Author: Niagara Kung Fu

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Avoiding the Loser’s Limp

Posted on | by Niagara Kung Fu
When I was about 12 years old, I was not a very active kid. Way too many video games, way too much TV. I was putting on extra weight after I broke my leg in a ski accident and spent early spring in a cast, after that laziness just compiled. This allowed me to ride the metaphorical “I can’t, my leg is recovering” scooter for much longer than was reasonable. I was in that sweet spot in between divorced parents, where no one put in the effort into arguing with a preteen know it all.
This was much further compiled when I was at the orthodontist one day getting fitted for some contraption or another. The orthodontist, while examining my face, mentioned that my jaw was set back too far, putting pressure on my wind pipe. This would make it slightly harder to breathe and make it very difficult for me to perform well at sports.
I was already terrible at sports. Not because of my wind pipe, but because I didn’t practice any and I wasn’t active. When I was registered for different sports when I was younger, I always did the bare minimum. I was under the impression you were just either athletically gifted, or you weren’t. I thought I was just in the latter category because I was small. My understanding at the time was practice had little to no effect on it.
When this orthodontist explained this wind pipe thing, it was gold. It was exactly what I needed. Now it was definitely not my fault that I was not athletic or active. It was “THE WIND PIPE”. I had the ultimate excuse to keep my butt on the couch. “The Wind Pipe”.

This is what Zig Ziglar used to call “The Loser’s Limp”

I eventually committed to martial arts training a few years later which changed everything, but before I did, I milked that excuse for all it was worth. Martial arts taught me that I get what I put in, and that you need to have an internal locus of control.
Having a Loser’s Limp, (an excuse as to why you lost that you come up with after the game is over) is having an external locus of control.
If you haven’t heard that term before, imagine it this way:
You’re in a race car, with a manual transmission, and instead of having the gear shift inside the car to your right, you modify it to take it out and put it somewhere else to be controlled by someone remotely, like your pit crew.
You ride in the car, steer, press the gas and the break, but they do the shifting for you. If you don’t win the race, who do you think you are going to blame? Probably the pit crew, because you’ve given control over to them. You can yell at them and it will make you feel better about losing.
If you put that control back in the car, and have an internal locus of control, you can’t blame them when you lose; You have to look at your own skill and behaviour and ask yourself what you can do to change and make a difference.
I can assure you that having a “compressed windpipe” or (whatever it technically was) only ever effected one thing: My attitude.
After I started martial arts training seriously, I never had any issues physically and athletically again. Quite the opposite actually. I started to out perform most of my friends and peers. This was because I was getting in better shape. I was getting in better shape because my attitude shifted. Because my attitude shifted, it changed my behaviour. Different behaviour yielded different results.
The orthodontist didn’t really know what he was doing at the time in this regard. I think many authoritative sources or “experts” don’t understand what they do to people psychologically when they throw such claims around haphazardly. It’s not like he took any x-rays at that point, he was just looking over my teeth, and maybe trying to sell my parents on some upgraded gear; I’ll never know.

Because he was the authority, I grabbed on to what he said, believed it, and let it dominate the next several years of my life.

 

Admittedly, this was ultimately my fault, not his. I am lucky enough to have eventually developed an internal locus of control about it. As a result I learned not to do it again.
There are many ways people do this. They don’t just accept a diagnosis, they really own it and become it. This happens to the point where it shifts their attitude and behaviour into accepting a lower standard for themselves. After shifting the behaviour, they will blame the diagnosis instead of accepting the possibility that their current results are because of the shift in behaviour, not because of whatever diagnosis they were assigned.
Parents do this with their kids as well. I once had a parent ask me to excuse their child from the reading we do in our leadership program, because they were not a strong reader. I asked them how we can develop their child into a strong reader. After a moment of thinking they got it. Yes, we should take some time to practice reading, coach them through it, and not take the challenge away from them.

Kids can take the word and opinion of parents and authority as gospel. We have to be very careful we don’t assign them shortcomings and move their locus of control outside of themselves.

 

Sifu Atalick
Master Instructor
Niagara Kung Fu Academy

Sifu Atalick has owned and operated the Niagara Kung Fu Academy since 2005 and has been teaching Holistic Kung Fu for 20 years. Holistic Kung Fu as taught at NKFA helps kids and adults build self-discipline, confidence, and focus, helping them to achieve higher levels of success and fulfilment academically and in their careers. He is the author of “Be Like Tea: The Art of Holistic Kung Fu”

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Watching Your Mental Diet

Posted on | by Niagara Kung Fu

Bre with kung fu swords and mental training

…Mental diet is just as important as physical diet in martial arts or any kind of physical training

If you successfully committed to a new work out routine; as in, you picked a new activity, got the right clothes, set the alarm or reminder, showed up on time consistently, you would still only be half way there. The other part of taking on a new method of physical development is what you are putting int your body.

It would be lunacy to put the effort into a physical activity, like martial arts for example, while giving no thought to what you consume.

If you are exercising regularly but you are eating nothing but greasy, fried fast food, drinking nothing but coffee or soda, and regularly consuming too much alcohol, you would be wasting time. Your results are only as good as the fuel. You can’t put regular octane in a car that requires a high test grade of gasoline and expect the same performance.

This is pretty common knowledge, and I’m probably preaching to the choir.

Here is what I’m getting at though:

Most people don’t consider the same logic when it comes to their mental development.

Self cultivation is ultimately a process of developing one’s mind, body, and spirit. They are inseparable. Granted some pursuits may lean more toward one of the three. Realistically, working on one will inevitably result in improvement in the other. When you work on the body, the mind gains clarity. When you have results in either it positively affects the spirit.

So even if you are merely trying to lose a few pounds, mentality always plays a part. Mental attitude must improve alongside the physical training. Likewise, if you simultaneously improve your mental attitude, you will be more positive and resilient in your physical development.

Accepting this, we must also be aware of our mental diet. You wouldn’t start a physical training routine while stuffing fast food in your face. Why then, embark in any kind of training without being aware of the mental input?

We are mostly aware of what we are consuming physically. We must also be aware of what we are consuming mentally. This means we must pay attention to the media we take in regularly.

Even when we think we are not being affected, because we think we can ignore it; when certain messages are repeated again and again, they inevitably have an effect on us. Even on a subconscious level.

This can have an effect on how far we push ourselves, how we handle adversity, how much willpower we possess. Gradually, media has a strong influence through constant suggestion, and if we are watching the same media that the average person does, then we are more likely to get the same average results.

That may be fine for most people, that’s ok. It’s your call on what level of performance or achievement you want. If you want average results there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you want exceptional results you have to engage in exceptional behaviour. This means you have to get better input, advice, reminders, and guidance. That guidance shapes and reinforces your belief system of what is possible for you.

Think about what drives the source of information you are getting?

When you are watching the news for example, what does the news want from you?

The news wants to keep your attention so they can put advertisements in front of you. This lets them show off the number of eyeballs they have watching them. They can then show that number to companies so companies will advertise their products or services to you on that platform. The news has no financial interest in bringing you good news or bad news specifically. It just so happens that bad news tends to get people to watch longer. As a result, most news is depressing or fear invoking.

The news has no interest in keeping you mentally and physically strong, aware, or healthy. Physically and mentally strong people consume less products. They consume less fast food and take less pharmaceuticals (two of the biggest advertisers). They are therefore not the most ideal consumer for the advertiser.

It’s not a grand conspiracy theory that they want to keep you fat and dumb, it’s just in their obvious financial interests, so the information they most often present will be biased toward that result. It’s in your interest to pay less attention to it, and more attention to people who have an interest in your personal growth; People like coaches, mentors, teachers, and friends with common goals or values.

You don’t even need to know them personally. Most of them have content, books, audio programs you can access with great ease. You just need to decide what is best for your mental diet, and then consume it moderately.

The source of what you listen to, read, or watch, even in the background, will gradually have an effect on your belief system.  Your belief system will drive your activity, behaviour, and habits. If you don’t consciously choose what that source is, you will most likely default into what everyone else is watching or listening to. If you listen or watch what the average person listens to or watches, you are more likely to have the same average results.

Just like how you can’t outperform what you consume in your physical diet, you cannot outperform what you consume in your mental diet.

If you’re consuming the wrong messaging regularly; messages of fear, lack, scarcity, limitation, and anger, you are setting a ceiling for yourself that you are not likely to break through until you change the quality of your mental diet.

 

Sifu Atalick
Master Instructor
Holistic Kung Fu Online
Niagara Kung Fu Academy

Sifu Atalick has owned and operated the Niagara Kung Fu Academy since 2005 and has been teaching Holistic Kung Fu for 20 years. Holistic Kung Fu as taught at NKFA helps kids and adults build self-discipline, confidence, and focus, helping them to achieve higher levels of success and fulfilment academically and in their careers. He is the author of “Be Like Tea: The Art of Holistic Kung Fu”

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Rob Atalick

Kung Fu Swords

Fear Punched You in the Face…Time to Shake it Off.

Posted on | by Niagara Kung Fu

“Everybody has  a plan until they get punched in the face” –Mike Tyson

I love this quote. As simple as it sounds, this is the type of wisdom that comes from the cold and often unforgiving experience that life brings. The understanding of which can rarely be found in a book or a class or any type of formal training or education. It needs to be experienced through the wave of punches life throws at us.

…and here you are experiencing it.

Everyone steps out with grand intentions. Once they get bopped in the nose though, things change. Your eyes water, emotions, adrenaline, and fear amp up. Your mind suddenly is clouded. Suddenly your will and intentions go up against the conflicting will and intention of an opponent, and things aren’t going as you hoped.

Fear is a big part of this reaction, but this reaction is also a perfect metaphor for fear.

The significant shift to watch out for here is the shift from being proactive to reactive.

When we start out with an inspired plan, we are motivated, dreaming, and enthusiastic. Then life hits back a little. Suddenly a little fear is thrown into the mix, and it’s quite like getting punched in the nose.

Some people take this as a sign to give up on whatever you were dreaming about. The wiser know that this is the universe testing us to see if we’re sincere, if we really want it, or if we’ll compromise instead.

When this fear sets in, if we don’t take steps to mitigate it we stay in a reactive mindset.

When we’re in a reactive mindset we cannot create. We are not inspired; we simply respond to whatever is being pounded against our five senses from our outside world.

When we are proactive, motivated, inspired, and feeling connected to something outside of ourselves we feel energized and we don’t want to stop.  When we get into a rhythm with it we sometimes notice that solutions come in almost magically, and strange coincidences occur aligned with what we want and what we are trying to accomplish. That is, until fear punches us in the nose. Then we’re just dancing to the five senses again, and they always take the lead.

In Praying Mantis Kung Fu I teach my students to Strike First. No, not as in throw punches at whoever you want because you think they are bad or that they deserve it; Strike First in life. Strike first means being proactive. I teach that being proactive is moving from an inspired place with yourself, and creating the reality you want. Reactive is just moving according to outside influence; your five senses collect input and then respond accordingly, no different from an advanced automaton .

In sparring, as in life, being proactive sounds ideal, and you might come out of the corner thinking proactively, and understanding the concept; don’t simply play defence and let your opponent set the timing, distance, and rhythm; be proactive and make them follow your lead. All that intention might quickly shift after that first punch in the face we receive though.

In our current world, we all got punched in the face with fear. Most of us shifted from proactive to reactive. We started merely reacting to the bombardment of the five senses and letting that conduct our lives, instead of striking first and moving from a place of inspiration, motivation, and love.

It’s time to shuffle back, shake it off, and break that pattern

to be continued…

Sifu Atalick
Master Instructor
Holistic Kung Fu Online
Niagara Kung Fu Academy

Sifu Atalick has owned and operated the Niagara Kung Fu Academy since 2005 and has been teaching Holistic Kung Fu for 20 years. Holistic Kung Fu as taught at NKFA helps kids and adults build self-discipline, confidence, and focus, helping them to achieve higher levels of success and fulfilment academically and in their careers. He is the author of “Be Like Tea: The Art of Holistic Kung Fu”

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Getting Back To Kickin’

Posted on | by Niagara Kung Fu

As we get back to our old routine, like late 2019 era, there’s a couple of approaches we should be weary of beforehand. I thought I’d write this quickly because it’s a pressing issue. I didn’t want too much time to pass before I address it.

We’re bound to make one of these two mistakes if we’re not careful.

The first being assuming everything is exactly as it was. The truth is, it’s not. You very likely do not have the same body you had a year and a half ago. You might be the same weight, so you think you’re fine. This doesn’t mean your stamina is the same, your flexibility is the same, your balance is the same. Don’t rush into the exact same type of activity you remember yourself doing pre-demic .

Don’t get flustered when your kicks aren’t as high as they were before,

and don’t push them to that height because that’s how high you remember kicking. Your body might disagree and this disagreement will end in you being hurt.  Take your time. Your comfort zone may have shrunk back down again, don’t rush to expand it back out to where it was previously. Gentle nudges outside of it will do.

Your muscle memory might be a little hazy. If your body structure is slightly different, even subconsciously, your muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, might not support what you’re now trying to do. Take time to build back muscle memory with light repetitions of everything. Refresh those neural pathways lightly and don’t put too much impact in just  yet.

                The same is true psychologically…

You may have spent a lot of time without seeing people face to face, especially without masks on. Trying to jump straight back in to the same social activity before and after class you were used to could be stressful for you. Take your time. Small consistent increments are what made your training great in the first place. If you have had trouble with social anxiety in the past and have overcome it, don’t expect to have the same confidence you earned previously; it may take a little time to come back. Don’t be upset about this. Give yourself time and take small yet consistent actions. The good news is you will return to your previous progress much faster, but no rush is needed.

The second mistake you might find yourself making is not getting moving at all.

You will think of what you used to be capable of, realize you cannot do the same things as before, and then just not start training again altogether. The solutions is the same; small consistent action.

If you’re worried about fitness training, just make it through the warm up. If you’re worried about the warm up, just get to bowing into class. If you’re nervous about bowing into class, just step onto the mat. If you’re shy about stepping on the mat, just step through the front door.

Remember the one dish theory.

When you’re in  a rut and you’re depressed, and your kitchen is a mess and the sink is full of dishes, don’t try and contemplate the whole plan of getting yourself up, getting the house clean, organizing yourself, and getting back up to full speed again. Instead, give yourself permission to wash just one dish and then sit back down. After that if you feel like washing one or two more then go ahead.

The best Kung Fu isn’t found in the dramatic montage you do once, it’s found in the routine that starts off with only 1 minute per day, consistently, that gradually compounds.

Start with just a little momentum. Put on your Fei Yu shoes and wash a dish.

 

See you in class  😉

 

Sifu Atalick
Master Instructor
Holistic Kung Fu Online
Niagara Kung Fu Academy

Sifu Atalick has owned and operated the Niagara Kung Fu Academy since 2005 and has been teaching Holistic Kung Fu for 20 years. Holistic Kung Fu as taught at NKFA helps kids and adults build self-discipline, confidence, and focus, helping them to achieve higher levels of success and fulfilment academically and in their careers. He is the author of “Be Like Tea: The Art of Holistic Kung Fu”

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