The Great Unknown

Lately, my brain has been swirling with thoughts about my training and where my martial arts path is heading.

When I first discovered the wave stepping pattern from the lion dance shows up at different times during Mlong Kuen I was inspired to work through it and make the corrections. I then began to dive a bit deeper and confront my lack of experience and skill when it comes to lion dancing and the connection it has with the rest of our Kung Fu.

I quickly realized I've been making excuses. Knees issues, remembering the sequence and understanding the drumming are key roadblocks for me. Having trouble recognizing the different musical cues of the drum complicates the whole process of learning to lion dance. It would be easy to just learn the wave stepping pattern, adapt it to the hand form, and skip the rest. I've decided it's time to drop the excuses and put more effort into learning how to lion dance, asking for help along the way.

Along with this realization, other issues kept popping up and slowing me down over the past few weeks. This has left room for procrastination and a lack of motivation in many areas of my training. A big part of the procrastination is the uncertainty and fear of moving forward, causing me to stall. The beauty of this is I'm already somewhat paused so it is a perfect time to explore what is holding me back, look deeper and ask some questions:

Where am I, what am I doing?

Where am I going?

What direction do I take?

Where do I see myself?

These questions have me considering my path forward and seeing the need to start making more concrete plans. This is something that has been on my mind for a while now. One of the things I've been procrastinating on is my primary personal goal of learning Qigong and eventually teaching a seminar in the future. I had been working on this and then stopped.

As I explore my current state of procrastination, and lack of motivation, I see a common thread of fear and uncertainty. A fear of change, of starting over as I step into something relatively new and letting go, and what that transition will look like.

Through this all I know much of what is going on in my head is perspective and a bit of ego. With that awareness I also know control and adaptability starts with me and is easily within my reach. I just need to get out of my own way, slow down, listen and allow my practice to evolve with me. And take a leap of faith.

Back on Track

This past week has felt pretty good. I’ve gotten back on track and am re-establishing a consistent routine. There has been some necessary changes as I navigate my current status and find ways to make adjustments, but overall it feels good to be moving forward again.

I was a bit concerned about losing some ground with my full push-ups, but I’ve been able to maintain reps of 10 so that is good. And I will continue to add on as my body allows. The biggest positive is, I also learned the last few moves of Mlong Kuen this week, completing the sequence. Now it’s time for some fine-tuning. 

Learning, any new hand or weapon form has always been a challenge for me and has even created road blocks at times. Even though it still takes me longer to learn a form, I’m more in the moment, my awareness is increasing and I’m embracing the learning process.

I love everything Mlong Kuen is teaching me. This is a form that challenges my vocabulary of motion and is expanding my tool box. It incorporates a number of techniques using both the left and right side, really helping to feel the difference from one side to the other and learn from both. And there are times when I feel my body mechanics needing to adapt and move differently. Pushing myself beyond the muscle memory learned over the years is exciting because it increases my adaptability and opens up a world of possibilities. Mlong Kuen has helped me realize there is so much more my body can do even when it doesn’t at first feel natural, giving me more options.

A Minor Glitch

Oops, somehow I failed to realize the challenges of jet lag after returning home from my trip to China. A 14 hour time difference and all that time on a plane causes havoc with a person‘s system and internal clock. Approximately one day for every hour of time zone change is required for the body to readjust. 

I had pre planned and adjusted my training while in China, and had solid measurable results, but somehow completely missed what returning home might look like. In the past when I’ve travelled jet lag didn’t really affect me all that much. Maybe that is why I didn’t factor it into the equation. 

Getting back on track with a sleep routine has been ok, but what I’m finding surprising is how drained I feel throughout the day. And as I slowly began to feel a bit more like myself, something occurred with my left leg. It could be a combination of fatigue, Tuesdays kicks, and knees that have just been overdone with all the walking and stairs in the past few weeks. Any motivation I was able to muster up disappeared after adding in the unexpected pain/discomfort and reduced leg stability to the jet lag.

What I do have is great feedback/experience to draw on for my next trip. I will now factor in jet lag for future trips. Sometimes life has other plans, so it’s a great reminder to take care of myself and listen to my body. 

This is also another opportunity to practice an aspect of mastery that often gets overlooked - internal cultivation and embracing the moment. (I seem to be getting these reminders more and more.) This aspect of mastery tends to be less outwardly active or results driven, and harder to measure. It is also where a lot of clarity and personal growth can occur which is just as important, maybe even more so because it helps facilitate better responses to situations and guide us on our physical paths.

 I feel this relates very closely to the direction my physical forms training is taking me this year. Finding a way to apply more internal calmness and centeredness may help me to develop more flow and ease of movement within intentional action. 

Gratitude - Anchoring Moments

Practising gratitude has been part of my daily life for a few years now. I typically start my morning being grateful for the day ahead. And then I do a review of the things I’m grateful for before I go to bed in the evening. There are times when it can become a bit robotic and this is when I know I need to change things up a bit and refocus on why I practise gratitude.

There are times I’ll take a specific gratitude and expand on all the reason why I’m grateful for it. Other times I'll focus on being grateful for a challenging situation, the lesson presented and the potential opportunity to learn and grow. Practising gratitude when things don't go as planned or life's little challenges helps with perspective and gives me back some control of the situation. 

Recently, I’ve been working on applying awareness and and gratitude throughout the day. It is these moments of gratitude in real time that I find most powerful. I see them as anchoring moments that often fill my being with wonder, connection and reinforce a life well-lived. 

On my recent trip to China I experienced many moments of gratitude. Walking through the square amongst hundreds of Kung Fu students as they were training and then standing in the performance hall at the Shaolin Wushu Center was one of those profound anchoring moments. Many days later as we were heading back to our hotel at night, I was struck by the beauty of the colorful lights on the bridge we passed by, and I thought how beautiful China is. This led to some reflection and I was filled with gratitude for all I'd experienced. Something that came to mind in that moment was how much Kung Fu has shaped my life and empowered me to experience and travel the world. I've thought this many times in the past and still it is great to have that reinforcement and not take it for granted. 

Numbers Update

 Here are my numbers to the end of May

Pushups - 3740 modified + 585 full

*Up to 10 full pushups per set and working to increase full pushups every week or two.

Situps - 4325

Km's - 274

*Only tracking intentional Km's

AOK's - 284

Weapon - 234 reps + 385 min on individual techniques and learning form

H Form - 246 reps + 415 min on individual techniques and learning form

Blogs - 16

Sparring - 22

Kung Fu While Traveling

As I travel through China, the physical aspect of my kung fu looks quite a bit different. Time and space to do form reps has been almost nonexistent and yet there’s still a lot of Kung Fu happening. The great thing about Kung Fu is it so easily transferrable and applicable to every aspect of life. 

There has been many opportunities for mindful acts of kindness, practising awareness, a balance of eating healthy, and just eating for enjoyment as I try new foods and local sweets. I’m not adventurous when it comes to food, but I find myself trying something different most days.

Rather than stressing about what I can’t get done, my focus is on enjoying each moment, making new friends and stepping out of my comfort zone to experience and connect with the world around me. 

Push ups have been my anchor and doing a minimum of 1 set of 10 full pushups and at least 20 modified each day is helping me continue a degree of consistency. One would think this should be quite easy but with jet lag, 14 hour time difference and some very busy days, even this feels like a struggle at times. 

I have much gratitude and feel blessed to be traveling and experiencing this wonderful country of China!

Injury Without Ego

Being a student of Kung Fu there always seems to be someone dealing with an injury or chronic issue, myself included. Quite often these injuries or issues come with a degree of frustration when it comes to limitations, the ups and downs of recovery or a timeline that doesn’t fit our expectations. 

As martial artists we learn to adapt, expand our ability to listen to our bodies and even embrace the benefits of training differently, knowing there is much to be gained from the challenges we are faced with. Part of these challenges include learning to appreciate and take better care of our bodies. As students pursing a path towards mastery it becomes ingrained in us to push our limits. Because of this it can be challenging to not push too hard or to soon while navigating an injury, especially as we experience moments of impatience.

Hearing others talk about their injuries and areas of struggle is helping me to take a step back and consider my own chronic knee issues in a slightly different light. I think it comes down to being able to take ego out of the equation. When I remove ego it allows more space for joy, better equipping me to work with the injury instead of against it. 

 Joy brings a harmonious ease and spaciousness to life, it is a balanced expression with calm and tranquil energy. Joy creates openness and clarity helping to navigate a way forward. Going beyond our limits then becomes a natural way of being rather than a need to force or push our limits. Ego is removed.

So the challenge as I see it is to let go of ego and embrace joy in order to fully absorb and appreciate the path these lessons are tying to steer us towards. That is what will take us beyond our self imposed limits. Adaptation and anything else that matters will come naturally and the way forward will become clear.