Thought-Provoking Reflections And Examples to Make You See What is Important

Thought-Provoking Reflections

Although we regularly emphasize it in our videos, in the lessons of our online course and in our writings, we see that the experiences of the past twenty years are only repeated, that is, we often encounter the misunderstanding that surrounds what we teach.

This is obviously due to a lack of experience, but since we want to help those who are interested and those who are called to go through the no-man's land (until experience is replaced by faith and enthusiasm), we thought that we would give further comparisons and explanations in a series of short articles, just in case one- another is more understandable for that individual. Although our other materials are quite structured, this series is built up from ad-hoc examples and specific feedback from the past three years, as a series of articles that are independent of each other but have a unified content.

Let's get into it, with a live example. It happened several times that after a few months, some of our students decided to go to a (boxing or else) club to try what they learned.
Before commenting on this, we would like to emphasize once again that we do not want to criticize, but to understand the point of you that is needed for someone to cross the finish line. Because without it, you run in the wrong direction and you won't even find that particular finish line…

Back to the previous example: enthusiasm and curiosity are understood and taken for granted, but such a test clearly indicates that these students in question do not understand that there is nothing to test in what they have learned. Because from a fighting point of view, until you have the body awareness you need to be able to use Chow Gar kung-fu, you have NOTHING! There is simply nothing to try. Techniques and exercises are only tools to gain power.

We can also say that apart from what they would have known anyway, namely that they could not do kung-fu, they could not have realized anything else, because IF they had drawn any other conclusions about the system from this experience (whether positive or negative), that must be false, for there was no way they could test our system without power (roughly the aforementioned body awareness). Mathematics is ruthless: every product of 0 is 0.

Freedom of (from) Techniques - It seems that the decades of mass production of Hong Kong kung-fu and other action movies have burned patterns into the minds of those interested, which even a concrete encounter with kung-fu cannot override. Our answer to the question of how we would react to a particular attack still finds confusion. The answer is that we don't know. But even if we wanted to answer something a little more nuanced than that, we certainly wouldn't start detailing what kind of technique we would use.

Why? Because when you have this certain body awareness (a STRONG internal power) and the sharpened attention associated with it, a spontaneous reaction is created, which can be ANYTHING at the level of the movements. E.g.: When something stings or bites us, we still react with a spontaneous movement, and this is also the case in real (very rare) kung-fu.

Freedom of movement does not mean that we choose whatever technique we want, but that we are not dependent on any technique (which is why we don't even have to think about it when we get into a combat situation!), because our abilities allow us to react spontaneously.

When repeating exercises and techniques, it is very important to follow the principles. This is what makes or breaks your success. When we hear “how many times I've done a technique or exercise and I still don't feel the internal power”, we know for sure that (of course, only if it's true that you've done it many times) you didn't follow the principles exactly. It is a scene that is repeated a thousand times, that we show what the mistakes are (they are always the same, which we have already explained in detail anyway), and the practitioner is amazed that "well, I thought that…".

We have the impression that this is because most people, in a kind of waiting-for-miracle mode, believe that if someone tells them what to do (such as what we do in the lessons of the online course), then that is enough for success.

Not enough. The secret that everyone is looking for is not only whether we know the details, but how conscious we are while practicing them. This series of articles also wants to draw attention to this awareness.

You have to be able to stay in a kind of continuous search, in which we are always ready to renew ourselves. Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said that "The Zen spirit is the spirit of eternal beginners." This will get you there.

Our experience is that those who enjoy the trip stay on the road. It is true that we have to keep our eyes on the goal, but if the practice does not give you pleasure, then it will only be torture.

One of the most difficult parts of practicing kung-fu is that you have to keep practicing in the midst of the challenges of everyday life, and sometimes there is no change for a long time. Those who can't stand it or don't like this pastime, the things we explained won't help them either.

That's why it's worth paying attention to small signs, such as how good it feels to be in a kind of calm, relaxed state after training, or to detach yourself from everyday worries during practice, or to notice the small changes that we've already achieved.

According to our Sifu, training should be like eating. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, but we don't make a big deal out of it. We just eat. There is not a feast or festive lunch every day…

The rules and principles are easy to understand. Maybe it's difficult to follow them because most of them want to hear something shocking and strange, and since they understand what we say for the first time, they are reassured that this is enough.

However, it is the continuous attempt to be able to perform the given exercise under ALL circumstances in such a way that it complies with the basic principles that makes the practice successful. This is the true meaning of the teaching "practice makes good practice".

This is the hard-to-translate "something" that also appears in one of the verses of the system. If one can maintain this while practicing, one is practicing Chow Gar kung fu. If not, then he may be physically strong, he may seem stronger in the exercises, but what he does is useless in our eyes and moreover he is deceiving … himself.

Don't fool yourself! Don't waste your precious time! If you practice, pay attention and that attention will turn mud into gold.

There is an area of practice that is difficult to discover. This is what the principles seem impossible to do, at least in the way the principles require. We can say with great certainty that if one finds such a moment, it is a place in one's own practice that can bring a breakthrough.

When we encounter such an impossible situation, we tend to avoid it, forget it, or put it aside, saying that when everything else is going well, we'll bring it up. Here we could find a shortcut.

If you really pay attention during practice and try to experience such moments again and again, to practice what seems impossible, you will get surprising results. One of the most surprising things about it is that if you persevere, you will be able to do it and this is exactly what we are looking for…this is practicing Chow Gar!

Hold on! Consider that this disturbing, annoying factor (which is often reinforced by the training partner) is nothing compared to what awaits you in a real fight. Then no one will want to keep you in your comfort zone and everything will be confusing. Training prepares you for this, and again there is nothing mystical about it either.

The phenomenon described in the previous section is closely related to what our sifu considers a basic requirement, namely the "tough mind". Because everyone recalls something really tough about this, but in the rarest of cases it is that e.g. you should keep the elbow in for a full 5 minutes in chy sao.

But the same concept also includes the fact that someone endures their cross for a long time, that they appear weak in the eyes of others (often in the eyes of those who do not understand anything about it all). It's really hard to practice this way, but this is again exactly the mechanism of practice that leads to a tough mind, which you can then use in any other (not just physical combat) situations.

This is the invisible part of the practice, and although we don't like to talk about it, it was the connection that allowed the true art of combat to function as a spiritual path. If anyone is interested in this part, don't forget this when you are struggling with an exercise. Frustration and fatigue are what we pay for the result.

Although our kung-fu is for real fighting, it would be a mistake to think that it only makes sense to practice if one wants to fight. Here is an interesting example.

One of our kung-fu brothers badly pulled the back of his shoulder during physical work and decided to go to a famous doctor in Hungary, who, simply put, treats as a physical therapist (actually, he uses a complex systemic treatment for all kinds of musculoskeletal complaints and his own treatment system is from biomechanics, Osteopathic, manual therapy, trigger point therapy, sports physio therapy). We have already heard many incredible healings from him (and he also healed Zoltán's father).

Our friend only had to go to him a couple of times, and during the treatments they talked about our kung-fu several times. Our friend encountered two surprising things with him. One was that the doctor immediately understood our basic principles (whereas many people do not understand what we are explaining about even after years) and was very surprised that there is a kung-fu system that uses the body so optimally. It was completely clear to him why our principles and posture are the way they are and why our southern praying mantis kung-fu is suitable for exerting great power. The other was that the doctor confirmed that, in fact, the special elements of our posture are the most ideal from a biomechanical point of view (e.g. the position of our shoulder and the stability of body's power center), and even the healthiest!

In other words, learning Chow Gar is worthwhile even if someone does not want to fight at all, since he can keep himself fit and strong in a healthy way, which is also one of the cornerstones of a happy and balanced life.

Although the secret teaching and secret techniques have been discussed many times and you know our attitude to this topic, we thought it would be interesting if we would still explore an aspect of the practice that can be called secret, since the purpose of this entire series of articles is to see if one or the other the aspect raised is more understandable for someone and they can start based on it.

Of course, this is a secret like the others: it's only secret because they don't notice it, they don't understand its significance. It is precisely about the mechanism of action of the Chow Gar training method, which is closely related to our principle that the observance of the basic principles is of primary importance in practice. Why? Why is this so important and how is it that if it is so important, it remains obscure to most practitioners and thus becomes secret? (We would note that a lack of understanding of this leads many to see martial applications everywhere and try to interpret the system only at the level of movements.)

So, the secret is very simple: the training method tries to make the practitioner to try to exert force in a position in which they normally cannot and would not attempt on their own. If someone gives in to this compelling force (that is, persists in the practice by focusing on following the principles and not on appearing strong in the eyes of others and oneself at all costs), then in the midst of the effort, he will experience more and more times that the body starts to work differently: he begins to use his inner power.

The hard part is that it doesn't happen all at once. The feeling fluctuates, sometimes it disappears for days or weeks, initially the practitioner cannot bring it about voluntarily…etc. In such cases (and this is the great thing about the system's training method) there is nothing else to do but recall the principles over and over again.
The interesting thing is that very, very few people persevere and believe that this should be done. That's why good kung fu is so rare.

To be continued...