Acts of Kindness

One of the proudest moments of my teaching career came from a comment one of my students overheard in a restaurant across the street from my school. A couple of senior ladies were at the till to pay for their meal when they were told by the waitress that someone had already paid their bill. One of the senior’s commented “I bet it was one of those kung fu guys across the street. They believe in acts of kindness.”

How great is that? Traditional martial arts are definitely as much about kindness as they are about kicking and punching. The fact that two senior ladies who have never trained in kung fu know this, shows that Silent River Kung Fu’s influence and efforts are being recognized by our community. My responsibility as an educator is to ensure these esoteric values are also recognized and embraced by my students.

The challenge we who train in the traditional martial arts face is not unlike the challenge facing society in general. Many of us make decisions based upon fear and while that is understandable, especially if you feel threatened, it is not always the most logical or productive approach to nullifying a threat.

A person who only trains to fight, will only have one option in a conflict. Kung fu teaches empathy and compassion and It teaches us how to physically protect ourselves. It is the strength of our character and our empathy that gives us the option of resolving conflict without violence, and the wisdom to recognize that option exists.

Don’t weaponize yourself or your children out of fear. There are so many other things that are much more likely to harm us than kick or a punch. We all are getting our butts kicked everyday more by our acceptance of mediocrity, our limiting beliefs, our diets, our poor relationship skills, and our indifference. Don’t train to fight. Train to live.

“The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit.” - Morihei Ueshiba (1883 - 1969)

Jeff Brinker

Wage Peace

I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world. -Sadako Sasaki

Today there are countless children in this country alone who have not known a time of peace. The wars in the world may not physically reach our borders but we are all affected. Every life that is lost in result of a bomb dropped or a missile launched, distant or not, is a loss to humanity for the potential of those lives will never be fulfilled and the knowledge, progress and lessons this world may have benefitted from is lost with them. Compassion has to start with those who have the ability to be merciless, for those people also hold the power to be empathetic.

Several weeks ago the childrens classes participated in folding cranes for peace. I have a box of cranes folded by these kids waiting to be strung together and eventually shipped to Hiroshima. I am humbled every time I look at it. My hope is to instill the value of empathy and compassion into these kids, to teach them that these are the qualities that give people the ability to change the world. Making intelligent, informed and compassionate decisions will ultimately create a more compassionate world to live in. Ignorance breeds fear and resentment which leads to indifference and violence. 

I do not know how reach every individual in the world. However I intend to reach as many as I can in hope that they will someday reach others. And I know that this school is the best vessel I know of. The cranes we fold are an invaluable means, a tangible symbol of compassion and empathy. 

One little girl was able to reach across the world with her plea for peace. Imagine if a whole generation did the same.
 

This is our Cry. This is our Prayer. Peace in the world.

Khona Rybak

Intent

While this posting is going to be more relevant to Black Belts than Queue Belt students, I believe there may be some benefit found within this post for everyone. As always, if there are any questions please post them in the comments so everyone can benefit from your engagement.

Intent is an integral part of the six harmonies of kung fu. Because it is more abstract than the overt physical properties of the art, it is one of the more difficult harmonies to understand and master. Intent is where you merge your energy with your power. It is what refines your technique and it is where mastery of the art lies.

In the past couple of months in the Black Belt Class, I have talked a lot  about intent. Specifically on how to keep intent pure. Because of the dynamic nature of a physical engagement, pure intent is only possible if we are constantly adjusting our intent to suit the evolving situation. The intent can't be to just focus on the specifics of the technique we are applying. If we do, we may fix all the other unintentional movements in our execution, but ultimately that is not the proper way. We need to adjust our intent at every point in time. My intent revolves around the fist coming toward me. After I deal with it appropriately, my intent shifts to the counter. Too many students are already thinking about their counter before they complete their block. Their intent is not pure so their block is not completely effective. 

Intent needs to change at every point in time, and time is not always linear (an explanation of that will have to come in a future posting or via questions). If we use the analogy of a line where the beginning of the line is the start of the technique and the end is the end of the technique, a white belt may have 3 points along the line where they are aware and where they are capable of adjusting their intent. A black belt however may deal with the exact same line but the difference is he has multi-million points on the same line where he is capable of adjusting and of which he is aware. This constantly updated intent makes a technique much more effective.

A good example of this 'line' analogy can be found in the dragon dance. When you watch dragon dance rookies practice, you see a lot of choppiness in the flow of the dragon. Even though there are nine individuals independently moving the dragon's body, some of them are not in sync with their teammates. This lack of synchronicity makes the dragon look like it only has three big segments rather than eight little segments. After a lot of practice the dance team starts to work together and their motions become more logically organized, transforming the dragon into a flowing, living entity. In the same way you will see the difference in the way a black belt moves and the way a white belt moves. This difference is from pureness of intent.

Again, this is written with black belts in mind so I suspect it may be out of range for some of you. If anyone has any questions, please post them as comments below. 

Fight Club

I am sure everyone is aware of the CBC story of the fight club in Spruce Grove. Violence and bullying are unfortunate aspects of our society that we all have to deal with in one way or another. The particulars of this situation have created a lot of outrage, anger, and fear in our community. It is important that we apply logic to any response or we run the risk of promoting the very thing we are fighting against.

Traditional, I repeat, TRADITIONAL martial arts teach character, humility, and compassion. They do not just teach how to physically defend yourself. I know some of the modern "martial arts" advocate not teaching someone of questionable character. Their logic? "It will make them dangerous". They could not be more wrong. Martial arts builds character. If all they existed for was to eliminate weak character, what value would they hold? If your activity is making people dangerous, it is not a martial art. Violence does not end violence. It just perpetuates the problem. Building character and confidence gives people alternative outlets when their ego is challenged. Learning a traditional martial art does not make a person dangerous. Everyone, whether trained or not, is capable of violence in the right circumstance. Those circumstances are determined by the strength of your character which determines the choices you make. Traditional martial arts takes people of weak and questionable character and, over time, teaches them humility while giving them the confidence and self esteem they need to make intelligent and compassionate decisions.

Creating bullies to combat bullies is not the solution, eliminating bullies is.

"We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people." - Jackie Chan (b. 1954)

Jeff Brinker