So Much Help

The Kwoon maintanence is only 2 days in and we have almost completed everything on the list. It's not because there is not a lot to do, it's because we have had a lot of volunteers show up.

People are looking for things to do and it can be hard to do but that should not discourage them. They have shown up and that is the most important part. The Kwoon maintanence is not only about working bug connecting with other members of Silent River Kung Fu.

I am really inspired by everyone who has shown up and At this rate we should be mostly finished by tonight. This way everyone can enjoy the potato bake tomorrow and the long weekend after that.

Maintanence Week and What its About

The annual Kwoon Maintenance week is coming up next week and I am excited to be a part of it this year. In the past, I have contributed a considerable amount of time to the Kwoon maintenance and it helped me become a black belt.

It was not a direct factor it achieving black belt (hey you helped with the maintenance so here's your black belt) as it was more on the mental side. The Kwoon maintenance made me feel more comfortable training in the Kwoon as it felt like I owned a part of it now. With this change in mindset, I became more comfortable training at the Kwoon in front of other people.

This statement may sound like how everyone promotes the Kwoon maintenance and it should because it is so true. Ask any black belt or que belt who has taken part and see what they have to say about it.

I seem to have forgotten this over the last couple years as I have not had as much to do with the maintenance week and last year I showed up on the last day but everything was mostly completed by then. This made a bad year even worse in my opinion as I lost out on an opportunity that will never come back. I continued to struggle through the year and it was only near the end of the year I started to finally become reengaged with my Kung Fu. I regret not participating in the maintenance week last year even to this day as I know it could have kick-started me in September and not January.

How do I make sure not to miss out again. By volunteering to coordinate the maintenance this year. This way, I know that my commitment will be there and I will be able to benefit again.

This whole blog seems somehow all about what I get out of being part of the Kwoon maintenance but I hope I am inspiring others to come and see what it is truly all about. You get to meet other people who train and/or instruct at Silent River and it will take your training and commitment to a whole new level.

Also, there will be an awesome Potato Bake on Thursday, September 1st. Come hang out, enjoy a baked potato and meet some new people.

Boot Camp was Awesome

I felt that this years boot camp was awesome. There were a lot of great seminars and I got to participate in a lot of them.

I am not sure why, but I feel that this has been one of the best boot camps for me. I thought the seminar variety was great and you could tell the instructirs were passionate about there seminar.

I hope more people can take part in next years boot camp because it is a life altering experience to attend.

Missing Class

At I Ho Chuan class on Thursday we had 10 people there only which is just over 1/3 of the members. Sifu Brinker talked about 0 unexcused absences yet a lot of people did not have a legitimate reason for not being there.

What does legitimate mean? It simply means that you have a family issue to take care of, you are away because of work or something along those lines. It doesn't mean you want to watch your favorite show on TV or you want to check out a movie unless you are doing it because its your anniversary or your child's birthday.

I am by no means criticizing or judging people that were not there because you may probably had a legitimate reason. What I am doing is talking about my own experience with this. For the last 2 years in the I Ho Chuan, I struggled to take part in class and I never put the effort into my training that I should have. It was obvious because I didn't take part n demos but mostly, I quit coming to class and meetings.

It became much easier to come up with a "legitimate" reason to not go to class every time I missed one. This had such a negative impact on my training, my physical conditioning and my outlook on Kung Fu in general. Things got so bad, I was tempted to give up instructing the intermediate teen/adult class.

What changed my attitude was with two months to go in the year I started attending the class's and the meetings again. Once I started participating again, it got me reengaged in my training and my passion for kung Fu was renewed once again.

I have been able to carry the momentum into this year and I have not missed a meeting or a mandatory class yet. I have taken vacation and have done some travelling with work but have been able to schedule this to ensure I am still there for classes and meetings.

Remember that your journey is your own and struggling will be a part of it but I figured it might help those of you who are struggling to know that everyone on the team has struggled but just know you can still salvage your year. All you need to do this, is show up for class. Even if you cant or don't want to participate, just being there is a huge step.

Away for a bit.

I have been on holidays for this past week and took some time to go down to Drumheller for 3 days hence not being around much last week. I will be on holidays next week as well but should be around for most classes.

I have been keeping up with my training and exercise program which has helped keep me engaged.

See everyone soon.

Boot Camp

What is boot camp and why should I go? These are the questions I asked myself for years and I always came up with the same answer. Its just a day where people will judge me and I will get nothing out of it so I wont go. I told myself this right up until I was a Sihing.

At Sihing I started to realize what it would take to become a black belt at that boot camp was an opportunity presented to me that I never took advantage of. That first boot camp was amazing and I got so much more out of it than I expected. The biggest regret is that was my first and only boot camp as a student. If I had only gone before that, who knows where I would have been in my training.

I have gone to boot camp after but now as a black belt. there is still a lot of value in it for me but not as much as when I was going for black belt. I have also instructed some seminars at boot camp and my goal is to try to pass on knowledge about what helps me in my training or what am I passionate about. I believe that anyone putting on a seminar is doing it for these same reasons. We want to pass on something that will hopefully inspire the students or make them want to pursue something further.

I have a couple of ideas that I have put out there for seminars at boot camp so hopefully we will see you there.

Is it worth it?

I have a lot of people ask me what's with the sawhorse? This starts a long conversation beginning with its not a sawhorse it's a horse bench. From there it's why I have a horse bench to Kung Fu to the I Ho Chuan.

Then people ask why would you want to do that? There are so many reasons that I stumble over my words as they all try to come out at once. I usually have to focuss for a second and gather my thoughts before I answer.

The single biggest reason is because it has made me a better person. Before they ask how, I continue with the how.
It has taught me how to structure my life and stick to a plan. It has taught me to focus on the important things in life and don't sweat the small stuff. It has taught me the importance of family (my own family and my Kung Fu family). And it caused me to evaluate where I was physically and made me make changes to inmprove my eating habits and my improve my fitness level.

Most people look at me like that is crazy that I would do all this but some say they wish they could do something like this as they would like to make similar changes in their own life's. This makes me happy that I am part of the I Ho Chuan this year as I think I am actually embracing the process this year for the first time since my black belt grading year.