Year of the Horse

To recap the year of the horse is an interesting one for me.  I could say that I failed because I didn't reach many of my physical goals.  However I don't look at succeeding and failing just based on the numbers alone.  I look at what the year has done for me personally and I feel that I have become a better person than who I was a year ago.  Because I choose to look at the past year this way, I have succeeded.  The goal of the I Ho Chaun to me is to live a life of mastery and through that improves ones life in a way that is sustainable for the rest of that life.  I'm happy in that I have improved aspects of my life that I feel are sustainable for the rest of my life.  I have put into practice habits that will serve me long after I can't complete the physical aspects of my Kung Fu.

Some of the specific things that I have grown in this past year is definitely empathy.  This is an area that I really focused on this this past year.  To step back and really try and understand what people are going through and how that affects them as well as me.  Another area of growth has been with blogging and sharing my thoughts and feelings.  I have never blogged so much like I have this year.  In some ways this was the only thing keeping me going and engaged with the program and with my teammates. 

I am looking back on this year with a positive attitude and taking that positiveness right into the year of the Sheep.  We had a very good Horse team and I'm looking forward to the sheep team.

Mr. Ian Repay
Student Of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta Canada

Spartan Race

One of my I Ho Chuan personal requirements for this upcoming year is to compete and finish the Spartan Race in Red Deer in September.  I chose to do this as a way to push myself physically and mentally more than I have ever done.  I figured this would help me mentally to prepare for my black belt grading both physically and more importantly mentally.  I know that this as well as my black belt grading is going to be physically demanding but it's the mental side that worries me most.  It's our mind that tells our body to quite when our body can do much more.  This is why I want to compete and complete this race, to prove to myself that I'm mentally strong enough.  By preparing for this race, it's going to push me to improve my diet and put together a training regiment that will include strength training, cardio training, high intensity and low intensity training.  Follow my journey to the race on my blog as there will be many many posts surrounding my preparation.

Mr. Ian Repay
Student Of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada 

Mindful eating

This evening was one of those moments, moments of clarity.  Sifu Brinker loaned me a copy of Thick Nhat Hanh's book "Peace is every step".  I have been reading it and tonight I experienced a moment of clarity.  It involved " mindful eating " of my supper tonight.  I have always eaten my meals quickly and never paid much attention to where my food came from or the moment I was in.  Tonight was different.  I slowed down my eating and focused on where my food came from.  Right from the moment of seed through the blossoms to the growth of the plant.  I focused on the sunlight that the plant was bathed in through the summer months and the heat of fall.  I have never done this before.  I can tell you that I really enjoyed beaing in the moment.  I watched everyone around me and I enjoyed the taste of my food more than ever before. I truly felt like I was in the moment and world really slowed down around me.

Mr Ian Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta

Passion and leadership

I have a passion for a lot of things but one of the biggest passions is leading and developing people.  I have been in a senior leadership role for a good portion of a decade and I have always looked forward to and have been passionate about devolping my sales team and leading projects.

Recently I had a very good conversation with a mentor of mine.  He asked me why I don't apply this passion for leadership beyond my work life?  I didn't have an answer for him.  When I'm at the kwoon I tend to take a backseat.  I let other people lead and make the decisions.  I'm a good team player and I take direction when needed.  However I have a passion for my training just as I have for leading and developing my team at work.

This year I'm going to take on a greater role with in the kwoon.  I'm going to lead some projects and take on a greater role within the kwoon and the I Ho Chuan team. 

Mr. Ian Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta

Higher Standard

Black belts have always been held to a higher standard, god like status in my mind.  Ever since I can remember I have always have been in awe of a black belt regardless of style.  It always represented to me a much higher standard.  Something that not many people can achieve.

The black belts in my school are gods to me.  Perhaps I shouldn't hold them in such asteem but I do.  I expect them to do everything better than I can do.  I look to them to carry themselves and act like a black belt should.  I envision this to be like an "old school" kung Fu master.  One that instills unspoken wisdom and respect not only  by their Kung Fu skills but how they walk, talk and interacts with students and people.

I look to their blogs for inspiration and insight and am disappointed when some of them haven't written for far to long. I look up to each and everyone of them wanting to aspire to be just like them.    I have such respect for our black belts and what they represent  that I would be crushed spiritually if they did something that detrimental to this. 

The aspiration to be a SRKF black belt and to be part of our lineage drives me to keep training and keeps me motivated to change my life in a positive way.

Mr. Ian Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta

Year of the sheep

I have been thinking pretty hard on the upcoming year of the sheep.  I'm proud to be part of the team and I'm looking forward to starting a fresh year.  I have been reflecting on this past year a lot.  I have failed in a lot of areas and I can attribute them to attitude and apathy.  I have learnt this year that I need to stay engaged and use the tools that are given to me.  Once I become disengaged I have a very hard time getting back. 

I have developed my personal requirements and look forward to starting the year like we do every year, 1000 push ups and sit ups.  No better way to get engaged for the year of Sheep.

Mr. Ian Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta.

Bruce Lee - No Limits

I came across this excerpt from Bruce Lee's book Art of expressing the human body.  This really reminded me of the I Ho Chuan program.  Pushing past what we think is our limits both mentally and physically. This book is now on my reading list for 2015.

"Bruce Lee had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. So this morning he said to me, “We’re going to go five.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.” He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it.” I said, “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.”

So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” – and we’re still running – “if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles.

Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?”
He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

Art of Expressing The Human Body - by Bruce Lee

Ian Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu