Kung Fu Zone
  • Home
  • Our Philosophy
  • What We Teach
    • Tiger Crane Kung Fu
    • Shuang Yang Tai Chi
  • Instructors
    • Shkar Sharif
    • Kristina Shopova Sharif
    • Assistant Instructors
  • Classes
    • All Classes - Timetable
    • Children's Classes
    • Members Class Booking
  • Pricing
  • Media
  • Blog
  • Shkar Sharif

What a Year!

23/12/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
There is no sugar coating it, this year has been a disaster, and we will feel the effects for years to come. 

Not many people know this, but at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, I saw a therapist. Not because I had any specific issue or reason to, but as an instructor and a relatively new father to two children, I didn't want to pass my baggage onto my kids and on to my students. The idea of seeing a therapist felt like it would be a short affair, I imagined that I would go in there and the therapist would quickly see that I was fine and didn’t need to spend money on a therapist. 

How wrong I was!

My therapist was excellent. We spent three months doing weekly sessions. She was able to help me see that the view from the window I was looking out of was beautiful, I just needed to shift focus and stop looking at my own reflection in the glass. This stood me in good stead to face 2020.

In January, I took some of my senior students on a trip to Singapore. Singapore is my favourite place in the world to visit, and it happens to be the home of our Tiger Crane Combination and Shuang Yang system. Apart from the two days of food poisoning that I suffered, we all had a wonderful time, eating our way through the food courts.

We visited a Feng Shui shop to get hold of some amulets for the new year on this trip. The Feng Shui Master explained that this coming year is the year of the metal rat, and it will not be a fun year. He explained that this year will be a year of disease, economic collapse and that there will be a significant hit to the travel industry. As a sceptic by nature, I am still trying to logically understand how his prediction was so accurate.

Covid-19 hit us in March and lockdown after lockdown started. In this time, my Kung Fu School, like most others, has suffered a lot. We have had to teach a lot of the year on zoom, this was a difficult transition to make, and we have not been allowed to spar or practise partner drills at all since March. On the business side, we have lost around 30% of our students, and have had to adapt to last-minute rules from the government on lockdowns and restarts.

On a personal note, 2020 has been a year of refinement and learning. My own Kung Fu level has taken a massive leap forward, and I have reworked and adapted the way I teach. I have already seen the improvements my students are making and continue to make with these new methods.

Here is what I have learnt this year.

Many businesses have been forced to close for good, and many more are on the brink. Our school has been able to continue and is looking good moving forwards. Many people tell me that this is due to my hard work and my ability to keep my students motivated to train. I politely thank them but know this is not the real reason. The reason is very simple, as much as we like to think we are the masters of our own fate, no person is truly an island. I have been able to continue teaching and running Kung Fu Zone because my students refuse to let me stop. Through zoom training, to training in the rain outdoors, to covid secure training in halls, back to zoom training. My students have been there with me, learning and keeping me motivated to teach them. I even have students who have trained in maybe 3 or 4 classes all year, who refuse to cancel their memberships. 

I have always considered my role as a teacher and guide as a lonely role. My students have taught me this year that it doesn’t have to be lonely and that when the waves are violent, and the ship is in danger, they will all lend a hand to keep us steady. I love them all and will always be grateful to them. 

2021

I don’t know what 2021 will hold, nobody does. I just know that if we are resilient, we will get through it, and if we are together, we will thrive.

As a father to a young son, I will do one thing in 2021 that I wasn’t so good at before, I will tell my male friends I love them more. If you feel it, and it will bring joy to another person, why hold it back?

My family and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Head Instructor - Shkar Sharif
December 2020

1 Comment

Quality over Quantity

5/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
I often get asked by other martial artists, “How long have you been training?” As the length of time training is commonly used as a measure of ability and understanding.

Length of time training is essential and a beginner can get to a satisfactory level by just putting in the hours consistently over a sustained period. But there will come a stage in one's training where more time training isn’t enough on its own. The quality of training is the most crucial factor.

Training Quality

Training quality consists of two things,

  1. The quality of the instruction and the teacher's ability to explain this so that the student understands and can work on doing.
  2. The ability of the student to follow the instruction and apply it to their practice, without adding anything or taking anything away.
​
The quality of one’s training will help a student very quickly advance with their Martial Arts.

Here is my little equation for Kung Fu ability.

L (Kung Fu Level)
T (Time Spent Training)
Q (Quality of Training)

L = TQ²

Time spent is vital to one's level, but the real multiplier here is the quality of your training.

0 Comments

The Three Battles

25/5/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
There are different ways to look at one's progression within the traditional Chinese martial arts. One way that I like looking at one's progression is based on our Tiger Crane Combination systems teaching on the three battles. I have discussed the three battles before but want to offer a slightly different perspective.

The three stages of development:

The first stage a student must go through is the stage of forms and shapes. A student must learn the specific shapes, movements and physical structures that the particular system they have chosen teaches. They must change the physical body so that the structures and shapes are not forced and can be settled into with ease. Taking them to a stage where the shapes and structures of the system become the intuitive way they move and stand. Thought is no longer needed to align correctly; it’s automatically correct. These shapes can be like external scaffolding that allows the student to now enter inside and do the next stage of work. - This stage can take between 5 to 10 years of training - this depends mainly on the quantity and quality of one's training.

With the body now aligned correctly and holding our structure in place correctly, we move inside and begin the long and challenging process of changing our inside. This process is not about adding anything - it is purely a process of letting go and abandoning all that is unnecessary. We build up a lifetime of bad habits, ways of thinking, emotional states and these all have a direct effect on how our body and energy move and react. The work at this stage is about letting go physically and mentally of all that offers resistance, our first 5 to 10 years of training has given us the scaffolding and structures physically and mentally so that we don't crumble during this process of abandoning the unnecessary. Most martial artists begin this stage but do not leave it. This stage can take between 20 years and a lifetime of training - Again, this depends on the quantity and more importantly here, the quality of your training. This part of training is also challenging to achieve without a good teacher who knows the path through experience, not intellectual understanding.

The third stage is about removing the scaffolding, the structures and shapes you have mastered no longer matter, you have changed your mind and your body to become Kung Fu completely so everything you do and don’t do, think and don’t think, say and don’t say is Kung Fu. Internal and external are no longer separated, and all things are united.

In essence, the journey is about learning how to to do so we can abandon doing.

Here is one of my favourite quotes from Chuang Tzu that embodies this process,

“Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.”

0 Comments

The Art of Being Better

17/12/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Why do I train in the Martial Arts? - I genuinely believe that we should always strive to become better than we were yesterday. We should disassemble our minds, our identities and truly understand what it is that we fear, what it is that holds us back. What baggage are we carrying that stops us from climbing higher and higher. In my opinion, nothing does this as well as Martial Arts training.

This critical self-analysis cannot be done while in a state of comfort. If your mind and your body are not at the extremes of what you can tolerate you can not honestly see your ego for what it is, a mechanism for keeping you where you are. If you don’t force your body to continue doing those burpees when your mind is screaming “enough!” You won’t understand how much your mind lies to you. If you are not doing your 25th first form in a row, you won’t realise how much you can truly tolerate.

To truly understand who you are and why you are this way, you need to put yourself through the fire. Because it is this fire, that burns away the lies and the illusions and leaves you with the truth. Your demons have nowhere to hide when you place yourself way outside your comfort zone; and when you can see your demons, you can begin slaying them! 

This is personal growth; this is refinement, this is how we reach enlightenment! I have spent 2018 putting myself outside of my comfort zone on a daily basis and have grown as a result of doing this. I have also spent 2018 putting my students outside of their comfort zones, and they have become better as a result. 

In 2019 I will not relent, I will keep climbing and refining my mind and body and will take my students along this journey with me. However, I have just one requirement from them,

“Leave your excuses in 2018.”

0 Comments

Two Steps to Mastery

19/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
​We live in a society obsessed with instant gratification. People want results now; they don’t want to have to wait. How many times have you clicked on a web link and started feeling frustration arise in you if the link hasn’t loaded within 3 seconds? Or started a new diet and checked the scale the next day to see if you have lost any weight? As a society, we want things now, and we don’t want to work for it. We are bombarded daily by leaders in their fields who have the wealth we want or the skill we want or the figure we want. But we don’t see the years of struggle they have gone through to get there. 

As a martial artist, I have seen many students over the years begin training, wanting to transform into better versions of themselves through Kung Fu. I have also seen most of them give up because the reality has quickly set in about the hard work that is required and the life changes they must make to meet their goals. 

The secret to becoming adept at any skill is perseverance. There will be failures, there will be pain, there will be tears, and there will be obstacles. As you train the most significant obstacle you will face is yourself. Your need to feel comfortable, your need to feel in control and your need to feel skilled. The problem is, training in martial arts will continuously take you outside your comfort zone, you will feel you have no control, and you will feel you are not good enough. At this stage, you, the student have a choice, persevere and become better or give up.  In my own training, I choose to persevere.

Becoming a Kung Fu Master, or an adept at any discipline can be summed up in two simple steps. 

1. Begin
2. Don’t Give Up

Many people take the first step, but it is the second step where the vast majority of people falter. After taking the first step there will be many times when you fall on your journey, it is these falls that condition you and help you change. Just make sure when you fall, you don’t stay down. Get up and keep walking. 

​As the old saying goes,

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Buddhism
    Discipline
    HIIT
    Kung Fu
    Mastery
    Meditation
    Mind
    Motivation
    Obstacles
    Pain
    Perseverance
    Personal Growth
    Refinement
    Resilience
    Seasonal Affective Disorder
    Seminar
    Training
    Training Camp

    Archives

    December 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    December 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016

    RSS Feed

© 2014 - 2021 | Shkar Sharif T/A Kung Fu Zone. All Rights Reserved.                                                                                                              Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Our Philosophy
  • What We Teach
    • Tiger Crane Kung Fu
    • Shuang Yang Tai Chi
  • Instructors
    • Shkar Sharif
    • Kristina Shopova Sharif
    • Assistant Instructors
  • Classes
    • All Classes - Timetable
    • Children's Classes
    • Members Class Booking
  • Pricing
  • Media
  • Blog
  • Shkar Sharif