FUNK...

FUNK…

What else can I say to describe how I have felt these past 6 to 8 weeks other than I have been in a “funk”?  Over these past 6 to 8 weeks there has been a tremendous amount of change in my life. 

I had one of my Baba’s (Ukrainian for grandmother) and our family’s matriarch pass away.  This was a great loss as my Baba was a wonderful lady and a person who has shaped a large part of who I am today.  My Baba was a very religious person who lived a simple but very rewarding life.  She was a person who always had faith in the lord and that never wavered but only got stronger with the more adversity she faced.  She would always pray for us and she made sure that we always understood the importance of prayer.  I am going to miss her so very much as I know she loved us with so much of who she was.

During this sad time we were blessed with the purchase of a new home for our family.  We had been renting our acreage since we moved to Alberta 9 years ago.  We had owned our own home back in Saskatchewan and we dearly wanted to get back to that in Alberta.  However, the prices here are significantly more that back in Sask so it took a little longer to realize our dream.  We are so very happy and blessed that we have been able to realize this dream and if it weren’t for the help of Kristy’s parents and my parents we could not have made this happen.

Now here is where the “funk” happens.  I guess for the past many years there was little major upheaval in my life.  I got into a routine and things seemed to flow from day to day releativly easily.  However the start of or 2011 had a few major changes that we could not have envisioned.  People have said the two most stressful things that one can go through in life are the following.

1.      The death of a close family member

2.      Moving from one house to another.

I totally agree with this and I had to deal with both in less than a three week span.  My routine was completely thrown out of the window and I found it very difficult to cope.  I did my best to continue with my Kung Fu training as it was something that I found to be a stress reliever.  However this routine of training was also impacted and I could not keep up with everything that was happening in my life.  During these past weeks I have not been a very nice person to live with.  I have been very short fused and irritable with family.  I have not smiled much and finding things to make me laugh were few and far between.  I spent too much time “sweating the little things” and lost focus on the bigger picture that was in front of me.  I am have apologized to my family and I am working on improving this area of my life.  What I have come to realize is that I realized what my problem was.  I think that realization is the first step in dealing with the issue.  The second thing was to apologize for my actions and take steps to improve upon this so that the next time this happens I will have put processes in place to deal with this.

I have missed a lot of classes lately and this has really not helped with my training both physically or mentally.  However it was the mental side that I really missed.  I missed my friends and I really missed the positive energy at the Kwoon.  I really didn’t realize how this positive energy could affect me….  I can say that I left the kwoon today with a totally new outlook on life and I am re energized and ready to go again.  My UBBT goals numbers have suffered but I am going to get back on track and get things going again.

To my family – I am very sorry for my poor attitude these past weeks.  I promise that I will be much easier to live with!

To my UBBT team members – Sorry for not pulling my weight these past weeks.  I am back on track and I EXPECT you all to come and kick my but the next time you see me =)

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

UBBT 8 student team member

Food Journaling....

Food Journaling……

First off this is a month long effort by the UBBT 8 students of Silent River Kung Fu of which I am one of.

I just had to write about this as this is something I have never done before and I am not sure if I am looking forward to it…  What concerns me the most is putting myself (and what I eat) out there for everyone to look at.  I don’t have anything to hide and for the most part I think I eat fairly healthy.  I love to cook for my family and because I am a baker by trade I obviously bake many sweet treats (homemade devils food cupcakes with a Swiss style choc butter cream on top) for my family.  I am strong believer in eating a balanced meal at often as possible in the hectic society that we live in today.  I don’t think you need to really cut out anything (DON’T TAKE MY BACON!!) you just have to eat everything in moderation is our family’s motto.

The other thing about this challenge is that I think you are very mindful as a result.  Once you start writing things down you start to realize exactly what you have eaten or perhaps what you haven’t eaten which could almost be worse…  I am going to embrace this challenge and put myself and what I eat out there for everyone to read!

Mr. Repay

P.s We are going to try and make this a family effort and have everyone do some food journaling for the month of March.

Chinese New Year’s Banquet

Our school just celebrated Chinese New Year as we do every year.  However this is the first time I attended the function as I joined after Chinese New Year last year.  It was an amazing banquet!  I really like helping out with everything and seeing the family and friends of my training partners.  It was nice to meet the “better halves” of some of my training partners as they are critical in the support of use and our martial arts lifestyle.

There were some amazing demonstrations and I enjoyed watching all the students who worked so hard all year put on a great demonstration for all of the guests.  The black belt demonstration team was amazing and truly inspiring.  They showed that hard work and commitment truly pays off.  I was blown away by Sifu Playter’s nunchuck demo!  They are the leaders in our Kwoon and we all look up to them and they set a very good example for all of us.

During the banquet Sifu Brinker was promoted to 7^th degree!  Wow what an honor and it could not go to a more deserving Sifu.  Sifu Brinker is the main reason why I have stayed with Silent River Kung Fu and did not go to a different style.  Sifu Brinker lives what he teaches; he leads by example and to me that is so important.  He brings a spiritual side of the martial arts into the Kwoon rather than just teaches us to punch, kick and fight.  To me this is what I was missing and I have found at SRKF.  All the black belts that are under him life their life the same way and as a result I find that they are outstanding teachers and this is a result of how Sifu Brinker carries himself.

Congratulations Sifu Brinker on your promotion to 7^th degree.  It is truly an honor to be your student.

Mr. Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu.

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Adaptability

This past week I was faced with an opportunity to progress with my training in the area of adaptability.  We learn in the martial arts how to perform a combination of techniques and then “adapt” them to our own style and let them flow as we feel would work best.  The combinations in our curriculum are there as the foundation of the style.  We are then expected to learn them (obviously) then more importantly adapt them to suit our own particular way we move or fight.

Well this past Monday was the most horrible Monday that I think I can remember.  Reflecting upon this Monday after a week had passed has allowed me to see what it has taught me.  What happened was that our family’s horses broke the gate to the pasture where they are spending the winter.  This gate was made of very weathered old wood that should have been replaced this past summer when the weather was nice but it wasn’t.  So long story short, I had to immediately drop everything, react and adapt to the situation at hand.  Here is where the adaptability comes into play.  I had a very busy Monday at work which required all of my attention before this gate was broken.  So not only did I have to fix a gate (I am not a carpenter and anyone that knows me knows that I HATE building anything) I had to address and resolve the issues at work all at the same time.  I would not recommend using a skill saw and a Blackberry at the same time!!  I managed to run out and gather a bunch of lumber very quickly and somehow rebuild the entire gate from scratch in the middle of a cold Alberta’s winter day.  At the same time I managed to stay on top of work and get both things done before the day ended.  I know for a fact that before my Kung Fu training I would not have been able to get both things done without a lot of stress and something would not have been completed. 

After I was finished building the gate I stepped back and marveled at how well it had come out.  I must thank my father for teaching me the basics of carpentry as he always said someday it would come in handy.  I am extremely happy that I listened enough to learn the basics!  You just never know when you will be tested and it happens more in life than in the Kwoon. 

Mr. Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

Ultimate Black Belt Test

UBBT 8

UBBT 8 Kick off

UBBT 8 Kick off

These past few weeks have been the start of the biggest and longest test I have ever been involved in. 

I kicked off the test like every other UBBT 8 team member with 1000 push ups and 1000 sit ups.  When I looked at the number as a whole it looked HUGE and I honestly didn’t know if I could get them all done in one day as per the challenge. 

However, Sifu Brinker teaches this concept in class called “incremental progression”.  When I first heard it, it didn’t sink in and I couldn’t really relate to it.  With out really connecting the dots between this concept and what I was about to undertake I decided to break up the 1000 repetitions by 10 (my goal was to complete the challenge in 10 hours).  By my calculation, that is 100 of each every hour.  When you look at that smaller number it doesn’t look that daunting… I started the day at almost exactly midnight on January 1^st and did 50 push ups and 50 sit ups and then I went and got some well needed rest (a few to many New Years evening libations).

I sort of slept in and slept off a bit of hang over and really didn’t get started in earnest until about 2:30 in the afternoon.  The first 500 of each went fairly smooth and I was feeling pretty good.  I realized that I needed to break down my 100 reps per hour into even smaller goals.  I ended up doing 50 pushups and 50 sit ups every 30 minutes.  To even break it down further, I would do 25 push ups, switch and do 50 sit ups and then back down for the remaining 25 push ups.  This “incremental progression” soon added up and I started to see my numbers grow.  I also decided that I would record the time of day I did each set and how many I did.  I found by doing this I could really see the “incremental progression” and it gave me something to look back and reflect upon.

The hardest thing about this challenge was the last 100 sit ups and push ups.  My arms where burning my chest was aching and my abs where screeming at me to stop.  About this time I was thinking “900 of each is enough, that was good enough right?” and then I heard my wife tell me to keep going and “you can do it, just 100 more!”.  I realized then and there that with out the support of your family this challenge would be more than impossible to accomplish.  You need to have people around you that believe in you when you don’t and that person is my loving wife Kristy and my two children Scott and Haleigh. 

One other thing that really helped me accomplish this goal was my Kung Fu family and the support that we all gave each other during this challenge.  We all posted our progress on line for everyone to read.  We encouraged each other when we faltering and congratulated each other when we accomplished our goal.  The one thing I looked forward to all day was the post that I wrote when I met my goal.  It was amazing and I was on such a high. I am sure that every other person who undertook this challenge felt exactly like I did when they pressed send on that email.

I now understand what Sifu Brinker was trying to teach us when he talked about “incremental progression”.  I now understand what it means to break something that is so huge into smaller pieces that are achievable over a period of time.  I have taken this learning over the past two weeks and have applied it to my personal life.  There have been things in my past that have plagued me to this day.  I knew that they needed to be addressed but I thought I could never take care of them as they seemed so large.  Well this past week I addressed two of them and have about four more to go.  I am applying my Kung Fu into my life and it feels great.  I have found that through my Kung Fu, life is not easier than it was in the past just easier to manage.  I don’t know if this makes sense but this is what it feels like to me. 

“Out of the Kwoon and into the world”, this has never rang truer to me until now.

Mr. Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta Canada

Puppies

This fall my family has been blessed with a litter of border collie puppies.  In fact this is the very first set of puppies the lord has blessed our family with.  I remember the day they were born like it was yesterday.  That day my wife was working evenings and our female dog was busy trying to find a place to "nest".  We finally realized what was happening and made her as comfortable as possible in our horse trailer.  Later that evening (I think about 1:00 am the next morning actually) my wife came home and woke me up with "Mia is having her puppies!!!".  Naturally I jumped out of bed and went outside to witness the birth of seven beautiful little puppies.  It was amazing to see them grow from what my wife like to call "little sausages" to these magnificent 12 week old puppies!  It was just amazing to watch these puppies grow and it reminded me of watching my children grow.

Well today my wife and I drove to Red Deer to meet with one of the last puppies owners.  It was a sad time for us but as soon as you saw the faces of the new owners you couldn't help but feel happy as you just knew some ones day was just a little bit brighter.

When I look at my training in Kung Fu it reminds me of the the experiences above.  We all start out as white belts (new born puppies) and then step by step, moment by moment we grow in our Kung Fu just like these puppies have grown in life.  I look at my Kung Fu differently now than when I started.  I look at my training as a process.  One step at a time just like these puppies taking their first step on the path of their life.

Ian Repay

Adaptability....Real life Kung Fu

This week at the 9 am class, Sifu Brinker talked about adaptability and style Vs function.  What never ceases to amaze me is what we learn in the Kwoon is so useful in real life.  I think so many people look at martial arts as either just self defence training, kicks or punches.  I also think for some people that is just fine if that's what they want to get out of their training.  However if you really embrace Kung Fu and what our school really teaches then you are going to not only improve your kicks and punches but you are going to improve your life skills as well.  What I love the most about our school is this aspect of training.  The aspect of taking what we learn out of the kwoon and into the world.  However this is not for everyone and I have spoken with people that don't like to have to do this and only want to come for the work out.  I guess that is fine but you are not really going to get the most out of your training in my opinion.

I rambled on a bit there and never really talked about what motivated me to write this blog.

In my work life, I am the regional sales manager for most of western Canada.  We have a major distribution center that we just built in Calgary and I have a small sales office in Edmonton.  Here is where the adaptability comes in.  The GM in Calgary has instructed me to shut the sales office and move to work out of our house.  I have two reps including my self that share the office in Edmonton.  I find that by having a common space it allows us time to meet as a group in a private and comfortable setting.  This allows us to share experiences and ideas and grow as a team.  With the shut down of the office I am fearing that we are going to lose that connection. 

I have just realized that my fears could be justified if  I don't adapt.  I could work from my home and become bitter and disconnected from my team in Edmonton or I could embrace this change and adapt.  Before Kung Fu I am pretty sure that I would have gotten bitter with my company and resisted the change.  Now I see things more clearly.  Why put so much negative energy into something I can't change?  Why not take the negative energy and circle it around (Kung Fu again) and put a positive spin on it by adapting and embracing this change?  That is what I am going to do.  I am going to find creative ways to connect with my team such as weekly breakfast meetings, perhaps do some hands on baking training with a customer with my team present which is a win win for the customer and my team.

There are so many ways to adapt to this change and this can only happen if we are in the right state of mind.

Thank you Sifu for continually training our minds and showing us how to take our skills "out of the Kwoon and into the world".

Ian Repay