IN KUNG FU, YOU’VE GOTTA HAVE SOME BASICS
There are some very specific minimum requirements for someone trying to train in a martial art. Depending upon which – or all – of the three categories Chinese Kung Fu breaks down into, some of the requirements are Strength, Stamina/Endurance, Flexibility, Speed, & Heart. Genrally speaking, you have to be strong enough to not give up, that way you stick around long enough to get the benefits. You have to be strong enough to develop the next/other categories of training. You need to be flexible enough to change your previous views & adopt the ones pertinent to Kung Fu training. You have to get your body to be flexible enough to practice the techniques handed down through the previous generations. Speed development is usually just a by-product of training, so if you have strength and flexibility on your side the speed witll naturally follow. If You Do Not have Heart you can kiss it all goodbye. Being a quitter is exactly that – a State of Being. Some people learn to be that way, some people never give themselves a chance by never challenging themselves, others are facilitated & are housed within a support system of people who let them run away all the time. That’s the Short version.
Now, I possess all of these things. As do many, many others. I possess all of these things as a Kung Fu practitioner, as do many others. I have used these things as tools in my personal development in such a way as to have somehow arrived at the place where I can bring out the very best in other people as students. Not my opinion, just my history; we have the trophies to show that judges from other schools think our school superior as practitioners, we have the unending visits from 2nd & 3rd degree black belts from other schools on our sparring nights that show others’ desire to be ‘like One of Us’, and we have the long history practice & personal development that somehow sets the stage for those previously mentioned situations to occur in the first place. The Proof is in the puddi- uhh, Practice.
FORCED TO SUCCEED
So with that all being said, I Know How to develop these things having developed them within myself. And people recognize that, and want to be associated with us, or tell other people that they ‘train’ with us from time to time (come to sparring once every few months when they think they have some new technique to defeat us with. Not. EVER.) or touch a part of it even if only vicariously – “Aww, yeah, I Know ‘dat dude…”. But seeing greatness and wanting to be a part of it, versus seeing greatness and striving to Become it, are two vastly different things. Chinese Kung Fu is a path of Pain and Suffering. And Defeat and Failure. And Victory and Success – a path of Light and Life! And one of Glory and Respect. Respect of self and others, that garners the respect Of others and in turn inspires others to learn new ways to respect Themselves.
But people tend to focus on the Pain, Defeat, & FEAR of Failure. So they want to quit. My job is to Not Let Them. To hold their hand, to Raise them Up pushing them up by their ass with hand or foot whichever works best at any given moment. It’s not always pleasant. It’s not always a good feeling being in class, next to other people doing their own thing and feeling somehow that you’re not In their class, or that you don’t belong ‘here’. But When You DO- wow. It’s like that scene in The Matrix series where the ship bursts through the clouds – stereotypical, but Evocative & Accurate as hell nonetheless.
Most people want the benefits without the sacrifice. And if It could be done I’d Teach it that way. I would Honestly do all of the work for everyone that wanted to get the rewards without the work, because I Do believe that everyone should have access to the greatness of thought and form that is Chinese Kung Fu. I would do it for you if I could. But I can’t.
And when people are confronted with that fact, that there may be a little dissapointment compared to the Kiloton of Joy and Happiness that their experiences will bring, they drop off the map. Like dead grass, they fall by the wayside. And are satisfied by that. My job, as Teacher is to find a way through all of the adversity and diversity of difficulties on the path of your training and lead you to the other side.
TEACHING STRENGTH BALANCE INTEGRITY
Because of my reverance for the usage of that title, I think I’ve invested SO SO So Much more respect for it – into it – than most others ever demonstrate with their usage of it. For me it is a sacred trust. Outside of the teacher-student environment/dynamic – hey, whatever’s clever. But within that construct, while it’s happening, when class is in session, my responsibilites are truly unfathomable. Unless you’ve Arrived there yourself. The largest of those being: Not to Let you Fail Yourself. Not to Let you Let Yourself Down. To Push you when you’re so deep down in the muck & the mire of your own negative emotions and physical dilapidation that movement in Any directioin much less forward seems impossible. To Show you for Yourself where You can go, and what heights may be attained when anything upwardly-mobile seems out of the question. To make you twist or stretch lower, to jump higher, to punch harder, to make you do One More Rep when space and time itself have no where for you to go. That’s ok, I just want you to Be. Now. I just want it ‘this’ way :):):)
THE RAZOR’S EDGE
What’s the Razor’s Edge? Between nurturing someone who’s prepared for the work & the effort, and offending or bruising the ego of someone who is clueless as to what it take to be like those Other people who’ve persevered and begun to reap the benefits. The Razor’s Edge is that one-W.I.M.P-wide ridge that acts as a Continental Divide between those who wish and those who want, between those who won’t and those who Will. The Razor’s Edge is where 99% of the time I’m the bad guy. What IS the Razor’s Edge? It’s that place where I would Love to make the decision to just be your friend and have fun, and instead I’m the guy you can’t stand because I’ve made you become something Greater than you were Before. I’m the Bad Guy. No thanks except for sarcasm, no reward except for my own sense of ‘mission accomplished’ when I see that a student is indeed growing on schedule as I always knew they would. No recognition except for when I’m being talked about by Other instructor’s and their students. Why would I go through that over and over again with you? – with every single One of you?
Because you Asked me to. And I Can.