The Wordsmith

Remember that scene in Enter the Dragon, about five minutes into the movie, where Bruce Lee says to the young Shaolin student, “Kick me”? (and he says it oh so coolly).

Well tonight, my Sifu said to me, “Kick me”. I looked at him – brain freeze. In my head I went, “Noooooooooooooooo - déjà vu!” and wanted to run screaming away with hands a-flailing because Sifu was surely going to flip me three times and stuff me down the drain pipe or something like that. But there he was, pointing at his right shoulder.

“Kick me”.

*Gulp* So I did.

“You call that a kick?” At that point I was looking around for a hidden camera. Enter the Kuching Dragon, perhaps? (And if you’ve never watched the movie, please, stop reading and go watch it now. Everybody watches Enter the Dragon, Kung Fu or no Kung Fu).

*Double gulp*, so I did again. Quite a few times because I missed a couple of times (so sue me, it’s not everyday that I kick people on the shoulder). And then the Little Mouse ran to his other shoulder and did her little mouse kicks on him. Two ladies flanking a middle aged man, raising their legs at the same time and kicking him without really pulling back. Holy green hornet, the man did not even flinch.

Geez.

So what am I doing kicking a man at 8.30 on a Thursday evening? (Take that kinky thought out of your head or I’ll kick you instead). It started out as a work project. I needed to understand the philosophy of Kung Fu for work, amongst other reasons (busted ankle – had to do something with less impact, like Wing Chun) Ask me no questions and I’ll give you no kicks. Don’t ask. Just read on. Anyway, Sifu and I are part of a well-oiled team at work, and he gives Wing Chun classes, so there I was.

It was research and when I first started three weeks ago, I had four left feet, two right arms, a wooden noggin and I thought I would never get it. Never mind that I did Tae Kwon Do 24 years ago in school and was not too bad at it. In fact, I used to do 180-degree splits front and side and broke a few boards with some kicks. I even had a plastic medal to show from some long-forgotten tournament which I am completely embarrassed about. But as Bruce Lee once said, boards don’t hit back, and I took it up just for kicks (pun intended), as a sport; not for self defence – all of which are exactly what self defence and Wing Chun are not. The bottom line was, for real I-can-use-this-on-an-attacker Kung Fu, I had to re-programme my preconception of Kung Fu and martial arts. Mentally, I had to do back flips, somersaults and brain contortions to get there.

Three weeks into Wing Chun, and intellectually, I appreciate the philosophy of it more with each lesson. It’s turning out to be a beautiful journey of rediscovery. Kung Fu is the corner stone that has reopened for me a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. With that understanding, a deeper appreciation of connections to other cultures, of universal life philosophies and a re-examining of self. Trust me, it’s like peeling a giant onion. And it ends up not just being about Chinese culture but about life in its entirety. Beautiful, ain’t it? Walk it, then you’ll know it.

Right. Back to the Wing Chun dummy (yeah, muggins here). What connected in the head has not transferred to the body quite yet. While the philosophy is really starting to click in the grey matter, I’m pretty sure I look like one of those movie extras who look positively arthritic when they do Kung Fu. And they’re always the first ones to get their asses kicked or killed.

So anyway. “Kick me”, said Sifu.

I did. And learned what it feels like to do a real kick. Well, not a real hard kick. Just a not-for-show no-nonsense kick.

More about Cyn’s adventures (or should I say misadventures?) in Kung Fu soon.

N.B. Cyn does Wing Chun (or Eng Choon) at Kuching’s first Wing Chun training centre here. She also does White Crane Qigong at the same place, which she absolutely loves because she gets to huff and puff and blow a house down (ya, right).

Photograph sourced from: http://s592.photobucket.com/albums/tt3/hottamale6996/.