Sigung David Moylan, Owner, WKFA

Sigung’s Corner

This November, after exactly 34 years, to get more floor space, an old wooden wardrobe style cabinet was removed from the kwoon. This cabinet’s time at the Academy pre-dates even Sibok Lloyd and Eric’s time. Part One of a “Memoir from an Armoire”:

After a long service housing coats and hats, a kind and strong man moved me into what I figure was his home. This guess is based on the time he spent there with me. I’d watch him practice every day. His coordinated movements were as intense as they were graceful. Most days, he would whirl around implements. Some were made of metal, some, like me, were made of wood, and some were made of both.

Every day, at even intervals, other people would come into the building, cover their right fist and greet him as “Sifu”. My mustachioed roommate would systematically guide them through the moves he practiced. Water would pool on their backs and brows; they seemed to love every minute of it!

Perhaps not every minute. At what seemed like quarterly intervals, chairs would be setup and then many people would gather. Most seated, but some standing, to watch a smaller number perform. Sifu wouldn’t instruct on these days. Instead, he would ask them to show him the moves he taught them. They seemed to exert more effort than usual. Strangely, at the end, they would almost kneel for a short length of time, moaning and grimacing all the while.

These special days were much longer than normal. At the end, Sifu would give most of them a sheet of paper and coloured band of cloth that they’d proudly affix around their waist, while those not performing clapped loudly and smiled.

Over the years, sometimes people wouldn’t receive this new cloth and I would notice the water then pool in their eyes. Often, I’d never see them again, but occasionally, I’d see them more than ever. They would return to one of these special long days and eventually get that paper and cloth. The cloth they tie so specifically. Years later, I’d even watch this shorter lady wearing a black cloth, re-tie these cloths and even argue with taller students about how to do it right!

After I made the move to this lively building, my main purpose seemed to be to hold up a fake plastic tree and a big grey box that plugged into the wall. Along with Sifu’s guidance, children would gather under me and watch as the grey box teach them about staying alert and staying safe.

After several years, a very flexible and intense man started working with Sifu during his daily alone sessions training. This new character with wispy black hair would, every once-in-awhile, instruct the others as well – sometimes inside, sometimes outside. Like Sifu, they seemed to have great respect for him, referring to him as “Master Pan”.

Five years after my first move, I was relocated to a much larger building. This new home resembled the former. The long hanging canvas bags everyone struck were there, but more of them. The same statue with red lights, that Sifu would carefully turn on at the start of every day was there too.

Despite the similarities, over the next 29 years, I would be witness to a lot of change. To be continued….

Also see Memoir of an Armoire: Part II and Memoir of an Armoire: Part III. 

 

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Sibok Lloyd Fridenburg

Editorial

by Sibok Lloyd Fridenburg

T’was the night after grading and all through the school, no one was stirring; it’s Christmas you fool. The graders all crashed and were rubbing their heads, while visions of sidekicks still danced in their heads. Their bags were still stacked by the windows with care; in hopes their ride home would be waiting somewhere.

Kelly with her staff, and Derik with daggers, were still a bit wobbly from rolling too fast. Then up on the roof there arose such a clatter they sprang from the floor to see what was the matter. Away to the back door they flew like a flash, tripped over Shoja and came down with a crash.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave a luster of mid-day to objects below. Then what to their wondering eyes did appear but our own Sifu D’Arcy, with some fresh Christmas cheer. As they drew in their heads and were turning around, they were smacked from behind and were back on the ground.

They rubbed their heads as they picked themselves up, when Sigung said, “you must keep your guard up!” He was dressed all in black from his head to his foot. His long hair was wild and the colour of soot. A bundle of weapons was flung on his back, he said, “Down, give me ten or I’ll give you a whack!”

“My head is so sore?” Derik said with a frown, as Sigung grabbed a large spear and started dancing around. He jumped, and he spun like a tiger gone mad, and then turned to our friends and said, “Now, do just like me, and maybe you’ll pass.”

Just as they thought their end must be coming, they forced their eyes open and felt their hearts pounding. Drenched all in sweat from their head to their toes our heroes just bowed and dragged themselves home.

Shaking her head, Kelly gave a cold shiver then looked at her waist with her bright new blue sash and said, “Merry Christmas to all; I think I’ll just crash!”

The Christmas season is a time of renewal so don’t dwell on the past or worry about the future. Enjoy what you have and get ready for a brighter 2022. From our home to yours, Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year!

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Sifu Michael Prudencio-Brunello

Youth Student’s Corner

by Sifu Michael Prudencio-Brunello

Welcome back to our final segment about our Five Kung Fu animals! So far, we’ve talked about the Tiger, the Leopard and the Snake, and the Crane.

Welcome back to our final segment about the Five Kung Fu animals! We have talked about the tiger, leopard, snake, and crane so far. Now, it’s time to meet our final Kung Fu animal: the dragon!

Dragon at a glance…

• Rank: Blue Stripe/Blue Belt
• Techniques: single finger dragon, dragon claw, dragon head
• Skills: co-ordination, teamwork, adaptability
• Forms: short dragon, dragon, dragon broadsword, dragon double broadsword

Dragons are a combination of all the other animals – they have the strength of the tiger, power of the leopard, speed of the snake, and fluidity of the crane. They can quickly soar through the air and land to hunt for dinner. This takes co-ordination, using multiple skills at the same time. They can live in various climates, like the sky or the sea, and adapt to their environment. Most importantly, in Chinese mythology, dragons are kind creatures, always ready to help when needed.

While we may not be dragons, we can use their skills in our Kung Fu training! We work on co-ordination all the time in class – in our forms and sequences, we co-ordinate our techniques and stances, using our hands and feet at the same time. Our teamwork is also a skill we practice together. When we bow in for class, our third bow is to each other. This is saying that we will work as a team to learn Kung Fu together and treat each other with respect. Outside of class, there are many ways you can work on being more like a dragon!

Practice tips to be like a dragon:

• Teamwork: at Kung Fu, school, home, and everywhere else you go, always be kind and work well with others. We are stronger when we work together and combine our skills!
• Co-ordination: when practicing your Kung Fu strikes, pick a target, focus on it, and strike it – this works your hand-eye coordination, meaning your body moves where you want it to!
• Adaptability: sometimes, things don’t go as you planned, but that’s okay! Especially during these times of COVID, adapting to these changes may be hard, but it’s important to do the best you can in any situation.

Be sure to look up a Chinese dragon dance. You can see really see how important teamwork and coordination are to be like a dragon!

I hope you enjoyed our journey of embodying the Kung Fu animals.

Dragon Facts: Sifu D’Arcy’s Dragon Facts Video

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Sifu Jeremy Norris

Junior Student’s Corner

by Sifu Jeremy Norris

With the year of 2021 coming to an end, it is understandable to feel a little bit overwhelmed. As martial artists it is our fulfilment to learn from our past experiences and use that to impact our decisions for tomorrow. In many ways setting proper goals with the correct parameters can pave our way to success. Let’s examine 4 key steps to take when setting our Kung Fu goals.

1. Identify the desired outcome
2. List potential obstacles
3. Come up with solutions for these obstacles
4. Take action

Identifying the desired outcome – The first step to making an achievable goal is to evaluate what you consider to be a success. Ask yourself what are you looking to achieve? And what does the best-case scenario look like? Once identified, these factors can be powerful motivators when it comes to completing your goal.

Let’s relate this to a Kung Fu example; maybe your idea of success is achieving your next rank. It is clear, that in this circumstance, the desired outcome is to be successful at your next grading, but what elements are at play that could affect your success? This is where we look to step number two.

List the obstacles – Next it is important to understand what might be holding you back from achieving this goal, then you can limit the uncertainty by planning how to overcome these roadblocks.

In our example of achieving your next rank, one case of an obstacle that we see often is a lack of motivation to practice your basics. It is crucial to know that it is natural to lose motivation sometimes, but now you must develop a plan to improve your motivation.

Coming up with solutions for obstacles – Now we must look at the identified obstacles and come up with solutions to remove them. This step is not easy, it includes thoughtful planning to come up with successful ways to overcome your obstacles.

Let’s take the obstacle outlined above of not having the motivation to practice your basics. We see many students go through this as it is more exciting to practice the newest techniques and forms that you know. One way we can plan to do this, is to decide that every time you practice a new technique you must start by practicing an old technique. This forces you to practice your basics every time you go to practice your new techniques. This is one way to make a plan to overcome an obstacle.

Take action – Lastly, we find ourselves needing to take action. Up to this point we have identified our goal, listed our roadblocks, and have come up with solutions to those roadblocks. Now we must hold ourselves accountable to these steps and put our plan into action. One way that I like to hold myself accountable is to set reminders to see if I am on track with my goal.

Goal setting isn’t easy, but with a methodical approach you can find the best action plan for yourself to find success, not only as a martial artist but in other facets of your personal life as well. So define your goal, identify obstacles, look for solutions, then put your plan into action.

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by Sifu D’arcy Langois

Every year, when the snow starts to fall, many mammals across the world share a certain behaviour; hibernation. Now, some animals enter a full state of hibernation, dropping their heart rates by ~90% and sleeping through the coldest season of the year (incredibly bears are not one of these, but that’s a discussion for a different day). For others, hibernation is not the classic sleeping for 4 months, but is simply slowing down during the colder months. For us humans, we feel the pressure in different ways, and you guessed it, it can have an effect on our day-to-day life, which includes our Kung Fu training.

It’s common to see a marked drop-off in training once the snow sets in, and there’s a number of reasons. Snow makes travel tricky, the cold makes being outside unpleasant (for some, definitely not all), shorter periods of sun makes us sleepy, and the list goes on. So yes, slowing down your training is natural, and likely will happen, but you certainly shouldn’t stop altogether.  Here’s some ideas to help keep you moving through the winter months!

1. Plan your week ahead to attend a minimum of one class per week. This might mean planning some extra time to travel to the Kwoon on snowy days or use our wonderful and ever-so-convenient Zoom classes!
2. You can also find some time to train around your home. Everything we do in Kung Fu can fit into a small space; practice your forms like you are in a phone booth; you’ll still get the work out, and you’ll stay current with your forms!
3. Find some complimentary workouts to help keep you moving. The range of things you can find on YouTube is frankly incredible. Everything from Yoga to weight training modules is easily accessible with the click of a button. Find something that interests you and give it a shot! If you’re having a hard time finding something, ask me! I’ve been adding a wide range of workouts throughout the pandemic to keep my mind and body active.

The winter blues can drag you down, but they don’t have to. Your body will naturally want to hibernate, even just a little, and that’s okay. Find what motivates you to keep moving, even in small ways, and go have a great winter. Happy training!

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by Sifu Laurent Bernardin

I remember from when my children were younger, how it was difficult to envision details of a class when they were being expressed from the perspective of an excited child. As a parent I wanted to engage with my children about their experiences, but it was often a daunting task to figure out exactly what had been taking place in the Kwoon. Current circumstances limiting options for you to see your kids in action are making this even more difficult. So, it might be useful to describe what a typical class experience looks like. A bit of background and vocabulary might help you ask your children the right questions.

Lining Up

A class starts with the students lining up at the back wall, in order of their belt colour, with higher ranked students closer to the entrance gateway. The instructor rings the gong and lets the students know how many rows to form. The students then proceed one by one, starting from the left side, calling out their row number and running to their designated spot. After this process everybody is neatly aligned into a rectangular grid. During Covid times, depending on class size and current rules, we may skip this step and have students go to their spot right after entering the Kwoon.

Bowing

The instructor will start the class with three bows. The first bow is to our Kung Fu ancestors. The second bow is to the Head Instructor, Sigung Dave. The final bow is a courtesy bow to everyone in the Kwoon. Next, the students sit down cross-legged with their hands at their belly buttons and eyes closed for a period of meditation. The focus is on breathing and clearing of minds, to be ready for the remainder of the class.

Warming Up

The next section is the warm-up, where students go through joint rotations, cardio exercises and stretching. The aim is to get everybody’s body warmed up as well as to work on flexibility. During this section the students will work through their strength requirements. These consist of both pushups as well as abdominal exercises. Details of these requirements can be found in the Student Handbook.

At some point during the warm-up, the students will typically work through their stance sequence. This is a prescribed sequence of different “stances”, i.e. ways to stand. These sequences also differ by rank and will include stances like the “Closed stance”, “Horse stance”, “Forward stance” and  “Cat stance”.

The warm-up often takes up the first half of the class and is sometimes led by a member of the Leadership Team (more senior students). It ends with the instructor bowing the class out for a quick drink break. The students run to grab a sip of water from their water bottles and then head straight back to their spot. The instructor will lead the students in a second bow to resume the class.

Instruction

What follows is the main instructional portion of the class. Students will work on rank and age appropriate elements from the four pillars of our curriculum: Forms, Sparring, Self-Defence and Technique. I’ll reserve details on each of these for a future column.

Discussion

At the end of the class, the instructor will have the students re-form in the original rectangular grid. They will read out the theme of the month as well as the quote of the week and might ask the students some related questions. There is often a brief discussion of what the quote means to the students as well as in relation to Kung Fu.

Closing Bow

The class then performs the final bow followed by a hand clap and they are dismissed. The students remain in a closed stance waiting for the instructor to give them permission to leave the Kwoon.

I should stress that, while the above describes a typical experience, any given class is at the discretion of the instructor and may, at times, look very different. I wish you many engaging Kung Fu conversations with your children.

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