Defeat: A Warrior’s Perspective

Tags

Defeat, faith, Handling Defeat, self-defense, violence, Warrior, wing chun

Playing devils advocate here, it seems to me hero’s are quite often hero’s because they shoot from the hip and mostly succeed – pitch the other side of the coin and what are they then?

My answer: the same person they would have been had they not failed – except, however, now rudely enlightened!

Of course this is accepting that if he or she has suffered any psychological trauma from a defeat it will in long run be character building. Because as far as I see it warriors should never regret a defeat, really – they should learn from defeat.

In fact victory or defeat should be inconsequential to a warrior, a matter of course, both holding lessons. Victorious, a warrior might wonder what could have been better. Defeated, a warrior might wonder much and the same – nuanced, admittedly, from a different perspective. This is because warriors, sovereign to themselves, take ownership of all that occurs in their lives. They hold an inner-directive that is centered on growth, through knowledge of self.

Brave enough and generous enough to eschew the petty resentfulness and vindictiveness so commonly seen in the face of defeat, a true warrior at the same time doesn’t attribute too much credit to a powerful other. A true warrior, whilst magnanimous towards an enemy, always looks to himself as the source of defeat. The other is merely a mirror and for that a warrior shows gratitude towards him when, once more risen and able, he lifts up his sword and continues his journey a tad more informed.

Because defeat shows us our limitations, we see more clearly the dangers of this world and what we can and cannot handle.  This should inspire us; seeing more clearly our bounds we can buffet against them until we break through; seeing where we are weak, we can work to make strong.

A warrior knows, because he means to expand, defeat is a thing he will always encounter – he might as well to welcome it in the belief that every defeat holds an answer for him, or at the very least a clue or crack in the clouds that allows him to more clearly perceive a way he can win. More and more he can see what is needed, and build on each lesson.

At first this isn’t an easy concept to grasp. Defeated, the pain, the ache, the wound, the horror, the disillusionment, devours us, cuts to the quick; particularly so if we have suffered a bloody encounter where Hells Grim Tyrant has knocked on our door and rattled our senses to such an extent our mortality appeared so strikingly clear.

To most of us the idea of there being a blessing in the cruelest defeat, a blessing in the most vicious defeat, is absurd. But time is the healer. I know. Even in the face of death there’s a blessing somewhere. Strength to be garnered. A shocking awareness of our mortality wakes us to life, to living more fully with courage and faith, alert to our dreams and our warrior spirit.

Dying is to live with regret and a fear of defeat. Living is to know the heart can bear every burden and see deceit in thoughts of defeat as a terrible thing.  It’s not.  Defeat is a teacher.   An agent of change.  Change for the better when we let go of shame.  Change for the better when we view our humbling as opportunity to let go of hurt and conquer our pain.

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Never Give Up – Who you Are is calling You!

Tags

martial art, meditation, Personal Development, self, self-defense, wing chun, Writing, Wu wei

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I’ve been away from this blog for quite a while now.  A major project at work to blame.  Work on something I hope is going to change my life for the better.   Something I hope will …no, not hope – something I know is going to free up more time, one day, for me to work this blog amongst other things more dear to the heart – dreams unforgotten.

But how I have missed it: this writing.  Writing about the Warrior’s Journey and feeling outside of the gym some progress in life – a sense that I’m being more of myself.   Answering some call within to be all that I am.  What I’ve become.

Work.  For now unavoidable.  Eating my time.

It’s funny.  Part of me wants to complain more about this.  But here,  accepting  again my Warrior’s mantle, I know I should be killing self-pity.

And so I smile to myself.  None of it matters.  Who I have become is still there inside me, and there I do not feel pity.

Self-pity is so superficial.  Shallow.  Superfluous.

Don’t you just feel that right action makes you feel rooted …enacting yourself by doing what you feel you are meant to be doing?  Pity falls away denying no longer who you’ve become, and yes, maybe work does get in the way of that, tired and lacking in time you fall into to thinking “what the hell is the point?” But action resolves it…no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, each step, each act, each doing of what you really want to be doing is freeing, somewhat.

Like what I feel is happening now, for me, writing this.  The angst ridden writer is no longer here, he’s gone – he does not write, he’s full of self-pity, lost without writing – but now he’s no longer here, because of this act.

When I’m training Wing Chun something similar happens:  I begin to feel I am strong, ideas of frailty start falling away, more and more feeling who I am, truly connecting with the strength I know is inside me, always there.

Training a martial art helps me with life, all life:  “I can” –  becoming my mantra.  “I am” – a crescive knowledge of Self.

And there’s a very real feeling the journey’s back home.

The journey’s within.

Maybe these words resonate with you – maybe they don’t.   To me, however, if the world beats us up, knocks us from our sublime centre, it’s always because in the course of time we have allowed this to happen, albeit unconsciously, by  being more focussed on what’s happening out, than what’s happening in. 

In is where everything’s at, all that we cherish: our peace, our assuredness, our clarity, our magic, all the good things we project on to the world, such as our love for our family – all felt within.

Here my writing’s no different from a martial art, in that as acts, our effectiveness in them relies on us digging far deeper than we do with most things in our day-to-day lives; they call on us to re-jig our focus and bring our essential self more to the fore.

At least I know through my writing that this is the case.  Whenever I try to make my writing “mental” I really, really struggle, and there’s never a feeling that my writing is flowing.

Likewise, with my Wing Chun, a relaxed state is best…

Flow comes clearly from a far more rooted place than the mind, which is frequently skittish unhooked from the heart.

Though it may appear as something we just happen upon, flow is felt as something knowable and known, a resonance we aptly align ourselves with in an aspect of trust, a letting go and letting it happen sort of thing, as opposed to a fight to attain.  Flow comes not from struggle, but an effortless effort, à la wu wei: natural action.

Hooked up, heart and mind aligned, wu wei can also be said to be like being “in the zone”, although that’s only useful up to a point.

As reference to an experience that is commonly known, or at least are able to observed in others we may think of as masters, paragons at the top of their game, whatever that game may be, being “in the zone” as a label points at least to a mode of being in which desirable outcomes are far more likely to be realized than not; it is most certainly there.

However, it says little of the way, or the how to get there; it does not speak at length of how these talents and desires have been explored and expanded, or even allowed to come into being.

In this regard Wu wei speaks more clearly of the harmony we have to sink into to align with our self, the true self at the heart of our being as much as the self we have created through our desire to be more than we presently are.  A self that calls us constantly on, impels us to act.

In denying this self, our discord is clear: we simply cannot expect to be happy being less than we are!

Who we are calls us.  And we truly are something we can never give up.

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Guest Post For Wing Chun Community Blog

Tags

kali, Martial arts, Sifu, Sport, wing chun

Before I tell you about myself and my blog I’d like to thank Roman and his friends for giving me the opportunity to write for you here.

I’d also like to express strong admiration for their community building efforts and their willingness to be open to others whose styles, training methods, and outlooks may differ somewhat.   While our bias may be towards that which we practice, in essence our message is one and the same:

The Martial Arts are Good for You!

This has certainly been my experience so far, although I have to admit in the beginning to having my doubts.

Basically my story and the story of my blog comes from how I’d grown tired of aggression wherever I saw it, having played rugby for years and becoming increasingly wearied of the “rough sorts” around me who liked “dishing it out”, agitators who seemed to see brawling as much with teammates as the opposition as part of the game.

It certainly wasn’t a place where respect was encouraged, a total contrast to what I’ve found through the martial arts where they teach you respect, where respect is expected, and where it’s not given, it is more or less asked for, demanded, really.  Not just respect for the Sifu, but for each other.  I’m a big fan of being treated with respect.

So my insecurity with the martial arts had more to do with my previous experiences with the rugby than anything else.   It also had to do with a certain denial of my own aggression, which I feared.  On the rugby pitch I did at least have an outlet for it, through playing hard but fair; I certainly wasn’t one for throwing punches, cheap shots, when things would erupt, as often they did.  My way was through tackling hard etc.  But without this, I found I could no longer ignore it; and it was difficult, for a while I couldn’t reconcile the idea of being a nice person with smacking somebody, even in defense of myself.

On my blog in a post called Beginnings I talk about this, when I mention an “unsavoury scrape” which more or less meant I could no longer ignore this side of existence.  And I think this is always the case: we can run from our demons, but not forever, and if we want some peace in our lives, then we first have to meet them, face up to them.

This doesn’t mean we have to jump in at the deep end or get ready for battle and fight our way out; just “facing” is fine.  It’s just like when you stop swimming and struggling upstream, the current will take you; and sure enough while there’s rapids and difficult waters down this river, there’s no Niagara Falls or really dangerous passes you are needing to tackle, at least not immediately.  Tackle these things when you’re ready and willing, when you’ve built up your skill; with skill comes confidence, so you’re more and more able to handle difficult things, dangerous things.

This is what my blog is about.  I have in my short time in the martial arts seen so many give up before they’ve hardly begun; they see this long road stretching before them, a deep plunge that they cannot quite fathom, and they fall back on evasions like “I don’t have the time” or “it’s not really for me”.

For them, martial artists and fighters remain alien beings, when in essence it’s not like that at all; they don’t see them as people who’ve got used to doing something over a long period of time, who’ve developed the mettle to act in a way that seems brutal to them, out of a habit of practise, which becomes increasingly normal.

I was the same.  The gap was too big.  I couldn’t see the process of handling a little bit more, and a little bit more…over a long, long time…as the way that this happens, as the way that I’d change.  But it is exactly the way; it takes patience, commitment, constant appraisal, much more than courage – courage is over-rated!

My blogs about that, fuel for the journey, musings on the martial life, hope for beginners etc.  It’s a record of discovery, of recovery, and balancing up.  I was out of kilter before; my martial practise has helped me to be more at peace with myself, more at peace with the world.  It isn’t about a journey into conflict and violence, it’s about becoming yourself removed from your fears.  Your potential is waiting!

N.B.  Roman and friends can be found here.

 

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Getting What You Want from your Martial Art Part 2

Tags

martial art instruction, martial art school, Martial arts, Mixed martial arts, self-defense, Skill, Sport, Taekwondo, violence, wing chun

Image by jonas_evertsson via Flickr

What to look for in an Instructor Part 2

Another important thing to look for in an instructor is sign of total belief in what he is teaching.

Questions to ask:

Has he been tested?  Has he used it for real?

If he hasn’t had to defend himself, then in what other ways has he tested his art?

To what degree has he trained?

So on and so forth.

I know from experience some instructors don’t take too kindly to being scrutinized, they like to be king of the hill, and as they certainly have  acquired some skill over time and ably display it now and again, they give the impression that they know what they’re doing, even as they remain tight-lipped over their story.

However, to my mind, the “right sort” will be far less reticent than this and you should, at least, without having to probe too far, be able to discern if they are the “real deal” or not before very long.

Look for related incidents, scrapes, training exploits and episodes where techniques were really tried and tested against considerable force; your instructors attitude should shine through in all of this, he should be able demonstrate the worth of his knowledge through narrative without hesitation.

You should see evidence of certitude, which is freedom from doubt, not just through the demonstration of certain “moves” but through his “perspective”, through his words: i.e.  this works because…we do it like this, because…when I did this once, this happened…so on and so forth.

We’re looking for evidence of empirical knowledge, over and above the mere repetition of what has been taught for an eon (this is not to undermine the purity of tradition, mind you).

Do you honestly believe he can handle himself?  Stare unmitigated hate and aggression straight in the face and remain undaunted, downing it even before coming to blows?

Because one day your instructor may be confronted, and what are you going to think if he crumples in fear?  What use your champion’s skill if he’s unwilling to use it, in times of grim need?

There’s no getting away from it, a sane person would prefer not to fight, but to my mind someone with skill and absolute belief in what they are teaching – most certainly a person who professes to be a “Master” – should be able to face hate and aggression straight on with a look in their eye that more or less says:  “Are you forcing my hand?  Because I will f^%&ing destroy you!”

Talk of personalities all you like, the idea of this not being in your nature, you’re not wanting to fight….when it comes to the crunch, what are you really going to do?

Instructor’s, sufi’s, sensi’s, are no different, and to my mind you want to be under one who has completed his training and turned base metal to gold.

Someone who knows without a doubt what works and what doesn’t and doesn’t hold back in telling you where you need to improve, what you need to know, and of the dangers there are.

Yes training is fun.  We meet with our friends and build up a sweat and make better our skill and harness our motives…but in the end, we’re either going to get a rude awakening some night on the town and wake to the fact we’ve been poorly instructed and that our efforts were futile –  or know that we’ve, as they say round my parts, “tain the right path“.

Be honest with yourself, ask now and again, even if you think you’ve found the right place: Is this working for me?

If your answer is consistently yes, then you’ve probably found someone of character you would want to stay under.

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High Winds and Tyrants

Tags

Commitment, Loch Ness, Martial arts, Scotland, Training, Wind, wing chun

Image via Wikipedia

Last thursday, a black night the end of a black day,  I set off for training all by my lonesome, the  savage wind howling its din in the dark, the words of Burn’s apt:

The wind blew as ‘twad blawnits last;
The rattling showers rose on the blast;
The speedy gleams the darkness swallow’d;
Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellow’d:
That night, a child might understand,
The deil had business on his hand

Admittedly there was no bellowing thunder, but there was everything else: millions of speedy gleams in my headlights and debris strewn everywhere on the road, branches and twigs, puddles the size of Loch Ness, near, that threw up great waves that seemed like they’d drown me each one I drove through.

It’s not normally a hazardous thirteen mile journey over to Bowden, the wee Borders village where we train Mondays and Thursdays and monthly on Sundays – although with the inclement weather it can be at times.

Most days it’s preferable to alternative routes: the busier A7 with its dazzling lights and slow Sunday drivers, creating convoys of loathing.  And sometimes its special, like today when coming up Hassendean three deers crossed my path, and further along a great bird, a buzzard, I think, took off from a fence post lining the road and I watched its slow flight over a field; or in summer and harvest when the very same fields are a picture of bales,  golden in glory.

This night, however,  it wouldn’t have surprised me to see a tree come down on the road as I went, such was the wind, and perhaps it wasn’t the wisest to be sticking to habit.  Not that I cared – the point of this post – trees like swinging punches might fell you sometimes, but the danger is worth it.

And I’m liking this thinking.  It’s not that I’m hard or pretending to be someone I’m not – I don’t often take headers into a fire.  It’s just I like making peace with uncomfortable things, high winds and tyrants; high winds things that come into your life uncalled for and callous, like weather and storms; tyrants old fears and crappy thinking and unfortunate folk who get in the way of contentment.

Storms and objections, fear and doubt…whatever…

What to these things are we needing to say?:  So what? and So be it, and sometimes Bring it on ya Bastard!

The way is not always clear;  just like the other night when I drove through those massive puddles and the water from them on my windscreen blocked out the light, there is often a great deal of unsureness as to where you are headed.

What pleased me about the road I took this night, however, the very same road I’ve taken a hundred times over to Bowden, was my commitment.

High winds and tyrants once stopped me taking this road: a grumbling belly or a hard day at work.  Excuses, excuses. Nowadays I get myself going no matter what.  I know that if I don’t train whenever I can, I am being less than I am wanting to be – and that isn’t my way.

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Commitment with Patience

Tags

Martial arts, warriors, wing chun

It’s been over a month since my last post and that isn’t a fact that fills me with glee.

Nonetheless what I’ve started here hasn’t been far from my thoughts and as experience has shown me the Warrior’s Journey is one of continuous learning whereby we aim to make peace with all manner of things – including distractions.

Sometimes where life is a struggle that’s where we need to let go, to say, So be it, and relax as much as we can until the tide turns and we can paddle with ease and go with the flow.

Mastery of something seems to me to be more of a choice than anything else.   It’s easy to quit when the going gets tough.  So many do.   It’s the not-letting-anything-stop-us-mentality that we need to acquire.

In the beginning this meant gritting my teeth and knuckling down and swimming upstream against rapids and torrents.  Now it is more a releasing of tension.

You see, commitment isn’t needed for when things are running smoothly but for when things are going rough or not according to plan.  It’s just that I no longer have to prove to myself that I care or that I’m determined.

I know that we can’t always actively express our commitment in the ways that we’d like.    I know also that when favourable conditions re-emerge I’ll pick my mantle where I left off, even if I am rusty at first, and restart my journey.

This is commitment with patience.  This is the Way.

Getting What You Need From Your Martial Art Part 2

Tags

Bruce Lee, Ip Man, martial art school, Martial arts, personal safety, self-defense, wing chun

What to look for in an instructor Part 1

Okay, let’s assume you are pretty self-aware and have a good idea of the type of person you respond to well, and that you’re neither a total patsy who’s going to cater to any old clown dressed like a ninja, nor an out-and-out rebel who refuses right off a suspension of judgement in order to learn.

We’re prepared to submit, but not over-much, okay?  At least in the beginning till we know who we are dealing with and how we think we’ll progress.

Good.

Here’s what I think you should be looking for in a martial art instructor based on the few I have met over the years and how they have brought me along.

Strictly speaking: here’s what I like:

Someone Exacting, Hard to Please, but Communicative.

I like a fair amount of seriousness.  But while I always want to make progress I’m not always switched on as much as I should be.  Just the other week, for example, I threw out a kick and earned a rebuke for it being less snappy than it was in a previous class.  Perfect.

That’s what I want, instruction from someone who is heedful of how I am doing, someone who won’t suffer nonchalance or sloppy technique, someone who won’t remit from his very high standards from his fondness for you, or because you’ve had a hard day at work, or you’re injured or feeling slightly off-colour.  Remember, we’re looking in the Martial Mirror here, and killing self-pity!

I want to embrace it, the challenge; we’re assuming our instructor can walk his talk and that he knows the road like the back of his hand, knows without doubt the steps that are needed to attain the heights that he wants you to reach.

I’m not talking about kowtowing to a pain in the arse puffed-up prick who is stroking his unqualified ego, but rather someone who will prick that placenta so you can get the rudiments right and in due course become the scrupulous and supremely skilled painstaker yourself.

How you differentiate between the puffed up prick and the real deal is through their ability to convey their intentions for you, as well as explain their methods, and the reasons for such and such a technique being such and such a way.

And note, if repetition is the mother of skill, and it is, you should expect your instructor, if he’s thorough, to press his points through again and again and again, until you get it – Get It?  Don’t let anybody let you off the hook – or you’re cheating yourself.  More on this later…

What Do You See in the Martial Mirror?

Tags

Courage, Martial arts, wing chun

It’s often the case with new or inexperienced students of a martial art that they judge themselves harshly.  You strip things down to the basics, line them up with a pad and ask them to hit it, showing them first just how it’s done, and they are purely self-conscious.

After all they’re not meant to be good.  Your eagle eye is upon them, and as they’ve put you on a pedestal, they miss the fact that you were just like them, once upon a time: the new kid on the block.

It’s not hard to see when confidence is lacking in a person.  A martial art should force a person to take a good hard look at themselves.

The pity is some don’t know if you look long enough and hard enough the fallacy of your inadequate-self begins to dissolve.  And that deep down beneath all injuries you’ve suffered there is a part of you that knows you are more, knows you are strong, does not quit, is capable of learning things of incalculable worth, is regenerative and equal to All.

So look in this Mirror!

These things I believe:

In time the Martial Mirror will kill self-pity.

In time the Martial Mirror will show you the Eye of the Storm (i.e. calm amid chaos, there will be a post on this soon).

In time the Martial Mirror will show you that fear and failure are phantoms, which confronted head on will lead you to Courage.

In time the Martial Mirror will show you You are your only enemy and there is no one to fear.

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Battle Scars, Bruises & Balms

Tags

Bruise, Health, Inflammation, injury, Martial arts, St. John Wort, wing chun

As I write this, both forearms black and blue from the conditioning exercises we did in class the other day – feeling strangely pleased with them, they were hard-earned after all – it’s come to me that I haven’t often sought remedy for bruises, except for three or four occasions when I’ve taken a really hard clatter to the face and ruined my dazzling looks.  (Ouch! That’s pushing things a bit too far.)

So note here, I’m no connoisseur of contusions, doctor or shaman.  What follows is assortment of salves you may like look at.   As ever research shows there are differences of opinion on the effectiveness, and even the validity, of certain treatments and it is not the purpose of this post to debate them all here, although comments are welcome at the posts end.

Rather I’ll don the mask of authority and leave it to you to experiment and find which work best for you.

Apply icy pressure, pronto. The theory is if you can apply ice as soon as you can after blunt trauma, the cold will constrict blood vessels and help keep the bruise from spreading.

Recommended is wrapping the ice in a damp cloth, a dry cloth doesn’t transmit the cold as effectively, for no longer than 10 minutes to avoid a reflex reaction (known as the Hunting effect) where the blood vessels dilate and blood is again pumped into the injured area, causing further bleeding and swelling.  Repetition is also advised, every two hours for 24-48 hours after injury.

Painkillers, Paracetamol/Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Aspirin. For best results follow the instructions for

dosage that are listed on the label.  Although anti-inflammatory, aspirin is not wholly recommended. Fine for pain, aspirin, as an anticoagulant, prevents blood from clotting as quickly, and may even cause blood to spread more extensively underneath the skin.   So avoid aspirin until you are sure the bruise has started to heal.

The same has also been said of Ibuprofen, so you may want to lean towards the use of Paracetamol/Acetaminophen for bruises. However, please investigate further.

A warm compresses. Applying a warm cloth or heated pad a day or two after an injury helps disperse the extra red blood cells into the tissues.  Merely hold the warm cloth in place for about 20 minutes, 3-4 times a day to aid blood flow and thus the removal of clots.

Apply a dab of zinc oxide. Zinc oxide cream is used for a wide variety of skin conditions (including nappy/diaper rash) and is said to reduce inflammation, as well as draw out infectious toxins and increases the healing process of your skin.

Try a little arnica. Seemingly the herb stimulates the production of white blood cells, which can help to clear bruising, as well as promoting fluid drainage and the release of toxins, thus reducing muscles soreness and pain.  If you are taking arnica for muscle soreness, stay well hydrated to help flush the loosened toxins out of your body.  And note: arnica is deadly in large doses, and shouldn’t be taken internally due to its toxicity.  It is also advisable not to use it on broken skin as it can cause irritations.

Arnica comes in oil, cream, gel, and tablet form.

Reach for vitamin C & K cream. Bruises occur more frequently in people who don’t get enough vitamin C.  Well known for boosting immunity, Vitamin C helps rebuild collagen, which makes small blood vessels less fragile and helps reduce bruising.  It also helps toughen up older skin.

As a preventative vitamin C certainly has some value, but as a curative you may like to consider vitamin K, which the body needs to break down blood and reabsorbs it, thereby helping fade the bruise and restoring the skin to normal colour.  Vitamin K also strengthens blood vessel walls, making you less prone to bruising.

In addition there is much support to suggest these vitamins work best when applied to the skin with a topical cream.

Become an oyster lover. Shellfish as well as beef and chicken are excellent source of zinc. This mineral may help keep blood cells from leaking out of the blood vessels following injury, according to Joseph Bark, M.D., chairman of the Department of Dermatology at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. You may also want to take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement that contains zinc.

A Dab of Comfrey Tea. Comfrey and comfrey root have been used from very ancient times, and are considered in nature’s greatest healers.  Modern researchers have discovered that it contains allantoin, a chemical that promotes skin repair.   Allatoin is an ingredient in a number of commercial skin creams.

Comfrey tea is made by boiling 1/2 litre of water and adding 30 grams of comfrey to it.  Apply as a compress, a bandage soaked in comfrey tea, for example, for up to an hour.

Healing vinegar (try also apple cider vinegar). Apply vinegar to the bruise using a cotton ball.  Vinegar increases blood flow near the skin’s surface, so it may help to dissipate the blood that has pooled in the bruised area

St. Johns Wort. This is known to have done wonders for bruises. The anti-bacterial and astringent properties make it apt for treating them. Add few drops of St. John Wort tincture to an organic oil or cream and apply it on the bruised area.

Believe it or not Cabbage… contains anti-inflammatory properties, which applied in emaciated form on bruises, or swelling, can help the healing procedure.

Parsley? Yes parsley, a herb which has an abundant supply of vitamins and works as a therapeutic treatment for the wound. Apply crushed parsley on the bruised area. Keep doing this till the blue or black marks disappear.

Pineapple Juice did the trick. When I had my last really bad black eye, I dabbed a cloth in concentrated pineapple juice every so often and I have to say that I found the results quite fruitful! (Sorry for that.)   As nutritionally packed members of the bromeliad family, being high in the enzyme bromelain and the antioxidant vitamin C, both of which play a major role in the body’s healing process, this is a common treatment boxers use for black eyes.  Bromelain can also be found in supplement form.

A soothing bath with Witch Hazel. Hardly a wicked witch this remedy helps in circulation of the blood and in the healing process. The bark, leaves, and twigs of Witch Hazel are all high in tannins, giving this plant astringent property. Astringents are substances that can dry, tighten, and harden tissues. Witch hazel also contains procyanadins, resin, and flavonoids, all of which add to its soothing, anti-inflammatory properties.

Dit Da Jow.  Aka Fall-Hit Wine. Oh, sage martial artists!  You should know this one, an analgesic liniment rubbed into the skin, Dit Da Jow is often a martial artists unique blend of many aromatic herbs such as myrrh and ginseng, which combine to stimulate circulation, reduce pain and swelling, and improve healing injuries and wounds.  Composed of cooling herbs to reduce swelling and inflammation as effectively as ice; and warming herbs that kill pain, promote circulation, and break up accumulations of stagnant blood and fluids, Dit Da Jow can be bought online and through martial artists catalogs or it can be directly obtained from a Chinese pharmacist or master.

In ending…a few days later. My bruises are gone – as quickly as they came, almost it seems – forearms and wrists and hands still tight and sore from the battering I gave them – and I didn’t use anything to soothe them except for some painkillers immediately after training followed by a soak in a sink full of cold water.  More than this I have a hot bath every day and I’m sure this has aided the speedy disappearance of my bruises.

Fortunately as a practising martial artist I haven’t had too many problems in terms of injury and although I have a lot of bruises from time to time, I am, generally speaking, quite a quick healer.

Note here, however, we are not all the same, and should your bruises be especially large or dark, you might want to consult your doctor so that they can keep check on it, as very severe bruising can set up blood poisoning if left untreated – especially if you are a very keen trainer and bash them again.

For my part I mean to practise Wing Chun for as long as I am able, I mean to endure, and so continuity of training is very important in how I progress.  I don’t want any interruptions or injuries holding me back.

Beginnings

Tags

combat, fight, Kung Fu, Martial arts, self-defense, wing chun

My journey into the martial arts began 14 years ago when I spotted a poster in college advertising Wing Chun classes in a nearby town.  It said something about using your adversary’s energy against them, conjuring images in my mind of some ubiquitous force we could utilize to throw idiots some distance into a vortex of pain.  And serve them right for messing with yours truly.

I guess my outlook at the time wasn’t the most glorious expression of manhood, not that I was outwardly violent or anything of the sort, more on edge with life and heightened to the dangers I perceived all around me, primarily due to an incident outside my flat late one Saturday night.

Long story short, I’d gone to the rescue of a friend who had just been beaten up by a group of young lads.  Next day besides other bruises and scrapes he had a large contusion on the back of his head where you could literally see the imprints of a shoe in purple and black; I had a few stitches above the left eye.  The cuts and bruises healed right enough, less so the hurt of defending my friend, and myself, ever so poorly.

This blog is born from such misadventures. It comes reeling from violence and the commingling of the indignation and the doubt I felt as I engaged the martial route.

It comes from a search for peace and happiness in a provocative world where I have more than often felt ever so small.

It comes result of raising myself up in defiance of all oppressors, all oppressions and obstacles to the greater glory of my life I fear I have shied from.

This blog uses Wing Chun as its source of inspiration.  Nonetheless its message is valid for all, whether you be a practising martial artist or other.

For through the manifold musings of The Martial Life, we are slantwise looking at Life – all Life, in which a feeling wholeness and self-sovereignty come not from deny the parts of ourselves we do not much like, but from their correction.  All that may differ is our Philosopher’s Stone.

Thus we will ponder Purpose, Courage, Confidence, Peace, Progress, Patience, Prowess, Right, Wrong, Violence, Hate, Love, Communication, Community, and more, as the Blog grows.

My hope is you will find through my writings fuel for the journey

– your journey, wherever that be.

Robbie Pringle

25^th August 2010