I live in a small village on the outskirts of London (technically in Surrey) and have taught karate in a neighboring town for a few years now.
My dream was to drop my “adult” job and teach karate full time. Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons that dream has taken a back seat.
But while I was starting my karate club, a Kung Fu club moved into my village with their own dedicated dojo (my dream) and has been thriving ever since.
Each time I walked past, I would scorn at this martial arts club. Not because they were bad or anything, purely because I was jealous.
I didn’t like the fact someone else had “stolen” my dream and as a result my ego was stopping me giving it a go, even though it was right around the corner from me.
I’m not quite sure what changed. Maybe the fact that my training has taken a hit and I feel like I’m slowly getting a “dad bod” or perhaps my own study of martial arts / Buddhism has made me question things, but I decided to leave my ego at home and try it out, and you know what, I’m glad I did.
My first session I could already see the link between Wing Chun and karate (especially Goju Ryu). Even though Wing Chun focuses mainly on the Ju (softness) there are a lot of similarities.
Many of the concepts and principles are the same, which you would expect as Karate originated from Kung fu (white crane). The one thing that I did find difficult is the lack of tension. Even the punches have no tension in them which I find strange.
It was good timing too, as shortly after, I attended a fantastic joint seminar with Dr Mark Phillips from London Wing Chun Academy, and KJG (Karate Jutsu Gakkai). The links between the two became even more apparent when we started focusing such things as; the structure of the body, attacking the centre line and short-range attacks to name a few.
Anyway, I digress. Basically, by dropping my ego and the preconceptions I had made of this Kung Fu club, it opened up more possibilities for me and a deeper understanding of this martial art I love so much...Karate.
Moral of the story, if you drop your ego occasionally, you might be surprised as to what you find.
Jez