Throwing kicks in the kitchen while boiling eggs.

 By reading the title of this blog your probably thinking waaaaaaaa????

I forgot how much fun it was to throw kicks in my kitchen.  I used to do this all the time and I actually got a lot out of this.  Let me explain, when your cooking in the kitchen there are all sorts of sharp and hot things all around you.  

Like this morning when I was cooking some boiled eggs for breakfast.  Hot pot of boiling water on the front burner of my stove.  Right next to the stove I thought it would be fun to practice a part of Loa Gar.  The part where there is a low kicking block followed by a palm sweeping block then the crane's wings with a front thrust kick.  I love how this flows so I started to play around with it WHILE the pot of boiling water was bubbling away right next to me.  

I was aware that it was there but I was also away of my technique all at the same time.  I found this "dual" awareness pretty cool and I loosely likened it to a bit of self defense.  When I reflected back on this, it has similarities to a multiple attacker scenario.  I would have to be aware of my surroundings while at the same time execute my techniques with precision.

Pretty cool realization and it all came from throwing kicks in my kitchen.

Mr. Repay

Year of the stick

 2022 is going to be the year of the stick for me.  This is the weapon that I’ve chosen for the Year of the Tiger.  Interestingly this is the first weapon I learned and the the one I want to master in the run up to my black belt grading. 

I’ve been drawn to hinged weapons (nunchucks to be exact) as I liked watching Bruce Lee movies as a kid.  They’re flashy and super cool.  The stick at first glance doesn’t look like a flashy style of weapon.  But I won’t let looks deceive me as I feel that the stick is a very cool weapon in it’s own right.  I’m pretty confident that a skilled martial artist can more than hold his own using a stick against nunchucks.

Last nights class was pretty amazing.  I hadn’t really picked up my stick (oh and it showed lol) in a long time.  However after a few minutes of getting to know each other we felt good together.  I enjoyed dusting off the HUGE amounts of cob webs from the stick form.  By the end of the night I was feeling a lot better and today I picked up my stick and kept going. I’m really enjoying the movements of the form, I can feel both the connection and disconnection of the six harmonies.  There are moments when things feel really good and there are a few more moments where they don’t.  

I’m grateful to have this next year to work on mastering the stick.  There are so many things that I’m going to learn and perfect along the way.  The best part of training with my stick is it makes the rest of my Kung Fu that much better.

Mr. Ian Repay

Time

This is the #1 most important thing in my life.  I never realized how important time is but I'm guessing many of us don't.  I also think that we all get to the realization but for some it's often too late.  I've spent most of my adult life chasing things I thought were more important than time.  Money being at the top of the list becuase I really didn't have much of it.  I chased prestige and titles at the expense of time with my family.  I thought that in order to be happy I needed to have more money and more "stuff".  How very very wrong I was.  What I needed was to find a balance between money and time spent on the things that truly matter.  

For many years I made decions based on chasing that "wealth goal" because when you don't have much of it you think this will solve your problems and deliver happiness.  It also doesn't help growing up and living in a society that preaches consumerism and wealth.  Chasing money and wealth consumed me for a good portion of my life.

Not anymore and not for the past few years.  I've come to realize that time is the most valuable thing in my life.  I have absolutley no idea how much more of it I have in front of me.  What good is all of the money in the world if I sacrificed time to get it?  What will I have lost?  What I enjoy the most is the time with my family, my wife, my children and being able to have the flexability to do the things that make me happy with them.  I wouldn't trade my current career for 10X the salary if it meant that I'd have to give up what I have right now.  Remember the old saying "careful what you wish for?", it's true.  There are times when opportunities are presented to me that make me take a step back.  At these moments in my life I really think and weigh the opportunity against my current situation.  I'm extra careful to weigh the pros and the cons and I make decisons based on what's most important to me and not for my ego.  And that's time.  

Mr. Ian Repay