This week in class, Master Hayes wanted us to really think about what the I Ho Chuan is. I have been mulling this over and I am looking at it from two different perspectives. Now right or wrong, these are MY perspectives and I would love feed back on my thinking because no two people are going to see the same thing the same way. So here we go.
When I think about what the I Ho Chuan is ( see title of blog ), my mind breaks it into two different camps, emotional (spiritual) and physical. Both of these are very deep rabbit holes that I can chase ideas down all day long, but for this blogs sake, I won't. I will try not to make this an 7000 word essay.
The easiest one for me to reflect on is the physical. Push ups, sit ups, mastering two forms, attendance ( this is a multi layered one ), sparring, 1609km, weekly blogging, you know the rest ( our at least you should ). Pushing yourself physically is monumentally important to achieving mastery, and as it talks about in Mastery, you must learn to go beyond your "arbitrary" limits that you have set for yourself. As Yoda would say, "there is no try, only do". You must find a way to not make it about the "numbers" and make it about the effort required to achieve perfection in yourself. What does Kung Fu mean - HARD WORK! So know your bodies so called limits, find them, explore them, and then find a way to go past them. The requirements we all signed up for help us achieve that.
Then there is the emotional or spiritual part of the I Ho Chuan. This is going to mean different things to different people but to me......simply put, the meaning is in the first requirement, no quitting. That requirement, to me, says all that needs to be said. How so? Well, to quit the team is to quit yourself, it is to give up on the quest for mastery. And that snowballs throughout your life once it gets started. I am going to use what I shared at the meeting on Thursday as my example.
This year I could have graded for my black belt, I chose not to. HUGE mistake on my part. I have regretted it from the moment the words let my lips. I have spent the last 6 weeks wallowing in regret and self pity. My numbers all but stopped, my focus blurred to a haze, I was ( and still am ) furious with myself for this. I questioned the vary reason why I am in Kung Fu. I didn't feel ready for what was to come, fitness test - nope, forms - nope, 5 applications - nope, techniques - nope. None of it! While I may have "qualified" to grade, I definitely did not feel qualified to be a black belt. My mind was telling my body , "no chance so don't try", my body was telling my mind, "I'm lost, just go home". I had forgotten the first rule of our fight club, NO QUITTING!! I had just quit. That felt like a sledge hammer to the face. My spirit took a huge hit, my emotions darkened, I felt utterly defeated. Not a happy place for me to be, nor was it familiar. That is not who I am, so I needed this apocalypse of being to make me realize that.
Now here I am, back at square one. I need to polish the stain off my soul. This has made me rethink my entire approach to Kung Fu. Where do I begin? What do I do? But wait! Isn't there already a perfect plan out there that has already set my path out there form me?? Why yes there is young Padawan. The I Ho Chuan program. The ultimate tool to build "me" into a worthy candidate for a black belt. It has the physical, it has the spiritual, it is a complete package, it is the best way for me to prepare myself to earn the right to be a black belt. I can feel the glow, the spirituality that being a martial artist brings, time to embrace it.
I'm going to stop there as to long of a blog becomes white noise and boring.
As a side note - attendance and blogging to me are about being present and in the moment, you can't do either if you are physically not there.
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