… Competitions are an interesting thing. They reveal a lot about who we are as people — and often times our reactions to competing are not what we thought or hoped they might have been.  One’s experiences with competition is really a reflection of their inner thoughts and feelings about the true reason they are there.

If a person tells themselves they will go compete just for the fun of it, but they end up having a terrible time, then perhaps the true reason they went wasn’t just to enjoy themselves, but it was to prove something to themselves, or to score well.  You can only have a terrible time if it doesn’t match with your expectations, so we have to really figure out what our expectations on the experience was that caused that reaction.  Or, if we really enjoyed it, and when we went there we were assuming we would not have a good time, then perhaps the reason we enjoyed it is directly related to the expectation of having a bad time?

Anyway, I think I’m speaking more about myself than you in this regard.  I’ve always found that how I end up valuing a situation is a direct correlation to what expectations I went in to it with.  And that makes me realize that the only way to really be subjective about my experiences and see things for what they are is to not have any expectations and emotional attachment to a specific outcome from the beginning.  Because when I can do that (which takes practice, I have to admit) I actually end up seeing the merits and enjoyable aspects of the experience, and acknowledging the negative, less enjoyable aspects for what they are, without carrying any emotional baggage or resentments inside my heart.  Take the good and make it my own, and acknowledge the bad and leave it out of my heart — is basically what I’m saying.

Not sure if that applies to you at all, but what you wrote made me think of it.

But,as you said, you’ve grown from the experience, and to be honest, I think that is the real reason we should compete.  Because, in teaching ourselves about who we really are, it allows us the opportunity to take that new-found knowledge and apply it to our lives and come out on the other side a better person.

Or something like that …

- Mark

No related posts.

The truth is, there is a reason for this.  Maybe a couple reasons.

Focus and Work

The first is that I am trying to finish my tea before re-filling my cup.  Meaning, that I have a lot of things on my plate and I need to take care of them before I start focusing on my wushu again.  There are many projects that I’m in the process of clearing out of my work-load and in order to do that effectively I have to really spend some time and focus on them.

This also stems from my understanding that I am much more effective in my endeavors when I focus energy on just a few things (even just one thing) instead of trying to “multitask” my life into oblivion.  The truth is, multitasking is totally inefficient.  Just because you can do more than one thing at a time doesn’t mean you should.  In fact, I really think that one shouldn’t.

When you take the time to just focus on one important thing, doing it deliberately, with a concentrated effort and all your mindfulness, you are able to not only accomplish more in the long run, but you will get much more out of your task as well.

I used to write down a list of a dozen or so things that I had to do each day; a task list to end all task-lists.

Now?  I just write down the one or two things I really want to finish.  And I spend the necessary time to do each one.  It allows me to do better quality work and get the most vital tasks taken care of.

So often we distract ourselves with mundane tasks like checking social networking, organizing our to-do lists, cleaning our desks and keeping our e-mail inbox open at all time just in case something comes in.  Well, nothing is ever that important that you have to check e-mail on a constant basis.  I try to check only once or twice a day if I can.  And generally I just go through and answer them in batches once a day.  Facebook and the like, while a lot of fun, are actually a significant drain on my time and energy.  So I only check them once or twice a week.  I’m probably going to start reducing the “friends” list there too.

The idea is to spend less time doing the less important so that I have more time to focus on the truly vital.

I do mess up from time to time and get distracted, but I’m far from perfect.  and this is a skill that I’m developing, not an instant quick-fix.  It is a good practice though, and I think it relates to wushu too, since one of the distinctions I’ve made over the years with wushu training is that, unless you are totally focused on what you are doing in class, you won’t get the best benefit from your training.  You have to be totally present in mind and body with wushu, and that is the same with the rest of your life.

Why not treat your work or school like you do your wushu?  Focus on the basics at the start of every session, maintain your energy and create an optimal experience.  You actually end up needing to spend less time on tasks when you use more of your focus and energy.  As counter-intuitive as it might seem, not multi-tasking is actually more productive.

Anyway, so part of the reason I haven’t been focusing on my wushu training these days is because I want to focus on getting these work projects out the door, thereby allowing myself more focus on my wushu later on.  It is coming along and a few of my projects have started to get finished up.

Travel and Time

Another reason is the recent work-trips I’ve been taking to Hong Kong.  Traveling away from home means I have to cram a lot more of the things I do in Xi’an in much smaller time chunks.  So, I end up being much busier.  And while I’m home I feel it is most important to get my work done before I head off to the wushu guan.

That might just be an excuse, of course.  Maybe I’ve lost some of my motivation for training.  Since the athletes started training for competition I haven’t been able to get as good of a workout.  And I think I also have a fear of doing the “wushu start up” again, which is always quite painful.  (When you are away from wushu and start up, it is never easy — and gets harder and harder the older you are.)

I’ve even been thinking about switching from nanquan to taijiquan, as I think that might be a little easier on my body and something I could maintain for a longer period in my life.  Of course, if I just lost 50 pounds I would probably not have such a hard time training.  Again — I might just be making excuses.

In any case, a combination of a lot of travel with limited time and an increasing drop in motivation to train is probably the second reason I haven’t been as involved in my wushu these days.

Re-evaluation

I’ve also been going through a phase of re-evaluating my life.  Not in a major way, but at least Ruhi and I have been thinking about ways to create a life with less physical, emotional, social and professional “clutter”, so that we are able to have a lifestyle that is congruent with our belief that “less is more” and that you don’t need to inundate your life with “stuff” in order to be happy and fulfilled.

As you noticed from my packing system for trips, I try to be as efficient and uncluttered as I can.  I really don’t own all that much stuff to begin with.  But part of my personality is that I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient and uncluttered in my approach to various facets of my life; whether it is work, school, life or whatever.  There is always a better way to do something and always new distinctions we can make in doing more (things, work, happiness, fulfillment) with less (stuff, clutter, tasks, distractions).

We’re thinking about our work, about our living environment, our finances, and our involvement in activities to figure out what is the most important to us, the most ideal for our personal philosophies and figure out a way to integrate that with our lifestyle.

Some of the things we’ve been thinking about is eliminating some of the work we do.  Or changing where we live to a more efficient location for her school, our friend and our interests.

Anyway, it is a work in progress.

The gist of all of this verbose-ness is that, in order to find your way, you sometimes need to step off the path and think about your true destination.  The process of stepping back and thinking about your life is occasionally necessary and often times quite healthy, as it clarifies your mind, realigns your priorities and helps you step back on the path with a renewed sense of purpose and vitality.

So, here goes.  I am stepping off the path and taking a look at my life and what I am doing.

Feel free to join me.

No related posts.

I was at Mai Morgan’s house one day after an early wushu class on Sunday (she was a Cal Wushu student who was training at Wushu West) and I noticed she had a video tape labeled “Beijing Wushu Team” on it.

My eyes bugged out. “What is that??” I asked.

She explained that she had gotten the video from this guy named Ishmael and it was footage of the Beijing Wushu Team doing some demos. I begged and pleaded with her to watch it so she let me sit in the back basement of her home and plop it in the VCR.

OH. MY. GOD.

It was a video of the Beijing Wushu Team’s 1995 demo at U.C. Berkeley during the U.C. Martial Arts Expo. After that it was footage of the Beijing Wushu Team training in 1994 — footage taken by Daniel Wu and Patrick Lee while they were training at Shi Cha Hai.

I was floored. I watched the whole thing through .. all 3 hours of it.

Then I watched it again.

And then I watched it two more times.

Mai had gone off to run some errands and was doing something else the whole time. I felt like a mooch, but I couldn’t get enough. By the time I left her home it was almost midnight and I was on a wushu high.

It took a while but I finally managed to get a copy of the video myself. Ishmael had this whole operation going where he would charge people for videos he made which were from footage he copied from someone else. Today it would be laughable, since most videos are online in less than a week.

But this was 1996. There was barely an internet (compuserve, anyone?) and certainly no digital videos uploaded to websites. Getting wushu footage back then was akin to finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

When I got my hands on that tape I would watch it everyday.

Literally.

I would push play when I woke up. I would keep it running when I came home from work. I would keep it running all night until I went to bed. Even if I wasn’t watching it closely, I was still absorbing it.

To this day, if you just play me the audio from those videos, I can tell you which part of the video it is and who is doing which form. I had memorized every nook and crevice of every movement.

But it was more than just being in awe of the physical performance of the professionals. It was an education. I learned what wushu was supposed to look like. I could disect, slow down and pause techniques to study them carefully. I absorbed it like a sponge, trying to understand what the difference was between people like them and people like us .. and then working to figure out how to bridge that gap.

Aside from Patti’s instruction, I would say that watching wushu videos was the single biggest factor in any improvements I made with wushu.

In 1997 David went to China. When he came back he had videos! It actualy took him 6 months to make a copy for me, but back then it wasn’t unheard of. We would wait months and months to get the latest footage, and then clutch it tightly to our chests like it was the holy grail.

There were 5 videos in particular during the 1996-2000 period that really had a strong impact on me.

The first was the 1995 Cal Martial Arts Expo performance. I wish I still had that footage today but the video tape has long since gone bye bye. However, I do have the same performance, but from a different camera. The quality isn’t as good and you can’t see things very clearly, but at least it will give you an idea.

Here is their opening group set. When I watched this I practically had a canniption.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRddZ86Gdw

What really struck me was the level of their basics. It was a whole different level than what I was used to. Yes, I had seen the Beijing Wushu Team perform when I first started wushu. But when you’re that new you aren’t able to grasp what you’re seeing — you have no basis for comparison.

But I had watched wushu basics for a year or two and I had a better understanding of what was involved. But this blasted my paradigm out of the water. Here is footage of their basics from that performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YEqXcoClvs

In that footage I found my first wushu idol. Zhu Gui Jun. She was the 1994 National Southern Fist Champion. And when I saw her wushu I suddenly had an urge to move to China, marry her and have lots of little southern fist babies.

All joking aside, she really was amazing. Up until I had seen this video I was really on the fense about nanquan. I was still more interested in jumping around with chang quan. But after I watched this I realized that it was possible to do nanquan and make it look awesome.

Here is her southern fist performance from that demo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry7DthzqHJs

The second video was the 1995 Palace of Fine Arts demonstration. Yes, it was the same demonstration that I attended. Except this time I could actually see what was going on as the cameras were closer to the action that I had been in the back row.

On that video I was particularly amazed with a few performances. Qiu Dong Xing’s staff. He Jing De’s broadsword. Jiang Bang Jun’s spear. Kong Xiang Dong’s drunken sword.

Okay .. so maybe it was all amazing. Unfortunately I don’t have the footage for that event. A pity though since it was really quite amazing. (This is also how I learned to never loan out wushu videos, regardless of whom asks.)

The third video was the one Pat and Dan took in Beijing in 1994. It was the first time I had seen real Chinese training before. Until then the only wushu classes I had ever seen were at Wushu West or some other Bay Area school.

But this was totally different. I think what surprised me the most was that they all did basics at the start of each class. I mean .. I knew they did. But I guess I had assumed that their “basics” were some sort of super human version of what we did. Or that they only did basics for demonstrations when they were travelling to other countries.

But it was the same thing! (Just done way way better.)

But it gave me hope, because I realized that it isn’t so much that they are born with better ability than me, but just that they’ve put more time in to their training — the same training that I was doing over in the U.S.

And on top of that it made me realize that if people of their calliber were still focusing on their basics, then that meant I had to focus on them even more. It really instilled in me my focus on having strong fundamentals in wushu (and in pushing those fundamentals on to anyone I teach).

Here are some of their basics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghw5wUCZZf4

And, of course, here are some clips of my personal favorite, Zhu Gui Jun, demonstrating her Nan Quan skill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmle9bC-II

Another strong person from that video, and one that most current wushu folks have never heard of, is Shang Yu. He was the staff champion in 1994. In 1997 He busted his knee doing staff and had to switch from Chang Quan to Nan Quan. It was a pity because, as good as his nanquan was, I think his chang quan was straight off the hook. Here he is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmcdwlh96mo

The fourth video that had a big impact on me was the one David brought back from China in 1997. Again, it was training, but this time even more of it. What made it even better was that David would provide some commentary when we watched the video, so I had someone who could actually tell me what they were doing, why they were doing it, and how they were training.

It made it seem even more real to me, I guess. Sort of like listening to the director or actor commentary for a movie. You just get that extra dimension of understanding.

All of those videos are now available on wushucentral.com, so here is a link to some of my particular favorites.

He Jing De’s Broadsword

Believe it or not, this was back before he developed his ridiculous speed. In 1997 I was practicing broadsword and staff, so these videos were of particular interest to me.

Qiu Dong Xing’s Broadsword

This was a real favorite too. I loved the way he spun around into that bow stance. A few years later I asked him to teach me that section. Unfortunately he said he had already forgotten it.

Jiang Bang Jun’s Chang Quan

Who doesn’t remember this one? JBJ was the CQ MAN, and this video just propelled his reputation even farther. His spear was crazy good too.

Liu Qing Hua’s Chang Quan

And you can’t really call yourself an afficianado of wushu videos if you don’t have any Liu Qing Hua in your collection. She is probably the winningest wushu woman in the history of the sport. Her medal count probably is close to or surpasses Patti’s.

I remember David telling me once that she and Patti were talking about how much pressure there is on you after you’ve won multiple consecutive national all around titles. Truly a conversation that very few people in the world can have …

Han Jing’s Straightsword

Some people don’t like Han Jing’s flavor, but for me I really, really dig her style. There’s just something really “meaty” about the way she moves that I think is very unique. At a time when a lot of athletes were turning into speed machines, she developed her own unique style and flavor, and that is something I really appreciated.

Of course, these days she is a coach and athlete for the Macau Wushu Team. I should really go over there and hang out with her, but every time I see her she tells me I’ve gotten fat. (Gotta love the bluntness of Chinese athletes … )

You can find even more videos from the 1997 Beijing Wushu Team by clicking on these links:

1997_beijing_demo (12 videos)
1997_beijing_practice (15 videos)
1997_beijing_testing (28 videos)

And finally, the fifth video that really had a huge impact on me was footage that we took during my trip to China in 1999. They had a mock competition for the women and a bunch of women from various teams were going through their forms for some judges to get critiqued.

The best part of it was that there were members of the Guangdong wushu team there and I got to see some real southerners doing real southern fist for the first time ever. I still love watching that footage (which again you can find on wushu central).

One of the competitors in particular would become one of my favorite wushu athletes of all time. Her nanquan was really something special. Fortunately it would not be the last time I got to see it.

Guangdong Southern Fist

Actually, I lied. There is another video that had a big impact on me.

When I was in China in 1999, I managed to get the name, address and phone number of the Guangdong wushu team head coach. In 2000 my friend Matt Wong wanted to train in China so I gave him the contact info and he ended up training with the Guangdong team.

And thankfully he brought back some pretty awesome nanquan footage. Some of the best nanquan training footage I’ve ever seen because, not only were they working on lots of cool (and at that time never-before-seen) individual forms (up until then it was all compulsories), but they got footage of actual nanquan basics training.

It was the first time I had seen China athletes training in nanquan basics besides the standard combinations you get from the compulsory. In fact, it’s one of the few times I’ve ever seen nanquan basics at all. Up until 2006 when Johnny and I learned a set of basics from Li Neng Miao, I would say that this was pretty much the source of most of my nanquan basics knowledge:

(Isn’t it awesome that you can get it just by reading my blog? Yes, it is. You’re welcome.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E1C6uWhC1w

Needles to say, besides the two forms I learned in China in 1999, a lot of my first individual nanquan forms came from all of these tapes. In fact, my fourth section is still primarily comprised from the 4th section of the second video below.

This is Wang Lin, my second Nan Quan Female Idol, after Zhu Gui Jun. I only have two sections for you to look at today as I’m not sure where the other footage is at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vk6r6FbX

And this is the girl that I refer to as “Spikey”. I can’t remember he name, so I gave her a nickname. In any case, I really like her nanquan and a lot of hers and Wang Lin’s moves have been incorporated into many of my forms over the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjUa8WMlnYg

In the Wushu Community people who rely too heavily on wushu videos for their education and training are sort of made fun of. (Well .. not to their face, of course.) That’s where the whole “sifu video” thing came from. And while I agree that it’s not a good idea to solely learn wushu from videos, at the same time I think that videos can be an amazing supplement to your training program.

It can provide inspiration and motivation. It can demonstrate correct technique. It can show you new methods of training. And it can help you learn new choreography or movements to incorporate into your forms.

I only wish that I had received the benefit of all of these wushu videos earlier on because it would have come in handy from 1996 to 1998 when I found myself competing on the National level for the first time….

To Be Continued …

Related posts:

1. Wushu Retrospective (Part 5) – 1996-2000: Wushu Friends
2. Wushu Retrospective (Part 3) – 1995-1996: Competitions and Demonstrations
3. Wushu Retrospective (Part 4) – 1996-1998: An Introduction to Wushu Politics

People.

More specifically, I’m talking about the people I have met through wushu over the years, and who have had a big influence on my views on both wushu and the world.

For the sake of this blog entry, I will limit this to just the people I met while training in the Bay Area before moving to Los Angeles in 2001. (I will tackle the rest of you people later.

Kaz and Tabala

L to R: Tabala, Kaz, Ka Li, Lee, Me (1995)

The first two people I became close to through wushu were Kaz and Tabala. I mentioned them before, but I’ll explain a bit more about them here.

Kaz was half-Japanese like me. A friend of Green Day’s turned kung-fu enthusiast, he came to join Wushu West through an interest in Hong Kong movies. He eventually decided that he wanted a more traditional application-oriented path and went to the city to train at a different school, but even while doing that he kept in contact with Patti and I. We were roommate for a year or two as well, before I ended up getting an apartment with Brandon.  Has has since gotten married, had a kid, fell in love with soccer and moved to Malaysia.

Kaz hanging out with Laura, David, Mike and I at Hansie and Inyork's Apartment (1997)

Tabala was an african american man with tight, short dreads. He had grown up with Bruce Lee as his primary father figure and, truth be told, he didn’t talk much about himself. He had been training in some form of Chinese martial arts for most of his life and was very dedicated to his martial arts education. He was really friendly, but at the same time, somewhat mysterious. After a few years he moved to L.A. to get some work and pretty much dropped off the radar. Finally, after years and years he resurfaced on Facebook.  Its nice to be back in contact with him.

From Kaz and Tabala I learned that even if you stop training with your teacher, it doesn’t mean you stop giving them your respect.

Gio and Rich

Gio practicing spear during a Wushu West class at the Park (1997)

We called them the Nan Quan Brothers. Two big Philippino guys from San Leandro who started at wushu west about a year after me. I would hang out with them fairly often and we would commute back and forth to class pretty regularly.

I remember one time a bunch of us met at a park in Alameda to train at a park (just for fun, believe it or not) and we were talking about the mechanics of the twist. Of course, none of us could do it and most of us were afraid to try, but Gio decided to go for it. Right there on the grass he went for it. And he almost landed it! He kept trying, each time crashing to the ground, but getting closer. After a little while he stopped, but he had made good progress.

To be honest, I was a bit ashamed of myself, because I didn’t have the courage to try it out. Looking back, I think I could have done it, but I was just too afraid. Now-a-days, if I was in the same physical condition that I was back then, I’d try it in a heartbeat. But again .. hindsight is 20/20.

L to R: Gio, Tien, Mai, Me, Rich, Lindsay at the 1997 CMAT at U.C. Berkeley

They eventually left Wushu West around 1999. I think Rich studied with Tony Chen for a while (it was cheaper) but last I heard neither of them train anymore. They’re on my facebook friends list though (isn’t everyone?) and I was able to see Gio during my last trip back home.

From Gio and Rich I learned that fear should never be a reason not to try something — it’s a signal that you’re in the midst of a great opportunity for self-development.

David Chang

Karen (middle) and David (right) talking with a Beijing Team Member (1999)

I mentioned David before too. He was the one that helped bridge the abyss between Wushu West and Cal Wushu.

Back when he first started he took his training very seriously. He had started only 5 months before me but his hard work and dedication made him improve very quickly.

Truth be told, he had a few quirks of the body and some might have said that his physique wasn’t well-suited for wushu.  But admirably,  he never let that stop him.

L to R: Chen Chen, Han Jing, Me, Karen, David, Ely and Lily, Training in Beijing (1999)

He went to China in 1997. Then again in 1999 with me and some other friends. And then again in 2000 .. and 2001. He would train at multiple-schools — Cal Wushu, then Wushu West, then Omei Wushu and then with Liu Bo and others.

He never did it in a way that upset any of his instructors though, because they could see that he was working hard to develop his abilities and you can’t really fault someone for seeking out as much knowledge and understanding as they can.

He would see something he wanted and then pursue it with a single-minded determination until he had achieved it. That’s how he got his awesome drop stance. He saw Amy Chow’s drop stance in 1996 and told himself he wanted one like that. And he got it too.

Amy Chow's Drop Stance (1996)

Eventually he went on to start his own school, Wushu Central, after which I didn’t have too much contact with him.  As I understand it, there was a bit of drama here and there, but the David I knew best was the one before all of that happened. The one that was enthusiastic about and dedicated to wushu training. The one that pushed other people to work harder and pushed himself just as hard.  That is the David I remember most.  I’m pretty sure he’s still there anyway…

From David I learned the importance of training hard and embracing all of one’s wushu opportunities.

Cal Wushu

Li Jing leads Cal Wushu students in wushu basics (1999)

There have been a lot of friends I’ve met at Cal Wushu over the years. More than I could really list out in any adequate fashion. Some of them have been positive experiences, and some of them have been negative, but all in all my time hanging out and training with Cal Wushu has been one of enjoyable growth.

I’ve been at Cal Wushu as a student; training hard and gasping for air and water after a hard session of training. You develop close bonds with people when you’re in that sort of mutually-exhausting environment. After classes we would all go over to Durant Square, a food court just off campus, and bond together over some Korean BBQ or cheap Chinese take-out. Sifu Bryant Fong or Li Jing were coaching back then and it was great to get to know them better too.

Cal Wushu Students eating in Durant Square (2004)

I’ve also been at Cal Wushu as an instructor. Teaching beginners or the advanced class and putting them through their paces. You learn a lot about yourself when put in that sort of position — your strengths and weaknesses come to the forefront of your attention when you teach others. But, as they say, the best way to learn something is to teach it, and I learned a lot about wushu by helping others understand its fundamentals.

There have been generation after generation of students at Cal Wushu — too many to count over the years — but one thing remained the same. It is a great place to meet people who are as geeked out about wushu as you are.

George and Raffi making an announcement to Cal Wushu students (1999)

For some strange reason .. all of the students stay the same age, but I keep getting older and older. I used to be just a few years older than the students. Now .. they’re all half my age. How depressing is that?

From Cal Wushu I learned the value of wushu fellowship, and the important responsibility you take on when you start to teach wushu.

Patrick Lee

Patrick at the original Design Reactor Offices in Downtown Berkeley (May, 1998)

I would be remiss here if I didn’t mention Pat. Out of all the people I’ve met in wushu, he’s probably had the singularly highest impact on my life. I first met Pat through wushu when he was at Cal, and eventually I went to work for him at Design Reactor. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 12 years since I first began working with him at our little web design firm. We’ve been co-workers, business partners, classmates, roommates and friends and I owe him a lot for some of the things he’s done for me over the years.

But, this isn’t about all of that. This is about wushu. And Pat’s wushu, believe it or not, was one of the best that had ever come around.  He originally trained with Zhang Gui Fung in Maryland before coming to Berkeley to go to school, and that early training paid off.

In 1994 he went to China with Daniel Wu to train with the Beijing Wushu Team. When he came back he was a wushu machine. His front stretch kicks were the things of legend and his front jumping slap kick would freeze the room as they watched his technique. Technique that was, at that time, almost God-like compared to the rest of us.

Pat performing a front stretch kick at Cal Wushu (1995)

He became disinterested in wushu though.  Work, life and other things took priority.  I also remember him once telling me that, after his experiences training in China he realized that there was no way he would ever get to the level of a Chinese athlete. And, as he put it at the time,  if he couldn’t become the best at something, then why spend so much time doing it?  That isn’t to say he doesn’t appreciate or enjoy wushu.  I think it is more about how the level of committment that wushu requires for you to improve past a certain point makes it prohibitive for some people.

He would return to it from time to time, but none of them were quite as grand as his initial wushu fervor back in the early 90′s, fueled by Cal Wushu friends and a healthy dose of Jet Li’s Wong Fei Hung.

Pat taught me that having natural ability isn’t worth anything if you don’t commit to what you are doing, and that often times hard work can make up the difference for those who might not have been born with the right genetic make-up; either in Wushu, Business or Life.

Wushu West

L to R: Andy, Me, Adrian (splits), Anthony and Chris training in the park (1997)

And, of course, besides the people I listed above, there have been countless students coming in and out of Wushu West over the years. Here are some of the highlights.  It might be a little cryptic to you, but these are my lessons, not yours, so they really only need to make sense to me.

Lindsay: Taught me that just because someone is ignorant, doesn’t mean they are stupid.

Mai: Taught me to never let someone else’s critism let me to doubt my own abilities.

Laura: Taught me that you can never judge a book by its cover.

Anthony: Taught me that you’re never too old to feel young.

Anthony and his drenched shirt after practice (1997)

Roger: Taught me that having responsibilities for others doesn’t mean you are no longer responsible for yourself.

Mike: Taught me that the only value fear has is when you use it to excuse yourself from living life.

Mike at Wushu West (2004)

Jennifer & Cheri: Taught me the value of specilizing in a specific area.

L to R: Patti, Jennifer, Cheri, Bob, Peter after class at Wushu West (1999)

Inyork & Hansie: Taught me that the cooler a person thinks they are, the less cool they become. And vice versa.

Bryan and Yolanda: Taught me that life is nothing if you don’t have passion for what you love to do.

Karen: Taught me that putting your heart out on your sleeve doesn’t guarantee that it will be acknowledged.

There are others too, but I think that is probably enough for now. Not that many ofthese people read this blog anyway. And I will be addressing more people when I talk about my return to Wushu West in 2004.

But I’m getting ahead of myself …

Final Thoughts

Sometimes I wonder what my experiences with wushu would have been like had some people not been a part of it. I’m sure they would have been good too, but each person you meet and each interaction you have, colors your life in very specific ways.

And when you put them all together you end up with a very special tapestry for your life. Each thread weaving around in seemingly haphazzard fashion, but when viewed with perspective, its clear that each is as important to the whole as any other.

My wushu friends have been, as I said, one of the two biggest factors that influenced my experience with wushu during this period of my life.

What is the other? Well, that will be the subject of my next blog. It’s a little something we in the wushu community refer to as “sifu video”.

Continued Next Week …

Related posts:

1. Wushu Retrospective (Part 6): 1996-2000: Sifu Video
2. Wushu Retrospective (Part 4) – 1996-1998: An Introduction to Wushu Politics
3. Wushu Retrospective (Part 3) – 1995-1996: Competitions and Demonstrations

Continued from Part 2

Raising the Bar

Raising more than just her bar

The athletes in China don’t really know any standard other than that of being the best. They are surrounded by athletes who have the highest level in the world and train with them every day of their lives. They have no option but to accept that the level they see around them is the base level for a wushu athlete. There is no “intermediate” wushu athletes on a professional team. “Advanced” is considered the starting point and you only go up from there.

It is as they say: if you believe you can or can’t, you are right. One’s belief system about the world and about themselves dictates their reality, and if your belief is that the lowest level of acceptable wushu is (by our standards) perfection, then you will tolerate nothing less. It isn’t even an option for them. It is just a given. Like the sky being blue or water being wet. Wushu is supposed to look like that, plain and simple, and if it doesn’t, then you aren’t doing wushu.

The Equation

And so, to me, these are the essential elements that separate really amazing athletes from, well, … the rest of us. As I wrote at the beginning:

((Aⁱ/T) +((C*R)+M))(CrI+S)

Which, in normal English could be said as:

Intense Action over Time when added with a Coach providing the latest Resources and the Modeling of excellence, is multiplied by one’s Creative Intelligence and high Standards.

But then, what does that mean to the rest of us? And how is this applicable to the average Joe (or Joan) who is the weekend wushu warrior far away from China?

Applying It To Ourselves

Well, lets look a little more carefully at how our world compares with those of the Chinese athlete. Of those aspects of the equation, which ones apply to us?

• Intensity
• Action (Training)
• Time (Consistency)
• Coaching
• Resources
• Modelling
• Creative Intelligence
• Standards

The biggest limiting factor for most of us is “Time”. Either because of finances or availability, most of us aren’t able to dedicate 5 hours of every day to wushu. But while Time is one of the main factors, it is definitely not the ONLY factor, and many athletes have gotten excellent results on limited availability of time. And, if I can be frank, a lot of people use “time” as an excuse to not commit to their training.  I’ve been guilty of it myself.  But the truth is, if you want to make the time for something, you can.  If it is important to you, then you will do it.  But don’t make the mistake of deceiving yourself that your lack of interest in wushu is actually a lack of time for wushu, because you aren’t fooling anyone.  Its okay to lose your interest in something, but at least be honest about it.  (And if you lose your passion for wushu, then might I suggest reading my blog “How to Maintain Your Motivation for Training (12/14)”?)

I think she's go the whole 'intensity' thing down

Another factor that limits many of us is “Resources”. Many of us aren’t in China and don’t have access. Or we don’t speak Chinese so even if we had access we wouldn’t understand it. This is one of the reasons having a good Coach is very important. Often they have an understanding of the technologies and developments of wushu that we do not have access to. And even if you don’t have a coach on a regular basis, taking full advantage of whatever resources you have (online, seminars, instructional videos, etc) can go a long way.

And finally I think that “modelling” has been an issue for a lot of people too. I remember when I first started that the only people I had to model myself after were those that had been doing wushu for just a few years longer than myself. Then it was up to the coach to show us what good wushu was supposed to look like. But thanks to the advent of these series of tubes we call the internet (brought to you courtesy of Al Gore) you now have access to the best wushu athletes and the highest standards of excellence that ever existed. I would never say that youtube should be a substitute for a good coach, but it can help you find those upon which you can model your own training. Not quite as good as being in the same room as Zhao Qing Jian, of course, but it is better than nothing.

But then, after we take out all the limiting factors, what is left? Assuming you are in the middle of nowhere without a coach and no access to the internet (how are you reading this then?) you end up with …

• Intensity
• Action (Training)
• Creative Intelligence
• Standards

Trying to keep that intensity whenever I train

You can create an intensity of training for yourself every time you step in to the wushu guan (or gym or park or wherever you are).

You can train and take action to improve yourself regardless of whether or not you are in China or have a coach.

You can utilize your own creative intelligence to develop an understanding of the intricate details of wushu.

And you can raise your standards so that you accept nothing but the best from yourself.

If you develop these aspects of your training methodology, then when you DO have those other resources, coaches, available time or models of excellence, you will be able to take full advantage of them.

The great thing about developing these attributes is that it doesn’t just apply to your wushu training, but it applies to all areas of your life. And the skills you develop in honing these skills will benefit you in so many more ways than you can imagine.

Jiayou! (加油!)

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/17) – Part 1/3
2. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/18) – Part 2/3

Continued from Part 1

The Model Athlete

She Be Modelling

I remember that it wasn’t until my trip to China in 1999 that I felt I really was beginning to understand the feeling of wushu. That it was more than the sum of the parts I was putting together. It is like the saying that you improve in something the most when you play against people who are much better than you. It forces your game to raise to a new level.

Now, in China these athletes are in a position where they can constantly model themselves after higher level athletes. The kids in a wushu guan are training right next to athletes who are miles and miles above their own skill level. And they are able to observe and absorb what they see the entire time they are training.

It isn’t just that they are training consistently and intensely, or that their coaches have the latest information, but they can look right across the room and model themselves after the best in the world.

So, thats it, right? You train intensely and consistently for a long period of time, and add to that a coach with resources and the opportunity to model those who are better than you, and you end up with the crazy amazing Chinese professional wushu athlete?

Well, not quite. Because this is where you start to separate the wheat from the chaff and make the distinction between those athletes who are just really good, and those who are truly great.

Between the Ears

There is a reason why athletes in China get weeded down so much over the years. From the 100 or so who might start training together as little kids maybe 40 of them will continue on for more than 5 years. And of those who are there in their tweens, maybe another 15 go on to become teens with talent. But to get to the level of a national champion or someone with world-renowned skill, you have to scale it down even farther where perhaps 1 or 2 out of 100 kids end up really achieving that level.

Cream of the Crop

Why is that? Well, to be honest, certain athletes just have a little more going on between the ears.

No, I’m not talking about being “smarter” than other people or having a higher I.Q., but I’m talking about the level of mental energy and concentrated attention that the athlete spends on really understanding the intricacies of wushu technique. It isn’t so much a measure of intelligence as it is a measure of curiosity, because the athlete who is always working to understand wushu and thinks about wushu as more than just a series of movement; who puts together a story with their movements and paints a picture with their technique — then that athlete is at a different level than the one who just copies greatness.

Because it isn’t enough just to model yourself after someone who is amazingly good. In order to achieve that higher level you have to create greatness within yourself. It is the spark of creativity — of creating something unique that has never before been seen in the world — that is the mark of greatness.

And I’m not talking just about choreography. Having unique choreography without having creative intelligence in your wushu is, as Shakespeare said, like a story being told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. You need to make a statement with your wushu; about who you are and what you understand and what is important. It is no different than writing music, painting a picture or writing a novel. If it doesn’t come from a real place within yourself, then it is just a simulacrum; an empty shell filled with a lack of understanding and too much hot air.

So, we are almost there.  But in my book there is one more ingredient that separates many great athletes from the rest of us common folk.

Concluded in Part 3 …

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/19) – Part 3/3
2. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/17) – Part 1/3

“Why are Chinese wushu athletes so freaking good??”

The quick answer?

In a cryptic nutshell: ((Aⁱ/T) +((C*R)+M))(U+S)

But let me start at the beginning …

The Quest For Understanding

When you first start wushu you are in a bit of a bubble, and especially for me, since I didn’t have access to all these wushu videos online, I only had the advanced students at my school or at tournaments for comparison. You assume that the highest level you see around you is pretty close to the highest level you might get to, and even though you have heard that Chinese athletes are really good you don’t really realize just HOW good.

She even looks amazing just standing there

The disparity seems so great. How can athletes get that good? Its like a completely different level. A whole ‘nother universe of ability.

For years I used to wonder what their secret was. I would hear people talking about it, discussing it and contemplating their training regimen. Even those people who had gone to China to train didn’t initially understand it. And especially when you see it right in front of you and feel the power that their movements have, you can’t even grasp the journey it would take to get you from where you are to where they are.

Asking athletes why they are so good brings out a whole range of responses, from the humble (“my wushu still has a long way to go”) to the arrogant (“because I’m the best”) to the racist (“because Chinese are better”) to the cryptic (“because the philosophy of wushu is reflected in the eyes of panda bears”) and everything in between. But they don’t actually give you the secret to what makes them so amazing. Even just a bow stance (弓步) has a totally different feel to it when these athletes do it.

Gong Fu = Time?

Of course, most people will just say that it is because they have so much training from such a young age and that if anyone was to get subjected to that much time in the wushu guan they would probably be just as good.

But is that really true? Is time all you need to be as good as Chinese athletes?

Well … yes and no. Time is a very important element. In fact it is probably one of the most important elements. But I wouldn’t say it is the only reason why Chinese athletes excel to such a degree.

Got Gong Fu?

One of the other main factors that Chinese athletes have going for them is that they are not only spending a lot of time training, but their training is of a very intense nature. As you can imagine, an hour of training in a Chinese school is a very different level of intensity from an hour of training in many schools in the West.

So, is that what it boils down to? Intense Action over a long period of Time means you will be amazing at wushu? Well, that might get you a good part of the way there, and many athletes who are very good at wushu have done this and been quite good. But this is only if you consider the purely physical aspects of wushu. There is more to wushu than meets the carpet, and if you ignore the mental parts of training, then you are missing half the picture.

Resource Driven

Wu Di's First Coach

So what separates the Chinese coach from other coaches? Strictly speaking it is access to resources. Not just material resources, but educational and scientific resources. They are constantly required to be knowledgeable about the best training methods and techniques. You always see athletes in China training with new methods before anywhere else in the world. Remember those spinny turns into the splits that they practice for their inside split landings? Yup. China started that whole thing.

It is like in web design. There is a big difference in abilities between the web design company located in Silicon Valley vs. the web design company located in Billings, Montana (no offense Billings), because they are in the environment where the latest technologies and resources are being developed. Those with access to new information are often the quickest to benefit from it.

But it isn’t just that coaches in China tend to have those resources, but it is also the resources available to the athlete. No, not the latest Nike Shaolinquan shoes, or the coolest looking silks, but I’m speaking more about resources through which they can develop an understanding of high level skill.

Continued in Part 2 …

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/18) – Part 2/3
2. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/19) – Part 3/3
3. Zhao Chang Jun Wushu School Testing

I have changed the specifics to protect the innocent.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I know that it can

be difficult to discuss these things with the people you train with or
see regularly. I think that is why therapists exists. It is often
easier to talk to someone who is not directly involved in your
situation because they don’t have anything emotionally invested in
what you are saying and can be a little more objective about it. In
any case, I appreciate you feeling comfortable enough with me to tell
me what you are thinking and feeling.

What you are feeling is totally normal and natural. I’ve felt
it many times. Almost all the wushu athletes I know have felt it at
one time or another. You should never feel bad about feeling a lack
of motivation or some disinterest in training from time to time.
Because what defines you isn’t what you feel, so much as what you do
about those feelings. We can get that lack of motivation from a
variety of things and all of the things you mentioned are pretty
common situations.

Advanced student (or any students for that matter) leaving schools and
going off to do other things is pretty common. I can’t tell you how
many various iterations of students I have seen at Wushu West over the
years. The people who were there when I started left so long ago,
even the super old timers wouldn’t have a clue who they were.

By my count, the current “advanced” students are the 7th
generation of them since I started at Wushu West in 1995. I think
there is a turn-around every 2 – 4 years and this is pretty common
at most wushu schools, yours included. But what is important to
keep in mind is that your decision to train in wushu didn’t exist as a
result of those students being at the school. You decided to study
wushu because you found something in the sport itself worth pursuing.
As long as you keep that perspective in mind — that training wushu is
a personal decision not based on the actions of others — then that
can help you keep focused on your training.

Also, feeling disillusioned due to our age or circumstances in the
U.S. is quite common. None of us started as early as we would have
liked. Even some of the young athletes who started training as a
little kid occasionally lament at their situation of not having
access to wushu training at an early enough age. Sometimes I wish I
had started earlier too. i didnt’ start until I was 25 but I learned a long
time ago that it isn’t about not being given the chance to train at a
young ago or not being physically gifted in certain ways, so much as it
is about taking advantage of those opportunities that DO present
themselves to you.

I’ve had friends who went to China, saw the level that existed and
what it took the Chinese athletes to get there, and summarily gave up
wushu because they decided they would never be able to get to that
level. But is that the reason they took wushu in the first place? To
be as good as professional Chinese athletes? No, of course not. So
why compare ourselves to them? Why compare ourselves to anyone? It
doesn’t really accomplish anything except to bring up unecessary
comparisons that serve no purpose.

The only person we can compare ourselves to is ourselves. And the only
comparison we can make is between who we were and who we have become.
If who are you today is better at wushu than who you were yesterday,
or last year, or when you started wushu, then you are on the right
track. Wushu isn’t about fulfillling some abstract vision of the
perfect athlete. It is about self-improvement and personal
development.

Why did you take wushu? The answer is because you liked it. Plain
and simple. We can get caught up with various issues like age or
physical ability or resources all we like. But if you are doing
something you enjoy, then you can consider yourself extremely lucky,
because not everyone in the world has the opportunity to be doing what
they love.

Ironically, many of the professional wushu athletes I know in China
are not as lucky as you. Because they don’t take wushu because they
love wushu, but because it is their job and they HAVE to train. And I
suppose, just like in any job for any one in the world, they make the
best of it and try to enjoy what they can. But if they had their
druthers, a lot of them would rather be doing something else.

Whenever I have a lack of motivation (which happens every so often) I
go back to the core of why I train in wushu. I watch the videos that
inspired me. I think of the first time I took wushu and how geeked
out about it I was. I remember the joy I had when I figured out a new
move or got down a new technique. And I think of the subtle pleasure
I experienced in the zen of training — from lacing up my feiyue
shoes, to going through the routine of saluting and warming up, to
stretching out and watching the sweat drip off my nose and on to the
wooden floor in the Finnish Hall — those times when it was just me
and a few other dedicated students training in wushu.

I don’t remember the crazy competitions or the wushu parties or the
super full classes or hanging out with the Beijing Wushu Team or Jet
Li. What I remember most fondly are the cool fall evenings,or rainy
spring sundays, walking up the stairs to the training hall, stretching
my stiffness, breaking a sweat, working like a dog, struggling with
each motion, and still loving every minute of it.

You can feel frustrated about your training. Its perfectly normal.

You can feel disillusioned or distraught or dismayed at your situation
with wushu. It is a natural reaction.

You can feel a lack of motivation for training or wonder if wushu is
really where your energy should be spent. It is totally valid.

But as long as you can remember why you started wushu. As long as you
can work through the hump and think back to those times when it wasn’t
about someone else or an abstract idea or whether or not you were
suited perfectly for the sport — but it was about doing something for
yourself, and the reality of being able to train in this cool sport
called wushu, stretching your personal and physical boundaries in new
and exciting ways — then you will understand that all you really
need to be successful at wushu is to enjoy it.

It isn’t the results you get from wushu — medals, techniques,
accolades or otherwise — that are your true source of motivation to
train. In fact, as soon as you start focusing on the external
stimulation of wushu is when wushu stops being something you are
passionate about.

Wushu isn’t a destination. there isn’t a day when you can say “Okay,
I’ve finished learning wushu. Now what?” anymore than there is a day
when you can say “Okay, I’ve learned everything there is to know about
life. Now what?” Becuase there is ALWAYS more to learn — but more
importantly there is always more within yourself to develop; paths to
explore; virtues to cultivate; abilities to uncover.

And for myself, THAT is what keeps me motivated to keep training, even
after 15 years, 3 knee injuries, wushu politics, bad relationships and
a stock-pile of physical issues that most people would gladly steer
clear of. Those things don’t really matter in the long run as long as
training in wushu has ultimately taught me valuable lessons about who
I am as a person.

I’ve always thought that training in wushu (and I suppose any art form
or sport is similar) is a great magnifying class on one’s own life.
So many of the issues we go through in our day to day life come out
when we train in wushu. And the trials and tribulations that we
experience during our wushu training are often mirrors of the same
issues we deal with outside the wushu guan. When we push ourselves
beyond our comfort zone (whatever the medium we use to do that) it
provides us not only with an education about who we are, but also with
a valuable opportunity to learn, grow and develop our inner being.

Anyway … I probably wrote more than you were interested in reading.
But, I suppose that after all this time in wushu I can still get fired
up about these things. And I suppose if nothing else, that is
something of a testament to how much wushu (and life) has to offer you
in the years to come.

Let me know your thoughts! Do you agree with this e-mail? Do you think I’m off my rocker? I’m curious what other people’s thoughts are. I’m looking forward to reading your comments!

Related posts:

1. Back from the Break, Training with Kids (11/20)
2. Wushu Retrospective (Part 4) – 1996-1998: An Introduction to Wushu Politics
3. Training for Real (11/23)

But it became clear after a short time that there was a whole world of wushu outside our four walls, and that the world had it’s own sorted history that I was soon to get a crash course on.

In hind-sight it was all pretty silly, of course. But that’s the benefit of hind-sight, isn’t it? At the time what seems serious and important ends up really not meaning much at all. And the things that were really important in life, were the things we tended to take for granted.

In fact, looking back, I came to realize that a lot of what caused most of the conflict between Wushu West and (at that time) Cal Wushu, was really done by just one student. One person, acting inappropriately, caused a string of bad-impressions and bad-blood that went on for several years and took a considerable amount of time to resolve.

Without getting in to the specifics, a student from one school had gone to the other on legitimate business, but had acted quite disrespectfully towards the teacher there. I don’t even think it was intentional, because from what I’ve come to understand about this person, their personal insecurity has fueled a considerable amount of arrogant and condescending behavīor towards others.

This behavioral theme left a trail of bad blood and animosity in this person’s wake for quite a while, which is a pity, because my guess is that, once you got to know them, they are probably a pretty decent person.

Unfortunately, the result of this was that many of the students at Wushu West had a grudge against Sifu Bryant Fong. I even found myself developing this bias, without really knowing anything about the guy or having met him.

Such is the power of peer pressure.

A couple years later I ended up going to a dinner in Chinatown with Patti and some other students, and afterwards I was seated at the table with Bryant Fong and some of his students. One of the other Wushu West classmates had such a resentment against Sifu Fong that he decided to just go home, but I was of the mind that since I had never met the guy, I might as well give him the benefit of the doubt.  (Plus it was a free meal.)

I think part of it came from my personal philosophy that you can’t define the world solely by your interpretation of it. It’s all subjective, especially views on people. Obviously this guy had SOME merit or else he wouldn’t have any students and no one would talk to him. So, if someone out there liked something about him, then there was something about him that I could find to like if I searched for it.

There’s a quote from Abdu’l Baha that says “If a man has ten good qualities and one bad one, look at the ten and forget the one. And if a man has ten bad qualities and one good one, to look at the one and forget the ten.”

It’s a good thing I made the effort, because I learned that he actually wasn’t such a bad guy. As the years went on I learned that Sifu Fong is actually one of the more decent people in the world of wushu — someone for whom I developed a good amount of respect and admiration.

And to think I would have missed out on knowing that if I had succumbed to the impulse to assume the worst about people.

But, for most of 1995 and 1996 there was a divide between Wushu West and Cal Wushu. There just wasn’t any sort of mixing of the two groups at all. Like … ZERO.

Until Lisa Nguyen and Alda Lee.

Lisa and Alda were two Cal Wushu students who had opted to supplement their Cal Wushu training by coming to Wushu West. Of course, as far as I was aware they didn’t tell anyone at Cal Wushu this and it was very hush-hush. In fact, when I saw Lisa at the 1996 Cal Wushu Tournament, she asked me to make sure not to tell anyone how I knew her.

In late 1996, at Lisa’s invitation, I went to Cal Wushu to try it out. I just wanted to see what it was like as I had heard the workouts were really brutal. Of course, I didn’t tell Patti about it since I was just doing it as an observation of how other people trained and didn’t plan on switching schools or anything.

It was the first time (I’m aware of) that a native Wushu West student trained at Cal Wushu.

So, the precedent had been set. The next person to bridge the gap would be David Chang. He came to Wushu West at the end of 1996 and was around for a good 5 years before going off to start his own school. (That’s a long story in itself .. )

But the significance of David Chang was that he really bridged the gap between Cal Wushu and Wushu West. He gave Patti and Sifu Fong something/someone to discuss in a positive manner. They were both sharing the experience of having him as a student. It led the way for other Cal Wushu people to come to Wushu West as well (Elan, Inyork, Hansie, Mai, Mike Chew, etc. etc.), and for Wushu West students to visit at Cal Wushu and train. Even Patti taught at Cal Wushu for a semester when Sifu Fong didn’t have available time.

As the years went on the divisions between the two groups faded away to almost nothing. Today it is hard to believe there was ever that much animosity between the two schools.

But the world of wushu politics wasn’t limited to just the interactions between Wushu West and Cal Wushu. I gave it so much attention, simply because it was the biggest issue I had to deal with for the first couple years of wushu, and as such it was the “biggest deal” for me as a young wushu enthusiast.

The truth is, there have been conflicts and issues between schools, students, teachers and the like, since the beginning of time. Almost every wushu school I’ve known or been a part of has had some sort of drama going on at one point or another (or several).

But, after looking at all of these conflicts, I’ve come to realize that it all really boils down to a specific trait that acts as a catalyst for these issues to crop up — one main attribute that contributes to so many of the problems that plague the wushu world.

Maybe it’s a result of the type of people who end up training in and teaching wushu — a certain personality type that inevitably ends up acting in certain predisposed ways. Or maybe it’s just that there are only so many issues that wushu people can deal with.

Whatever the reason, I’ve noticed that all of the problems that come from wushu politics essentially derive from one specific phenomena:

INSECURITY

I’ve seen teachers bad-mouth other teachers. I’ve seen schools isolate themselves like China in the 60′s. I’ve seen environments that foster ignorance and paranoia in their student population. I’ve seen arguments between teachers, both physical and emotional. And I’ve seen enough gossip, back-biting and negative displays of dis-affection to last me a lifetime.

But in the end it all comes down to insecurity.

In the teacher, the student, and sometimes the parents.

Sometimes it came across as paranoia or fear. Someone opens a school and suddenly develops paranoia that someone else might steal their students. Of course, that is really only because they are insecure in their own abilities as a coach. But instead of dealing with the cause of the issue (by improving their skills and abilities) they put down other schools and teachers to their students to keep them from leaving.

Or sometimes it is anger and hatred towards others. They see another school or teacher achieving something that they have not, so they develop a deep seeded resentment towards that group, when the truth is, if they would stop needing so much acknowledgement and social gratification, they could appreciate and acknowledge the accomplishments of others without thinking that it is a reflection on their own abilities.

Or sometimes it is pride. A pride so strong that they feel a need to put down the system or abilties of others. The irony of course is that the pride is really just an extention of their insecurity in their own abilities. If their system was truly the best, they wouldn’t need to put any else’s system down.

As Jackie Chan said in The Forbidden Kingdom, “He who talks, does not know, and he who knows, does not talk”.

I came to realize that the more someone talked negatively about others, (1) the less they had something worth contributing to a conversation and (2) the less they thought about their own abilities. Often what we say is more of a reflection on ourself than it is on those we are talking about.

Over the years I’ve seen all matter of issues pop up, but essentially they’re all really “non issues” at the core. It’s all just smoke and mirrors, vapor and noise — none of it matters and none of it is significant to what is at the core of wushu.

Wushu isn’t about which school is best or which teacher has the most students, makes the most money or has the most clout.  It isn’t even about the specific technique, crazy jumping or going to competitions.

Wushu, at it’s essense, is about self-development — going from the person you are, to the person you can become.

In fact, that is what “kung fu” is really about: the cultivation of inner excellence and mastery over time.

Whether your medium is cooking or calligraphy; computers or combat — the end goal is the same: To be a better human being than you were when you started.

And the wushu practitioner who keeps this in mind — who roots their training, beliefs and focus on this simple truth — will never need succumb to the allure of politics and gossip.

Because to them, those are not real — they are non-entitities. They are vapors of the imagination — with no true affect on their journey in life.

There are only three truths to training:

1. Who you are at the beginning
2. Who you are at the end,
3. And what you did to get from one to the other.

Interestingly enough, those are also the three truths when living one’s life …

To Be Continued Next Week …

Related posts:

1. Wushu Retrospective (Part 5) – 1996-2000: Wushu Friends
2. Wushu Retrospective (Part 3) – 1995-1996: Competitions and Demonstrations
3. Wushu Retrospective (Part 6): 1996-2000: Sifu Video

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is Mark there? I’m returning his call.” a woman’s Chinese-accented voice said on the other end.

I figured it was someone from the school’s office or maybe a parent that helps with registration.

“Yes, I’m interested in taking Wushu classes?” I said.

“Have you taken any martial arts before?” she asked.

“No”, I admitted. I hadn’t, really and certainly didn’t count the 2 months of Jungae Moosul when I was 19 and half year of Karate when I was 15.

“You can come to watch a class.” she offered and explained how to get to the school on the following Sunday.

I had a million questions (mostly geeky ones) running through my mind but all I could get out was “Are you the instructor?”.

“Yes, I am” she replied.

GULP.

“Oh .. okay! I will see you on Sunday then!” We said goodbye and I hung up the phone.

I was pretty anxious for the next few days. I think I showed up a little early on Sunday to the small studio. I didn’t actually know where San Pablo Avenue was since I hadn’t hung out in Berkeley outside of the area near the University.

It was a small space, but I didn’t care. I was anxious to see what this wushu stuff was all about. After so many years I would finally see it in person!

I met the teacher, Hao Zhi Hua, who also called herself Patti Li, and I watched the class. I don’t think I even needed to stay through the whole class. I could have just watched them do the opening salute and I would have been sold. Not knowing anything about wushu, they all looked amazing. I couldn’t wait to get started.

I wanted to start as soon as possible, but I wouldn’t get paid until that Friday and I hadn’t enough money to pay the tuition, so it would have to wait a week until the following Sunday. Unfortunately she was going to be out of town to judge at the U.S. Team Trials in Texas.

She offered to postpone it for a another week until she returned but I was too anxious.

Sunday, March 12, 1995 at 9:30 a.m., I showed up to the studio ready and raring to go. A guy named Tony was going to teach that day. A former student of hers that I never saw again. The class was a bit of a blur, but I recall being taught the first half of a beginning form by one of the students named Yolanda.

By the next day I was sore beyond belief.

Around the same time I noticed a poster at the sandwich shop I usually ate lunch at advertising a performance by the Beijing Wushu Team at the Palace of Fine Arts on Saturday, March 17. I didn’t want to miss out so I went to the ticket office and picked up a seat. It turned out I was in the farthest seat from the stage possible, my back literally against the wall, but it was better than nothing!

Since I had signed up for class twice a week I came back to the studio on Thursday, where all the students were a-buzz about the upcoming performances by the Beijing Wushu Team. It got me even more excited. In class I learned the second half of the beginning form. Some people were looking at me funny, but I wouldn’t find out why until later.

Sure enough, come Saturday, I walked down to the performance hall from my apartment and was blown away. Not just blown away, but my brain was literally turned to liquid goo in my skull and I was all a-quiver.

These pictures and many more from the performance can be found on Raffi’s website, beijingwushuteam.com

These pictures and many more from the performance can be found on Raffi’s website, beijingwushuteam.com

After the performance I took my program and got it signed by the members of the team. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure who was who as I had only been doing wushu for 2 classes.

I saw a girl who looked like she was part of the group standing there and handed her the program and a pen.

“You want me to sign it?” she asked.

Okay … she spoke perfect English. Obviously not a Beijing Wushu Team member.

“Sure” I answered, shrugging with a smile. So she signed it and to this day I have no idea who she was.

(Oh, and Russell Wong was there too, so I got an autographed picture of him with his shirt off doing a high kick. My female roommate, Seema, was quite jealous.)

On Sunday I went back to class. This time my friend David Nixon from Seattle was visiting me so he tagged along to check it out. I figured since I had learned the beginning set in the first two classes that I would probably have to practice them for a while to get them down before learning something else.

Apparently I was wrong.

In the middle of class Patti pulled me and two other students aside and told us that we were going to learn the 1970′s Compulsory Long Fist Form. She showed us a little of the beginning and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. She proceeded to teach us the first several movements and we practiced them for the rest of the class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pH5QFOfNYQ

Zhao Chang Jun performing the 1970′s Youth Compulsory Long Fist Form for men.

I was getting strange looks from people in the class again, but since I had a friend there watching and I didn’t know anyone I didn’t pay much attention to it. After class we went home and as we were walking along David echoed a sentiment that has since been said dozens of times by dozens of different people I’ve met both in and out of wushu:

“Its interesting, because that one girl who was doing her form — she wasn’t particularly beautiful or anything. She wasn’t ugly, but just sort of average looking. But when she did her wushu, she suddenly became much more attractive.”

Amen, brother. And from what women have told me, it goes both ways. Men with good wushu are apparently hotter too. I suppose it’s true of any really intricate physical art. Proficiency and aesthetic excellence breeds attraction.

So, I continued going to class, and I continued learning my form. I met several of the other people in my school too. Kaz, a fellow half-Japanese guy, 6 months at the school, and originally from northern California and a good friend of Green Day (used to bum around Europe with them back before they were famous) and Tabala, an african american man who was one of the more advanced people in the class and credits his upbringing not to his father, but to watching Bruce Lee movies (which he could recite from memory, beginning to end).

There were a few others too, but those were the two I connected with the best and hung out with the most. In fact, both of them would eventually be roommates of mine.

Oh, and for those of you who know him, this is what Cary looked like when I first met him (at the tender young age of 4).

I later found out why people gave me strange looks in the beginning. In fact, I found out why one student, who worked with Kaz and started when he did, quit taking wushu right after I started (or at least it was a factor, so I was told).

Before I had arrived there, Kaz and the other students had all spent a minimum of 6 months to a year learning the beginning long fist form. Patti would drill them on the same (to be honest) simple/boring form for over half a year. They didn’t want to ask her to teach them anything new for fear she would think they were being impatient, but at the same time they were getting a little frustrated.

Enter this random guy who joins class, learns the form in 2 days and is then learning an intermediate form with them. It had taken them 6 months to get her to teach them something new, and it took me only 2 classes. Understandably they were a little upset about that, but it made me realize something about myself that I hadn’t really realized up until then.

I tend to pick things up quickly.

Even these days, I can look at a form and figure out most of the details on my own. Being physically capable to do the moves is one thing, as I’m limited by my body’s condition. But mentally, I learn forms quickly.

I’m not saying this to brag or sound special. It is just something I’ve learned about myself.

Granted, an ability to learn quickly and $2.00 still just gets you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, so it’s no big whoop unless you apply it to something.

Over the following weeks, during the Beijing Wushu Team’s stay in the U.S. I would get to see them on one more occasion. This time in April at San Jose State University. I had been training for a month and so I was able to carpool with Patti, her husband and a few other students. The show was equally amazing. But this time I was right up front in the first row having a major wushu conniption.

If you look carefully, I’m in a red shirt below the word “STATE” on the right side.

These pictures and many more from the performance can be found on Raffi’s website, beijingwushuteam.com

These pictures and many more from the performance can be found on Raffi’s website, beijingwushuteam.com

After the performance we even got to go to a dinner with the Team. And we took pictures with a bunch of them too. I must have used up 3 disposable cameras in the span of an hour. Unfortunately I don’t have many of them scanned in except for these two:

L to R: Tabala, Kaz, Ka Li (Beijing Wushu Team member), Lee (Taiji student) and a much younger me.

Patti and Wu Bin (her coach) at dinner

My first picture with my coach! Taken in Berkeley, California on University Ave.

The next several months were a wonderful, happy blur. I was learning cool moves, I was hanging out with people who were as geeked out about wushu as I was, and I was beginning to feel like I had joined a new family of like-minded souls who all enjoyed what I enjoyed.

Wushu had me wrapped around it’s finger and I was planning our future together with reckless abandon. For a whole year I could have told you exactly how many hours and days of wushu I had taken classes. I had planned out which forms I would learn over the following 10 years of my life. I was even taking some mandarin lessons with Patti’s aunt (to not much success).

But I knew that eventually the honeymoon with wushu would come to an end. The newness would wear off, or the first plateau of non-progress would hit. I knew it would come eventually, but I still enjoyed what I was doing. And I planned to keep enjoying it for as long as I could.

That was, until I came to class one day and was told that I would be competing at a tournament in August. Just 5 months after I had started wushu!

To Be Continued next week …

Related posts:

1. Wushu Retrospective (Part 3) – 1995-1996: Competitions and Demonstrations
2. Wushu Retrospective (Part 1) – 1987-1995: Finding Wushu
3. Wushu Retrospective (Part 5) – 1996-2000: Wushu Friends