Meditation

I have been sick. So no push ups. Classes and stuff yes of course.
But I noticed that throughout the day, the only time I don't feel sick, is when I am meditating, concentrating on my breath.

When Meditation becomes something more than a warm up, when it becomes the purpose of the "workout" the main thing. It becomes more sacred, even without the trappings of incense and an altar.

Da Jau

Hit sit.

There is something about the Kung Fu meditation,

The one I learned

or perhaps the way I learned that is harder (not more difficult) but something more of a hammer or a fist.

Not that the yogic candles and meditation isn't fantastic.

I have a Tibetan prayer bowl and a rock and a dragon and a statue to Nike.

But inside there is something still of the old Moh Goon.

The one that the floor and cold tile is hard.

Air is mixed with oil from cooking, incense and cigarette smoke.

Instead of chanting there is the talking of herng ha politics.

Now my meditation is on a carpeted floor, or the grass,

and the altar is built on a shaky shelf, with no offerings of incense.

Dragons and rocks and knives that are special only because of where they came from.

Heirlooms and gifts.,

The truth is it's all in your mind.


 The Kung Fu, The Meditation, The Essence.

Debate Tactics

Love him or hate him, that was brilliant of Trump to tweet that nasty ad about Hillary 4 minutes before the debate while she is surfing the net on Twitter. The idea is to throw her before the debate starts. So did Hillary have something up her sleeve to release on Twitter? No. Nobody has even been thinking about these new tools like social media that people have been using in politics from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement to Black Lives Matter.

If anything, I think it is important to note who is good as using these tools to campaign.

Camera Fu

I try to do some exercise every morning. Today I am sick so I did not do my 100 pushups, but still went for a walk. I always used to think in terms of Kung Fu. Maybe bring a stick and do some fighting moves. But I am fast realizing that my weapons that could actually potentially make me money are the Camera and the Gung lik behind it is writing. 

Again, all I really know is Kung Fu, so I will have to approach it from that perspective. ie take a lot of photos. But if my Camera is going to be my sword (and just like in my style of Kung Fu I don't have a Treasure sword of a camera. A butcher knife will do)  

I realize I must familiarize myself with the tool. And since I need to work out anyway, well yeah I was doing stances and all that with my camera and Kung Fu moves with one hand. Sounds crazy? Well I don't care it's what I am going to be doing. 

Ethan Hawke's, "Rules for a Knight"

I picked up this little book at the library. It is small and unassuming. Not intimidating.
It looked like a western version of the Hagakura, except fiction, which is basically what it is.
It's awesome.

I'll be reading it to Noah soon, but honestly, the language is simple enough that he can read it himself.

In it you will recognize many Buddhist teachings often found in Kung Fu movies, except re-written to make sense in European Knighthood. Now di the author make that jump or were those lessons always there? I think it was the author.

But It would be nice to write something similar for my own students. It's what I intended (sort of) with Kung Fu and Love, Parenting, all that. But I realize is that although my books are short... in a way they also have too many words.  Less is more.

Yet another project to put on the back burner.

Take Three breaths

For my children's classes I do a brief meditation that lasts three breaths. Followed by nine more breaths, with the hands moving, 3 front, 3 to the side and three up.

I did this yesterday for Three different classes, actually four. Three preschool classes and one fourth grade class in JP

The main reason I choose three is because I know kids are not going to sit still for a 20 minute mediation.

However, part of Chi Gung and Kung Fu is that you are supposed to breathe and be doing it throuighout the day if possible. Like all the time. While you are walking or waiting, whatever.

But the difference I felt from closing my eyes and doing the three breaths, should me that I was definitely not doing this. If three breaths can make such a difference, imagine the 20 minutes of meditation? I have to get back into doing that.

Advice from Auntie Amy

I stopped by the Chinese Historical Presentation at Tufts medical center... late for the presentation but I chanced into Auntie Amy among others and we had some long discussions.

"Hey Adam, did your mother tell you many stories about your father?"asked Auntie Amy suddenly. People around here kind of thought it was weird she was suddenly talking to me I think.

I was assuming she was asking me whether I knew my father ran a gambling den and the like or not. The answer to that was sort of. I knew stuff but not details. Not because my mother didn't tell me. More because she probably didn't know the details and also I was young.


"Yeah sure."

"You should write about your father. Because he and his friends were very influential in Chinatown for that time period. He and the people around him and the work they did with Nai Lun Association and others was essential to Chinatown at that time."

Okay so to write something like that first off I don't know enough. I basically know enough to write a mention that doesn't do justice. Plus I had always thought I was brought into Nai Lun Association as a child... but I wasn't sure. I think I went in there when my dad gambled and I remember grabbing at the dice. We werent't playing nickel and dime Mah Jong it was craps. And I rolled snake eyes not knowing the meaning of it all. It's one of the reasons why I don't gamble.

Hearing the words come out of Auntie Amy's mouth sort of was just a confirmation. Still, I know nothing about Nai Lun Association... except that it seem sto be gone now, and that is a recent thing.

"How old was your father?"

Uhhh he was born in '34 I think but we weren't sure. He wasn't sure actually.

She nodded her head, "So he would be about 80... I think enough time has passed that you can talk about all these things. "

There are two big things to pull out of this sentence.

A) even if my dad were alive, he would be younger than Auntie Amy.


B) she was totally talking about Statute of limitations.


Okay so it would be interesting to write those stories. But even IF I knew them all, I would wait till everyone was dead before putting it out there. But again just I kind of knew what was going on. It didn't mean that I KNEW what was going on, like names dates and events.

Hell my mom didn't even KNOW know. Not really, because it was irrelevant to her. The FBI had approached her to be some sort of spy and it was the same thing. First of all she didn't know as much as they thought she did and secondly, F off because she was with my dad.

I mean some people would think that some of my sense of loyalties and all that is somehow adopted from the Chinese culture. Let me tell you, a lot of it comes from my mother and my maternal grandfather.

A lot of Chinese don't realize just how bad-ass a traditional "Chinese" wife a white woman or any non Asian woman can be. There are more cultural similarities than differences across the board.


But what was most interesting to me about what Auntie Amy said, is that there was a community side to the vague things that my dad did. I just thought he ran a gambling house and was a chef, and watched a ton of TVB kek jap soap operas, and that is the end of the story. One sentence. But what is Nai Lun Association? What was the work in the community? I actually even know that my father did stuff with the CCBA but only because he shook his head and grumbled about it (which might not be what Auntie Amy wanted me to write.) But that's all I know. I mean, my mom didn't speak Chinese and my dad didn't speak English. It isn't like they would have long political discussions with details about what was going on and who was who.

My mom had saved a bunch of articles from the time and she would only say that what was in the newspapers was spun in to way to make these guys look so terrible, so bad. I mean there must have been some truth to that, but it's true that the humanity, the community side of the story gets thrown out because it's harder and more complicated to understand.

The Importance of sleep

I saw something on Facebook once about how sleeping in might be better for your body sometimes than working out.

Honestly I didn't even read the article or MEME. Mainly because the computer stalled and I lost patience.

But the other day I had gotten home late... or early depending on your perspective, and woke up after a nap because the kids were going nuts in the house. Eating candy and what have you. They had to go to the playground. So we went.

I was watching them slash resting on the bench. So basically I was listening to their voices. When I didn't hear voices I called out.

"Baba aren't you going to do pull ups?"

No.

"Why because you are doing your 22 pushups?"

No

"Why not?"

Not today I'm tired.


"But it just takes a few seconds..."


Okay seriously though I knew that doing that stuff would a) potentially not help me get stronger at that particular moment and b) potentially injure me. You have to know your body.


I woke up and actually sat up later when a family (who were friends arrived.

"Hahaha uhh are you practicing? Like being homeless? We were like 'Who is that creepy guy.'" SO I got up and socialized a bit. But yes I did 0 pushups that day.

But it's okay because I am doing 100 today.

Class structure versus informal training

A parent recently asked me about classes and wondered why her son like studying from me at the playground last year but did not seem interested in signing up for martial arts at a formal school. (Not with me btw. And this is a subject for another post, but I notice that a good amount of my Kung Fu outreach, as it were, is actually just free advertising for your generic Martial Arts place.)

But having just watched a slew of performances on You Tube and also teaching a new class at Nativity Prep I am comparing the movements and the spirit of the movements in my mind between someone who is trained in a class setting and someone who is raw and untrained.

For instance, the most athletic kids in my class can do some back flips and stuff like that. From a performance perspective these are my guys. They can perform a part of the show right now and look awesome. We have to work on pausing and Kung Fu movements and get the feel for Chinese rhythms and body structure... but for the flips they already got it.

Thing is to get that structure you have to a) line up...

Now before I even get to Jam Jong and basics and ding lik and all that we are still at lining up. Because the most athletic kids cannot stand or sit still. They are constantly in motion.

So they get an "A" in the performance section. If I was just training them we could just jump right in. But for teaching the entire class Kung Fu...I almost want to kick them out. That's because of the setting. It is a formal class.

Now there are other kids that are fantiastic at lining up. Some are physically athletic too. But they are more calm. Less raw.

You know you can see a difference between kids forced to do a routine over and over and then become good at it and two kids wailing on each other with sticks. The energy in the play fighting is different. There is no holding back. It's more lethal and without any practice.


Many forms, done together as a routine look gelded. It's the difference between a mustang and a race horse with one testicle. The race horse will have better endurance and run around in a circle. The wild Mustang is much faster but will not even allow a person or a saddle on his back.

Of course there are those that can have the structure of the form and the raw power of the natural fight.

So how do you find balance when teaching a class?

100 Pushups

I am sort of proud that I managed to fit 100 pushups in while dropping the kids off at school. But this feeling of accomplishment sort of meant that I did not do as much Kung Fu and meditation practice later in the day. I guess there are drawbacks to these small accomplishments. On the other hand I guess it's why people like to do pushups. It doesn't take much time but you really feel like you've accomplished something. You also kin dof look puffed up so you LOOK like you've accomplished something as well.

Practicing Little Things

Although I have been practicing every day, recently it has all been classes where I am teaching. Although I get down into horse stance, etc. Mentally and spiritually it is not the same. I realize I have to put some time for my own practice. I decreased the amount of basics that I make the children do and that gave me an idea to do a daily practice of small things. One Mein Lay jum /Tai Chi form. Because the idea of the practice is not to get better at Mein Lei Jum but to give myself a mental break.
A few minutes of siting meditation.
Perhaps I should put an external form in there as well.
Today I performed and for some reason that always feels like a huge event even if you do the math It may not be as many hours or minutes of actual Kung Fu.

Tree with Stress Fracture at Harry Downe's field.

So the beautiful tree in the background here is probably 100 years old or something. They are taking down on the branches today, cutting a huge piece of it off by this afternoon. (Stuff gets done in Brookline man.) 

I also heard that in 3-4 years they plan on redoing this whole playground. 

School Schedule

Noah is back to school, and I am determined to do some sot of Kung Fu every day. 

That is going to be tough because school takes a long time, and then after school, it is so fun to play with friends on the playground. Yesterday it ended up taking us an hour to do 30 basics each. No stretching, no calisthenics. I get more than that done in Half an hour with younger children usually. His argument was that he was tired because he had been running around.

Well that's why we only did 30 each instead of 100 right?

Tomorrow we perform at the Lantern Festival. So I guess today we will just do a brief rehearsal

Luk Lik with Pee pee Pants

Luk Lik.. over and over done to some Chinese dulcimer.

Praise and adaptation

Well I guess as important as it is to make the kids do class, it's also important to recognize when they need a break or when they've done enough. Today I was pretty mad at Noah acting up in class. but at the end he did 25 pushups. Like 25 real pushups. I don't think I was able to do 1 push up when I was 6 years old. So I guess the classes were doing something somehow, I don't know.

I realized that maybe I was trying to fit too much stuff into a class, and so we should still do the classes every day.. but cut down the material. And also, when he is able to do something good praise him fro it.

As for Jonah, he seems to fooling around all the time in class. But then he hit me with a bunch of cups and they hurt. So obviously the basics are working their magic, whether he is giggling or not.

Besides, once school starts the classes definitely have to be short.

I think I will stick to having the stretches being bridges and front stances and that't it. As the weather turns cold, if we continue to do classes outside it won't be a good idea to touch the ground anymore anyway.

Kung Fu and Writing

I've come to view my writing through a Kung Fu perspective. That is, I often will write a blog post, and I know it isn't that well thought out. It isn't beautifully inspired. But I have to make sure I do at least one, or maybe even several a day. The goal isn't that particular blog post. But to skip a day and then another day. That's getting lazy. So what I am saying is I have started to view my writing like basics and forms. I try to do it every day.

As I do this I realize I have become extremely lazy with my video making. Making videos for me is that advanced form of Kung Fu like Mein Lei Jum. In a way, it's easier, but in a way it's more difficult. Plus it takes a ton of patience to just wait for things to load.. I can't stand that stuff.

But even my writing can sometimes slip.

I decide I don;t have the right story or I avoid certain topics. I am afraid to write about certain things.

I have to force my self to just push it out, knowing that, "M hai yut ha duk ah." I'm not going to get the perfect post out there in one turn.

As Neil Gaiman said, "Imagine that you have a million words in you that is absolute rubbish and that you have to write all that before you can write anything good."

So I have been taking that approach. If I had taken that approach from the beginning of my writing career, which I would count as having started in middle school, and continued, maybe I would be a freaking master by now. But unfortunately there was a time in the middle where I was only writing for school and not for myself. I guess I was still writing, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't disciplined.

But if I continue to write for the next ten years... I should be pretty good. I think I have noticed improvements within the last year or so just from blogging all the time.