Focus

This week was a real struggle to stay focused. My work threatened to steal my attention on more than one occasion between troubled children and yearly performance reviews it was hard not to get sucked into that world. By that I mean allowing it to dominate my thoughts and actions when I am not there. As I fought to stay focused, I found it hard to participate in routines that I have been following for months. It was okay once I got started but I really had to push myself to start. I also combated this by arranging to train with others and talking to my support people about how I was feeling. I must admit that it was not the most successful week as far as numbers go, I spent a lot of time talking and planning and I did have one day that I didn't actually do anything physical. It was a successful week in that I worked through a tough time without fully stopping my training and I learned a little about myself. I love being surrounded by people who are also working towards mastery, I feel like I am in the right place. I finished the week off with participation in our annual Pitch-In with family and friends and an amazing 2 & 1/2 hour workout that required focus and attention. I am tired but pleased with how the week turned out.

Highlights

I feel like I have many things to write about and I am not sure how to put them all down succinctly. So I am going to go with a highlights list.
1. I figured out how to make my long hours of practice pay off. I usually get very nervous when I have to display my form to anyone. I discovered this week that when I get nervous, I display the exact same form every time. This means unfinished techniques, rushing to finish and not flowing or relaxing. When I practice by myself (even in a public place), I slow down and focus on techniques and it feels really good. So I was talking to my friends this week while we were practicing and I started expressing all the things that I usually just keep to myself. We talked about being nervous in front of fellow students, sifus and in public. We talked about how that was manifesting itself in my forms and we figured out how to combat it somewhat. Somewhere in my head, I had decided that when showing anyone my form, I had to be intense and fast. My friends and I decided that I should slow down when showing someone the form, just like in practice. It was like a light bulb went off in my head and I think that I get in now. By trying to do it just like in practice, I am calmer and therefore have slowed down and my technique is improving each time that I do the form. I participated in a demonstration yesterday and I was definitely calmer than I can ever remember being after a performance. The moral of this little story is that practice does make a difference because you can draw on the experience when you need it.
2. The annual tournament is coming up and I have to work. It totally sucks but that is just the way it is. Aside from not being able to be there, it has opened up a tremendous opportunity for me. I don't have to worry about what to do about performance anxiety so I am open to what is happening around me. I am getting to help so many people with their forms and sparring strategies and it feels great. I would not have had this experience otherwise. It was so exciting to be at the kwoon during open practice yesterday and see so many people excited about their kung fu journeys. I actually feel like I am more a part of the tournament than I have ever been and I hope that someone takes lots of pictures to see how it turns out.
3. I am still experimenting with my food energy. I am really enjoying some homemade energy bars which are great for days when I am at the kwoon all day. I have also been experimenting with smoothies, the book I am using (actually borrowing), has different smoothies for different needs. For example, there is one to reduce swelling and works really good for my aching knees at the end of the day. There is others that give you energy, help you recover from an intense training session and also to keep you full for longer. One of favorite things is the cereal bar, it takes a bit of time to prepare and one hour to bake but in makes 8 bars to keep in the fridge which is great to have if you are on the run. I am still eating one meal a day that is not raw as I didn't want to shock my body with a drastic change. I have done that before and didn't like the results.
So those are the highlights of my week, I have to stop now or I won't have time for my training before work.

Robyn Kichko
Silent River Kung Fu

To blog or not to blog......

I have been thinking about blogging this week and how much my attitude towards it has changed over the last few years. At first, when the ideas was presented to me, I was mortified. Journalling has always been such a private thing for me, it is where I write all my thoughts and feelings that I don't feel comfortable sharing with anyone else. The idea of sharing even some of those thoughts and feelings was scarey. So I started writing about things that I thought others would be interested in or learn from. I also thought that they had to be long and thought provoking. My entries were not exactly what I wanted to say but they were entries and that was what I had promised to produce. Lately, I have been focusing on sharing just a bit of what my week has been like, a thought that stands out or an experience that has an impact on my training. I am focusing on what I want to write/share and not what I think others want to read. It is working for me, I am not sure that I appreciated the benefits of blogging until recently. I feel like I get it now, by sharing my experiences, I might reach someone who is struggling with a similar thing, but I can't write like I have to reach someone else. It just comes out cheesy and not authentic.
Those are my thoughts for this week.
Robyn Kichko
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, AB, Canada

you are what you eat

I have been plagued with bronchitis and other chest and lung infections for years. I usually get sick about twice a year and it stops my training for up to a month sometimes (right before Christmas, I was sick and had to stop training for 2 months and then it took two more months of modified training to get back at it). Well, with the pace that I have set for myself this year, I don't really have time to get sick. I have been researching food intake for the past couple of years, trying to figure out what my bodies needs so that I can push it to the limit on a regular basis. I have discovered a very healthy eating plan, I think that I know when I need protein and when I need carbs and when I don't really 'need' anything at all. I have recently been reading The Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier, he is a professional ironman triathlete. I have had the book for quite some time and I keep picking it up and reading it and putting it down again. This week I decided that it was time to try some of it. The diet is based on whole foods and the energy that you can get from them. I have been trying some of the recipes and enjoying the results of my efforts. I have more energy and I feel great. The food is tasty and not that difficult to make, I am not great in the kitchen. I am not quite ready to dive in with both feet and eat nothing but raw foods ( I have done this with other diet plans and lived to regret it) but I am willing to keep trying new recipes and slowly transition over to a more beneficial diet plan. I tried one of the smoothies last week that is for reducing swelling and it really took the swelling out of my knees. I have made the energy bars and have had no trouble attending my fitness class and then practicing forms for 90 minutes. I am excited about this new way of eating but I have learned that moderation is that best way for me to proceed.