Re-prioritising

As the academic year comes to a close at East Cheshire Community Education, it is time to reflect upon an eventful year. The recession is starting to bite, and this has been reflected in the trials and tribulations faced by myself and many of my students. Three have had children, one has got married, two have changed their jobs and four have moved to another area.

The one thing that becomes clear is that many people have used the recession to take stock of their lives, work out what they truly want and re-prioritise accordingly. Although undeniably stressful, it is also a time where we let go of behaviours, beliefs and aspirations that hold us back.

One of the easiest ways of cutting back is to cancel that gym membership, give up your regular exercise or quit a hobby that costs you money. Be careful about doing this. It is easy to label activities that keep your health and sanity as being superfluous and wasteful. It is also tempting to work longer hours in the pursuit of money in case you may lose your job. Denying yourself your health and recreation is storing up problems that will prove more costly in the long term. Short term gains may result in long term burnout.

So when re-prioritising during a recession, stay clear of a mentality based on fear and protectionism. This is not a mandate to keep spending and ignoring the climate. It is about nurturing yourself and growing in a new direction.

Mental viruses

The internet has proved a fantastic tool for the circulation of ideas and concepts. It unites groups of people with common interests and is the perfect forum for discussions and networking.

There is a down side. The internet is also a breeding ground for a phenomena that I call the Mental Virus. A mental virus is like a computer virus. It is a thought or belief that has no possible use to the owner other than the creation of fear and mistrust. It spreads from person to person and is almost impossible to get rid of. An older version of the mental virus is the urban myth.

Urban myths were rife before the internet. Whoever told you about them said that they happened to "a friend of a friend". Generally, there is no proof that they happened, and there is an element of possibility. Here are a few:

• The old woman who dried her wet dog in the microwave and the dog exploded.
• There are alligators in the sewer put there by people buying them as pets and flushing them down the toilet.
• The young woman who stopped to help an old woman whose car had broken down. She offers to give the old woman a lift to a garage, and notices manly hairs on the back of her hand and drives off before the old woman can get in the car. It is only when she stops that she finds that the old lady's handbag contains a large knife or a small axe.

Mental viruses are just like urban myths, but are on a much grander scale. They start with an idea that snowballs into international conspiracies and life and death issues. People do enormous amounts of research that joins together unrelated facts to make a unified whole.

Some other mental viruses are as follows:

• All modern inventions like computers and stealth aircraft are inspired by recovered flying saucers being reverse-engineered by the US government.
• Princess Diana's death was ordered by the royal family.
• Humanity is being secretly enslaved and ruled by seven foot blood-drinking lizards.
• When NASA landed on the moon, they found alien bases and have been covering it up since.
• NASA never landed on the moon. It was all a hoax.
• The nazis landed on the moon during the second world war.

When you first look at the concepts, they appear pretty far-fetched. But the people who perpetuate mental viruses spend a great deal of time researching for phenomena and facts that support their ideas. They then place these facts into a logical order to build up a picture that points to their theory. They also conveniently ignore all evidence that points to a more logical conclusion. But when you de-construct their arguments, they don't bear well under scrutiny. Many of the conclusions are measured incorrectly - like trying to say that someone is 6 ft tall by weighing them.

More dangerous mental viruses can be perpetuated by religious cults and groups. In these cases, mental viruses are the start of extremist behaviour.

So when learning new concepts on the internet, please consider whether you are taking on a mental virus. Consider whether there is significant scientific backing for the facts and concepts. Also, consider how the ideas influence how you feel about yourself and others. Be rational, sceptical and challenge everything. Ask the right questions, and many of these theories fall down like a house of cards.

Making life simple

I recently bought the new Apple iPad for my wife. She has never been a fan of computers. They are too logical and cold for her. Usually, when she writes an email, I have to stand at her shoulder and advise her. You can see the unease that creeps up every time she gets near a keyboard and mouse. I have a computer in our living room, and she won't sit near it.

Now I am guessing that there is a whole chunk of society who feel exactly the same as my wife. To them, computers are confusing, irrational and frightening. This fear is so bad that they make a thousand excuses why they should not use one. I've heard every little argument.

But something really interesting happened when I gave Claire her iPad. She ENJOYED using it. My self-confessed computer hating wife not only smiles when she uses it, but she is now asking me "Will it do this" or "will it do that". She WANTS to use it more. Possibly for the first time, she sees a computer's potential.

Everything wooshes around at the flick of a finger. The whole package is so slick and capable that using it is instinctive. There are no instruction manuals. You don't need one, because it's all common sense. When my four year old daughter was allowed to have a go, she picked it up straight away. My one year old daughter also understood the interface without any prompting.

This is the way computers should be.... clear and simple. Why make them complicated? Why do you need a million different configuration options? It keeps software engineers and computer companies in money, that's why. Most people don't want to be computer engineers. They just want to get on with their lives with the minimum fuss. Apple understand this more than anyone, and in the iPad, they have delivered a computer tool that understands how people work and delivers simple, effective services for them.

The teacher's teacher

For the past two weeks, Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei has been in the UK conducting seminars for a wide range of abilities. The class I attended was the advanced Laojia Yilu. In the picture opposite, he is demonstrating wrist locks to an eager group of students. Special thanks to Master Liming Yue for bringing Chen Zhenglei to our shores once more.

This time Chen Juan (CZL's eldest daughter) ably assisted in the classes and provided additional tuition and support to the students. It is good to see the Chen lineage coming through strongly in this excellent, spirited Tai Chi player.

While training is of paramount importance to me, these classes are also a great opportunity to catch up on old friends and make new contacts. After the first day, it was clear that the large majority (if not all) of the students in Master Chen's class were Tai Chi teachers in their own right.

This made me think about where do teachers go to continue learning about their art? It is important to keep your skills relevant and improving, so how do you know that you are learning with the correct teacher?

Many traditional martial arts place great importance on lineage. Lineage is the way you connect yourself to the inventor of your art and their direct inheritors. For example, my lineage is that I was taught by Master Liming Yue, who was in turn taught by Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei and up through the Chen Family history to Chen Wang Ting who invented Tai Chi. Your measurement of success is how few the degrees of separation between yourself and direct lineage (in this case, the Chen family). While lineage is one way of assessing a teacher's knowledge, it is not always a guarantee of quality.

There are other ways of proving worth. One way is through competitions. You can perform your movements and have them judged by a panel of officials. This kind of marking is subject to interpretation, and external appearance is no guarantee of martial skill. Cage fighting and Mixed Martial Arts tournaments are becoming more and more popular as a way of proving self defence skills. Other martial arts have simulated combat competitions (Judo, Tae Kwondo, Tai Chi push hands etc.) But many of the most effective traditional martial arts techniques are banned in modern tournaments. So while tournaments are a good barometer for isolated requirements, they are not necessarily a guarantee of a teacher's fighting skill. Also, they are not a guarantee that the teacher can teach. There have been many naturally gifted fighters who have surrounded themselves with students who have learned very little.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself after attending a martial arts class for the first time:

1. Did the lessons make sense?
2. Were things demonstrated slowly and clearly?
3. Are you happy with what you have learned?
4. Was your health and safety considered?
5. Did your skill and understanding of the martial art improve (or did you just learn how good at martial arts your teacher is)?

If you can answer yes to all these questions, you are in a good class. Finally, have a good look around at other students. How good are the more experienced students? This is a guide to your future.

At the end of the day, it is about trust. Who do you trust to correct your technique? I personally know I have made the right decision to learn from Master Liming Yue and Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei. The content of their classes is outstanding, they give clear instructions, they have everyone's safety in mind, and taking a look around their classes - I see so many other teachers there, so I know I have made the right decision.

Tai Chi and Meditation

@KarlRichard (His website here) asked me the following question:

"Can you explain how meditation and Taiji work together as one? Not an easy task, no doubt... Coming from a Buddhist perspective!?"

Many Chinese martial arts (including Tai Chi) were influenced by the Shaolin monks' training, which was taught to them by Indian Buddhist monk - Bodhidharma. He was disturbed by the monks poor physical health, and showed them "tendon changing" exercises (Yi Jin Jing), which were later adapted into the self-defence forms and skills we recognise today as Shaolin Chuan (Shaolin Boxing).

Bodhidharma was responsible for introducing meditation techniques to the Shaolin and he is associated with the idea that spiritual, intellectual and physical excellence are an indivisible whole necessary for enlightenment. It is this ethos that has cascaded through to many of the modern Chinese martial arts today - including Taijiquan.

To delve a little deeper and understand Tai Chi as a meditation, we have to understand the concepts of Wuji and Taiji (Tai Chi).

Wuji is the fundamental principle of stillness. It is a quality that is - in essence - empty and non-polar.

Taiji is extreme opposites (or supremely polar) and represents the interplay between yin and yang. (incidentally, it is this concept that was mis-translated for many generations as "the Grand Ultimate", which fuelled the fires of mysticism and bad teaching that is being corrected by better modern understanding). It is dynamic and polar, and represents the substantial and yielding qualities that are required for self defence.

Now - to attain Taiji (dynamic, polar) gongfu (skill), you must first attain wuji (stillness and emptiness). Meditation is merely focused consciousness. When practicing Tai Chi, the consciousness, movement and breathing are co-ordinated and can be interpreted as a holistic meditation. There are also meditative postures like Zhan Zhuang.

For further reading on Tai Chi and consciousness, try here:

http://richardnorthwood.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-thoughts-on-martial-arts.html

http://richardnorthwood.blogspot.com/2009/12/importance-of-focus.html

Knowledge or skill?

In our modern technological age, it can be argued that information is the new currency. Never has it been more important to be able to exchange information. It is something that as a society we have become addicted to. 24 hour media, internet, mobile phones, laptops, ipods - the world hammers us with information.

This is fantastic. I look at how quickly my daughter has picked up the internet and I predict that she will not know the meaning of "I don't know". Almost all the information in the world can now be obtained with a few mouse clicks. Everything is always on and always available. I remember when my parents had to use the local public telephone if they wanted to call someone.

There are some people who are wary of this technological revolution and fear information overload and social stagnation. I disagree. I really do believe that our increasing need for information will eventually drive the evolution of consciousness, which in turn will have a positive effect on our physiology.

But... (and there is a big but.) Knowledge is nothing without skill. Tell someone once, and as long as they are able to retain the fact in their head, they have acquired knowledge. Knowledge is easy to obtain.

But skill takes time. Unless you are a genius (and most people aren't), you have to do the same things over and over and over again. You have to make lots of mistakes - and every time you make a mistake, you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and either fix your error or learn how not to do it again. Is this tough? Yes. Can it be frustrating? Undoubtedly. But the rewards that skill brings to the practitioner are beyond description.

Gongfu (or kung fu) is literally translated as skill. So when you go to a martial arts class, be prepared - first and foremost - to acquire a skill. So have courage. Be prepared to make repetition your friend, boredom your enemy and skill your ultimate goal. Everything else will fall into place.

Sleep

One of the most important and most overlooked aspects of modern health is the quality and quantity of sleep. In our always-on and plugged in society, poor quality sleep can make us angry, irritable, fatigued, sick and unable to concentrate or memorise anything.

I also believe that a lot of obesity is started by people not getting enough sleep. They eat because they feel fatigued and they think they need something to give them more energy - but what they really need is more sleep. If you feel you aren't getting enough sleep, check out the advice here:

You can't get off to sleep:

1. Kit your bedroom for sleep only - remove any computers, televisions, stereos, telephones, books or distractions.
2. Keep it dark. No lights on. Fit black-out blinds to your curtains if they let the light in.
3. No caffeine, drugs or alcohol. (Alcohol can help you to sleep, but your sleep will not be restorative).
4. No big meals late in the evening - the food will sit heavily on your stomach.
5. Practice meditation to calm you down before bed.
6. Avoid sugary snacks in the evening.
7. Check that your bed is comfortable. If it is not, fix it. There are some great products, like memory foam that are really comfortable. They are worth the investment.

You get to sleep OK, but you keep waking up in the middle of the night:

1. Don't switch the lights on - light resets you body clock, so try keep a tiny torch if you need to navigate to the bathroom.
2. Don't eat, unless hunger is keeping you awake.
3. If you are woken by ideas, keep a pen & paper to write them down. You should be able to sleep after that. Only make sure you don't switch on the lights - use your small torch.
4. Don't you dare touch a computer, book, phone, tv, radio, playstation, xbox or ANYTHING that will distract you.

Your circadian rhythm is your body's internal clock for sleeping and waking patterns. This clock can get knocked out by things like jet lag, changing work shift patterns, stress or lack of sleep. To get your body clock working again, get yourself a timetable for sleep and stick to it. Go to bed at the same time every night - even on nights when you are not working, like weekends and holidays. Also, get plenty of sunlight during the day. This will let your body clock know the difference between waking and sleeping times. Do some exercise during the day (like a martial art, swimming, jogging, walking etc.). Exercise will also tell your body clock that this is the time for waking, so the night is for sleep.

Finally, learn a guided method for progressive relaxation - in other words, think about each part of the body and imagine it relaxing. Go through all parts of the body until you are feeling totally relaxed. When you can do this on a comfortable bed in a dark, quiet room without any distractions, you will soon find yourself slipping gently off to sleep.