Basics before application

I've been doing some thinking on practical Vs application.  When I've been away from SRKF over the past two years I dipped my toe into some "practical" martial arts training.  It was pretty interesting to experience this.  I've already had 5 years of training under my blue belt but I was very interested in watching the new people. 

You see there was very minimal time spent on proper stances, alignment and technique.  There was a lot more emphasis on the moves for say blocking and countering.  I found this interesting as without proper alignment and grounding there wouldn't be much power to either block or counter.  I watched how the students went through the motions that they were taught and some looked pretty good in a controlled environment. 

However the next main focus of the school was sparing.  It was then that I really saw the deficency of this style of training.  From my perspective the students sparing were off balance, not centered and when it came time to throw a punch or a kick it lacked power.  When the speed of the sparring session increased students with little proper understanding of how to generate power from a properly centered stance quickly either covered up and become defensive or wildly threw punches and kicks.

I love the style of Kung Fu that we're learning at SRKF and the foundation of everything is learnt at the white belt level.  I personally have forgoten this lesson as the techniques has increased in complexity.  However when I get back to basic everything falls back into place again.

Mr. Ian Repay

Steady pace

I'm a person that likes to go all in on what I do.  I can say that when I've reflect on the past nine years of my training and life this has been my "MO".  Upon reflection, I've seen massive highs and massive lows.  Rarely have I seen steady and calm.

As I get back to training I've already had to battle myself not to repeat the past.  I can't get back into shape overnight no matter how hard I want or try to.  I need to listen to my body more than ever, if it's too much too soon then I might have to take a knee in class.  In the past I would've seen this as a sign of weakness.  However now I see this as a sign of intelligence. 

I'm extremely happy to be back and I will approach my training and progression at the pace of consistency and what my body allows me to do.

Mr. Ian Repay

Reflecting on the last 9 years

I recently made a decision to get back to my training with Silent River Kung Fu.  I reached out to Sifu Brinker and we had (as always) an amazing conversation.  In fact we both had been thinking of each other as recently as two weeks ago.

I've recently gone back and re read a number of the blog posts over the past 9 years.  They all seem to have a similar theme to them, failure, self doubt and and self pity.  Re reading these posts has helped with perspective and growth.  I like many are not the same person nine years ago let alone one year ago.  I've changed significantly and I've grown as a individual.

The main area of growth is in the area of ego.  This has been one area that I've struggled with but over the past number of years I've been humbled and that's a very good thing.

I'm embarking on this journey for a number of reasons.  The number one is to achieve what a very small percentage of people achieve and that's my black belt.  Is achieving my black belt self serving and selfish? No, it's just a symbol or a marker of where I am in my journey.  I won't stop there as I want Kung Fu to be an integral part of who I am for the rest of my life.  I want to keep learning and teaching.  I want to mentor and develop as many students as I can until I can't do this anymore.

I feel rejuvenated and excited.  This is what I need and where I need to be.

Ian Repay

Personal goals and time for action

Since I have left Silent River Kung Fu and the I Ho Chuan program I have been finding that I have been drifting aimlisly through my personal life.  I haven't had any significant goals or any real direction and mediocrity has fully set in.

I went to work, did a good job and then came home, rested and repeated daily. Most of the time I wasn't in the moment and spent my down time in front of my phone wasting time on social media, YouTube etc. Don't get me wrong in that I'm not complaining about the state of my life, rather I'm pointing out that I don't have any clear direction and I'm not happy with mediocrity.  As a result of this realization I have fallen back on some of my training obtained through the I Ho Chuan program.  It's time to set some goals and put them out there publicly. 

1. Less personal time on my cell phone screen.  Limit personal use of my cell phone to 2 hours a day.  Spend more time in the "moments of life".

2. Read more books. One book per month.  Great exercise for my brain.

3. Exercise - minimum of 30 minutes per day.  Benefits are pretty self explanatory for both mental and physical health.

4. Less fast food - limit intake to twice per week.  I do a pretty good job here except for at lunch time.  The health benefits are obvious and the finances will benefit as well.

I'm going to publicly journal about my progress and start to mindfully take control of my personal life.  I don't want to "just let life happen" anymore.  I want to take control and direct my life the way I want.  It's time for me to take responsibility for my actions or inactions.

Ian Repay

Learning & Centering

I have learnt a lot about myself through my training and especially through the past year.  I have realized truly what my strengths are and I have been humbled by my weaknesses.  I now have a much better understand of who am I deep inside.  

Through this past year I have realized why I choose to do the things I do and the repercussions for those decisions both good and bad.  I have a lot more clarity on what's important in my life and how I assign my time and energy to those priorities.  

Number 1 is my family and the quality of those relationships.  For far to long I took them for granted.  Not anymore as every day with my family is blessing and I won't waste them.

Secondly the quality of life and how I see my life.  Money, power, title etc are things that no longer have the "cachet" they used to have.  If I continue to chase them at the expense of my family then was it truly worth it?  Not at all!  I have started to realize that those things don't matter as much and the true wealth is my family and the health of the realtionship I truly value.

Mr. Repay

Silent River Kung Fu is priviledge and a gift

This past Saturday I was invited by Sifu Brinker to come and speak to his current I Ho Chuan team.  I was humbled and honoured by the request as I haven't been a student of Silent River Kung Fu for the past two years.

I thought for a long time about what I wanted to talk about as a lot has gone on in my life since I left.  I decided that I would talk about how Kung Fu is a privilege and a gift. I talked a lot about how we take it for granted and that our Kung Fu training will always be there.  That sort of thinking is the farthest thing from the reality for most.  No one knows what tomorrow has in store for us.  No one has any idea if we will even be here and if we are what tomorrow will even look like. 

SRKF is such a special place with a whole lot of special people.  Don't take your training or your network of people for granted, ever.

Mr. Ian Repay

Pandamonium and coming home

I stopped by the kwoon for the first time in what feels like years when in fact it's been over a year since I left Stony Plain for Winnipeg to pursue a dream of business ownership. 

My life for the past year can be described by one word and one phrase.  The word is "perseverance" and the phrase is "figure it out".  I can write every day for a year about how these two things have come to describe my life and that of my families, especially this past year.  In future blog posts I will share some specific events that have taken place this past year that has truly defined these two things for me.

One thing that has remained constant throughout this year is SRKF and I havent even trained or placed a single step inside the kwoon for over a year.  It's always on my mind and it's truly part of my soul.  The thing that has allowed me to stay in touch with the kwoon has been the blogging by the I Ho Chaun team and Sifu Brinker's blog and yet no one even knew it...no one knew how important it was to me. 

I would look forward to seeing Sifu's blog land in my inbox.  I was the one thing (other than my immediate family) that kept me connected with home.  Those that have trained at SRKF can understand when I refer to the kwoon as my my home.  I would cruise over to the SRKF website and see who had posted thier blog there for me to read.  Sometimes it was disappointing to see that no one had posted for over a month.  I would read everyone of the blogs to see how everyone was doing and seeing the struggles and the success they they had experienced.  I can't articulate enough how important blogging is.  Not only do I understand now how important it is to share these journies when we write them but it's just as important to the lost souls who depend on them to stay connected and engaged, even if you don't ever see the impact on them.

This last week for me has been one of the best ones that I have had in such a long time.  I spent some great time with my family.  I had a great day with my adult daughter and a great little lunch spot that has become "ours".  I reconnected with my good friend Kevin Lindstrom for coffee this week.  I had lunch with Shau Lietz whom I hadn't seen in over a year.  And I got to see my family again at this year's Pandamonium.  It's like I had never left. 

Finally the best news I have to share is that I am moving back to Stony Plain by mid June.  I'm going to be coming back to resume my training and I couldn't be happier!

See everyone on the mats very soon.

Mr. Ian Repay