July was a blur

Is it just me or did July pass by in a blur. July is a crazy busy month for me and my family as there are 11 birthdays to celebrate in my family. At one point there were 16, but some of my relatives have passed away, some at an early age. Turning 47 this year got me thinking about where I was when I started Kung Fu. I was 30 pounds heavier, got winded after 2 squat thrusts and was toast after 5 push ups or sit ups. Now I love doing pushups and situps. Squat thrusts are still a challenge but due to all the running I have been doing this summer I am slowly getting better at them. The one thing I'm really happy with is my recovery rate. Before when I got winded or tired it could be 10 minutes or more for me to recover my breath and heartrate. Now I'm ready for more after 30 seconds to a minute. Much much better. I am working hard at building a strong base for my kung fu to grow on. I have so much to learn yet and technigues to work on, but I dont let that tower over me. I take it one day at a time and progress forward. My next goal is my green belt and I am making progress on my last two stripes. I have been an orange belt for a year now, but I look at that as a good thing. Good technigue and flow now, should lead to good power and better technique and flow in the future. The I Ho Chuan team is responding well to the challenges we have been making to each other. But I still want to reach those that have disappeared off the radar. I understand that people have decided not to grade this year. I hope we as a team can inspire and help them get a running start now, not at the start of next year. I truly believe that if they can get going now, by the time next years I Ho Chuan starts they can already be in maintaining mode and have an awesome year. I am far from a perfect person and definately have a ton of growing to do as a martial artist. Being in the I Ho Chuan is no cake walk and I would never want it to be. I know there are goals I'm struggling with and others I may not achieve. But I want to be able to look myself in the miror and be able to honestly say I tried my best to do my best. If you can do that then I believe you have had a successful year.

that was awesome

Yesterday was completely awesome. I have never sweat so much and enjoyed a day at the kwoon as much as that, except for pandamonium. I was already soaked from fitness class(nothing new there) and then an hour of sparring after that and I felt like I had taken a dip in a swimming pool with my clothes on. Sifu Stoddart really is great at getting us to work our butts off and enjoy it at the same time. I can't recoommend the class enough. All you need to be is positive, enthusiastic, fun loving and willing to sweat buckets in front of others. Even if you're not all those things come out and I bet you will be after a few classes. It has helped with my conditioning enormously. I love sparring with the members of the I Ho Chuan. I get schooled the entire time, but I don't fear being hit or overwhelmed. The control that the Sifus and Sihings have is something to behold. I learn a little bit from every person I spar with. I am able to see things, I just can't always get my body to respond in the correct way to block or strike like I should. I accept that at my level and totally expect it. I am getting more confortable sparring and really working on my level of control. I hope we have many more days like yesterday. I'm sore as heck today, but its a good sore. One that lets me know I worked hard and it was totally worth it. I'm the lowest belt level on the team. But that doesn't mean I have any more excuses or reasons to slack off or not be accountable to myself and the rest of the team. Sometimes being the lowest makes me question myself on how to encourage or help out the rest of the team. I have often noticed others on the team are missing blogging or aren't in class or the kwoon as much as they were at the beginning of the year. I am still struggling with how to approach them. If they aren't attending the same classes I'm in or not showing up at I Ho Chuan practise or missing the meetings, how do you just say "hey, how's it going?". That is something I need to work on and improve. I have been too wrapped up in my own journey this year and I need to be more engaged with the whole team. That is something I will improve on. I failed miserably at last years UBBT. Mostly because I didn't know how to ask for help or how to communicate my failures. I thought I had to be upbeat and positive about everything I was going through. It took a long time for me to get it through my thick skull that it was the struggles that Sifu Brinker was looking for. I have been lucky this year to get a better stucture in place and to set small goals that progressed towards the bigger ones. Not everything is going perfect by any means. My stick and flexibilty being the two big ones. But the biggest thing I learned between last year and this year was to not stop doing what worked and to readjust what wasn't. I have years to go before I even achieve Sihing level. But I can't thank Sifu Brinker and everyone on last years team and this years team for giving me such amazing examples to follow. I'm building a base for myself that I hope will be made out of granite and not the sandstone that was there before I started kung fu.

wow its hot outside

This past week was sure a challenge to keep up with my structure, due to the heat. I got lots of walking in, but running, especially with our dog was out. He was suffering much more then I was. I am sure I can sweat standing still in a hot room. So this week was all sticky and icky. I drank tons of water and kept up my structure so very happy to not give in and just not do my training. On Saturday I took my kids to their swim meet in Devon. I managed to bake to a nice medium rare from 7 am til 5:30 pm that day. I was totally blown away by my kids persistance and effort. Jordan won one race and finished in the top 5 in his other 2. Shelby got a 7th, an 8th and a 9th. What made me very proud of her was that she didn't quit. She was getting over a head cold and was very tired. She even said to me that there were a few times she wanted to stop, but she didn't and finished every race. I can't ask more then that they try their best and not give up. At the end of the day they both ended up on 2 relay race teams. They weren't expecting it and it was a bit choatic as the teams were formed last minute but again they tried hard and didn't quit. I surprised them with large slurpees on the way home. I really missed not being at fitness class or open training. But I got to spent an awesome day with my kids and that is so rewarding to me. I did get in lots of pushups and situps. Even though people thought I was nuts doing them in the heat.

Meeting moment ahas

I was surprised how many people missed the I Ho Chaun meeting this week. I always get so much from every meeting, that I don't want to miss one. I am inspired by everyones triumphs and failures. For anyone to be able to admitt in public to a room full of their peers that they are struggling, really helps me to relate and get to know someone. Just the shear courage it can take is inspiring. But the biggest thing for me at my level and where I am in my Kung Fu is those aha moments that I go, I had feelings like that. Or that is where I was heading. I am very far from perfect and I have a long and big journey ahead of me, just to achieve my black belt. But achieve it I will. By being with so many amazing, positive and honest human beings, I can't help but grow. We are all human, we hurt, we cry, we fail, we procastinate. But we also heal, laugh, overcome and renew ourselves. I have learned to embrace the little progressions more dearly then the big ones. I have learned to listen with my whole being and not just pay partial attention. I am learning to push myself further then I thought I could go and to not let small obstacles stop my progress. Even moving sideways is progress, only in a different direction. I am learning how to achieve structure in my life that will enable me to progress to the goals I set myself. But the biggest thing I am learning is to live in the moment. To be aware of myself, my actions and how I am impacting everyone I come in contact with. I have so much learning to go and to put into action. But even up until a year ago I would have let the fear of failure or the realization of just how much more there is to go, stop me in my tracks. I would probably have done nothing to avoid it. Because I didn't know how or was even aware that I had stopped. I think I finally get that failure is ok. As long as you learn from it, get back up and try again in a slightly different direction. Alot of what I have learned is from what everyone talks about at the meetings. If I didn't attend the meetings I would be nowhere near where I am today. I am constantly in awe of the amount of knowledge, courage, humility and inspiration that is available to all the students of Silent River Kung Fu. I hope I can embrace all of it even more on my road to becoming a true martial artist.

Half the year has past

This past week has gone by so fast. I can't believe it's July already. Half the year has past in what feels like the blink of an eye. I tested for my red stripe on wednesday last week but didn't achieve it. I felt off and I know I wouldn't have given it to me either. Sifu Prince had some things for me to work on and the feedback was awesome. I can do technigues over and over again at home. But no feedback makes me rely what I'm feeling from my body and sometimes it likes to trick me. The subtle things that Sifu mentioned will make a huge difference in my flow and 6 harmonies. I look forward to improving and trying again in 2 weeks. The Canada Day parade and demos went very well. Mr. Timchuk sure is fun to keep up with when he is in the front of the lion. After 2 blocks of side to side and low dips I was pooped. He was having an great time with all the munchkins along the parade route and I could hear them all oohhing and aweing as we approached so all the effort was well worth it. My demo of Kempo 1 and 2 went ok. I had some balance issues on the grass with the small slope and little holes. Didn't fall on my butt or have to do a big recovery through the form so that was good. Still lots to work on but I'm progressing bit by bit. I love being able to do demos for the school. It's a way of giving a little bit back to the kwoon. I am getting so much from kung fu, being able to give something back only seems right. Canada day was nice. July 1st is also my sister in laws birthday, so the whole family got together and had a big brunch and sat and chatted after. The sun came out and we all roasted in the sun. Its truly amazing the see how much my nephews and nieces are growing up. They are moving out on their own and finding their way in the world. I'm proud of the choices they are making and how responsible they are being to themselves and the world at large. They aren't perfect(nobody is), but they aren't self centered and think the world owes them either(thank goodness). With the lack of accountability and effort required of kids in high school nowadays I worry for the future a bit. The sense of entitlement that some of todays youth is developing is scary to me. I was raised to believe that you had to earn what you received and that life wasn't handed to you on a silver platter. Some times things weren't fair, and you had to learn accept the good with the bad. You made the best of what you faced and accepted criticism where it was due and praise only if warranted. The policy of some schools to not give zeros and only grade work completed, is accepting way to much mediocrity for me. The real world may turn out to be a huge shock for alot of kids that graduate high school nowadays. If they only do half a job or only what they feel like doing. How long do you think they will remain employed. Sometimes we have to suck it up and do the things we don't like to do, as well as those things we do. Taking pride in a job well done, seems to becoming more rare as time moves on.