Many
chinese martial artists usually have some great stories about
their respective masters. Maybe he's a martial artist of much
renown, or maybe he's a humble unknown with amaizing technique.
Perhaps s/he came from some well known school in China, or
hung out with a group of masters who refined their styles
and technieqes to an extraodinary level. Maybe they happen
to be known as a top notch scholar of the chinese fighting
arts (cough cough *Adam Hsu* cough), someone the students
feel really lucky to study under, and highly appreciate.
Well...
I'm not lucky enough to be under any of those types. I'm not
under any type actually....
Call
me one of the "Unguided."
Life
isn't easy for someone with a major love of the martial arts,
but hardly any means to learn it. When you have a lack of
funds, and/or a lack of quality teachers and schools to learn
from, you tend to grab anything you can get your hands on.
You also tend (well, ok, not everyone) to take the art a wee
bit more seriously. Even the smallest bit of martial arts
knoweldge isn't to be taken for granted. Like the poor dehydrated
guy in the desert who finds every drop of water to be precious,
I treasure just about every last scrap of martial arts related
info I find.
Of
course, this can mean a total mess if one hasn't even the
faintest inkling of the basics of the arts. No matter how
much of a natural talent one may be, you still need somebody
around to tell you things like, "Hey, you're not supposed
to slouch like that when you punch. Straighten that back kid!".
You still need someone to help you work out the proper form
of your movements and stances. And you still need someone
to make sure you aren't cheating when you're standing in that
horse riding stance... at least in those first precious days
of training anyway.
Luckly,
I had that kind of tutelage. Not that I had a lot of money
back then, but I did know some people who knew some people
who taught other people how to punch and kick. And I was soon
able to hook up with some good students of Chang Chuan who
met three times a week at night to work on their training.
Those were fun times, and I felt that I was finally getting
somewhere.
But
things happened, and the school closed. Nuts. And everyone
went their sepreate ways. Double nuts.
So
there I was, still thrirsty for kung fu knowledge, holding
an empty cup, and no one around willing to pour some out (for
free that is....).
Ever
since then, it's been a weird period of training in the little
I know, picking whatever I can, and honing the basic skills
I was given. It's interesting though... sort of like going
on a lone quest through unnown lands, sailing uncharted warters.
Walking the path of the teacherless martial artist can be
full of hazzardous adventure.
One
aspect of my martial arts life is practicing whenever I can.
This is when some bit of comedy comes into play, because I
pretty much have only two places to do this: at home, and
at work. The comedy doesn't pop up so much at home, because...
well, it's my home. I can pretty much do whatever I want there...
well, almost anything. There isn't lot's of room in my little
apartment, so I find myself bumping into walls a lot while
trying to complete roads in tan tui. So I guess there is still
some comedy to that; at least my wife thinks so.
But
some real fun can happen when I practice at work. I happen
to work at a doughnut shop. People expect you to make doughnuts
when you work in a doughnut shop (well, if that happens to
be your position there...). What they don't expect is to see
you in the back storeroom switching from horse riding stance
to bow and arrow stance while punching, during your break.
Luckily, I don't get into any trouble over it, and they pretty
much leave me alone. Maybe that's because they might be thinking
I'll probably do something crazy like shove my fists through
their chests if they get me angry, but then I can never know
for sure. At least one of the women there who used to fence
likes talking to me about martial arts and swordplay, as well
as the manager that takes Karate.
Still,
practicing at work, or in any other place that you can, tends
to open up some new takes on training. Sometimes you don't
have to go all out with it. I've found that sometimes it can
be as simple as working out the body mechanics of the torso
twisting as I push open a door. Sometimes as I'm lifting large
bags of flour onto a cart, I can move from stance to stance,
starting from the horse riding stance, to bow and arrow, while
using proper breathing. I also find myself using martial breathing
and body mechanics as I work with and move heavy parts of
machinery, sinking into lower stances for more power. At times
it's almost like going to a gym, or even like the student
in some kung fu flick learning martal arts while his master
makes him do mundane tasks for him like sweeping the yard,
or doing the cooking.
And
since I'm doing this while working, it's like I'm being paid
to practise!
...well
ok, I'm actually being paid to make doughnuts. Still, I'm
getting some martial benifit....
The
main thing that I notice however is the self discipline. When
you have a teacher, you at least have someone to hound you
if you're getting lazy and/or slipping up. When you don't
have one, all you have is yourself. And when you have yourself,
you can get lazy real quick. The one thing that will keep
you going though, is your love for the arts... as well as
you wanting to be really good at it. The last thing you want
if you desire to be at the very least competent, is to get
slow and sloppy. You soon find your mind throwing all kinds
of mental chastisments: "Hey! That kick was pathetic... Lift
it up!!" Or, "You realize that if you had moved that sword
the way you did in a real fight, you'd be dead now. Do over!"
It's weird when you find yourself being pushed around by yourself
at times, but it's worth it, since you're pretty much all
you have. Well that and whatever books, videos, and whatever
else you may have.
It's
been said often that one can't learn from books and videos:
a qualified teacher is paramount. I wholehartedly believe
this, which is why I think it sucks that I don't have an instructor
yet. But I do think there is some merit to these other sources
of martial arts knowledge however, particularly if you already
have had some working knowedge of the basics, and keep at
them. The manuals of old wouldn't have been made if they didn't
have some workable value to them, and their real worth comes
out because of the one who is willing to take advantage of
them fully, and put the work in. The key word here is WORK:
martial arts aren't all fun and games. And there's definately
a great deal of work to be done when one is walking this path
alone.
Still,
I find my situation interesting. It can be a fun, and even
rewarding adventure, besides a hazzardous one, since you find
along the way that you learn a lot of new things about yourself
that you probably didn't know was there. And self discovery
is a major part of martial arts training anyway.
Marco
Sainte Jr.
