Blessings

Another great week! School is out for the summer. Yay! If you weren't able to make it out to Rotary park on Canada day we all had an awesome time. There were lion dances and a couple of demos performed by members of the I Ho Chaun team. Sifu Brinker brought his giant 10 foot beach ball to play around with. Try crab soccer with a 10 foot ball. Fun and games! Best of all was the participation and energy of everyone involved and the support of all the Kung Fu students/families that came to watch the demos.

Another very special opportunity came our way this week also. Tony McKee is the program facilitator with the Remuda Horsemanship Program and he had offered the I Ho Chaun team a chance to participate in his program. Eight team members including myself joined Tom at his ranch on Saturday morning to learn about horses. After being paired up with a horse we spent some time getting to know the animal and allowing the horse to get comfortable with us. The morning progressed with different exercises working with our horse and learning how to communicate and give them direction. And if the horse didn't follow direction we had to go back and figure out where we went wrong and how to effectively communicate the commands to the horse.

 We had talked about energy and intention when working with the horses before we went into the ring. I really believe that Tom's energy and intention right from the start set the tone for the day. Tom has a lot of experience, knowledge and patience and was a fantastic teacher. We also had a great group of people participating. While reflecting on the day afterwards I realised that the entire time I was there that I was totally in the moment and that the atmosphere was calm and relaxed. We had talked about energy and intention and also staying calm and in control. We also discussed being assertive vs aggressive and what that means. With aggression there is anger and loss of control. I think that there is a fine line between the two and that assertiveness can easily become aggression when we loss our calmness and control. Everything we talked about and learned when working with the horses can be transfered to our Kung Fu and our everyday lives.

Thank you again, Tom for the amazing experience and knowledge that you shared with us. I am feeling truly blessed this week.

Michele Ward