Learning is a process. We’ve spoken about this before, and I’m sure we’ll speak about it again, but it’s definitely something worth going over. Many individuals are not aware that they are not utilizing the process of learning when they’re training. Because of this, they miss out on knowledge that is sometimes right in front of your face. The truth of the fact is most of us, myself included, take a long time to discover a methodology and/or way of learning and practicing in order to gain true depth and understanding of the art that we are involved with. We all practice, but not everyone practices at the same level. We need to learn how to practice and learn. If you practice properly, you’re learning. If you know how to learn, then your practice has meaning. Ultimately what we are looking for in the process of learning is to make the practice meaningful.
On the first level of practice, you come to class. You change into your uniform. You bow in, line up and follow along. That’s good for the first couple of years. It gets you by; it gives you what you need. It gives you physical fitness, flexibility, strength and stamina. You may even gain a good punch, kick, stance, or even a technique or two. But true depth of understanding of the martial art system that you’ve chosen to study requires a much greater mental involvement and a certain level of intelligence.
It’s true that the crux of any martial art system is that it has to be effective and efficient enough to incapacitate if not kill the opponent. As I’ve said before, you have to get the job done. But this is inclusive with the learning process. In order for you to get the job done, you must understand the learning process. And what about what’s left after the job is done? The Chinese martial arts are much more heavily embroidered with other aspects of self-realization that go far beyond the initial concept of being able to overcome the opponent and win the encounter.
Learning the self is the ultimate goal in martial arts. I believe this is true in any true martial art, not a martial sport, not something that’s used for entertainment or to make money. In a true sense, the martial arts are there to better the individual, therefore bettering that individual’s immediate group, family and friends, and then impacting society overall. You come to class and the Sifu and/or master drops a pebble of wisdom or knowledge into your pond. This creates a ripple effect that then radiates outward if taken appropriately by the student. These small acts of wisdom or pearls of knowledge are what you’re searching for when you’re training. This can only be achieved if you have some methodology. I remember going through high school and college and not being able to study appropriately to gain depth of knowledge as opposed to short term memory to pass the exam or write the paper. The honest aspect of it was that we were never taught how to learn. We were taught to memorize and regurgitate. This is pretty much what you do for the first few years in your martial art training. You follow along, you memorize, you regurgitate, and you hope and pray that something stays on the wall. If you continue and stay longer and you’re astute enough, you’ll see that that method doesn’t really glean you any deeper insight, and you have to find another way.
So, we were explaining to the class the other night about how to find this other way. There are many ways that can help you to better understand, but the best way sometimes is to separate yourself from yourself in order to see yourself. This is why I was saying to my team the other day, we have to
• Practice
• STOP
• Analyze
• Revise
• Repeat (Per my Sifu, “No good. Do It Again.”)
Synchronization of mind, body and spirit is the hidden secret within the practice. As they say, it’s as plain as the nose on your face. Can you see your nose? I can’t. Training in any aspect of your system is purely a vehicle towards enlightenment. It’s not the end-all be-all. I had a wonderful conversation with my Si Gung, Grandmaster Wai Hong of the Fu Jow Pai, and he related to me in no uncertain terms that, “You don’t have to do the whole form. You need to use your mind.” He asked me how come so many actors are incapable of winning an Academy Award, and then proceeded to tell me it’s basically because they don’t put their mind into that role. Everything is stemming from the mind. The mind is the seat of knowledge and learning. You have to raise your understanding. What you’re working on in your practice is feeling your connection to the movement. The form, be it empty hand or weapon, is an access point. As we practice over time, we internalize the movement so it’s no longer the form. It becomes your instinctual behavior, action without thinking. You’ve downloaded the program and it’s so deep within it will never come out. Our practice must transcend the physical and become metaphysical. You have to practice so much that the form and the person disappear and there’s only the action, the idea, which is one with the nature of it, which is one with everything. It’s one with you. That’s the practice.
So, what do we mean by “STOP”? You have to be able to back out, so to speak, to see the bigger picture. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you look hard at your face, and then don’t you back out and look at everything in total? Left side, right side, try to see what it looks like in the back… oh, there’s a hair sticking out. Don’t you do that? That’s what we mean by STOP. Step back and take a long hard unbiased view. Strive to match yourself up to the archetype that’s being put in front of you. Otherwise your name is Forest Gump and you’re running for no reason.
You should analyze yourself. Pay attention mentally, physically and spiritually. It’s all about the personal approach of the individual that has to be modified and grow. It’s a constant process of processing the information that’s been given to you. Analyzation is a form of digestion. You need to be able to digest everything that you’ve taken in. If you don’t fully digest the food you’ve taken in, the nourishment cannot filter through your system. Therefor it goes to waste. The same will happen with the knowledge you’ve been given, so you need to take the time to analyze. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand this because they’ve gone through the modern school system where you go from one grade to the next grade to the next. They let you pass through the grades just to get you through the system. A lot of modern martial art training, because it’s become a big business, has also adopted a similar attitude. This is all fine and well if you’re just treating it as a hobby or pastime, but if you really want to step in the true realm of becoming a lifetime martial artist, that type of learning and method has to be put aside. Because at some point there are no longer any belts, stripes or any kind of accolades to be had. The only thing you’re going to end up with is you looking into the mirror of your soul and knowing if you’ve really done the work or not.
This is the self-study you have to make. You must turn inward in order to have the external. Most don’t want to do that because that’s the tough thing, going in and literally taking yourself down to the bone, looking at yourself, ripping yourself apart with no compassion whatsoever and then starting from scratch again. And this process must be repeated not once, but many times if you wish to improve. If you don’t want to go through this process, you will not improve. You will lie to yourself; you will fool yourself, and you will be stuck in space and time with everyone else. Everybody gets stuck at some point in time, and when you get stuck, you’re incapable of going beyond yourself. You’re just banging your head against the wall. When you come to these moments, this is when you have to STOP, analyze, and then revise.
You create your own reality. You create what happens. If you say crap, it’s crap. If you say it’s amazing, it’s amazing. We are all a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you create in your mind’s eye is what you will see. You must create a different reality. You must recreate yourself through the internal by reinterpreting yourself and everything else. That is the only way. Recreate yourself again. Again? Again. It’s only for the betterment of you. I want to give you a brand new pair of shoes, but you insist on wearing the shoes with holes in them. Why don’t you want to move up a level? “Because I’m comfortable.” That’s not comfortable; that’s complacent. Revise your understanding and go beyond yourself. Tell yourself, dude, get out of the way because I need to move forward. Extend yourself beyond the confines of today’s version of you. That’s what ultimately Kung Fu is, a mind-body expansion tool. You’re only going to become better, but you do have to pay for it through that cycle of: Practice, STOP, Analyze, Revise, and then go back and do it again. If you really know how to practice and how to become self-analyzing and self-critical, it’s an amazing journey. It’s not sunshine every day. Sometimes it’s rain and thunderstorms, but you need to go through all those peaks and valleys. This is the cycle of learning and growth.
The true study of the martial arts is the study of the self. It’s a self-help tool that has to be worked. It’s not in a book or a formula. You can’t juice it or buy it in a health food store. The guru on the mountain can’t do it for you. You have to do it for yourself. It’s a b**** and you gotta get on your knees and take it, and that’s equal for you, me and everyone else. If they tell you something else, they’re selling you on snake oil; it ain’t real. The real thing is the truth hurts. It’s bitter; it’s cold, but that’s what you need. So be happy and keep practicing.
-Paul Koh
