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Sifu Atalick and Ms. Gibbons chat about Holistic Kung Fu, Goal Setting, and Perseverance during the pandemic. - 57 Min

It’s a craaaaazy time during this Rona broohaha. It can be very hard to be productive. Covid has made a polarity of people who say things like, “if you didn’t learn a language or write a book or start your online business during the lock down then you didn’t really lack the time, you just lacked the discipline” and then you have other people that took that post and scratched it out in red, like, “no, you need time to be sad, it’s ok, your mental health is important and if you need to grieve that’s ok, you’re not ok, I’m not ok, but that’s ok”. Either boat you’re in, I love you and care about you and I have no right to judge you, I just want to help with a couple thoughts and ideas.

I encourage my students, especially my black sashes and my instructors to always have a notebook with them. When they wake up in the morning, early, I suggest they make a pot of tea, find a quiet spot, don’t look at their...

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By Sifu Atalick – 9^th Generation Master of Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu

Kung Fu is not a style of martial art. Kung Fu is a lifestyle. It’s not something you complete; it’s something you do, continually. The Kung Fu practitioner is in a constant state of never ending improvement, not just physically, but mentally, spiritually, philosophically. The practitioner sharpens their skills in all aspects of their lives. They do this because once they understand the methods and discipline they develop in martial arts, they see the same methods and discipline can help them in all aspects of their lives where they need improvement.

Although there is not one end goal in Kung Fu, the focused practitioner will set many goals along the way to continually develop. Goals, however, cannot be accomplished without a system of discipline. I’m writing this now, because we’re a couple of week into the new year, and if you’re reading this, there’s a chance you...

It was Winston Churchill who said “Perfection is the enemy of progress.”. That may seem contradictory to Kung Fu, since we are all striving for perfection, as we should be on our entire journey through life, but what I myself take from the saying is that we must do what we can, when we can, while we can. The perfect opportunity or the perfect conditions for our development will never arise.

Many people fail to work on their own self cultivation because they are waiting for something, and often something beyond their control. They say, “Once I get in shape, I’ll start learning Kung Fu”, or “once I have the free time”. Some of us do this in smaller ways but they can still be detrimental to our overall progress. For example, “my uniform isn’t clean so I’ll skip class”, or “I’m already 10 minutes late so I’ll just go another night”. The worst one I hear, which to me is one of the most cringe-worthy...

The 2^nd Law of Concentration; Focus Your Mind. This is the second lesson we teach kids and teens when they come in to learn Kung Fu for the first time. The first thing we teach is focus your eyes, learn how to look people in the eyes, and keep your eyes on what you’re doing and who you’re speaking with, something that’s lost for many young people, but I talked about that in a separate post, so today we’ll talk about the second, which is focus your mind; focusing your mind, thoughts, and intentions. For kids we teach that focusing your mind means being in the moment, paying attention to what’s going on around you, and if you can do that you can react very quickly to things, and that translates into discipline, when they learn that then they are taught to apply the same focus at home, for example if you’re mind is focused and you’re paying attention, and a parent asks you to clean your room, then you should be able to do it right away without...

There’s this weird fad going around about not keeping score because someone’s feelings will get hurt if you keep score, if you have a winner you have a loser. I understand the well intentioned concept with regard to competitive sports, however since I don’t teach competitive sports I’m not really going to comment on it in that regard, I’m instead going to comment on how that pertains to life, because if this idea of not keeping score isn’t kept in the right context, it can be very counter-productive in life in general.

 If we apply the not-keeping score to everything, it can be very detrimental to a child’s level of discipline later on. I teach Kung Fu, which although is a combative art, actually has more to do with self cultivation and self development than it has to do with combat.  Kung Fu means literally, the skill we acquire after time and sacrifice. Which means, if we’re following a Kung Fu path, we’re always...