Civil Unrest

The murder of George Floyd is a tragedy.  It should have never happened, and all the other violence and murders committed by the police should never had happened.  And it hits close to residents of Louisville.  Things need to change in our city, our state, and in our country.  That is certain. However, violence is never the right response to violence.  Sometimes it may be the only response to save yourself or a loved one, but that does not make it right. 

I debated whether or not to say anything on social media, the website, etc.  At first, I thought, it is not the responsibility of a business to speak out against something that is not directly affecting that business.  I thought of the business as a separate entity, an entity that is apart from racism, police brutality, and I felt like any business should only promote what it offers to its customers.  And I think that holds true with most things like political leanings etc.  But when it comes to something that affects our communities, like what has been happening, I think it is the obligation of businesses to speak out against anything that will hurt our communities.  These issues we are having with the police, and with civil unrest is affecting our communities. As a martial artist you need to stand up for the weak, that includes the persecuted who may not be weak, but who are weaker or in a more vulnerable position to the people who are persecuting them.  So as a martial arts school we need to stand up and push for change.

Change first comes from within.  You must discipline yourself, then fix the things in your family, then maybe look at the community and see what you can do there.  But it starts with yourself.  That is where our role in the solution to all these societal problems comes into play.  Training kung fu will help you to become disciplined and it will help you protect your family, protect the weak.  It will make you a better person and thereby start the change that is needed in our society.    

Protest, if you feel you must, but protest peacefully first.  Write a letter to your councilman or councilwoman, and to your congressman or woman.  Create petitions, get them signed by as many people as you can, then send them in to City Hall.  Attend a City Hall meeting, make your voice heard that way.  Vote.  Do the things you can to create the change you want in the right way.  Your community needs you in this way.  This is being a responsible citizen. Before you add to the violence be sure you have done everything you can in every other way to decrease the violence. Make violence your last resort not the first thing you do.

Protect the Weak

This is an email I sent out to my students on 3.12.20. At that time not many people were taking this situation too seriously. Now a lot more people are which is good, because it isn’t about you. It is about protecting the people around you. Protect the weak, that is one of the rules laid out by martial arts master’s of the past. You must protect the weak.

You have a moral responsibility to protect the weak martial artist or not. But especially true for martial artists.

Just wanted to touch base with everyone.  I'm sure you all are aware of the safety precautions to take while this COVID-19 is going around.  Here is how I am looking at it.  You should do everything you can to prevent it not because you are worried about it, but because the downside of not taking the precautions is too high.  

So wash your hands often, avoid large crowds, if you can self isolate as much as possible.  AKA If you are able to work from home, then do it.  If you can't but you have some vacation time or sick time, take it.  Don't travel at least in airlines and if you are driving avoid stopping necessarily.  Do not re-wear clothes, wash after each use.  Keep your area's of operations clean and well ventilated including the school.  I am okay if you only want to do forms at the school for class.  You can do forms and conditioning for all classes if you like.  

With the bad comes some opportunities as well.  Here are the opportunities as I see them.  

1. Investing - now is the time to buy stocks or index funds.  If you are interested and all of you should be interested in it at least to some extend.  There are a couple of opportunities right one being the stocks affected by the COVID-19 which are airlines, and travel companies, and really any because most large companies are global and will be affected by these circumstances.  From what I have read for investing low cost index funds are the way to go (I have accounts with Vanguard and Charles Schwab they seem to have the lowest expense ratios). I like David Swenson's, Investment guy for Yale, investment allocation model and I try to follow that with index funds and my stock purchases.

There is also an oil stock opportunity.  There is an oil price war going on right now between Saudi Arabia and Russia which is driving oil stocks down as well.  Most likely the combination of this with the COVID-19 will drive us into a recession which means more cheap stocks.  And the stocks you buy now will most likely decrease some more.  But there is no way to tell when they will start coming back up, so I think now is the time to buy if you do a little research and make an appropriate.

If you are already invested in a retirement plan then now is the time to increase contributions. All the above circumstances are temporary and we will recover from them all.  If the COVID thing turns into the zombie apocalypse then you have bigger issues to tend with than losing any invested money.  But when it goes away you will benefit greatly from investing now. 

I am no expert in investments so take this all with a grain of salt.  But I want to let you guys know that now is the opportunity and to let you know my thoughts and what I am doing.  I got into the investment game late, and I want you all to have the information that I have which I think will be useful to you all.  Because I wish someone had talked with me about this 20 years ago.  

I am not worried about myself, my child, or my wife or you guys as we all have strong immune systems.  I am worried about bringing it home as a carrier to my mother in law who is in her late 60's.  That could be devastating.  So becareful, be clean, and be smart.  

Complaceny Kills

There is a tendency for people to seek comfort, to seek peace, and to then become lax in their attention and behavior once this comforting place has been reached.  It is human nature.  It happens to everyone.  We become complacent, inattentive, lazy.  Not good.

52 percent of car accidents happen within five miles of home.  On a manufacturing line the accidents increase when complacency sets in.  In construction, the workers start getting complacent and take risks they do not adhere to all the safety precautions which then causes injury or even death.  Pilots or their mechanics forget to check the fuel for oil or air and run into catastrophic issues in the air.  Many unnecessary casualties of war happen after the main battle is done and the troops are on their way back to the base.   They get complacent, they stop thinking about what is out there, what could happen, why the little details are important.  You can get complacent in your home life as well.  The next thing you know you, your relationship has ended. 

This is true with everything you do in life.  It does not have to be a disaster and it probably will not be at first, but it builds the mistakes become habits.

You have to fight every day to not get complacent, to not slack off.  When you wake up in the morning, make your bed.  When you come home from work or school, greet your family, roommates, or whoever you live with.  When you see a piece of trash lying around, pick it up and throw it away.  Most importantly if you see someone doing something wrong point it out and if need be stop them from doing it.  Do not let the little things slide. 

DON’T LET COMPLACENCY KILL YOU OR OTHERS. 

Worry Not

Life is complex and difficult.  Don’t make it worse by worrying.  Sounds easy, the hard part is recognizing that you are worrying.  You might go through 10 minutes of your brain just crushing you with worries before you realize what is going on.  If you take notice, you will feel the frown on your face, the teeth gritting, the tension in behind your eyes, your scalp tightness, and throughout your body.  This is bad on many levels.  We all know it is bad for your health.  It is doubly bad because you are losing out on productive time, time you could be fixing the very things you are worrying about. 

Some things there is no sense in worrying over because you have no control over them at all.  Carefully and rationally consider what you are worrying about, is it something you can control?  Is there something you can do right now about that worry?  If yes, then do it! Whatever it is, do it.  If no, then push it from you mind.  It has no use and Miyamoto Musashi wrote, “Do nothing of which is no use.”  Wise words. 

Kung fu teaches you to relax, first is starts with your muscles and tendons, then your nerves, and eventually your mind and spirit.  After training many, many, many years, maybe you will be able to attain a permanent state of relaxation. 

Kung Fu

Kung Fu

Kung Fu is about understanding yourself.  It is about training every little detail, so that you can completely control your body.  Through the physical discipline of your body you begin to understand yourself.  This knowledge can be translated into fighting and you can become a great fighter, if that is what you want to do.  But you can also translate it into developing control of your mind then developing the growth of your mind, which is actually much more powerful.  This is why kung fu is a complete system.  It is about understanding yourself through disciplining the body and thereby disciplining your mind. 

There is no higher calling than understanding yourself.  And this is a calling that everyone must pursue.  There are no exceptions to this rule.  If you do not rigorously pursue the understanding of yourself then you will be missing out on all the true joys that this life has to offer.  There is a caveat: as you understand yourself you will begin to understand other people and you must continue this study of other people.  This understanding of human nature will help you to understand yourself even more.  This job never ends.

 This is life, kung fu is life. 

As Great Grandmaster Moy Yat famously said. 

Conflicts

Every conflict in your life is YOUR conflict.  Meaning that you own it, that you created it. That conflict is only there because of you and it is for your benefit.  This is summary of a quote I recently heard, which I think is very useful, it goes:

“Every conflicts, difficult situation, or problem in your life are not chance or haphazard.  They are specifically yours designed specifically for you by a part of yourself that loves you more than anything else.  IT has created road blocks to lead you to yourself.  You will not go in the right direction unless there is something pricking you in the side telling you look here, look this way.  That part of you loves you so much that it does not want you to lose the chance.  It will go to extreme measures to wake you up, it will make you suffer greatly if you don’t listen.”

-A.H. Almaas

Whatever experience you are having is the experience that you need to have.  You have to figure out what it means in our life and why it is there.  If everyone looked at their problems in this light, they would solve a lot of them if not all of them.  If you take this to heart then your life and the life of those involved in your problems will be vastly better than before.    

This is true of physical illness, mental illness, and any other type of problems you will encounter.  The root of realizing and understanding this fact is declaring ownership of everything. 

“It is with our minds that we create the world.” – Buddha

The continuation of that quote is that, “the world does create our minds.”  Something to think about.  I believe that quote is generally attributed to the Buddha.  It may not be exactly as he said it.  Still it is worth considering.

Now

Now.  Now is the time.  Now is the place.  Now is the opportunity.  There is no opportunity later.  It is only now. 

This is the answer to any questions you might have about starting kung fu, continue your learning in kung fu, or anything else in life that you want to accomplish.  Now is the time to do it.  There will not be another opportunity.  Get it in when you can.

This past year has been full of things that remind me of this fact.  The most important of which was my son being born.  Another was of a Kung Fu Great Grand Uncle of mine Moy Bing Wah passed away.   

These two things really nailed down in my mind that there is no past and no future.  There is only now.  My son made me realize it because of the quickness that everything passes.  He is about to turn 1 year old.  During that year I have had to spend 2 weeks away from him and it was difficult.  But it was necessary.  I helped me to settle in the fact that the time to hang out with him is now.  The time to be with him is now.  Life may take me away from him temporarily in order to make his life better in the long run.  But I will always come back and he knows that.  He knows that because I spend time with him now and as much as possible. 

The second event was the passing of Moy Bing Wah.  This man was a great man.  He was a direct student of my Legendary Sigong-gong Yip Man (aka IP Man).  He introduced Moy Yat to Yip Man.  He trained hard in Hong Kong.  He taught at the Moy Tung clan schools for a decade.  I am grateful for the time I was able to spend with him and I wish that I could have spent more time with him.  But the time I spent with him was more than enough for him to make a huge impact on me and my kung fu.  He continues to influence me even now and will do so in the years to come.   

The time is no longer there to spend with Moy Bing Wah, it is gone forever.  The time that I spent with my son this past year is no longer available.  I am so happy I was able to spend so much time with him and develop the bond that we have and that we will continue through his life. 

So there is something you want to do.  Do it.  Do it now.  Don’t talk about, don’t think about it.  Do it NOW!

Train kung fu.

Analyzing The Details

Every little detail in Kung Fu can and should be analyzed.  The smallest detail might have the most information, or the even absence of a detail might mean the biggest thing. 

Kung Fu has many benefits that will translate into your everyday life.  One of the major benefit’s is the ability and inclination to analyze the details of everything.  This is a double edged sword though, particularly when coupled with human being’s natural inclination to focus on the negative.  It is a very easy thing to do because the negative always seems to have the most impact.  Actually, this is not true, it has the most impact in that moment; however, when looking at the long run the positive is always more powerful overall. 

As you progress in your training you will start analyzing the details of yourself.  First it will be the physical details, this is where it starts.   Obviously in the physical details you are looking for the bad and trying to correct it.  You look at your elbow and work on pushing it more onto centerline, you look at your horse and you work on sinking deeper, you look at your spine and work on keeping it straighter.  You are always looking at the “negative” or what is wrong.  Then later in your training you will begin to turn that study of detail inward.   The natural tendency is to focus on the bad or negative aspects of yourself.  This is what you have been doing for years in the study of kung fu and it has worked.  You now have a good foundation of kung fu.   

This is where you need to be careful.   If you are going to analyze the negative parts of yourself, then you absolutely need to analyze the good parts as well.  When you accept the bad you necessarily have to the accept the good, otherwise you are missing the entire picture.  Also, it is not enough to just accept it, you must enjoy the good, enhance it even.  And give yourself credit when you fix the bad parts because now they are good or at the very least better, which is good.  This should start with the physical training in kung fu, when you develop your technique to a certain level, appreciate that technique and enjoy it.  Even if you have not perfected that technique that is okay, you can still enjoy the improvements you have made up to that point. 

So when kung fu imparts it’s habit of studying the details be aware of the snags that it may cause and avoid them.  Always remember to accept the good with the bad and enjoy them both.  For in truth, they are one in the same, there is not one without the other.  Yin/Yang.

Obstacles

Life sometimes gets in the way.  Which isn't a bad thing, it just is.  It gets in the way of things that you want to accomplish.  That is okay and normal.  However, if you really want to work on or accomplish something then you have to make it a part of your life as well.  And it will get in the way of other parts of your life, and that is okay.  Life is about balance.  

There is a constant juggling of priorities. When one area of your life is being affected you have to pay to attention to it, more than normal.  That does not mean that you need to ignore everything else, which is the temptation. It means that you pay more attention to it, and maybe a little less attention to another aspect of your life.  

One thing is certain though, Kung Fu improves all areas of your life.  All you have to do is to let it. And of course train consistently.  

Inner Circle Students

An Inner Circle student has been a tradition of kung fu teachers for a long time.  It is a group of students who decide to they want to master the system, and who are willing to make a commitment, mainly to themselves, but to their Sifu as well.  They have been called, inner circle students, special students, or indoor students in the past.  It all means the same thing, they are close disciple's of their Sifu.

To a Sifu, when they teach a student, that student is the Sifu's student for life even if they decide to quit training or train some other style.  The Sifu always views that person as their student no matter what.  As a student, however, you do not have to accept the Sifu as your one and only teacher for life, until you want to and are ready to.  Becoming an Inner Circle Student is a way of announcing that intention of becoming a lifelong student of the system and to your Sifu.  Even though a Sifu will always see you as a student, no matter what, the Sifu does not have to see you or accept you as an Inner Circle student.  Sometimes the Sifu will put you through a test and ask you to do something for them, to see how serious you are about the request you are making because it is also a large commitment for the Sifu.  Once you become an Inner Circle student, the Sifu has agreed to teach you everything they know as you are ready for the information and as long as you keep up your responsibilities as an Inner Circle Student.  

To become an Inner Circe student, it is customary to give some Hueng Bao, and to let your Sifu know that this is your intention.  In the past, the process of becoming an Inner Circle student was symbolized by sharing a cup of tea.  We still sometimes do that in present day.  But it is a process, first you announce your intention to your Sifu, then you have to build a relationship of trust with your Sifu, then you have to maintain that relationship.  It is not so easy to do, although it is very simple.

So why become an Inner Circle student?  For one, when you know that you want to master the system is when you should consider becoming an Inner Circle Student.  Or if you know you want to teach it one day.  Some people join as a show of dedication to their Sifu.  Some people just want to get everything they can out of the system and this a way to do it.  Usually Inner Circle students get keys to the school, so that they can train at any time they want, and so they can become instructors.  

A student can join the Inner Circle at any time, however, the student should give this careful consideration. It is not for everyone.  It does involve extra responsibilities around the school and to the school, there is a commitment, and the Sifu will have some expectations for the Inner Circle Student.   The choice is the student's and you can attain a very high level of skill in the Ving Tsun system without becoming an Inner Circle Student.  But the people who join get to participate in and learn from "Kung Fu Life", which is a much more powerful way to learn and the way to true mastery.  I am an inner circle student of my Sifu, and my Sigung Moy Tung.

Growth

Kung Fu is about Growth.  

There is a lot to kung fu.  First is the fighting ability; that is what most people train it for, even though we may not use it for that reason everyday like the founders of the system had to do, we still learn it for that reason.  And you never know when something might happen.  With all the civilized aspects of the world we live in today there are still a lot of dangers and a fight could break out at any time.  Fighting is very easily the basis of survival.  Knowing when not to fight is powerful, but you also need to know when to fight and how to fight and it has to be second nature.   Ving Tsun can teach you this skill.

 But there is more to kung fu than just fighting.  Fighting ability is really the tip of the iceberg in kung fu.  Kung Fu can enrich your life like nothing else.  The amazing thing is that it is not even that difficult to learn and to do.  You just have to do it.  You may not feel like it sometimes, but you have to remove yourself from that mind set or emotion and just do it.  If you allow it, kung fu will open up the universe to you.  

To be completely transparent, kung fu is not the only thing that can do this for you, there are many ways to become "enlightened", but it is one of the very few if not only way to do that and to learn to be a great fighter at the same time.  It's your choice.  I chose Kung Fu.  What do you chose?

The Way I Teach

We always say in Ving Tsun, "Don't expect, don't compare." Everyone learns differently.  Some people will catch on to the physical movements quickly, some will understand the theory behind the movements quickly, some will understand the philosophies before anything else.  We all view the world differently.  I advance people when they are ready to be advanced, when they have enough of a foundation to progress to the next technique, drill, form, whatever it may be.  

The best way to learn is to figure it out on your own.  Too many people just give you the answers, most of the time it is better to work for those answers.  The truth is that the only one who can teach you is you, as a Sifu, I can guide you to the right answers, but that is all.  You have to do the work.  If I did just give you the answers it would actually be a disservice to you and to kung fu.  Figuring it out on your own will, will lead you to developing your own kung fu and possibly even improving upon kung fu itself.  Of course, you would have to train decades to even get close to being able to improve upon it, even then, it is a very well thought out system, so you would have to be as good or better than Yip Man himself to be able to make that kind of a change.

 The other reason that I teach this way is because I can tell you a million times the details of a technique, but until you perform the technique to the point you are comfortable enough with it to understand it, you will not get the detail. You have to put in the work.  

So when you are ready for a new detail, technique, drill, form, I will teach it to you.  All you have to do is to train enough to be ready for it.  

New Year's Resolutions

New year's is as good of a time as any to set goals.  You should really always have goals and benchmarks set so you can go over them and track them.  But why not start with New Year's?  The key to achieving goals is to stay consistent. If you do that then the only thing you need is time and you will accomplish whatever it is you want.  

The most sensible goal is one that can accomplish multiple things at the same time.  I can say, honestly, that kung fu has enabled me to accomplish every goal I have had to date.  It can help you as well, you only have to stick with it.  You will get as much and more than you put into it.  

Now I have goals for myself, my family, my kung fu, and the kung fu school.  I know I will complete them because of the kung fu I have trained and continue to train.  One of the goals I have for the kung fu school is to get enough students by the end of this summer, 2017, and to get an official location in Louisville.  So, come be a part of this with me, help yourself accomplish your goals and help the kung fu school grow and prosper as well.  It can change your life.  All it takes is focus and time.  

Punch comes from the Heart

Not just figuratively, but literally as well.  In Sil Num Tao the punch comes from the heart and goes out from there.  The chain punch is the main strike of the Ving Tsun (aka wing chun) system, it is a very effective punch.  The technique takes some practice, but with some time and attention you can master it fairly quickly.  

Another meaning behind the saying "the punch comes from the heart" is intention.  Anything worth doing should done with intention, especially if you are throwing a punch.    But it is just as important with anything else you do.    

Chum Kiu Season

This Holiday Season is, also, Chum Kiu Season.  For some reason every holiday season I feel like working on Chum Kiu.  Maybe it is the colder weather making me want to sweat more, maybe it is the vast amount of food that makes me want to be more active.  Or maybe, there is a season for every form, maybe certain techniques work better during certain time frames...

Regardless, it feels good to do Chum Kiu during the holiday season.  There is a lot to be said for listening to your body or listening to your gut.  To do so you have to become more aware, to become more aware you have to relax more.  Relaxing is one of the 3 Principles of Ving Tsun (Wing Chun).  It is one of the most important aspects of kung fu, also one of the most fun to enjoy and work on.  It's harder than you think, but it's still easy.  Just relax.  

Enjoy your Holiday Season, get lots of rest & relaxation, and if you know Chum Kiu, play it a lot.  If you don't, then come in to Kung Fu of Louisville and learn it.  Happy Holidays!

Always Move Forward

Marvel did not originate this statement, although I am glad they used it in the Luke Cage series on Netflix.  Just like with anything, especially with kung fu, this statement can mean many different things.  It can be a physical action, it could be an energy, or even just a thought (or way of thinking).  

In kung fu, we might be describe it in different ways: use forward energy, pretend like your on the edge of a cliff (and if you step backwards then you'll go over it, so you have to move forward), press forward or create compression until you have to move forward.  We use different thoughts, different perspectives to teach the same thing how to move forward.  And there are many different applications for this technique.

What does forward energy do for us?  For one, it is a good way to end a fight.  Also, it is a great attacking mechanism, and defensive mechanism, and it is a good life philospohy. In some very real ways you have no choice but to move forward.  The choice you do have is in how you move forward.  You can either be dragged with the current forward or you can ride the current forward.  In this meaning I am talking about time.  Time always moves forward.  So must we.

About Sifu

Growing up I always wanted to study martial arts.  Bruce Lee and Elvis Presley were my idols (this is before I added Kelly Slater to the list).  It started when I was a little kid in elementary school.  Although my parents would not let me train martial arts out of fear that I would become a bully, it did not stop me.  I would make up my own kata's/forms and shadow box (although in my mind I was fighting some vicious villains and destroying them of course) in my backyard and I would play at it for hours.  Life seems simple as a kid.  

So when I was in high school, and had my driver's license and some measure of freedom, I snuck out and tried out a few karate schools which did not impress me at the time.  I knew I was looking for something else.  Then I remembered a book I had read as a child, one of Bruce Lee's early books.  In it, I believe on page 27 at the bottom left hand corner of the page he wrote that he had first trained in Wing Chun before anything else and was his main fighting style before he developed his own.  The moment I saw that I knew that Wing Chun (which is now spelt Ving Tsun by descendants of the great Grandmaster Yip Man) was the style I wanted to train.  Unfortunately, at the time in my home town there were no Wing Chun or Ving Tsun schools actively teaching.  However, when I got to college I happened to run into my Sihing Alan, who introduced me to the kung fu and brought me to his Sifu and that is when my training began.  That was 13 years ago.  

Now I am living in Louisville, Kentucky and enjoying it quite a bit.  Louisville is a very special place and has a great vibe about it.  It is an excellent place for a martial art school, so I have started one and hope to make it a large noncommercial martial arts school who trains the old school way.  I am not doing it to make a living, I am doing it because I love this art form and want to share it with people who will use it for good.  I am also doing it so that I can better my own kung fu.  You can not be a true master until you have taught and raised up masters of your own.  

So come be a part of Kung Fu of Louisville.  Learn an incredible martial art that has been unaltered for generations, one of the few true martial arts left.