What attracts me to martial arts most of all is that when you have it, you really have it. I mean, you own it. It’s yours. And no one can take it away from you, of course, without chopping off an arm or a leg.

A martial arts wiki? Not really. You don’t own the wiki. The server is a liability. Most of the information is available in other places. And if it’s not? Then all your doing is giving away what you could be charging for. Well, it’s a living, if you pursue it to that end.

A youtube channel is much the same. I wanted to inspire people about losing weight by making a youtube channel where I did a daily episode and lost a little bit of weight each time, by doing kung fu and tai chi. It was cool for a while but how long can I keep that up? And in the end what would I have to show for it? None of the videos would be any good because they would represent me at a time when I wasn’t that great. What’s the real point of that? Wouldn’t it be better to actually affect people’s lives by helping them, training them?

But you have to be good. Really, you do. Because you have to aim high. Tell you a story to help explain why.

Knew this guy. Names not important. Back in the day, 15 years ago, I met him at the park doing Tai Chi. He was okay, I mean, I knew he wasn’t very good, he was actually a Karate teacher, more or less, back then. But he was getting into Tai Chi so we became sort of friends. Tai Chi friends. One day we pushed hands and he suddenly jerked back and plowed me one right in the stomach. I was a bit shocked but asked for another round. He just walked away like he was the champion and I wasn’t worth being near. No biggie, the next day he came back and apologized, it was no biggie but it was very clear to me he really didn’t know anything about Tai Chi.

Fast forward to these days, when I’ve come back to Toronto to train with my Sifus once again. I decided to look this guy up since he is some kind of Tai Chi teacher now. He teaches out of his defunct cafe (never open — just uses it as a training space in the morning) and he teaches in Scarborough and possibly other places. He isn’t very good. I mean, he hasn’t really improved in the last 15 years. His posture is ridiculously bad. But, all things being equal I am not there to criticize people, I just wanted to meet my old friend. The problem is he was really laying it on thick. The things he said and the way he acted, it was obvious he felt he was superior not just to me but to most people in the community. He told me about his 4th degree black belt, his 40 plus years in the martial arts, what a good student he was, etc.

But.

He didn’t live the lifestyle, and his form was bad. I’m sorry to say it, but it was just bad. There were many beginner deficiencies. It was very clear to me he was still using his Karate and other arts to fill the gaps he never learned in his Tai Chi. And the whole culture of secrecy thing. Wow, it was difficult to talk about the art even in general due to his lack of knowledge and his hiding what little he did know under a veil of “teacher’s secrecy”.

I wouldn’t feel so sorry for the old bloke if I knew he practiced as much as he preached. But sadly he is a ‘family man’ who does not have time to practice very much or very often. He teaches one or perhaps two hours a day and I have never seen him practice outside of those times. He has forgotten how to learn — knowing only how to teach.

So how do you reach people like this? You have to be good — better than good. See? You have to be the best. You have to shine. Your lifestyle and your character must be impeccable as well as your skills in martial arts. Only then can you climb the unreachable peaks and save those people who cannot save themselves.

I woke up a little late but got to the park around 7:30. I warmed up with stretches and kicks practice, then 8 reps of the 24 postures Wu Laoshi taught me. Then I did the first three sets of Sun style. It began to spit a little so I moved over to the door of the CC and waited a few minutes for the center to open. I got in first and changed my shoes and went into the corner to practice. I had no encounters today with Mr. class leader (good).

But what was really interesting is that two or three other groups showed up to practice at about 9am. A sword group, and a Cha Quan group, and I think another one. Fortunately Mr. class leader did not confront those other groups either, or we would have had a big brawl on our hands.

Frankly I can’t imagine that he was not embarrassed at having been so confrontational and lying so much. I really don’t know what his problem was. I am probably going to have to accept the fact that I may never know what got into him, as it doesn’t look likely he will approach me again with a schpeil like he tried to pull off last Saturday. Then again, seeing me another twenty plus times this month might change something in him I don’t know. This is actually a really interesting situation, a good test of emotion and spirit for me. We will see what happens in the future.

Class with Hu Laoshi was spectacular. He is so generous and accessible. However I feel clubbed over the head with information and technique. It isn’t that I forget what he taught me per-se. It’s that I am going to have to work very hard and do my homework immediately without rest in order to grasp what he has taught me. He has gifted me, and I must appreciate it by oening the gift.

In the afternoon I happened to walk by a branch of the Taoist Tai Chi society. Someone inside was doing the form — not particularly well, but not the worst I had seen. I didn’t really want to go in but I did anyways, and I asked them about taoism. They basically do not teach taoist meditation or philosophy as a separate practice, as I was told, not even in the temple on D’arcy street. I was told that everything is wrapped up in their form. Honestly, I am not really surprised, only maybe that they have managed to survive this long in today’s Toronto, which is much more enlightened than 30, 20 or heck even 10 years ago. I also saw a few other schools notably northern karate on st. clair which has a very nice studio.

I want to promote Tai Chi in a nice downtown studio. But that is going to take more than just skill, I will need money! Maybe I can partner with some other masters somehow. It is a dream for the future.

I landed in Toronto a couple of days ago and have finally begun to settle in a little bit. I don’t enjoy my space as much as I had hoped, but it’s not bad.

I’ve already had two classes with Sifu Wu and although I wasn’t expecting it, due to the material we covered, I do find that it is helpful material. I’ll continue to trust Sifu on those matters for now. Sifu knows best!

And now the curious case of the Scadding Court Tai Chi drop in. I went in on Thursday, and the instructor, a younger Canadian man, was leading the class — full of older Chinese people. Observing the class this did not make sense to me, as I recognized at least one of the older Chinese was a tai chi teacher in the park from 10-15 years ago. Why was he joining this class, did not make much sense to me. The lead instructor’s form was not good or bad, well, it just seemed average for the class. In some ways the students in the class were better than him. But not in any meaningful way. But what really surprised me was his attitude. I’ve been thinking about it for days.

Encounter 1
I went into the Gym on Friday morning to see him doing standing meditation near the benches. I approached him and asked about the Tai Chi drop in. He was immediately evasive. I kept asking him about the drop in because I was confused at the information he was giving me as it was obviously inaccurate based on what I had from the community center director and also from personal experience going to Scadding Court for many years prior. He then excused himself to go to the washroom. When he got back he simply pretended I wasn’t there. I got the hint and went off to practice by myself on the other side of the gym.

Encounter 2
After his class I attempted to ask him again if he taught Tai Chi and if they did push hands but he just ignored me and left.

Encounter 3
The next day (Saturday) I showed up and just did my thing, standing meditation, in the corner. He approached me and asked if I wanted to join his group. I said I wasn’t sure, because I was doing other styles of Tai Chi (in all honesty I didn’t want to pick up on yet another style/group, I wanted to practice what Sifu showed me). But he didn’t let me explain anything, he just cut me off and said he only wanted to know if I was going to join his group. I said no and he went back.

Encounter 4
About 3 minutes after the previous, he came back an asked me to leave since I wasn’t going to join his group. I was shocked but it still didn’t “sink in” to me. So I explained to him I was aware this was a Tai Chi drop in, that the director had explained to me about the different groups and tensions between them etc. He just interrupted me and told me that since I wasn’t going to join his group I had to leave. At that point I kind of lost it (kind of) and told him that I had done Yang style for 20 years and that I wasn’t going to join his group because he was rude to me. He didn’t seem to care or to understand and just said I had to leave. So I told him in no uncertain terms I was very well aware of what was going on, i.e. that it was a drop in, there were multiple groups sharing the Gym, and so forth. I told him I was nice to him in the beginning and I couldn’t understand why he was being so rude. But he just said he was going to call security and that was it.

So we went up to talk to the front desk lady. At that point he demanded to speak to her alone so I said sure, and waited. Obviously he was not giving a fair and balanced account of what happened. But during this time my friend Henry who had been coming to the Tai Chi drop in for 20+ years happened by and we struck up a conversation at the front desk. I don’t know if this helped when the desk lady saw it but the long and short of it is that the lead instructor went back down to the Gym and I was given an official membership card for the center and told to come back on Monday (it was the end of class by then).

Encounter 5
During this time I went back down to collect my things. This may have made it look like he ‘won’ and that I was told to leave. In any case I went back down to the Gym and tried to apologize to him. I just wanted to diffuse the situation but maybe because he thought he ‘won’ he just continued to ignore my apology and walk away. Needless to say, me apologizing for his bad behavior is backwards, but it is a friendly gesture to allow him to save face. I did it for him and I was really and honestly surprised that he did not accept this opportunity. But no, he did not accept, he just totally ignored me and walked away while I was talking to him. How this man came to lead the seniors at Scadding court is far beyond my ken.

I wonder if he will be surprised to see me there on Monday! I really don’t know what will happen on Monday morning but I sure as heck am going to blog about it. See you then 🙂