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
Friday, October 31, 2014
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?
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?
Thursday, October 30, 2014
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....
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/
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/
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
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/
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?
Where am I? What am I doing?
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