Prep Training for Sifu/Sigung's Visit - "3 Arrivals"

[Ray]

Sifu Emiko,
That was wonderfully profound. What's wonderful about understanding that mind = body is that the wonderful fact appears to you that in a lot of ways you are who you think you are and you can become what you want to become right now.

[Andrew R]

Simply delicious

Sifu Emiko,
Though we have not met personally (though I do recall you being at the New York course in November with Sifu and Sifu Anthony's story of hitting you in the neck and causing some stomach fun that night...) I can say that from reading the wisdom you've shared so far I would be vastly honored to study with you any day. It's easy to appreciate just how much your words follow the arts we practice: they're directy, effective, to the point and simply yet powerful. Truly a remarkable resource, I give it 5/5 celebratory pancakes.

Drew

[Charles David]

Dear Sijie,

I have just printed up a copy of your articles to date. I am bringing it home for my wife, Lara (our Junior Sister), who does not get a chance to get out to use the computer much. I'm sure she will benefit from and enjoy your articles as much as I do.

With Gratitude,
Sidai,

[Emiko H]

Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

Andrew, Daniel, Ray, Drew, Charles,

As always, thank you for your feedback and participation. Your contributions keep this thread vibrant and alive.

--------------------------------------

Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

I'd like to begin this segment with a story.

Recently, I had to perform before an audience of 400+ in a venue where the acoustics were completely "dead". In other words, no matter how loudly or carefully I projected the sound, as soon as it left my mouth, the sound would fall and disappear into thin air. I can honestly say that out of thousands of performances that I've done, from tiny rooms to full-sized stadiums, this venue was the all-time worst venue I had ever sung in.

At the dress rehearsal two nights before, I had to sing a capella because my pianist, being a professional herself, was performing elsewhere. You can imagine my surprise when every note I sang kept falling and disappearing. There was no feedback and I felt my body tensing up. In short, I felt extremely uncomfortable.

To give an idea of what the experience was like, please imagine yourself saying something and not being able to hear it. Or, think of standing in a park and letting your body sway but experiencing nothing but a vacuum (i.e. no wind or breeze). Even better, when facing off with a sparring opponent, there is nothing more disconcerting than an opponent who gives off zero signals. (The only 2 people I've experienced zero signals from are Taisiheng Kai, and, of course, Sifu.) Well, this is what it felt like for me, and no wonder I was uncomfortable.

On my way home from the dress rehearsal, I thought about how fortunate it was that I had been trained in the Shaolin arts.

I recalled my Sifu saying to me, "Emiko, there are two ways to look at things: the negative way or the Shaolin Wahnam way."

I decided to treat the dress rehearsal as my "scouting out" of the "enemy's terrain" and began to consider my options. I thought I should forewarn my "fellow warrior" the pianist, so I called later to let her know about the space and acoustic issues. Two of the things she immediately suggested were that the top cover of the piano be closed, and that I stand closer to the piano than usual so that the sound vibrations from the piano would enable my voice to ride out a bit farther into the audience. In this way, we worked out some simple strategies for dealing with the "battle".

Well, the big day came. We arrived early. My pianist walked into the auditorium, stopped suddenly, and looked at me.
She said, "Oh, dear. I see what you mean now."
I nodded.
"This is going to be hard," she said.
"Yes," I said, "but okay, let's do our best."

We went to the "Performers' Waiting Area" (there was no dressing room) and the show began shortly thereafter.

While waiting for the other acts to finish, I felt the discomfort in the body. I couldn't lie to myself, I was deeply uncomfortable. So, I closed my eyes and saw myself in the ideal place for chi kung - a mountain behind me with a waterfall, and before me a gentle babbling brook. I heard Sifu say, "Smile from the heart. Enjoy the breathing in. Enjoy the breathing out." And then it was all right.

I still felt uncomfortable. But the heart, body and mind were at peace with the discomfort. Up to that point, I had done my best to do a good job of preparing for the event. Now, I could just let go and let the Universe take care of the rest.

When I walked onto the stage and began to sing, no miracles took place. The notes still disappeared, I still had to work hard, and the pianist still had to insert much more pedalling than usual. Nevertheless, within the total awkwardness of the physical environment, I was able to experience peace. After the performance, I had to leave for another appointment, but the feedback I received from the audience (passed on through other friends and family) after the fact was positive and I even sold quite a number of my CDs!

This is what I mean by getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. There will be many occasions when the external will be uncomfortable. Though we may not be able to control the outside environment, we can certainly take time to surrender ourselves to the experience so that we are internally comfortable with ourselves.

How does this relate to preparing for a course with Sifu/Sigung?

Very simply put, any time spent with Sifu/Sigung is a life-changing experience. Change can be a very uncomfortable phenomenon. We can either resist the change or we can surrender to it.

So, we can prepare ourselves by doing as much prep work as we can prior to the course, and then, once we are at the course, know that we will change and that we have the choice to resist or "get comfortable with being uncomfortable" - and change!

In the days/weeks preceding a course with Sifu/Sigung, why not use every difficult and strenuous situation in your life as a chance to practice getting comfortable with being comfortable?

Then, you'd be living Shaolin.

Happy training!

[Andrew]

Beautiful!

[barrys]

Emiko Sije,

Thank you for this thread it has been very helpful for me. I have a course with Sifu starting tomorrow at the Summer Camp.

A couple of weeks ago I printed off the thread and spent a couple of hours in the sun in my garden. I contemplated my single wish which started off as "living happily and peacefully with others and disturbances". This is something that was often difficult in my life. Since learning from Sifu my ability has improved a lot. However, some recent things in my life and at work helped me realise there is still work to do.

It seemed right but I decided to try it out for a few days. It has really helped. During this process I began to realise that one big blockage for me is that, often subtly, I look for other people and situations to let me know I am ok. I also realised that I tend to think of myself as a "not ok" person. So, my objective became to "embody the paradigm of okness" and "behave and act like an ok person" rather than "overcome not okness" (from another of your earlier posts).

I realised that my hesitation or repeated pattern is that if I get the sense from someone else, or the general situation, that there is something wrong with me I often don't make my own honest self-evaluation. Too often in the past I resentfully agreed with them or completely ignored them, both of which had lots of weird knock-on effects. My new choice is to not hesitate in making my own evaluation and acting on it. That doesn't mean I won't listen to other people just that I will take responsibility for what I do with it.

As I shared in a PM with Maxime

I can get advice if things are difficult but for me it can easily turn into wanting a judgement on whether I am an ok person.

I realise this pattern has dogged me in one way or another for as long as I can remember. I will let you know how the new pattern goes.

Thanks to Maxime for helping me work through this as well and suggesting I share it in a post.

With metta,

Barry

[Jonny Say]

Wonderful post Emiko, thanks again for this thread.

[Andy]

thank you

Dear Emiko,

Thank you for these wonderful essays. Great advice not only for a course with Sifu but for all arenas of life!

Thank you for sharing such personal and inspiring details

Best Wishes

Andy

[Martin Do]

Thank you sifu Emiko for sharing your story and for such a wonderful post. I hope to meet you some day and when I do, can I be cheeky and ask for one of your CD's.

Kindest regards

Martin

[Ray]

That was a beautiful story, Sifu Emiko.
It brought a smile to my heart.


^_^,

Ray

[Ray]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In preparation for Sifu's visit to Florida I was reviewing this thread. I made it particular point to implement the "Pacing" principle on page 3 where Sifu Emiko talks about "Freedom and Joy". I had a very strong bout of cleansing insomnia last night and this morning decided to take it easy with just Lifting the Sky, the only difference was that I reminded myself that I was practicing for "Happiness and Bliss" and I had a wonderful, wonderful cleansing. I felt my heart laugh and I haven't felt that since I don't know when (probably Sifu's last visit ^0^).
So anyway, thank you Sifu Emiko and thank you Sifu.

May all living beings experience happiness and bliss.

Truly yours,

Ray

[Ray]

Hi everyone,
In preparation for Sifu's courses I'm printing out this thread and I suddenly noticed that Sifu Emiko still has "One's own guarantee" and "Jing Chi Shen training program" to write. This thread is wonderful Sifu Emiko, I would be extremely grateful if you could find the time to post the remaining articles as I'm sure many others would as well.

Warmly,

Ray

[Hubert]

Thank you Emiko for this wonderful thread.

Interestingly, in the past, I would have been very eager to read about the "Going For It!" section straightaway, but - thankfully - I have since then discovered that preparation is key in everything.

So now I too would be very grateful to read more about "preparing"

[Andrew R]

Listening to Hesitation

Hello Amigos,

I thought I'd share a quick experience I had this evening. I was at work in the big computer lab we have at my University, and I saw a very attractive girl from one of my classes come into the lab. I've never talked to her, but have wanted to All of the sudden I found my mind racing with thoughts of going to talk to her but maybe I shouldn't, but I should, but I can't, etc. And then Sifu Emiko's wisdom popped about about how hesitations are the universe's way of saying "Wake up! Here's an opportunity!" So I calmed down, cleared my head, and as I was leaving work I went and talked to her.

Now, this was HUGE for me. Normally I'm waaay too shy and lack the confidence to just walk up to a girl like that, but I was able to tell myself, "Just smile from the heart, be confident, and learn from the hesitation." To sum it up, it went really well. She seemed happy to be talking to me, and afterwards I got to have that great breakthrough feeling of, "Wow, I really just did that!" Haha. Thank you Sifu Emiko for your teachings!

Relaxed,
Drew

[Ray]

See, Drew
I called you "stud" for a reason.

Good going, stud ^^

Yours truly,

Ray