Evolution Revolution

I love my life.  It goes without saying that I love my family.  I love Japan in general and Yokohama specifically.  I love my work at Microsoft.  The company is in the middle of an amazing transformation - going from a pretentious know-it-all to an empathetic listener who can learn as well as teach.  We are closer to each other and to our customers than ever before, and the genuine, sincere "humanness" is the cornerstone of our newfound success and energy.  Under the new leadership of Satya Nadella, we have been moving steadily from a product-centric approach (features and functions) to a solution-led approach (fit for purpose).  Now, we aspire to become even more.  We want to evolve to be a partner in business model creation, where we help our customers develop new markets, ecosystems and business lines to expand and grow their relevance to their own customers, using our powerful platform as an enabler.  We are working hard to be part of the future rather than just the present.  It's an exciting time to be here.

I am transforming, too. My martial arts journey spans almost 40 years now, with the most recent decade being anchored firmly in Southeast Asian martial arts - specifically Kali Majapahit.  I have gone from absolute beginner to teacher, learning all along from everyone and everything I could.  My quest is far from over, and as I have written before, I learn as much from my students as I have from my teachers.

I was initially attracted by Guro Fred Evrard's choice of terminology in the first KM class I ever took in an old shophouse on Yan Kit Road in Singapore.  He talked about "solutions" to "situations".  This blew my mind.  No teacher I had ever seen talked like that.  In the past it was about techniques and forms and repetition.  It was about patience and discipline and tradition and...waiting.  There was no creativity or innovation.  Systems were taught the way they had always been.  No one thought much about practicality or applicability - those things were for "sport" styles like MMA, Muay Thai or boxing, looked upon with disdain by traditional martial artists.  Guro Fred changed how I thought about martial arts.  He opened my mind to a new way of learning.  Thanks to him and my other KM brothers and sisters, my journey of evolution continues.

Over the years Guro Fred's emphasis has changed as he has evolved.  His focus has shifted, which is completely natural since people change over time, consciously and/or unconsciously.  While I look upon the old days fondly, I am always excited by his commitment to innovate the curriculum and find new ways to challenge us.  Nothing in KM stays the same for very long.  We continue to evolve and that keeps us fresh.

My approach has evolved too.  One of the most beautiful things about the FMA is the inherent ability to translate between sub-systems.  We start learning weapons (sticks) on Day 1 and we try very hard to link everything about the stick back to the empty hands movement and vice versa, using universal body mechanics/physics about centerline, weight transfer, hip rotation, extension.  We are reminded that our tradition comes from the blade, in KM specifically the barong, and we are encouraged to look at the stick and empty hand techniques through the lens of the blade movement.  Subtle changes are needed, but most of what we learn flows seamlessly from one to the other.  Our understanding expands to the world around us, whereby everything becomes a weapon proxy, including the environment.  As shown in many famous Hollywood films (Bourne series, Taken, etc.) trained kalista use anything and everything to win.

Now, when we see a technique, our minds begin to explore how the same concept can be reused and reapplied in a variety of other circumstances using any other tools.  One technique becomes hundreds of expressions and our creativity is unleashed.  This way of learning sharpens the mind.

We evolve our thinking from discrete technique to flexible solution.  Later we move beyond physical technique into aspiration, where our training is focused on making us better people - leveraging our strategy and psychology to negate the need for violent conflict.  Our journey moves from the physical to the mental/emotional and ultimately to the spiritual.  Our journey connects us deeply to everything and everyone and we manifest this awareness in every day of our life.

My arts at work and at home are no different from my arts at the dojo.  My life in KM has allowed me to evolve not just as a martial artist but as a husband, a father, a co-worker and a friend.  The evolution has brought me unparalleled happiness by keeping me connected.  I use what I have learned every single day and always will.

What is YOUR revolution?
How are YOU evolving?

Teachers and Students

I am very fortunate to have had several incredible teachers during my journey, starting officially from age 14 until now.  They taught me not only martial arts techniques, but so much about the world and my place in it.  I can honestly say that without my teachers I could never have achieved the things I have done or become who I have become - a teacher now focused on sharing what I have learned with the next generations.

My teachers have always appeared just when I needed them to.  Whenever I felt a plateau on the path or began to lose my way, a teacher would always be there to bring me back and keep me moving forward.  Sometimes it felt like inches at a time, but forward nonetheless.

However, if I am honest, I learned just as much from my training partners.  Together we explored every technique making countless mistakes along the way.  We found out what worked and what didn't and the trust in each other kept us from injury.  They, too, were my teachers.

Now I find that I learn so much from my students.  They come to class with bright eyes and focus, eager for each new bit of knowledge.  Their questions and the way they move teaches me a lot about how people understand our art.  Among our black belts we take some things for granted - newer students do not.  They don't assume something works (or that it doesn't).  I am fascinated by how to make the art easier for them to absorb.  In many ways, they are now my teachers.

Punong Guro Fred Evrard and Guro Lila Evrard have been among the most important of my teachers.  Starting me on my current path and selflessly sharing their lifetime of experience in arts I had never seen before.  They changed my mind about so many things, and I am forever grateful. 

At the same time, Guro Fred was always clear that he was not the art.  The art is the art.  What does it mean??

Make no mistake, I started Kali Majapahit because of them.  I continued (and still do) because of everyone else, the other teachers and students and the broader KM global community we have built together.  I don't get to see them as often as I would like, and certainly not as often as I did when we were all in Singapore.  However, that does not mean that I don't still learn from them.  It means that at my level I must focus more on adding to the art by incorporating my own background and experience (25+ years of traditional Japanese arts) into KM.  That is our KM Japan "flavor".

My students will outgrow me.  That's what I want.  Then they will take the art even further.  That's also what I want.  To do this, the students cannot sit back passively and wait to be "spoon fed" the knowledge by me.  They must become proactive and seek out understanding on their own so they can discover THEIR Kali Majapahit.  It is THEIR journey after all.

For the past 8 years I have tried to be at every class.  However, try as I may I can't always be there.  This shouldn't matter.  I am not the art.  The art is the art.
Come to class regularly and learn from each other.  You will be glad you did.

That is all.