Shaolin Principle: Travel One Mile, Clear For Hundreds

[Charles David]

Dear Family and Friends,

During the recent Special Weapons Course, Sifu mentioned a very interesting Kungfu principle that could be of great benefit to many.

To paraphrase Sifu from the course, "If a person works on improving one aspect (of practice), many other aspects will also improve."

Sifu has been kind enough to elaborate on this in an email to me:

The Chinese saying is "yit li thong, pa li meng" (in Cantonese), which I learned from my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. It means that when one has successfully traveled one mile, he will be clear for hundreds of miles.

To test this principle, I will now set to work to improve an aspect of my kungfu that has been relatively neglected, namely: set practice. I expect that by focusing on sets, other aspects, such as force and flow will also improve. Report to follow.

I also intend to focus on a single area for improvement at work, either something neglected, or perhaps a strong point; I am undecided (and on holiday).


Question for discussion: How could you, or how have you, or how will you, put this valuable principle to work for you?


Thanks for playing!


Yours,

Charles

[Anton S.]

Great post, Papa Cha!

It was a wonderful course indeed!
I will put this principle in kung fu by improving my stances.
In daily life I have to figure it out yet. Maybe setting time limits to tasks would help improve my performance.
I will try and report!

Best regards,
Anton.

[David Langford]

Thank you for that Uncle Cha,

I'm going to work on my footwork. Making sure all my stance transitions are crisp, clear, agile, and rooted.

Take care,
David

[Charles David]

Hey, David. Thanks for sharing.

It springs to mind that improving your footwork, focussing only on your footwork, will also improve your striking, your ability to express chi, your fa jing. And that is just a start.

Enjoy.

Yrs.

[Nessa]

Thank you for starting this thread, Charles.

I will focus on picture perfect form (starting with 2 weapon sets per day, rotating weekly). Then after picture perfect form, on to flow.

In daily life I want to make clear decisions and carry them out relaxed and fast.


Happy training!


Best wishes,

Nessa

[Steffen]

Dear Sisookgung,

thank you very much for this explanation and the accompanying inspiration!

In the past, I have used this principle by working on the flow instead of consolidation with interesting results. Not only did my kung fu become more fluent and enjoyable, but the transfer to daily life was also notable. Situations where I would previously feel "stuck" and a little less happy became easier to handle and thus more rewarding for myself and other parties. On an interesting site note, my quick-wittedness improved as well which I like to play around with .

For the next months, I will add focus to improving my bow and arrow stance. In daily life, I will try to make a point of answering any messages promptly even if the content or interaction are a bit unpleasant.

We will see how this works out !

Thanks again and warm greetings from cold Hamburg!

Kindest regards,
Steffen

[understanding]

Dear Charles Sisook and other beloved Family members,

Report to follow.

Well, well.

How did the past half a year turn out for you while applying the principle "Travel One Mile, Clear For Hundreds" and what are the end results today?

With sincere respect,
Olli

[drunken boxer]

Nice thread, thanks to Charles for starting and to Olli for bringing it forth again.

I was told by a work/university mentor once to think of 4 strengths I had at work and try to improve them, then weaknesses would be pulled along automatically. Whereas focusing on weaknesses can just be demotivating. I don't know for sure.

But I do have a friend who used to be rubbish at school, in the bottom 10%, then he discovered a love of computers and his academic and professional life took off. In the course of building computer systems he automatically found his maths, english and other skills were pulled along and improved.

At work, I have been trying to improve one area, my skill in a particular programming language, but that is quite broad, in immediate terms I want to organise my days better and be more zen so that I can get my work done between 9am to 6pm like others do, instead of working late in the evenings and having less time left for other things.

In kungfu I have been trying to improve sitting meditation and sparring.