May 30, 2009 by george.

I’ve been thinking about something since I wrote that last motivation thread. I felt that that post came out a bit on the pessimistic side. Although it was honest, I do want to present another aspect into the equation.

I’ve never seen or yet met a student who I think:

1. Could not improve
2. Could not keep improving
3. Could not successfully learn the material

The problem is usually due to more complex varieties of the motivation issue. In traditional martial arts its not as simple as saying something like “I want to learn how to play the piano” or “I want to learn how to make a good steak.”

The variety of different skills inherent in the internal martial arts are numerous. Especially in an art like Baguazhang. In the end, once you come somewhat full circle, things will seem simpler. But it is often the case that while one is still on the path, they don’t yet know all the paths that they must someday take, what varieties of skills they must conquer.

In the traditional internal martial arts that I have studied, it has been my belief and experience that everyone is capable. This does not mean that everyone was given the same genetic gifts to begin with or that everyone started with the same background. All of these can significantly influence how difficult the road can be for each individual, but that never means that it is impossible.

The true choice of whether something is possible or impossible for that particular person goes back to the question of motivation and whether or not they believe in themselves. Everyone can do, not everyone chooses to and not everyone believes themselves capable of succeeding.

Moreover, and what is likely one of the most serious issues when determining how far one can climb, is that each person often cuts off their potential in learning. They might lack the amount of humility and brutal honesty that is necessary to have with oneself to continue the climb. They might fall into complacency, either assuming they have what they need or that the physical, mental and time costs to continued improvement are too great. They might also just get so stuck in what and how they have done something, that even though they have butted up against the wall and are going nowhere… they still cannot change direction and find the way around. Not all roads that got you to the mountain can get you up the mountain.

For myself, I always try to insure that I learn something with each training session and each day. It doesn’t have to be an earth-shattering thunderstrike of enlightenment, it just has to be a step further down the path. Sometimes I’ll have to enlist the help of my teacher to show me the way around when I’ve come to a dead end, but that is how it should be. Sometimes I’ll have to take some time out, if the mind is not ready and willing and focussed, even if the desire is there, the ends will not come. Sometimes I’ll have to work around an injury and my training will take a different direction for a time, but in the end I know that this will always grant me greater wisdom into the workings of my body, and my training. Sometimes I have to just hunker down and push ahead, even if circumstances are trying to stop me.

Its not always easy, but its always possible. I still haven’t met someone who I think is incapable. And although not everyone is equally capable, they can all be successful, equally.

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May 30, 2009 by george.

I posted this pic up on Facebook. My new baby girl is now nearly 2 weeks old. Her name is Evelyn Sarah Wood and she’s our newest handful of sleep-depriving joy!

This is what’s keeping me busy:

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May 6, 2009 by george.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rLzvW6YTtw

Some great transitions and throws in this one.

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May 6, 2009 by george.

 Josh Leeger asked a question about my thoughts on motivation following a post of mine below. I decided to transfer my answer to a new post in the hopes that it can lead to more discussion and more meditations on it from me as well. So, my thoughts on motivation:

Motivation is something that I’m increasingly pessimistic about (and I didn’t mean that in an ironic sense). I can only speak for me and my experiences here, but, here’s some points I’ve noticed in my studies of martial arts:

1 - Even a motivated, dedicated person will have different levels of motivation over his lifetime. I can cite myself in this category. With kids, wife, stress, money problems, injuries… all sorts of things conspire together to stand in the way of a good training schedule. I can’t practice as much now as I would like to or did when I was younger. I go through cycles where I train more and when I train less.

2 - I’m not even sure you can “teach” or “inspire” motivation. I’ve seen hundreds of people that would talk the talk, but never got around to walking the walk. And walking the walk long term is what is needed in gongfu - skill acquired through hard work over time. As much as I’ve personally tried to push and lead people to try more and to drive themselves harder, it doesn’t seem to do much. I think I can set an example, I think I can occasionally get like minded people, but I’m just increasingly pessimistic about creating a motivated individual from one who is not.

3 - And honestly, our culture is progressively not promoting self-motivation. Many believe its preferable to go to a group aerobics, yoga or crossfit type class than it is to learn the lessons of forging oneself, the lessons of dedication and self-discovery one can obtain are left by the wayside though, in that case. Being led by the collar is not the same as boldly going forward under one’s own power. But then again, gaining spiritual, meaningful internal insight is not something that society is promoting or putting value on these days.

4 - I personally predominantly teach adults, not young kids in a wrestling program, or zit-faced teenagers at army boot camp. I can’t really force them to do anything. I remember trying to get my students to work towards certain goals over a 3 month period. Although they were all self-dictated goals, they had 3 months, they were concrete and obtainable… only one person out of about half a dozen got anywhere close to completing their goals. Disappointing, but instructive to me as well about the level of people’s motivation. Heck, I can’t even make people come to class on a consistent, regular basis and that is something that I think should be the bare minimum necessary.

5 - My innate nature is to just tell people to suck it up and get to it. When I was a kid if you had to do your chores, you had to. It wouldn’t matter to my Grandpa if I didn’t feel like chopping wood today, either I did it or I didn’t do anything else until I did. Whining is generally the name of the game these days. Whether it’s “I was tired,” to “I had something else to do,” to “I hurt my little thumb and can’t practice,” to the slightly more honest “I just didn’t feel like it” - It’s apparently easier to whine about it than to dig in and do it.

6 - Another cultural reason, many people, in an effort to preserve their own sense of responsibility and prevent damage to their ego, would always prefer to place the blame and responsibility on someone else, rather than themselves. You hurt yourself, you sue someone else. You didn’t learn that in school, you blame the teacher and the school. You’re fat, you blame society and “the man.” It’s always easier for people to feel good about themselves by shifting all this onto something or someone else.

There’s probably a lot more to this. I’ve got to get back to the kids now though. More later.

And I would love to hear other thoughts on this!

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May 3, 2009 by george.

In its most simple sense, baguazhang likes to take things and play with them. The art is based on the attitude of play. You can play with forms, you can play with opponents and training partners, and you need to play with the tools of your training.

A simple example of playing with a “tool” in training is taking one basic form or fighting principle and varying it in a number of different senses. Doing this as a deliberate process allows you to get to the essence of that form or principles jin. You must take it apart so that you can see what it is, inside and out, and so that you can learn to put it back together in any form you want. Take our first houtian straight line form of kaizhang, or opening palm, for example. From the basic template, you can learn to practice it long for the training of power, or short for the expression of power. You can apply it with either hand, on either the inside or outside of your opponent. You can apply it driving forward or while retreating. You can use it to overwhelm or to flow around the strengths of your opponent. You can use it to enter high or low, or to force your opponent’s center high or low. You can step straight in or at angles around the opponent. You can strike with a palm, as in the basic form, or with a slapping hand, a fist, your knee, your elbow, etc.

Another example of a practice in baguazhang that used to be common, but that I don’t see often anymore, is that of free-flowing creative circle walking. Using the circle as a template and letting the jin flow out of your body, your mind and your consciousness was a common method of play in baguazhang when the art was first being disseminated. Beyond our own Yizong group, I have seen it practiced before in a couple Beijing bagua schools - I’ve seen Ma Chuanxu and Yang Kun do this personally, but it unfortunately does not seem to be as common anymore. And when it is done, especially in the West, it is often painfully obvious that it is being done too soon, without the foundation work in place. When the jin are not part of your body/mind, what comes out is just sloppy arm waving, not part of the art of Baguazhang.

Taking the basic essence of a thing and changing it big and small, forward and back, right and left, up and down, and more… this is the base of how we play in bagua. In a sense, the core jin of the moves we are trying to express is what is sacred, everything else is in flux, in change, in a state of play.

More later.

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May 3, 2009 by george.

All martial arts are abstract from the real thing. There is no perfect imitation of what is chaos - a violent encounter. At best we try to imitate, to take aspects of the whole and train these.

Many martial arts take a single aspect of the whole and specialize in that. Brazilian jujitsu is reknowned for its ground grappling expertise. Judo, sambo, wrestling, shuai jiao for their skill in standing grappling and throwing. Boxing for its fists. Baguazhang is an attempt to take a look at the whole and what binds the pieces together. At its essence, it provides not only technique and methods of building skill, but an overarching paradigm with which to understand the chaos.

Like I say often in class, there are many aspects wherein Baguazhang tries to take the big look at things, and train not just a part, but the whole. Not just ABC or XYZ, but A through Z. You can see this in the forms wherein the body and mind are taken through a full range of motion and led to open the joints, the tendons, to make strong the bones and muscles, and to make clear, focussed and fully aware the mind/intent.

To train the whole still requires one to take it in pieces. Baguazhang will take different aspects of the whole pie and train them separately as well as together. Furthermore, this is often done to balance the training as well. Sometimes we will train in one direction, only to switch gears at some point and train in the other. There are times when we train for speed, others for power. There are times to train for light, others for heavy. Etc.

Again, these are all things that we hear in class everyday. Is it understood intuitively? Do you emphasize it in your training?

More later.

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