To my 15 year old self.

If you could get the chance to go back just once, face your 15 your old self, what advice would you give yourself?  That is the question that has been posed to 15 of the most highly influential women of the world on “International day of the girl” So I say to everyone reading this blog, if you could what would you say to yourself?  Here is the advice that I would give myself if ever I was given the opportunity.

1.       Believe in yourself.  Believe that you can do whatever you want in life no matter what people have told you.  Have confidence in your abilities, think big, act big and be big!

2.       Don’t sweat the little things.  Life is too short to get caught up in things that are here today and gone as quickly as tomorrow.  Instead focus on what you can do today that will make your future better.

3.       Have fun!  Take the time to “smell the roses” and really enjoy your life.  Life is too short not to be happy.  It’s not always easy to find happiness and sometimes you need to make significant changes in your life to find that happiness.  Don’t be scared of the change.

4.       Be mindful of your actions and your thoughts.  Thoughts turn to actions so have a clear mind and be mindful of what you are thinking at all times.

5.       Be humble.  Take the time to really understand what it means to be humble.  This is such an important attribute that you need more of in your life.

6.       Last and not least, listen more and talk less.  For those of you who know me this will make total sense.

When I set out to write this blog it really hit home for me.  What an opportunity it gave me to really think back on the past 20 years of my life. 

It is amazing to me that when we think of it, we are the sum of all of our life’s experiences to this very moment.  We can’t change the past and most of us wouldn’t want to change it anyway.  But wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to stand in front of yourself at 15 years old, the world at your footsteps and you would be able to give yourself some advice that might make a difference in not only your life but those of others? 

Just think of that pool of water, you have a pebble and your drop it in.  Watch how the ripples move away and get bigger, most would call it the “ripple effect”.  Think what the “ripple effect” would be if you could go back and give yourself this advice?

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta

Mile a minute

During my testing on Monday night, Sifu Freitag made an interesting comment that really resonating with me.  She told me that I have a high level of intensity (which is good) but I need to relax and calm my mind.  Now I can't remember if these were her exact words, but that gist of what she told me.

Now why did that resonate so loudly with me?  Well I can tell you that I have a very active mind.  I tend to analyze everything all the time.  I have a difficult time "calming" my mind and truly relaxing.  I don't know why this is but I do know that this is how I have always been.  Now the older I get and the more that I train, the more that I realize that I can control (to a certain extent right now, work in progress) how active my mind is.  I have found that my Kung Fu training has helped me to realize and me more mindful of this.  I find that my breathing has a direct result n my mental state.  I find more and that when my mind is buzzing away, I take time to slow my breathing, take control of my heart rate and calm myself as much as I can.

The next evolution in my training not only as a martial artist but as a human being is to try and live in the moment.  I am going to work toward taking time for some mental rest every day.  I am going to find time to calm my mind and really take the time to live in the moment.  My realization over the past three years of training has been just how important true mental health and well being is.  My journey in Kung Fu has become more than just learning how to punch and kick, but rather it is a way of living my life as a Kung Fu martial artist.

Mr. Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stress, managment & new begginings

This is one thing that seems to be part of our lives every single day.  Some days are better than others and some days it seems that stress consumes us.  Other days I seem to have a much better handle on it.  These better days seem to me upon reflection are days that I am mindful of what’s causing the stress.  I feel that taking the time to really understand what is causing the stress is the first step in managing the solution.

            Recently I have been plagued by a tremendous amount of stress.  I had a pretty good idea what the main cause was but I couldn’t find a suitable solution until recently.  The decision I made is going to be a significant departure from what I know but not so different from where I came from.  However it is the right decision as it is what I truly want and by going down this path will bring me a renewed sense of happiness that I have not experienced for a long time.  There will no doubt be new sources of stress in my life and I will always have to address them and deal with them as soon as they come.  Being mindful of the causes will allow me to always address this stress head on and as soon as possible.

I am very excited for the future and I am looking forward to the new challenges that are going to come my way, always.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta

Perfection Vs Excellence

Recently I came across a reference that said “perfection is in God’s hands and excellence is in yours”.  I took me some time to really comprehend what this meant to me.  As first blush I thought it meant that there was no way that I could reach “perfection”.  After some thought, I realized that none of us are ever going to be perfect but we can strive for excellence in our lives. 

Most of us tend to go through life like a video game, we feel that we have many "lives" or can press the "reset button" and start over.  Life is so not like that and the sooner that we come to realize that we only have one life, then the realization of how we live our life become that much more important.  When we realize that we have such a finite amount of time, life becomes much clearer and perspective comes into focus. What is truly amazing is when we get this moment of clarity, this moment of realization is what so many of us fail to do and that is act upon this realization.

As a martial artist I have come to realize that everything I do in my life has impact upon my excellence.  It starts with what I choose to put into my body every day, how much exercise I do, how much rest I provide my body and mind and most importantly to me is how much balance I can achieve.  All of these things and how well I perform them will have a direct impact on the level of excellence I achieved in my life.  As a martial artist, I am learning to be mindful of these things and I want to apply the highest level of excellence that I can in everything that I do.  Excellence is something I strive for everyday but is far from easy to achieve.  It reaquires attention to detail, it requires truth and honesty and it requires ongoing effort to truly acheive it.

I have a new found appreciation for excellence.  I am working every day to apply myself not to be perfect, but to live my life to the highest level of excellence that I can.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta.

I have never been to a “boot camp” of any kind before and I have always wanted to participate in the one that Silent River Kung Fu put’s on.  Well this past weekend I finally participated in it and I am so glad that I did. 

Many people have asked me why would I put myself through almost 15 hours of Kung Fu in one day?  For most people this would seem so un fathomable.  How can you put your body through all of that hard work and find it enjoyable?  These were the questions people asked me when they found out what I was planning on doing this past weekend.  What can I say to these people that don’t understand?  There isn’t much I can think of saying other than it’s what is important to me in my life and who I am and who I want to become.

When we got to the boot camp, there was this sense in my mind that I was about to embark on a very special journey that few people have been on.  It was as much as physical journey for me as it was a spiritual journey.  I found that I enjoyed the physical aspect of the day but upon reflecting on the journey the day after I found the most benefit from the growth mentally and spiritually.  Master Brinker talked through out the day that he is going to push us past where we think our limit is.  He talked at great length about how important the mental training and how important it is to push past your limits push past where you think your limits are when we started the day.  I can say that at the end of the day, I pushed myself both physically and more importantly mentally past the point where I thought I could go no more.  When I reflect upon the day I found a quite sense of accomplishment, I find that I have a subdued sense of pride in what I accomplished and how I feel that I have grown in my Kung Fu and in my life in general.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu.

Stony Plain, Alberta

Two Hands

This past week a light bulb seemed to go after Wednesday’s class.  Since I started we are taught to incorporate two hands in our techniques and forms as much as possible.  When I work through my forms I actively think about this and have been incorporating both hands as much as possible.  However when it came to sparring this hasn’t been happening.  It seems that when I start sparring I would resort to a sort of traditional boxing stance and form if that makes any sense?.  Jab jab reverse punch reset.  Jab reverse punch dragons whip reset.  This has been the basis for my sparing style until recently and it hasn't been effective against high level opponents.  I seem to be eating a lot of kicks and punches with this style and it's not fun at all LOL!

During last class Sifu McBurney had the black belts spar against the color belts.  This is when the light bulb went on for me.  I was sparring with Sifu Leitz and he talked and worked with me to disrupt his rhythm and flow.  At first I didn’t understand what he meant but then he slowed it down for me.  I started to block and counter almost at the same time and I was amazed at how well it worked.  I used to (and still do) block and counter with at least a second between the two. I spent some time this past Saturday working on this during open training and it seems to be coming along slowly.  However now that I have seen this work for me first hand I will continue to work on this application in all of my Kung Fu training even more than I have in the past.  There is sooo much more for me to learn but now I seem to have a better understanding of two handed flow thanks to last class.

Mr. Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu 

Why do you do this?

Recently I have had this question posed to me.  It was after an especially difficult class where we worked to utter exhaustion.  I was asked after class by someone who watched the class but was not in Kung Fu.  She asked me with a puzzled look on her face “why do you put yourself through that?  Don’t you feel like giving up during the class?”  With out giving this question any thought my response was “It’s kung fu and it’s hard work but it’s worth it in the end”.  She continued to look at me with an even more puzzled look as I had obviously not answered her question in her mind.  In my mind I felt I gave her a completely honest and thorough kung fu student answer.

I must admit that during these classes there are at times where giving up has entered my mind but almost as soon as it gets in there I push it out.  Sure Kung Fu is difficult but many of my mentors have told me that “if it’s not difficult then it’s not worth doing”.  This has really stuck with me and that’s what I was thinking during this class.  If getting a black belt was easy was it worth it?  I know the answer to this question as I have seen the progression and journey of our newest black belts.  I know from seeing what they went through and talking with them that is was incredibly difficult but the end result was more than worth it to them.

I think it is extremely difficult for people that are not in Kung Fu or the martial arts to fully understand why we put out selves through the difficult training.  It’s hard for them to understand why we sweat and bleed for year after year to get something as abstract to them as a “black belt”.  All I can do (and will do) is continue to sweat day after day knowing that all of this effort that I am putting in now will pay off when I tie on the black belt around my waist for the very first time.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta

Perspective

Let me start by saying that I would not recommend that you take time off from your training.  However because I took some time away I see things in a different perspective.  For the past couple of years I was very competitive in my training.  I wanted to be the fastest, strongest and best at everything I did.  I didn’t realize at the time but this was going to be the detriment to myself and my training partners.  I wasn’t always the best training partner because I always wanted to “win” or be the best regardless of how I treated my training partners.

Since I have come back, I have started to look at my training differently.  I am looking for less power and more flow.  I am starting to break my training down and stepping back a little.  I am still very competitive as I always have been but I am looking at my training and my training partners with a new perspective.  I have a new found appreciation for how much I have learnt but I wonder if I would have approached my training differently where I might be right now?  If I would have taken the time to listen more and act a little less I feel that my training as well as life would have taken a slightly different course.  I must continue to be mindful of my weaknesses and work extra hard to continue to make the positive changes in my life. 

We can’t live life with one eye focused on the future and one eye looking into the past.  The past is the past which we can never change but we can and should work toward being a little bit very day.  Incremental progression and being mindful of ones actions and thoughts is going to be the only way to continue on this new path, this new perspective.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Journey Back

What a journey it has been this past 6 weeks.  Things have been tumultuous, stressful, and sobering all at the same time. 

Recently I was witness to a moving presentation given by a passionate member of my business team.  He talked at length about how we are all on a river, moving at times very quickly and at times slowly.  There are rapids that move very fast and can change elevation with little notice.  He talked about how we are very small little “twigs” on this large river.  This meant to me that no matter how we try we really can’t change how it flows and where it flows but rather we have to get as close to the middle of that river and do our best to ride it. 

When I reflect on these past six weeks in my life I see how I was on this river.  However I wasn’t in the middle riding it as best as I could, rather I was trying to change it’s flow.  I have realized that things are not in my control as I thought they were.  I realized that I was trying to change things and due to my inability at the time to realize that this was not a sound plan, I found my self getting very overwhelmed.  Stress was starting to take hold in my life and I wasn’t able to cope.  I started to pull back from my Kung Fu as I felt I didn’t have the time to devote to it.  What I didn’t realize that it was my Kung Fu that was going to help me get through this.  The discipline and structure that I have learnt through the UBBT was what I needed to lean on to get me through.  However I didn’t come to realize this until recently. 

What I have learnt and have grown from is the realization is that I was and am still in need of more discipline and structure in my life.  This journey that I am on has become such an integral part of who I have become and who I still want to grow into. 

Walking into the Kwoon this past Saturday was such an emotional experience.  To see everyone that I have not seem for a little while and to see them welcome me back with open arms was such as amazing feeling that is hard to explain.  The positive energy in the Kwoon is addictive in many ways that I wish more people would have the ability to experience.  Once I reconnected on Saturday I can honestly say that what I was missing spiritually was found in the Kwoon .  I was missing my connection with the Kwoon these past six weeks.  I was not feeding myself spiritualy and was "starved" inside.  There is a lot to be said about how important to feed ourselves spiritually just as much as it is need physically.

This may seem “corny”, but we are all in this river and we have to get in the middle and ride it as best we can.    Take time to feed yourself spiritually as this is such an important aspect of  our lives that too may of us overlook.

To Master Brinker – Thank you.

Mr. Repay

Student Of Silent River Kung Fu