The Chinese Martial Arts Presentation

The snow fell in sodden chunks to the sodden ground. I walked towards the front entrance. Carl smiled, I said
'Hi, how you doin?' He replied
'Yeah pretty good Danny, how're you?' David, Carl, Adam, the project leader and I walked towards the hubs. We had an hour before the show.

There was excitement in the air. We ran through our forms. What we practised went well. I got up to do my form. I stopped halfway through. I went into my own zone to practise lien bu Chan, the continuous stepping sequence. I'd learned the form in my kung fu class a while a go. I kept forgetting what came next in different places in the form.

The room began to fill with people. Most of them were Chinese. Carl zipped open his bag and pulled out his homemade weapons. He had a three section staff, a pair of two section staffs and a club. He’d made them out of cardboard and plastic wire. I tasted the food that had been laid out. A Chinese woman poured tea into plastic beakers.

The large projection screen was operated by a laptop. As the pretty Chinese woman talked about traditional Chinese culture and Chinese New Year I noticed that some people were laughing. I have a great respect for Chinese culture. Some people obviously didn’t understand some of the traditions. The girl was explaining
'I was born in nineteen eighty three, so in Chinese terms I was born in the year of the pig.' I smiled. I was born in the year of the pig. This year is the year of the pig. Conforming to tradition if you are born in the year of the pig this is a year to relax and take it easy. My palms were sweating. I knew we could get called on at any moment.

When we did get called o to perform we became serious in our approach. Bruce Lee's face came on the projector screen and it was Carl's turn. He began to perform a sequence he had made up himself. He mixed elements from eagle claw and Wing Chun kung fu. It looked very impressive. The crowd was silent.

The screen changed. Traditional weapons came onto the display. I knew what I had to do. I stood up. Carl hit the two section staff on a chair to depict its original use as a rice beater. He swung them around his body whilst switching hands. He stopped dead and relaxed. That was our sign. Adam and me ran into view of everyone. We each pulled a fighting stance. The crowd gasped, some laughed. We started to advance on Carl. He swung the weapon at Adam and then at me. We went to the ground like it really hurt. We grimaced in pain. Carl pulled a face like Bruce Lee. The crowd cheered.

Adam and I staggered to our feet. I grabbed the bar and Adam picked up a two section staff. Carl put the rice flails down and picked up the longer three section staff. We charged in and Carl swung the weapon over his head. He hit Adam, making him fall to the floor. He hit the weapon at my shins and I threw myself to the ground. The crowd were laughing in excitement. The three of us stood and bowed.

Jet Li's face came onto the screen and the music changed. I hear some people let out an expectant laugh. They're expecting something amazing I thought to myself. I'll give it my best shot. I bowed. I started the white crane form and all my energies seemed to come together. I tried to add power but it was already there. My arms flew through the air as I stepped with my moves. I could sense the positive reaction. I got about three quarters though the form and paused. Oh shit, I've forgotten it!
'Come on Danny!' David was shouting from the sidelines. My body took over and I managed another six moves. I froze up. I knew in my mind that no one in the crowd had seen this form before so I bowed. It looked like I'd finished the form off. Everyone clapped.

People's hands clapped together and you could hear the sound of someone whistling. We smiled in relief. We'd pulled it off. People were coming up to us, telling us how unbelievably great the performance was. To us it was just normal stuff. The non-martial artist and spectator it seemed magical. We bit into the rice cakes and stopped to watch a violin solo.

I was feeling great about things. David said
'Let's stay, I want to win sumat yet,' there was a raffle with third, second and first prizes to give away. I had a great feeling in the pit of my stomach. They called the first prize out. The number was thirty-six. I glanced down at my red ticket. It said fifteen. With a sigh I figured it wasn’t meant to be. We made an exit towards the door. A Chinese guy in a suit announced something over the tannoy. I turned round,
'They're announcing a special prize!' I looked at my ticket, that great feeling in my gut. I'm going to win this I assured myself.
'Fifteen' the caller announced. I smiled and walked to the front of the crowd. The guy in the suit handed me a little decorative box. He opened it and told me 'this is the face from the Beijing opera'
'Thank you very much, I appreciate it' I really did.

I walked out into the snow. The air was cold and the flakes of snow melted on my face. Carl thanks me for taking part. I thanked him, 'thanks for the experience, I really enjoyed it.' All is well that ends well, I thought to myself as I turned right to catch my bus

Trapped

You're doing breathing exercises. Inspiration hits you. You pull your notepad out of your bag and start writing. You're writing a song about your past. It occurs to you that the show will be starting soon. You hurriedly stuff your notepad into your rucksack.

You're walking down the bright staircase. You push the gate. It doesn’t move. You glance down and notice a padlock. It slowly dawns on you as you walk back up. You run into the main part of the car park. Big blue shutters are guarding the main entrance. Oh Shit.

There's two ways out of this place. One is a large jump down onto the concrete floor of the road next to the car park. The other way out involves shimmying along a spiky rail. If you choose this route you've got to traverse along a black rail. If you fall from this height it wont be good.

Panic grips you. There's got to be another way. You run to the place where the security guards usually sit. You can se a four-way split screen view of the car park. They're going to have a laugh when they play this tape back. You bang on he window. Nothing.

Your phone says your five minutes late. You know it’s either choosing a route or sleep here for tonight and miss the show. Your throat is dry. You feel anxious and for a moment you nearly choose the sleep over. Then it hits you. You start the pep talk in your mind. Wait a minute I do parkour. The drop isn't that high. If I lower myself off the ledge with my hands I can drop and then roll to spread the shock. Fuck it.

You lower yourself down slowly. You're light headed and nervous. You keep telling yourself that you can go back up if it's too high. You hang there. It's decision time. Your feet sway and the adjoining streets are silent. You let go. For a moment it feels like you're floating. Your feet hit the ground and instead of rolling you fall back onto your arse.
'Fuckin' 'ell' you curse. You turn and run down the dark alley. The show will be starting soon.

Everyone's standing around drinking pints of lager. Jimmy walks up to you and explains that the lion dance is sorted. You gasp. You order a pint and greet the lion dance team. 'How did it go?' You ask David.
'Yeah it went fine, not much space though.' You laugh out loud. It’s a relief. There's a woman in a red dress taking the stage.

The show is the most amazing thing. You watch in awe as the girl in the red dress lies on her back and spins a vase on her feet. She moves onto a table. She's spinning the table extremely fast on her feet. She flips it and it lands with the legs on the soles of her feet. A magician walks on and your teacher is talking to you about kung fu. It's a great night. Happy Chinese New Year you say to yourself.

People, Places, Changes, Faces.

A cloud moves over you. Your head's clear and you can see all of your mistakes. There are ways through things that only now are becoming apparent. You over react. people start to form an opinion of you based on your actions. You're realising that in order to gain people's respect you must change the way you act. Some people will judge others. That's an unavoidable facet of life. You've got to roll with the punches. You learn that some people just don't get you. For these people you have to be entirely normal. You become a wooden dummy. Simple answers to simple questions make these people content. It satisfies their opinion of normality.

Sometimes you take offence to something and it sticks in your mind. It’s best to keep this to yourself. Let it pass. As the smoke clears you will be able to move on. Your friends change and your lifestyle starts to manifest into a different shape. What matters now is only a fashion. Some things will stick with you other things will fade into the background. You look for that balance. You want to accumulate the good aspects and drain out the negative things.

Things that seem like they matter only appear so important because you don't have them. When your pockets are empty you feel like money is the only thing that matters. When there's cash in your bank you are free to think about other things. When you don't have any friends to go and see friendship seems like the only thing that matters. When you have friends in abundance you take them for granted. You look back and you cringe. Why do you say things without thinking? Why do you act with nothing but self-gratification in mind?

Some people stick to you. You try and give off a friendly vibe. Some people have this energy radiating off them. You feel it like electricity. Some people look at you in a way that doesn't equal respect. Some people see you as a joke. You sense this bad energy and it makes you want to walk away. These are the people you put on the normal face for. You don't express your opinion. It’s all straight talk and common observations. Then there are people who will like and respect you no matter what you do. These are the people you can kick back with. You can say anything. It makes it easier to kick back when you feel free. You know that there's a line you must stay behind. If you stay behind this line everything will be cool. You will maintain the respect of others.

A Movement Video

Online Forums

I try to avoid online forums
Frustration leads me to boredom
Some issues I cant ignore them
I have ideas type and store them

Looking through the topics, pages
Picking out points, taking ages
People seem to talk in stages
Some discussions start off rages

But now we go round in circles
Arguing, the point just hurtles
We might as well discuss turtles
A good topic this debate kills

Who is right and who is wrong?
Can we sing a different song?
Saut de chat or simple Kong?
I decide to bite my tongue

I realise that this pursuit
Has no good branches and no fruit

People's sense goes out the door
I forget what I'm typing for

It's like the strongest will survive
But right now I will try to strive

To stop adding to this debate
I'll head outdoors and I can't wait

The Seminar with Yap leong

On the 20th of january kung fu master Sifu Yap Leong taught a seminar in Sheffield. This is some of the footage from the day.

Hearing the Silence

I should take a deep breath. I should step back. Instead of trying to be the leader I should allow myself to be lead. In place of talking I should put listening. Instead of asserting my opinion I should listen to what others have to say. I should strive to see things as they are. I should forget about what I like and what I dislike. The truth is the only thing that matters. I should sleep when I’m tired. I should eat when I’m hungry and I should drink when I’m thirsty. I should avoid any type of conflict. If people have opinions that I don’t agree with I should let them speak. Voicing my opinion will not change a thing. All I will achieve is expressing how different I am.

It’s a good thing to be different. If you are comfortable with who you are then nobody else should have any qualms about it. When people speak they should feel like they can say anything. It is better to learn quietly that to explain loudly. The tranquillity inside your mind should be widened so you can explore what’s there. The want to tell people about your opinions and experiences quashes the tranquil mind. The realisation that what you see as being right doesn’t always need to be stated will lead to a clearer view on things.

One should not fear death. I know that one day we all must die. Maybe when our time comes that’s it. Maybe it’s a time we can’t alter. Life comes and goes in a cycle. If reincarnation exists what will we become in our next life? What determines our path? If karma is a reality then all our actions amount to one final moment. Maybe if we live a righteous life then our fate will be better than if we live with the assumption that nothing makes a difference.

I can hear the silence. It’s like a ringing in between my ears. There are words coming from my mind. What is the mind? How can we make our minds work better for us? I know that sometimes I am in control of my mind. I can think clearly. I can concentrate. Other times my mind is awash with myriad viewpoints. All I can think about is right and wrong love and hate, true or false. When my mind is clear I make the distinction between the opposites without any effort. When my mind is clear and empty choices are easy to make. Life seems like a bus journey. I go though my day like I’m taking a back seat. When my mind isn’t clear it’s like I’m driving through heavy traffic. I’ll get to my destination but it’ll be a struggle.

To achieve a higher state of awareness and mindfulness I must be persistent. Meditation and exercise are of the utmost importance. I must look after my health. It is my job to make sure I’m safe. It’s my responsibility to be responsible and kind. No one can make my life change. I must take the wheel and drive. If I encounter traffic that’s when I know I must try harder.

There’s a balance in everything. We must try hard and at the same time we must relax. We can work out but eventually we must rest. Too much of one thing isn’t always good. We can sleep for long hours but then we must do something constructive. It’s like there’s a simple answer that’s so hard to find. It’s like when we realise this answer everything else becomes easier. This is what’s on my mind tonight. I can still hear the silence. The only thing louder is my finger hitting the keys.