength training, endurance. I will do at least one training session of at least 20 - 30 minutes at a time. If I can squeeze 2 or 3 sessions in a day then that will be ideal, but my minimum is one 30 minute session a day. The sessions will have focus and intensity . On days where my body needs a rest, I will focus more on internal exercises like tai-chi and Qigong. I may also look into possibly trying out new martial arts like boxing and grappling.

Meditation - I will meditate daily for a total of 20 to 30 minutes a day. Whether it is doing it early in the morning or late in the evening. I can combine it with my training schedule. Meditation does not necessarily mean seated meditation (zazen). It could mean practicing tai-chi with full awareness, walking meditation or some form of Qigong that is meditative in nature.

Martial Arts Program - I've had an idea for a couple of years to start a non-profit martial arts program for at risk youth in my area. The goal is to make an after school program for at risk youth.my target demographic are adolescents to young adults. I think that there is so much benefit that can be gained from studying a martial art; confidence, health and discipline. I also think that it is a duty as a human being to improve our little corner of the world. This would be one way for me to do that. I have had a couple of false starts in 2009. I had meetings with my instructor that never went anywhere because we were all doing other things. There will be no such excuses this year.

The Vegan Experiment - I have been flirting with going on a completely vegetable diet for a while now. I haven't made it stick for an entire year. This year I do it. The caveat is that my diet will allow me to maintain and possibly enhance my training regimen. I don't think that will be a problem since there are plenty of world class athletes who don't eat meat. I will track my progress and maybe try to post my food log. I will also look into organic foods and juicing.

Philosophical and Mental Training - I plan to increase my knowledge on the history and philosophy of my art as well learn about other arts as well. I will read and learn more about Chan Buddhism, Taoism and Kung-Fu. I will also look at the history, philosophy and techniques of other martial arts. Every art has a warrior code of ethics, I will absorb what is useful to me and make note of it.

Practice Outside the Training Hall - If I train for an hour a day but do not incorporate my training into my every day life then my training is useless.I believe that often we only focus on the physical and neglect the mind and spirit. This is not an endorsement of any religious point of view. You can work on developing character without any particular religious framework. There are core principles that are common to all cultures.Traits like honesty, compassion, and courage are character traits that are essential to being a warrior. I signed up to be part of istartswith.us and I thought that would be a great way to exercises things like compassion for others. Nate St. Pierre's site is inspiring and I don't think you can not read his blog and not be fired up. All it takes is 15 minutes a day helping others, it doesn't sound like a lot but 15 minutes each done by a lot of people is huge.

So those are my goals and I'll be doing my best to achieve them. I'll be having the rocky montage playing in my head when I go through them.