A Pivotal Moment

I'm sure we have all had an event or a moment in our training at the kwoon that has had a deep impact on our Kung Fu that provided clarity or motivation to just where we were at and what we were doing and where we are going. A moment that answered a question that you didn't even know existed, a beam of light into a moment of darkness or uncertainty, and moment of success that exposed itself through countless failures or misconception, or just a moment that was so very cool to the individual that it inspired evolution or understanding to ourselves as a whole.

At this time many are struggling with the isolation and how to keep moving forward, I get that and understand. Isolation doesn't really bother me too much as I typically keep to myself as it is anyway and have had to train away from the kwoon for years so this is no big deal for me. But I thought perhaps I would send out a challenge/moral booster to others that may help or not. Nonetheless, it's worth a shot.

So here it goes, take a moment to reflect on a pivotal moment in your training that occured and inspired motivation, change, or appreciation. Was there a Sifu involved, a training partner, or someone you didn't even know? Where were you at then, what effect did this moment have on you at that very moment and how did it translate to where you are now?

My moment through reflection was something I really needed at the time. I have always been big on our lineage and almost to the point of relentless on tradition. I'm an old school cat for sure and embrace hard work and challenge. But at that particular time in my training I was uncertain about where I was. I was questioning my skill level and if I was showing enough respect to our lineage and our style. I was wondering if I was holding true the respect to my teachers and my past masters and doing enough to uphold the standard, practicing this gift to the best of my abilities. I was also wondering at the time if we were becoming watered down. Are we losing the potency or our lineage. Am I in the right place?

Then one time in the Kwoon one of our master level instructors was speaking of our lineage and spoke a little about each one of our grand masters, their teachers. Sifu was speaking of one in particular that I admired quite a bit. When I found out that he was part of our lineage I must have researched every thing I possibly could about them prior to this, so I was glued to every word Sifu was saying. But then something beyond extrodinary to me took place. Sifu looked right at me and said that I reminded him of this person, I was bult like him, I moved like him. I was vapour locked and of course my head swelled up a bit, because that was a pretty big deal to me.

But those few sentences changed everything for me. It answered all of my questions and motivated me so much. It gave me clarity and assured me I was in the right place. That moment proved just how pure our style of Kung Fu is and the commitment to tradition is by our instructors and the standard that has maintained at our school.  But there was something much bigger to this that went far beyond me. Think about it for a second, you have a master level instructor, that see's one of his teachers, through one of his students Kung Fu. Thats pretty damn cool if you ask me.


So that's my pivotal moment that inspired me to train hard and remain loyal to our lineage, be mindful of appreciation and respect to tradition and our Sifu's. Protect and respect our school and maintain the art. This is also one of the very things that inspired me to go through the Black Belt code of Ethics, understand it and maintain it, break it all down and practice it, just like our Grand Masters. Continue to work on mastering our style through practicing curriculumn. But most importantly, it made me happy and proud to be a martial artist and carry on just like those before me did.

If anyone is willing to share a moment of reflection that had a profound effect on their training, please do. See you at the Kwoon