The Preaching Sister

My sister moved to New Zealand last month. She is a massage therapist and what I call an Earthy person. I use the term affectionately and I give her a hard time about it but the truth is, she definitely is in tune with her passion and she steers me in the right direction. She, for years has preached yoga to me. So I begrudgingly tried it and dabbled in it.

I don’t remember the names of the poses, I don’t own a special mat, I don’t know why the guy in the video doesn’t get a haircut or why the Instructor at the lunchtime yoga class talks in such a low quiet voice…but what I do know is I need yoga.

Aging is a nasty thing. You deny your body is getting old and try and explode into flying kicks and sprint the track and punch out a set of 50 deep pushups like its no big deal. Brush it off, look at the young ones and give them the twinkle in your eye “that’s right punk… I still got it”.

Once I am home I search for the heating pad, ice pack and my blanket to cower in.

But the yoga deal, as I have come to realize is all about keeping me in the running. I see now, how it is a combination of long stretches combined with breathing, being in the moment to find those deep hidden muscles that get ignored. Working on maintaining their length, pliability and mobility to  prevent injury from overzealous moves and over ambitious training.

I no longer scoff, dabble or belittle the art of yoga. It is clear I need to incorporate it into my day, every day. Something else to add but I think without it, I may find myself on the sidelines more often, from injuries, that could have been prevented merely by taking the time for some preventative measures.

When she left last month, she left me a duffel bag, yes, with a selection of yoga DVDs , a yoga mat and a Zen clock??-not sure about that one yet – anyways, time to dig into the bag, thanks sis!

Rhythm disruption

Lately I feel like I am achieving something with my training.

Its not a great leap into some new level but more like emerging from a plateau I have been at for a long time. I think I have to attribute some of this to helping with Sifu Bryant’s morning class. The students have great questions and observations that in turn teach me something as well. I have also been enjoying the benefits of morning training as I have had some company. If its not Sifu Stoddard then I have the company of Sihing Choy and Robinson to help with motivation in the early morning.

Watching students apply themselves in preparation for their next level (black belt)has always inspired me and motivated me. I forget the energy it brings to an individual when they are preparing to put it all on the line, that first grading seems to carry such intensity with its training unlike anything else.

So now that I am up on the step; riding the wave and feeling a sense of accomplishment with training along comes work to dash it!

I have to go back to Whitehorse for a week. Its an overloaded week of work so I have my doubts of getting in any real training. A week does not seem like a big deal, considering others like Sifu Regier and Sihing Krebs have been able to train whilst out of town for extended periods, but I am probably just annoyed because I had a good routine going , a good rhythm if you will… and there is always the fear of dropping off a routine when something upsets it.

Anyways, back to Whitehorse, get the job done and I booked a flight back that should get me to class on time this Friday.

To the horse..

New Strategy

I have to admit, I was getting frustrated sparring last night.
Oooh those bigger guys!
of course it was fun, but I was finding myself  resting my ribs on their thrust kicks too many times.

Now I know you need to stay out of range of the long legs, but they are on to that too!
One of the Black Belts is superb in staying frontal the whole time and maintaining his frontal stance with slight movements. Sadly,I could only admire it and hardly did I get inside.
After finally getting inside and out of range of the kicks I found myself still getting several body shots. But why, hmmm.
Why...I was trying to reach for their head and for a bigger opponent this leaves me reaching. Which leaves me exposed to body shots. Next time, I need to focus on body shots so I can defend their counters quickly and not over extend my arms.

Maybe , sounds good in theory, it will be my new strategy, but don't tell those bigger guys!


JC Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta ,Canada

I Ho Chuan

We were asked today"what does the I Ho Chuan mean to you".
I didn't speak up this time, I chose to listen instead...I need to do that  more often.
Anyways, some good insightful responses from those who spoke.

If I had to put it into one word, it would be Commitment.
Commitment in whatever you choose to pick up. The I Ho Chuan starts with the basic tools of physical fitness... push ups, sit ups, putting on the mileage, things that require no thinking, just commitment.
It builds from there to mastery of your martial arts practice, choose what you wish to master in order to get you to the next level and commit, not just practice. You can practice anything but it takes committing to practice for a long duration to hope for mastery in somethings if done mindfully.  Again ...commit.
Next the I Ho Chuan looks at developing the individuals integrity, empathy and compassion through community and acts of kindness. We don't reap those benefits,nor ,does the community unless we commit.
I Ho Chuan develops leadership and mentor ship through committing to projects no matter the size.
If its your vision, make it happen until it is complete... this again requires commitment.(Sifu Brinker spoke better of this during our meeting than I do here).

For me, it all comes down to commitment in all facets of our lives to become a better person.
Transforming our physical, mental,social and even spiritual self's through  commitment.
As a team we keep each other accountable, on track and supported. We build strong character through working as a team.

This year was the first for combining the UBBT and I Ho Chuan, I would call this the prototype, we are setting up the blueprints for bigger and better things to follow. Through our successes and failures both individual and as a group we, the I Ho Chuan team and the school can benefit from lessons learnt this year.

We are by no means finished, still lots of time left and this is where the strength of commitment will serve us well. No matter your mental state, good bad or indifferent keep in mind the commitment to the school, the team but most important to yourself.
When you break a promise to yourself all else means little.

This is how I see the I Ho Chuan, I am excited to see how it grows and evolves, I am quite positive it will develop into a system no one would want to miss out in participating at some point.

That is illogical Captain..

Emotion and logic sometimes seem to be opposing forces.

It’s easy when the Logic follows the Emotions but when it doesn’t, this is the time to stop and take stock.

When stuff happens and we need to make choices and decisions in our lives, our emotions can get the best of us and we may take a knee-jerk reaction. In the worst case scenario we deeply regret our actions and find ourselves with more problems then what we started with.

On the other end of the scale we find the path of logic.

Putting our problems into a mathematical equation to formulate the desired outcome.

Sound like the way to go, however we then eliminate empathy, compassion, love and various other positive human traits.

Way back, when I used to watch Star Trek, the first version, I didn’t recognize the brilliant writer’s ability to identify Logic and Emotion thru Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk.

What spectacular dilemmas they had to solve! .cute, cuddly, soothing Tribbles, you can never have too many Tribbles…or can you! (for those too young you will have to Google).

How impressive and exciting as a kid, to watch them combine emotion with logic to solve the problem in less than a half hour, commercials included. If only all problems were scripted this way.

So fast forward  30 years give or take, I find myself solving my own problems with Logic and Emotion. The important addition is Control.

Control as a Black belt, control of myself. How I choose to react.

How I weigh out the emotional reasoning with the logic will depend on my own self control. Ask myself what is the right outcome, what emotions are driving my thoughts, what is the best outcome for everyone not just myself.

The balance between emotion and logic, not an easy achievement, but a work in progress through one‘s own self control.

JC Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada