Spending Time

These past weeks has been great, I have been blessed with the opportunity to be able to spend a lot of time visiting with family and friends, catching up on whats new, reminiscing on past events and planing some future events to come.

Where am I? What am I doing?

A Hard Lesson Learned

I was in a fender bender on Sunday and while I was 100% not at fault legally, I can't help but think I was still responsible. I was going northbound on Jennifer Heil Way when another driver turned left out of the Superstore parking lot and hit me. He clearly didn't look before he turned as I would have been easy to spot since I was driving straight toward him. I saw that he was inching out and he had even started to block one lane of oncoming traffic. 

I could have stopped even though he absolutely did not have the right of way but instead I slowed down a bit and kept driving,  assuming that he saw me and was not going to proceed with his turn. He didn't hit me that hard as neither of us were going very fast and nobody was hurt. 

My vehicle has a good amount of cosmetic damage and the other driver had insurance so, in the end, this is all just a big inconvenience. However, the lesson is not lost on me. Last night in class we were talking abut how out style of kung fu is a defensive style and that discussion seemed prudent, given the recent circumstances. It would be easy for me to take no responsibility in my accident as the law says I was not at fault whatsoever. The other driver made an illegal left turn and struck my vehicle. 

But could I have prevented the accident? I believe so. I wasn't speeding and I was driving within the law but I wasn't driving defensively. Upon seeing that the other driver was inching into traffic and recognizing that he was oblivious to the other vehicles around him, I should have acted defensively and yielded. My ego would have suffered for a moment but my vehicle would have emerged unscathed. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Together

All week Sifu Kichko and I have been meeting in the morning to practice our forms. I must say that this week has been one of the most enjoyable weeks that I have had in while. What can be a better way to start your day each morning, then to start it with a session of Tai Chi followed up with weapon forms and then finishing with hand forms. All in the company of a friend.

Where am I? What am I doing?

Yellow Belt

I received my promotion last night and, after some reflection, I've decided that it feels good. I have to admit that, at first, the only thing I felt was disappointment in myself for not getting it sooner. I have failed to take advantage of a lot of opportunities over the last year in the form of missed classes and not going to open training. But then I realized that the path I took was the one that I chose and the amount of time I put in was exactly what I was able to commit to at that point in time. 

One of the things that I still struggle with is not comparing myself with others. When I was at open training last Saturday I noticed that the people that were there are the same people that are progressing fairly quickly, which, obviously, makes a lot of sense. If I want to progress faster, I have to put in more time; I can't complain to myself for not moving forward if I'm not doing that. 

The point of this is that I realized that I achieved my promotion at exactly the time I was supposed to. While I think it's healthy to always want to do better, you have to be able to appreciate how far you've come and I think I do.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Tomorrow

Every one has a Tomorrow. We all put things off that we need to do or get done. We all say, I’ll do it tomorrow, I will Start that tomorrow, It can wait till tomorrow. The thing is when tomorrow arrives it’s now today, and the cycle repeats it’s self. It becomes never ending, and what was once something small to do at the time, has now turned into a mountain and almost seems impossible to accomplish. So don’t wait for Tomorrow to start. Start Today as if there is no Tomorrow.

Where am I? What am I doing?

AHA!

I just had a light bulb go off so I wanted to get it down while it's still in my head. I'm looking at things from the wrong angle. I need to change my point of view and look at this as an opportunity. This is a chance for me to push myself and see what I can do. Working toward a goal should be inspiring and enjoyable, not disheartening.

That's better.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Mixed Feelings

Tonight's class was awesome and frustrating at the same time. I was reviewing the curriculum with Sifu Freitag working toward grading for my yellow belt. I received some much needed corrections in a lot of areas. It was really great to get some one on one instruction and I feel like I covered a lot and I will be able to make the improvement needed.

The frustrating part is that I feel like I've put in so much time and effort and I still have so much to work on. And this is just my first belt. It's only going to get more difficult from here. I know I can always do more but it's not like I'm not training. I put in practice of some kind pretty much every day. I know that the biggest problem is that because of my job my attendance in class is not consistent and therefore I can't get the corrections that I need sooner. I reinforce incorrect technique and now I have to fix it.

I feel like my goal to get my yellow belt by Christmas is in jeopardy. The positive is that I am off work for a month now so I can practice all I want. I told Sifu Freitag I would be ready to grade on the 22nd but I don't know if that's realistic based on where I am at right now. I hope it is. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

December 8, 2014

Staying aware with what is right with your body.  That is something I am realizing lately.  Some of the reasons for the major slides in peoples health I think is really because body change is generally very gradual.  It is easy to forget how a healthy body feels, and to make matters worse, the body is very good at adapting and working the best it can under the worst of situations.  I am working through that right now.  Where I am getting a little extra time due the job circumstances I am putting time into kicks (which have really slid on me in the last 6 months) and horse stances.  I also was kept up all night because I had forgotten the transition on a particular form that I have completed probably a couple thousand times.  How does this happen?  Anyway, come 2 am It finally came to me, and I have been practicing that transition several times a day.

Currently still in Dawson Creek, where the job is taking much longer than expected.  I will probably be here up to Christmas.

Can't wait to get back training with you all.
P.S. - Sent my rope dart into the hotel TV, so I will be taking a break from that for now.

Vince.

Self-Awareness

I've noticed over the last few days that one of the keys to success for me is self-awareness. The more that I train, the more a technique or pattern of thought becomes closer to becoming second nature. I want everything to become automatic so that I don't have to think about doing something; I just do it. Until I get to that point, however, I need to be consciously aware of what I'm doing.

Case in point -  today I had a pretty good day for kindnesses. I said hello to a lot of different people, which I don't always do. The difference today was that I was trying hard to find opportunities to be friendly. I was looking people in the eye and saying hello wherever I could. Most other days I don't really think about doing this and it's not automatic yet. Despite the progress I've made on this front, I still have to be aware of what I'm doing and what I'm trying to accomplish.

This applies to other aspects of my training as well. If I do my forms without concentrating on my stances, my footwork is poor. If I practice roundhouse kicks without concentrating on where my knee is pointing, my kicks will be poor. This probably sounds pretty obvious to most people reading this but it's important for me because I feel like with all the reps I've done as part of the I Ho Chuan, sometimes it's easy to lose sight of what I'm trying to do and instead get caught up in the raw numbers. Quantity is important but so is quality and I find it difficult to achieve consistent quality in my training if I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing. This all comes down to self-awareness.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Physical Harmonies

Out of the six harmonies there are three internal and three external. The external ones are the ones that I am going to talk about. These are some realizations I have come too through mindful practice of the forms and applying the six harmonies. The first one is hands and feet, This one is all about timing and making sure everything arrives at the same time. Without this one none of the others can effectively come into play. Without this aspect your techniques are thrown only from the limb and not the entire body. It works on perfectly timing the body and the technique so that after a lot of practice technique and body become one. The next is elbows and knees. This one is all about vector training. you can have great timing with your technique and body but without the ability to move into you objective efficiently you cant effectively attack or defend from any position. elbows and knees need to work together in order so all that timing is put to proper use with the proper angle of attack or defence. Last is hips and shoulders these are where all your power comes from. Well actually it come from the ground but it is transferred into the hips through proper stances then transformed into power as it travels from hips to shoulders then into the wrist and finally into the objective. Without hips and shoulders in proper position it is impossible to achieve proper power transfer from the ground into the wrist. This is only achievable with the proper timing, and vector because without those two aspect all the power in the world is just wasted into nothingness.

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca/2014/12/physical-harmonies.html

Ever the Student

I have not been an instructor for very long, and at times I still feel inadequate as one. But with all things it is a necessary progression. I can not honestly stay as a student with out becoming a teacher if I want to give back to Kung Fu what it has given to me. But as a teacher I am also a student and each day as I  spend teaching I have learned so much more from my students, and that knowledge, I then can pass back onto my students. One challenging part of being a student is watching and learning the teaching techniques of other instructors, and then applying them into my own classes, learning what works and improving on what does not. 

Where am I? What am I doing?

Family

A member of my family was in a car accident on Friday and it really got me thinking. Where are my priorities? Am I doing the things that I want to be doing (or in some cases, should be doing)? Am I spending enough time with the people that I care about? 

The answer to those questions aren't easy to face. It's hard for me to admit to myself that I'm living a life that is below my expectations for myself. It's easy to think big and have great ideas but all the plans in the world don't mean anything if you don't follow up and put them into action. While it's true that I'm a more productive person than I was a year ago, I can't improve fast enough. Time is our most precious resource and there's never enough of it. How do you fit everything you want or need to do into a day or a week or a year or a lifetime? Something has to give. 

That's where values come into play. I know that I haven't placed a high enough value on my family. I have a great relationship with my sisters and my brother but less so with my parents. I don't talk to them about kung fu or the I Ho Chuan. I don't tell them about the progress I've made or how my life has improved. They might ask me "How's the karate going?' and I say fine and change the subject. This is a conscious decision I've made based on my past experiences but maybe it's time I rethink things.

Anger and resentment act like poison and if you don't deal with them, they will affect you negatively forever. That's easy to say but the hard part is actually overcoming them. I need to do more thinking about this but I suppose the first step in solving a problem is identifying it in the first place.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Staying on Track

Im having a hard time staying on track as we draw closer to the end of the year. Endings are only new beginnings and If I want to begin strong again I really have to start buckling down and refocusing on the task at hand. As always it easier said then done but in the end the only person that suffers from my lack of hard work is myself. I have to get back on the horse and ride it or it will take off without me.

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca

Memorization

Memorization has always been one of biggest problems. It’s not that I can’t memorize something it is just that it takes me feels like four times longer and twice that in effort than most people. And once I have finally memorized something if I stop practicing it or using it daily I will forget it almost immediately. One saving grace is if it was something physical like a form or a technique and I practiced it enough to ingrained it completely into muscle memory, so that I can do it without thinking, I would retain it far longer so I would just have to let my body remind me what comes next in a sequence. But even with that, if I leave off practicing something for too long I will lose it also, and then have to go through the whole process of learning all over again. For me practice, practice, practice only makes sense.


Where am I? What am I doing?

The Four Agreements

Several years ago a friend of mine introduced me to a book called, "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. It's about overcoming personal limitations and creating happiness for yourself. When I first read it I really enjoyed it and I've always tried to apply it in my life, usually to limited success. 

I started reading it again about a week ago and I was pleased to see how it applied to my kung fu. The four agreements are:

1) Be Impecccable With Your Word - Speak with integrity and don't use your words to speak against others or yourself. This is good advice in general but I think that most people (especially myself) say a lot of things to themselves that they would never say to someone else. Things like, "I can't do this", I'm not good enough", etc. I've told myself these things many times since I joined SRKF and I've held myself back as a result.

2) Don't Take Anything Personally - What others say and do is a result of their reality and has nothing to do with you. People (myself again) always seem to worry about what others think of them and this results in inaction. I experience this all the time. I concern myself with the opinion of others and this makes me hesitant to train outside because someone might see me and judge my lack of skill. But are they really judging me anyway? If they are, that's a reflection of them and not me. 

3) Don't Make Assumptions - Ask questions and communicate with others (and yourself) to avoid misunderstandings. I have made assumptions every day of my life and most of them have probably been incorrect. Again, this creates a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. I assume I can't do something so I don't even try. I assume I'm going to get hurt so I don't push myself. 

4) Always Do Your Best - This is pretty self-explanatory but one of the author's points is that "your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick." For someone that is working through injuries, this one really hits home. If I always do the best I can, regardless of injuries, I'm still going to make progress. And putting in 100% effort is a great habit to develop.

After reading this book again, I've decided to revisit it on regular basis. The four agreements are simple but they have far-reaching applications in all facets of my life. 

Cory Smid

A Great Night

Today was the first day I've had since I've been out of town that I'm really happy with what I accomplished. I'm out the door at 4:55 in the morning and I don't get home until 6:30. That doesn't give me a lot of time to do everything I need to do, which is some or all of: hit the gym, go to the grocery store, get all my reps in, make my lunch, have a shower, and wind down for bed. 

Leaving my reps until the end of the day isn't ideal but that's what I'm up against since I can't do anything at work and getting up at 4:30 is early enough for me. However, as I proved tonight, it's not really an issue. I got home from the gym at 7:30 and within an hour or so, I completed all my reps, made my lunch, cleaned up a bit, wrote this journal entry, and started some laundry. I would do 50 situps, empty the dishwasher, complete form reps, start on my lunch, do more situps, finish making my lunch, do some kicks, etc. Alternating reps with my chores made it easy to do both. Now I have an hour and a half to have a shower and wind down, which is plenty of time. 

I feel like I really needed a day like this to get some momentum going. Now I just have to build on it. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Decision Time

I have been waffling back and forth about committing to the I Ho Chuan year of the sheep.  I don't achieve so many things that I set as goals for the year and yet I get way more done than I thought possible.  I put myself thru all kinds of anxiety and stress trying to achieve all those goals and failing.

But on the other hand I get to Lion Dance, I am encouraged and supported in my creation of forms,  I participate in so many events and activities that Silent River hosts and/or promotes, I hang out with awesome and motivating martial artists.

Its great being part of the team and its horrible when I fail in my commitment to the team.

I have rewritten my goals so many times this month ... trying to balance what I believe I can achieve, with what the point of the goal setting parameters are --- to make my self try harder and achieve more.  To push past my fears of performing,  of looking foolish,  of looking not worthy of the belt I wear.

I decided to submit my list of goals,  part of the motivation is the 2nd paragraph which is very positive, the other motivating factor is negative, it just ?????? me off that I am afraid.  And when I am afraid I get angry and stubborn, maybe not the most inspiring motivation for others but it pushes me to do more.

Success and failure

Well I have been failing the blogging requirement lightly. No good reason or excuse I just have not been thinking about it very much. I have however completed my acts of kindness. This blog marks the best number of blogs I have done in a year and that is something. Failure is only the incremental path to success if you stay on the path but depart from the path and its all down hill. I have to start making it a habit to blog again, it is a important tool for engagement and it is an important tool for the I Ho Chuan team.

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca/2014/11/success-and-failure.html

Same Old Story

How do you keep from being dragged down by things that you have no control over? A few things have been bothering me for months now and I can't do anything about them. There are many sayings out there about controlling what you can and not worrying about the rest and they're all true. Logically, I know that getting upset about things that I can't change is pointless but I'm doing it anyway. 

I'm continuing to do my reps and I have to admit that seeing the numbers in my book every day does provide a certain amount of motivation for me. But Kung Fu can't solve every problem. So, where does that leave me? To be honest, I don't know. One of the biggest challenges for me so far this I Ho Chuan year has been kindness and dealing with my anger. I'm taking baby steps and I've logged a lot of AOK but if I'm honest with myself, I don't think I'm a nicer person. I'm nice for an instant and then I revert to reality. I'm at a loss over what to do.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Goals

Selecting ones goals for the I Ho Chuan has always been tough. To get the right amount of challenge from each goal a person must set the goal at a level that is not so easy as to make the goal worthless and at the same time not so high that it is impossible to achieve. Each goal must push you beyond what you would normally be able to do into the extraordinary to make them worthwhile. Some might even be set to test ones resolve, such as eliminating a favorite food, snack or beverage to make a healthier lifestyle change. I hope I have made the right choices in setting my goals for next years I Ho Chuan.

Where am I? What am I doing?

Dealing With Injuries

It's been a long time since I have felt this bad, physically. My shoulder problems seem to be never-ending, my knees hurt, the tendonitis in my elbow is getting worse every day, and I don't remember what it feels like to be 100%. I'm getting treatment for my shoulders and elbow but nothing seems to be improving at the moment. 

Through all of the frustration I'm trying to stay positive and just do what I can. I feel that if I can continue to make progress regardless of injuries, just imagine what I can do once I'm healed up. If nothing else, I'm learning not to take my health for granted. I'll be 40 in February so I'm starting to think that training with injuries of some kind is going to be my reality from now on. Maybe I will have to redefine what it means for me to be 100%. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Return

Once again the process of deciding and writing down and submitting our I Ho Chuan goals is upon all of the returning and new members of the I Ho Chuan Team for the year of the Sheep. After much deliberation and consultation I am returning for another year in the I Ho Chuan program. I am looking forward to participating in another year and challenging my limitations and pushing myself beyond them. The benefits that come from being part of a program like this are beyond words. Plus I get to train alongside of other likeminded individuals working towards mastery.

Where am I? What am I doing?

Out of Town Training

Out of town training is starting to wear on me a bit. My motivation is very low, which, considering I set a goal for myself to get my yellow belt by Christmas, shouldn't be the case. I'm trying to take Sifu Brinker's advice and keep up my engagement in the hope that motivation will follow. The hardest part is that, without being in class to get corrected, I feel like I'm doing things wrong. When I do Da Mu Hsing I feel like every time I make a correction and reinforce it for myself, something else drops off and I'm not any further ahead. Keeping my body square is incredible difficult for me, even when I am consciously thinking about doing so. My heel still will not stay down and my feet do not want to point straight in my bow stance. 

I'm trying to stay positive and just concentrate on what I'm doing but it's hard. I have almost a month off starting Dec 10 so I'm pretty excited to be able to put in some time at home. I guess this is just part of the ebb and flow of training. Sometime things are better than others. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Practice

I was reading through some of Sifu Playter's old blog posts and in one of them he talked about practicing and specifically that it should be fun. This makes sense to me. If it isn't fun, why do it? But then I thought about it and, if I'm being honest, training is not fun for me. I feel good after a training session but I wouldn't describe it as fun. Class is fun most of the time and I do a lot of the same things in training that I do in class, so why is there a difference?

I don't know the answer to that question but I have a couple of ideas. One is that class takes place in the kwoon, which makes a big difference. It's easier to focus in the kwoon and having instructors give you real-time feedback helps you feel like you're making progress, however, minor it may be. Progress is fun. Second is that I think having classmates makes things more fun. Even though we're all on a journey individually, we're still a team and that helps a lot.

So, if practice isn't fun for me, is it sustainable? I think it is but it's still something for me to think about. There are many things I do, not because they are fun or enjoyable, but because the benefits are worth it. Maybe kung fu is that way for me. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

I Ho Chuan

Sifu Brinker has started the process of building next year's I Ho Chuan team. I remember how I felt at this time last year and it was a good feeling. Not really knowing 100% what you're getting into but a lot of excitement nonetheless. 

I can say without exaggeration that joining SRKF was the single best decision I've ever made; joining the Horse Team last year was a close second.  My year so far has been successful. There are a ton of things that I need to improve but I have come a long way. Objectively, I'm doing terribly, but I'm still happy with what I've accomplished so far and with the changes that I've made in my life. 

One of the misconceptions that I had about the I Ho Chuan is that I thought it would be a hardship to get through and nothing could be further from the truth. The I Ho Chuan teaches you how to create more time in your life by getting rid of wasted time. I don't think I could ever go back now. At this point I feel like this is just something I do now. I'm not sure why I would ever not be on the team, especially since I have so much I can do better. With the excitement of the upcoming year I have to make sure I don't look ahead and ensure that I stay focused on what I'm doing right now. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Passing of the torch

The new I Ho chuan team is now getting formed and will soon take its place in Silent River. It is a passing of the torch sort of event because the new team will have to live up to and try to overcome the highs and short comings of this years team. So far the team has had its ups and downs but in the end it is always the new teams ordeal to deal with the after math of both success and failure of the previous teams efforts. It is nothing short of the future of Kung Fu that the team is responsible for so everything has a price to pay and everything brings with it a new opportunity and a new sense of purpose. Good luck to next years team they as well as every future team will have its hands full.

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca

Excited and Disappointed

I am excited that we are ramping up the Lion Dance practices to every Friday in preparation for our Chinese New Year Celebration and this year is going to be one that a person does not want to miss. In the past preparing for our celebration has been one of the biggest most memorable aspects that I have been privileged to be part of. But this year I am a little disappointed, not with the practices or the amount of effort that will have to be put into preparing for this year’s Lion Dance. What I am disappointed about is that this year I will have to miss watching most of my son’s home games in his first year of Midget Hockey; I had thought I might be able to watch him play at some of the home games on the odd Fridays of each month.
But that is just not how things worked out, and I understand the importance of committed, consistent practice with the same people involved in then dance is the only way that we as a team will be successful. So I stay excited and committed but disappointed.

Where am I? What am I doing?

One small success

Calling all nerds...

Well, I really am trying to get a video blog posting up.  Not too sure why I am finding this so difficult.  I admit, I need help with this.  I am going to bring my computer to the Kwoon next opportunity and I am roping in the next nerd that passes by to help me with this.  I am finding this to be like Doctor Frankenstein trying to jump movement into his lifeless monster.

If nothing else this has forced me to break my stubborn independence and rely on the team....as a team member should do.  But before that, one more try.....one more bolt of lightening into this lifeless beast....

5 Keys to Success

After reflecting on the things that I've been doing well and not so well, as well as considering some of the recent blog comments that I've received, I've noticed a pattern and I've come up with 5 things that lead to success for me with my Kung Fu. This post is intended to act as a road map of sorts for when I need to wind my way out of a slump.

1) Acts of Kindness: When I perform AOK it completely transforms my mindset. The kinder I am to others, the kinder I am to myself and I am more open to doing the things that are important, like eating well, training, etc. It's a perpetual thing because kindness begets more kindness. AOKs are a good indicator (at least for me) of my overall engagement.

2) Diet: This is pretty simple. When I eat well, my body and mind respond accordingly. I don't think it's possible to sustain a high level of performance over time without a good diet. For me a good diet means I'm eating less processed foods, more vegetables, and drinking lots of water. 

3) Stretching: I started including stretching with my I Ho Chuan requirements a couple of months ago and it's really paid off. My flexibility has obviously improved and my body feels so much different. High kicks and low stances require flexibility and you can't beat the way a good stretching session makes you feel. I totally get the appeal of yoga now.

4) Getting An Early Start: The times that I am the most successful are the times that I am able to get in some reps first thing in the morning. The rest of the day is so much easier when you know that you have already completed 50 situps. Leaving it until the end of the day is a recipe for failure. I know that because that is still how I do it most of the time. There have been days that I get all my reps done before noon and those are inevitably the days that my numbers are super high and somehow I also have time to do other things as well. 

5) Journaling: If I look back at the times where I was in a really good place and highly engaged, I see that I more than met the minimum requirement for journaling. Conversely, there have been months where I barely met the minimum and those were months that I wasn't doing so well. This is not a coincidence. Journaling, for me, serves two purposes. It helps me organize my thoughts and also solicit advice from my teammates. More importantly, it documents my journey, and this allows me to go back and learn from my own failures and successes. Sifu Brinker talks to us constantly about journaling but I have never needed to be convinced. I have always understood the value in it.

I find that if I do all the things above, everything else falls into place. These things create a framework for me, physically and mentally, that I can build on each day. I'll be the first to admit that even with this framework, things are seldom easy. But hopefully writing this down will be one more tool that I can use when things get tough.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Diet and an Injury Update

I've come to realize that a proper diet is crucial. I've always paid attention to my nutrition, even it was poor, and I've always been interested in learning about how food affects the body. I hadn't been eating well over the last month or so and I don't think it's a coincidence that my training and attitude deteriorated along with my diet. I've turned things around a bit over the last couple of days and I already feel a difference. One of my personal requirements was to eat vegetables more regularly and I've only sporadically done so. It's something I need to keep working on as I can see tangible results when I eat well.

I've been seeing a new physiotherapist for a few weeks now and so far so good. In our first session she was already able to improve my range of motion. One of the thing that she told me is that my alignment is all messed up. In my relaxed state, my head tilts left and my shoulders are not square. I have been given a series of stretches and exercises to improve my alignment and improve my range of motion. After those improve we'll work on strength. The interesting thing to me is that it seems obvious that some of the issues I have in kung fu with body alignment are directly related to my injury. It just goes to show how important it is to attend to injuries. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Focus

Focus is paramount when one is trying to accomplish a task. I lost focus this weekend at our annual fundraising tournament and suffered lousy results in the Hand Forms part of the competition. It was a great reminder to me on how important staying focused and in the moment is. I relearned a valuable lesson this weekend and had a great day spending time with like-minded people.

Where am I? What am I doing?

Frustration

I've been wanting to write a journal entry for a couple of days but I didn't because my mindset was a bit negative and I wanted to wait until I shook it off. Well, that hasn't happened yet and I suppose the negative posts serve a purpose, just the same as the positive ones. I can look back and remember how I felt when I was low and also remember that it didn't last forever. You have to remember where you've come from to appreciate where you are. 

So, with all that said - I'm very frustrated right now. Things were going so well for me and now I feel like I've taken several steps back. On a personal level things are not great at the moment and it's affecting every other part of my life. I remember a while back, Sifu Brinker was speaking about people letting their Kung Fu deteriorate because they didn't have time or their life was sapping their motivation. What those people didn't realize is, when your life is chaotic or turning downward, that's when Kung Fu is the most important. I understood what he said back then but I'm sure not practicing that now.

I've been feeling "meh" for a while now but I had temporarily pushed it down. It's creeping back and I don't know how to deal with it. I still struggle with finding meaning in almost everything. I feel like an outsider wherever I go and whatever I'm doing, and it's starting to wear on me. I think I need to make some kind of change in my life but I don't know what. At least not yet.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Tooling around

If you walk into my garage as of late you are likely to close the door and cause a shovel to fall off the wall.  It will nearly brain you except you step narrowly out the way.  That same shovel will flip the switch of the grinding wheel. Stepping to avoid a death by garden spade, you will probably trip over and spill a gas can.  Grabbing in desperation you will reach out to the work bench and land your hand in an old tub of rusty bent nails.  The bucket, being the cap of the massive junk heap will cause a catastrophic fault resulting in a slide of epic proportions knocking hammers, hacksaws, screw drivers, and drill bits onto the grinding wheel.

Sparks.

Projectiles

Previously mentioned gas can.  

Now explain to your wife over the smell of burnt hair that you need more tools….and probably a tetanus shot.

I have been given more than enough opportunity to be successful this year.  Certain Sifu’s that will remain unnamed have done so much to try to help me in my success and I am so grateful for that.  There are I Ho Chuan members that are blazing forward with these tools and putting them to tremendous use.  There are students that have cooked up a new solution for success, and showed off the recipe for those that can’t bake worth a darn.  Here it is, here are the tools and here is how to use them.  Still I find myself sawing off my arm with a reciprocating saw and jamming the hammer claw in my eye.

So this morning, I hopped out of the truck and looked at the orange hue of the horizon.  I have been witness to the eastern sky laying down some pretty brilliant sun rises the last five days.  But only today did I snort in a deep lung full of air, hold it, and exhale in Kung Fu fashion.  I am going to take one tool at a time, and master it.  And it is going to start with a video blog. If by next week I don’t have a video blog up, I hope you all hold me to task.

vincekrebs.blogspot.com

Back in the Saddle

Written Sept 23, 2014.    

Its great to be home, had a great vacation but I am tired and have missed the awesome country and culture that is Canada.  The girls came back to Canada with us and will be staying close to their mother where they belong!!!  Looking forward to living and training with my daughters they are after all the original reason I started to study Kung Fu and I missed training with them.

Written  Oct 6, 2014  Tommorrow

Enjoyed the I Ho Chuan meeting and it was really great to see and talk to my I Ho Chuan team mates, missed you guys and the training!  Sihing Tymchuk talked about the word tommorrow and I got right on that list of things to do and back into my training routine.  The shelving is installed and the rumpus room is cleared
pushups, situps and kicks are happening.   Did NOT get all my form reps in and my double stick form has a lame ending.

I also attempted to upload a picture of me (rather than a really cute panda) to my blog site as requested.  Failed ... not sure what went wrong.Will try again.  Terry post this with the new picture!!!

Written Oct 22, 2014  Lion Dancing

Hurt my neck pretty bad being the head of the lion,  agony for a week.!  I talked to Sifu Playter and he gave me some tips on how to do this without putting so much strain on my neck and using my arms more without setting the lion on the top of my head.  Very tired arms, still some discomfort in the neck but not agony thank god.   I am really enjoying the lion dancing and I am glad that I will be the tail for awhile it will give me some time to build up more strength in my arms and shoulders.  Missing the dragon dancing!

I think the picture worked.

Difficulties

Life has a habit of getting in the way. The last week has been difficult for me in that I’ve had a hard time fitting my training into my days. This obviously means that I haven’t done a very good job of taking advantage of my opportunities. Too much time wasted time on the internet, too much procrastination, and most of all - laziness has crept into my routine. I feel like there is a fine line between not beating yourself up for missing a class/training, and being complacent. I’ve worked hard to get rid of the guilt that I was feeling previously but now I feel like I have swung too far in the other direction. I have to find that balance where I take advantage of the times that I can train but I don’t sweat the times that I don’t.

I’ve often felt that, in the past, I’ve been too accepting of putting in a mediocre effort. Some people are perfectionists and I used to view myself (at times) as a “good enough-ist”. I don’t feel that way anymore but old habits die hard. It seems like every day I’m reminded that training your mind is way harder than training your body.

Cory Smid

http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Tournaments

What is the purpose of the tournament we run at our Kwoon? like so many opportunities the school brings to us it has a unique set of things we as students can gain from it. Looking back at the tournaments I use to compete in as a colour belt I remember why I started to compete. Back then it was about testing my metal against the rest of the martial arts community but now I realize what the true benefits are. It helped my grow in many ways with improving my confidence. to put yourself out there like that was at that point not a normal thing for me so I gained a lot of confidence through competition that way.  It helped me with public speaking due to the boost in confidence. It also helped me improve me leadership skills because no one can follow you if you don't have the courage or confidence to speak up. The harder the event, the harder the competition the better the boost in confidence in the end.
Like all the other opportunities the school presents you must ask yourself why do you not participate. If you have other priorities then your Kung Fu you must be honest with yourself about them. If it is due to fear then again you must be very honest with yourself about it. Either way understand a lost opportunity is lick a burnt bridge you never get a second chance at it and fear makes for a poor friend.

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca/2014/10/tournments.html

Small Steps II

In my last post I talked about how I have been approaching my goals this year in the I Ho Chuan with the mind set of small steps, and how by applying this concept has made this year enjoyable and my goals sustainable. I would like to elaborate on how I have been applying this concept throughout this I Ho Chuan year. At the beginning of the year I set my goals the same as everyone else, 50,000 push-ups and sit-ups each, 1000 acts of kindness, 1000 miles (1609 km) walked, ran or biked, 1000 reps of two forms, etc. plus person goals. In past years I have learned that if I looked at each goal as a total my mind would find any excuse not to do them and I would surly fail. So I had to come up with a strategy to trick my mind into not seeing each goal as a total but as daily goals. So I took each goal and broke each of them up into daily goals and some I even broke up into even smaller goals that needed to be achieved multiple times throughout the day and then I would focus only on the daily goals and not the end of the year goal. I also made a habit to enter my progress multiple times throughout the day and not just at the end of a day, so as not to fall into the trap of forgetting to enter for a week or more at a time. This is by no means a perfect system and I am noticing that it needs a little more refinement to make it better, but it is working for me especially on the larger goals.

Where am I? What am I doing?

Small Steps

My approach this year to the I Ho Chuan has been to attack each of my goals with small steps in mind. By approaching each of the goals this way, I have never had the feeling that I am falling behind or will never be able to accomplish what I had set out to do. At times I still find that I will stumble along the path to mastery but with keeping the “Small Steps” approach in my mind it seems that I can just get back onto my feet and continue on, I don’t have the sense that I have to climb all the way up to the top of a cliff to get back on track. By applying the concept of incremental progression has made this year so far enjoyable and sustainable.

Where am I? What am I doing?

I Ho Chaun - Tool or Mountain?

Sifu Brinker has spoken many times about the idea of seeing the I Ho Chuan as a tool and not as a mountain to climb. I've always understood what he meant but I think I'm only just now starting to feel that way myself. Last class I received my green stripe, which was the last one I needed in order to get ready to grade for my yellow belt. The problem was that I didn't really feel like I deserved most of the stripes I have. I haven't always understood exactly what I did to earn a particular stripe. I think this is for two reasons. First, my instructor knows what a white belt skill level should look like, whereas I do not. I need to trust Sifu Playter's judgment. Second, I had a hard time understanding how I could be progressing when I wasn't practicing as much as I thought I should. But participating in the I Ho Chuan has changed the way I train. A lot of my training comes from form reps. I only viewed this as practicing one thing, but in actuality, forms train many aspects of my kung fu, all at once. If I improve my forms, there's a good chance I'm also improving my stances, my center, timing, flow, etc.

I've realized that just working toward getting all my requirements each day has been enough to continue progressing. I know that I am not hitting all my requirements and my consistency needs to improve but that's ok. I will improve as I go on. In the meantime, it's quite clear that the I Ho Chuan has been serving me. I'm been taking stock of where I'm at and I'm quite happy. I don't always feel like it, but I'm a kinder person these days. My attitude behind the wheel has done a complete 180 (maybe closer to 160 actually) and I feel calmer than I ever have before. My body is more flexible and I feel in better shape than I've been in a long time. All of these improvements have carried over into work as well. I have a challenging job right now but I'm having success, in large part to my application of some of the principles that kung fu has taught me.

To clarify - I'm not saying that I'm an expert or that any of this is easy. I'm just saying that I don't feel like this is an ordeal for me. It's something that has already changed the way I do things and I've only scratched the surface.

Things seem to be coming back

I guess I had this idea about ramping up my training, diet and lifestyle a while back and unfortunately it ended up tanking me instead of reaping any benefits; so, I figured I'd go back to where I was and what I was doing before as it's got me this far and in all reality, it wasn't and wouldn't be sustainable. My weight drop has stabilized and although I have settled into a weight that I'm not happy with, at least I can work with it from here; I guess it will be finding that healthy desirable balance that will be a daily inspiration to continue with as time goes on. On the mental front, I have been focusing so much on a "deadline day" that I forgot to focus on "the now, the after and the continuation" of what life will bring as I continue. "My temper" is still on active duty and ready to be unleashed at those certain trigger moments; for example; I did about a 3K run to pick up my car from the body shop one morning and when I walked in the door the "Chicklet girl" behind the counter asked me if  "I was ok"? Sure I was sweating and somewhat catching my breath, but that question took me to instant asshole status level 10 and I couldn't let it go at that (Chicklet girls are the ones that if you grab their neck and shake them they'd probably sound like a box of Chicklets). Grrrrrrr, WELL, I'll have you know, "I did a leg of the Death Race in August and at this time I'm preparing to challenge a Black Belt test plus after this transaction I'm off to the gym,..... the blank stare response was probably a result of her being so impressed by all that, .....yeah,.... I hate it when I fail those random serenity tests. I guess in all reality I'm just running through a lot of fears and uncertainty of the future.

keep on trying

I've been strugling with my kung fu lately. It's been tough going. I want to stay positive for myslef because I am really good at trashing myself. Excuses are endless and I've used them all. Staying positive is the only way to turn this around. By accomplishing little goals every day I can come back. One foot in front of the other keep on trying. I am cleaning my house more often. That was a goal for the year. I am eating healthier as well. Still prefer the fruits and veggies for snacks at work. Tom's cooking all the time so I have healthy lunches. My studies are continuing. I even got a 78% on a test I had recently. I haven't been blogging at all. My apologies for that will keep on trying to do better.Now to start on my kung fu and get that back on track.
Sifu Jeannette Langner

Failing but still in the fight

I have not been so good with the blogging in the past little while. I have a few updates to report tho. One my knee has been acting up again it popped on me twice recently and Im a little worried that It wont be ready for the tournment. On the other hand I have been working on stuff for the tournament  in hopes that my knee will be healthy enough for competition. I still need to work towards team forms and  choreography, but I need a partner for those two events so if anyone is interested let me know. I have been working on a escrima creative musical form and i think it is coming along ok but it is high risk for my knee so I hope I don't blow it out before the competition. it has been a really long time since I last competed I enjoy the process of working towards the goal and the different style of practice that goes along with it. tournament style practice is a total different boat as far as style of practice goes. I tend to start working on hard and fast technique as apposed to slow and methodical. Again not so good for the knee but a lot of fun just the same.

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca

Numbers Update

I thought now would be as good a time as any to revisit my numbers and see where I'm at.

	Completed	Remaining
Push Ups	4345	45655
Sit Ups	11055	38945
KM	34	1575
Da Mu Hsing Reps	334	666
Kicks	9720	15280
Acts of Kindness	165	835

As you can see, I have a long way to go. I looked at my tracking spreadsheet to see if I could see any patterns beyond the obvious (not getting in enough reps) and this is what I found:

My sit-ups have been pretty consistent. Since I really started doing well tracking my numbers in June, there have only been three times where I went more than two days without doing sit-ups, and that includes my summer holidays. I'm actually pretty happy with that.

Kicks and Form reps are another story. There were eight times where I went more than two days without doing forms, including a twenty day stretch. If I ever question why I haven't achieved my yellow belt yet, there's the answer. Kicks were almost as bad. What this comes down to is that I am missing an opportunity to build a foundation with the basics. I have not been consistent enough.

My KM could be higher but I haven't been counting anything other than a specific effort to run/walk/bike, etc. I haven't counted any day to day walking around. I've been told that it's ok to do so but it doesn't feel right to me. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, running hasn't been a priority. I tried to start but I hate it and I didn't make it a priority.

Pushups will improve after my shoulders are better. I have a new physiotherapist that I'm seeing so hopefully it's all uphill from here. I have more good days than I had before but I still have a lot of healing to do.

My two big takeaways from this analysis are:

1) Consistency. If I was able to bang out even one form rep and twenty kicks on those days where I did none, I would have much better results. Something is always better than nothing and I have had too many days where I did nothing.

2) Regardless of the fact that I know I could have done better, I'm still pretty impressed when I look at what I've done. When I joined SRKF a year ago, I couldn't do a set of ten sit-ups. Now I can do a set of 50 and I've done 11,000 in the last seven months. I definitely appreciate how far I've come.

Cory Smid

http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Overconfidence

I feel like I've maybe been a bit overconfident lately. Mentally, I've been in a really good place and I've felt like training hasn't been a lot of effort recently. My shoulders have been a bit better and I was pounding out a lot of situps, which when I was starting out, were tough for me to do. The Forms Seminar was a really good day for me and I had a lightbulb go off for me that afternoon. 

When we had our team meeting on Saturday Sifu Brinker asked who was having trouble and I didn't put up my hand. I still don't really feel like I'm having trouble but I'm realizing that keeping momentum is not easy. I tried to pump out 1000 Situps and Kicks last weekend but I ran out of gas on Sunday. I was a bit sore as a result and I haven't done much training for a few days. One of the things that I've been getting better at is recognizing slumps right away and trying to stomp them out right away. Keeping up with my journaling and training while working out of town is pretty challenging for me but it's definitely helping to tune my mental game. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

The Journey

We had our monthly I Ho Chuan meeting yesterday and it was great to see everyone again.  Its been almost two months since I have been at the kwoon due to work and its been wearing on me.

We discussed mastery as the path and not so much the destination.  I have always had a difficult time realizing something as abstract as a black belt or building something like a shed or a chicken coup (if you don't believe me come over and see my coup).  I see this very large end goal and I don't see the small ones that mark progress along the way.  I get distracted and disengaged from projects if I can't achieve some level of success along the way. 

With my kung Fu this is exactly the same.  Early on I had lots of success as the knowledge was all new and the belt promotions were closer together.  Now where I am the successes are farther apart and I'm getting distracted and discouraged.  I do look back on where I have been and when I do I become motivated again.  Its just hard to force myself to look behind when I have always looked ahead and to a certain extent been programmed that way. 

I'm working on getting back to enjoying the journey and celebrating the little successes as they come.  I'm now focusing on my next stripe (black) then the next and then my brown belt.  Little by little I'm back on the path and little by little I'm starting to enjoy the journey again.

Mr. Ian Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Goal completed and failed

Well I have reached my 1000 miles goal, however I have missed the halfway deadline that I was shooting for. I guess Ill have to put it back on the list for next year and try it again. Numbers in the I Ho Chuan class have been dwindling, not really a new occurrence. This seems to happen every year at around the halfway mark and everyone has their own personalized excuse however mastery is deff to excuses and progress requires constant effort. This is also the time of year when those that choose to stay behind are left behind as the group starts to gear up for the Chinese new year celebration. I hope the guys that are not around for class can pull up their socks because it is almost go time and the I Ho Chuan Program is depending on each and every one of us to give it our all and finish strong no matter how the year went.

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca

My Goal

I am setting a goal to get my yellow belt by Christmas. I'm pretty confident that I can achieve it based on some of the recent feedback I've received. I only have my red and green stripe to go and they are both tied to my poor center. Working out of town adds an extra challenge for me but the work that I need to do doesn't have to be done in a large space. Adaptability will be key for me since I will have limited opportunities to be in class or open training. 

When I was in class last week I was surprised to find myself motivated and not discouraged by everyone that had progressed. Being in class was energizing for me and I really felt like I had kept up, even though it had been some time since I had been in class. Apparently the situps, kicks, and form reps paid off. It just goes to show that any progress is important, no matter how small. So, despite the fact that I have fallen behind, I don't feel like I'm that far off. I do, however, feel like it's time for me to kick it up a notch and push myself some more. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish in a short period of time if I put in the effort. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Good by Summer Hello Fall

With summer passing and fall arriving and the days are getting shorter. This should be a warning to all of us I Ho Chuan members that winter will be soon upon us. So get in as many form reps as you can outside before we are forced back inside when winter arrives. And we all know how practicing our weapon forms are detrimental to the enclosed spaces of our homes. So let’s enjoy this practice time till the snow flies.  

Where am I? What am I doing?

Not going as per planned

I took an extended holiday from work and was going to get into better shape, hit the gym on a regular basis, catch up on things, clear up all my outstanding chores, refine my forms, dieting and workouts, attend as many classes as possible, review my curriculum, but things aren't going as I'd hoped. I stepped on the scale and I've lost 14 lbs in 5 weeks,........this is not what I'd set out to do. For most people struggling with their weight this might be a blessing but for me I'm at the opposite end of the scale; "losing weight for me is a dangerous, slippery slope to be on". I understand the struggle with being overweight (whatever our advertisers/marketers or social media types say that to be), but I'm from the other end of the scale of always trying to stay away from being "underweight"; I eat until it hurts, I fill up before bed and wake up at 3am and have to have a snack, I'm 3 lbs from as I call it my "danger weight", where as soon as I hit 215 my weight can spiral down out of control and it stops where it stops and all I can do is sometimes say, "c'mon God, not fair"!!! The side effects of this are starting to appear, the loss of appetite, my fuse is a little shorter, refocusing takes a bit to notice, even though I don't seem to concerned; I can do 40 pushups in a row, I used to do 60, I can do 30 sit ups in a row; I used to do 50, I have a regular weight routine at the gym; I'm struggling with the endurance there as well, but on a positive note; the yard looks immaculate, the bikes and vehicles are washed and serviced, the house is ready for a "Better Homes and Gardens" inspection, but in all reality, if I'm caught up on all of this I'm usually doing too much. So, what to do? I guess this is one of those times where the adventure and learning begins when the plan changes and do what you have to do to get everything back on track.

It’s part of me.

It is part of me and it has been since the day I started leaning Kung Fu back. The longer I train the more and more I notice that Kung Fu has permeated into every part of my daily life. I find it exciting when I notice that I am applying concepts that I have learned from training in the art of Kung Fu without consciously doing so. Some of the things are so subtle that it is only when I reflect at the end of the day do I realize this has occurred.

Where am I? What am I doing?

Unintended Consequences

All this kindness is wearing me down. Not in the sense that I'm tired of being kind, but I'm finding that the more effort I put in to be kind, the more I see missed opportunities. Deep down I know I'm on the path to being a better person but a small part of me still can't help but wonder if I was better off before. 

I feel like I'm in The Matrix and I just took the red pill. I'm seeing all the ways that people treat each other so poorly (especially myself) and that in itself can be a bit depressing. You let a vehicle in and the driver can't take the time to give you a wave. What could possibly be wrong with so many people that a simple thank you is a ridiculous notion? I feel like I should have taken the blue pill instead and then I would have been content in my ignorance. 

I know that's not really true though. Sometimes contentment is a good thing. Contentment can prevent one form getting caught up in the pursuit of material things. But sometimes discontentment can be a good thing too. People that are discontent might be more likely to push themselves to be better and influence those around them in a positive way. The world needs more people to lead by example. 

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Next step in training

Well it is time time change focus again. The school tournament is coming up and now is the time to change focus in training from tech to speed and power for a while. Time to increase the speed of form reps and kicking reps. Time to get ready for a tournament. It has been cense the first tiger challenge that I have choosen to compete but this year I will again be competing. Another thing I have decided to start doing is hour long practice/workout sessions in the mornings. Truth be told I started two weeks ago but then I got a cold that effected my breathing so I decided to take it easy on it for a while. That has now mostly passed so I will be starting it again tomorrow.  

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca

Sunday Blog Post

Whenever I have a bad day/week/month or whatever, I'm not sure if writing about it is therapeutic or if I'm just giving a voice to negativity. I'm going to hope that it's the former. The last few weeks have been hard for me. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels and that I'm not working toward anything. I'm not necessarily talking about kung fu, but just life in general. I wrote previously about how I do well when I'm working toward something and I have something to look forward to. I don't have either right now. I've tried to come up with something but with no success. 

I've found myself questioning things a lot lately. What is the point of any of this? I don't mean that in a dark or suicidal way, but just in the sense that I don't know what to do with myself. I'm not unhappy but I'm not particularly happy either. I feel like I'm missing out on something but I don't know what. I suppose most, if not all, people feel like this at times. I'm at the point in my life where I don't really fit in. Most people my age have already started a family or are at least married. I have no desire to have kids and I'm single, yet I'll be 40 next year. I'm past the partying phase of my life but I'm alos not in the same place as all my friends.

I'm sure this feeling will pass but I have to admit that it's been weighing on me lately.

Catching up and clearing up

This past few weeks has been about catching up on all the things I have put off since who knows when. There are those time and temperature sensitive items that have to be done at this time of the year, there are things that I simply chose to put off when I had the time, house repairs, vehicle/motorcycle maintenance, Doctor, professional appointments; but if I dig deep enough, most of it comes down to one of my character defects of "procrastination". When I set a small something aside that needed to be done right now, "it", after a time starts to weigh on my mind and take away my focus. For some people, I guess they can have a "to do" list and they get things done on a regular basis, but for me it clouds my thoughts and sets a spiral of misguided thoughts and gets me into an agitated state that make the undone chores seem like mountains vs. what they really are, "just things that need to be done".  So this past while I've had to have those conscious conversations with myself, keeping on top of my head saying "I'll get to it later", to "get this done now, you have the time, because really, you don't have the time"! So in-between training, planning the elimination of my outstanding responsibilities, my list is getting smaller and smaller, the tension is starting to dissipate, as for me, "time management" is hard work, but I really like the feeling of getting caught up and being somewhat more relaxed and functioning smoothly.

A Breakthrough

When I was driving home from work yesterday I was stopped for speeding. It could have been worse than a simple speeding ticket since my insurance pink slip was expired. I have valid insurance but I forgot to replace the pink slip. Thankfully the cop was a nice guy and he let me off with a ticket for not having the proper paperwork and he also reduced my speeding ticket. I learn pretty much everything the hard way.

Fast forward to today at work; I was talking about martial arts movies with a co-worker and we got to talking about Ip Man. I started to think that if Ip Man drove a car, he probably wouldn't speed. In my mind I imagined that he would drive calmly and courteously. On the way home today I was determined to be calm on the drive home, just like Ip Man, and it was actually quite easy. I found that by staying calm, I was able to drive at a reasonable speed without getting upset and, by driving at a reasonable speed, I was able to stay calm. I also found that when my mind wasn't occupied with anger and frustration, I was able to think about other things and so I'm going to try out some audiobooks again and see if I have better results. 

The cool thing is that I did it when I had a slow driver in front of me and traffic was reasonably heavy. I'm not so naive to think that it's going to be easy every time but I did it once so I can do it again.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

First Day Back

On Monday night was our first class back since we broke for the summer at the Onoway School. Unfortunately since we train in the local school gymnasium we have to follow the school’s schedule. That means when the school is closed we do not have classes. This is an exciting time for me each year when we return after the long summer break. It is a time to see my old students and get to meet some new students. It defiantly feels like a fresh start to my year.

Where am I? What am I doing?

Delve Deeply

Open a small portal and delve deeply. I imagine most of you have seen this written on the whiteboard at the kwoon in Sifu Brinkers hand. Sifu Brinker gave us a brief explanation as to what it means- it means that there is so much to learn in a single form or technique or aspect of kung fu that you could spend a lifetime on one and never reach the end. Seems like an exaggeration when you first hear it, but the more that I learn the more I realize the truth in this. We are given a year to repeat a form a thousand times, and hopefully each time we improve a little bit and move a little closer to mastery. The more I learn the more I realize that after a thousand mindful reps I may have a few pieces of the form perfected, but I doubt I'll ever reach mastery. A thousand more after that and I may be ready to tackle the next couple pieces. A thousand more and I'd be ready for the next lesson that form has to offer.

This is what it means to be a true martial artist. Martial arts is a term thrown around so often and so easily that people tend to miss the obvious and overlook the meaning of the words. The term undoubtedly was given to kung fu practitioners by a mindful individual who saw beyond the practice of self defense and development of movements used in combat. A painting by a master artist is layered, thought is given to the piece and each inch of the canvas holds immeasurable secrets and skill. Such can be the practice of kung fu. When asked what is the meaning of the blackbelt many know to answer that it is the beginning and not the end of a journey. So tell me, what is this journey you speak of? Where then is the end? How many of you have really thought though this answer and its implications?

This would almost be intimidating if it wasn't so exciting. So exhilarating. If one day Sifu Brinker told me okay you're done, you've hit the end of the journey, there is no more- I would be heartbroken. I'm thankful that there will always be a road I haven't traveled.

Sihing Chervenka's Challenge

On June 25 Sihing Chervenka issued a challenge for us to write a letter of gratitude to someone in our life that has positively affected us. After about two months of procrastinating, I finally got it done.

Writing this letter was a great experience for me. The process of handwriting a letter is much different than typing one out on a computer. I found that in order to make my handwriting as legible as possible I had to slow down and focus on what I was writing. I also had to be thoughtful about choosing my words since I couldn't simply hit the backspace key if I made a mistake. When I wrote the letter I felt like I was "in the moment"; I wasn't thinking about anything but what I was doing.

I feel like I killed two birds with one stone. First off, I thanked a friend for their positive influence on my life. And secondly, I learned a lesson about focus and quality of work. It's funny how so many things in life can teach you how to improve your kung fu and how kung fu always provides lessons on improving your life.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Back at it...

Holiday over, schools back, mornings are getting darker and weather's getting colder. Fighting the urge to move to Australia now... 

Working on re-establishing a routine for me, my kung fu and my family. Back to doing my daily pushups and situps, need to start to kick my running up a gear as I have signed up for a big run in early October. Fun. Fun. Run. 

Looking forward to the forms seminar... 

http://sharidactyl.wordpress.com/

Anger Management

I have come to the realization that I have an anger management problem. I've only realized it now because when I think of anger issues, I think of people punching holes in walls, yelling at others, or other extreme manifestations of anger, and that's not what I am experiencing. For me, it's more subtle. I feel like I'm letting my anger creep in and influence my behavior and decision making. Lately I've been making decisions in haste, acting emotionally, and I am still having a lot of trouble keeping my emotions in check while driving. I've been trying to keep track of the circumstances when I'm at my worst and there are usually three common themes. 

First, when I'm in a hurry to get somewhere, I tend to get angry because I perceive people as being "in my way". Second, I have a feeling of not being in control. I can't control the other drivers and get them out of my way or make them drive faster. So when I combine the two, I have a situation where I'm in a hurry and everyone is in my way and there is nothing I can do about it. The last part of the equation is that, to me, driving anywhere is a complete waste of time. I can't utilize that time to do anything constructive. I've tried audiobooks and I have a hard time comprehending what's being played because I'm focused on the road. If there was a way to do something with that time (which is usually about 90 min every day minimum), maybe it would help.

To be honest, I don't know what the solution is. My current approach is to just try to be aware of when I'm angry so that I can try to stop. I'm thinking if I practice doing that, eventually it will become habit and things will improve.

Cory Smid
http://kungfucory.blogspot.ca/

Burn Out

The last little bit of time has been a bit of a break for me since the last blog post. I have taken the time to gain a little clarity and re-ground in my training. It is very difficult to see when you are experiencing burn out as a passionate martial partitioner. I feel like I was starting to get mentally bogged down and my vision was starting to get a little cloudy as fare as what I expect from myself and others. This is something that I could not tell at the time, but looking back now I realize it to be true. I am not the type of person that tends to take a lot of breaks or vacations but this last bit of time away was very needed. A brake can sometimes help you overcome the obstacles of burn out but there is a hidden trap that you never see coming, and that is the time to get back into the swing of things. In order to see the flaws in your routine you have to remove yourself from it and re asses the situation. Looking back on my routine I was getting two comfortable in my mediocrity, comparing myself to others and loosing the sight that the goal is to get better all the time and in that situation the only person you can ever compare yourself to is yourself. Mediocrity is a difficult thing to route out and destroy, it has the ability to camouflage itself as our best attributes and show is the fault in others. All the while boosting our egos and hiding in plain sight. It requires objectivity to see clearly. Objectivity is completely unattainable when you are in the midst of combat with mediocrity and that is why we need mentors to view us and tell us where we truly are standing in that battle. We need them to hold us accountable. We need to humble ourselves so that we may truly take their objective criticism in a way that it is beneficial to us and not let our egotistical mediocrity get in the way.

At this point in my training I realize for the last little while I have been standing on a peek looking down at the path I took to get there and saying well that pretty good I think I stay for a while and enjoy the view. Now however it is time to climb to the next peek and reach a new level of skill and understanding. In order to do so I have to leave all past accomplishments in the dirt and get moving to a new time of growth and prosperity. In the end we are the only ones to be able to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other and the only way we will ever start moving is if we are no longer satisfied with where we are. Satisfied with our current skill level or better yet the lack thereof, to stomp out our mediocrity and move on to the next level. Time to make a mile!    

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca