Murphy Martial Arts

I just spent the first half of the month training with Sifu McNeil in California. We were training Hsiao Chiu Tien (Little Nine Heaven). We were specifically training the three exercises, and 17 animals of the system.  Any time I get to go train with any of my teachers, I seem to have some kind of epiphany.

I’ve had the chance to train many different systems in my life. Internal and external systems. Traditional, and newer hybrid systems.  Each and everyone was the right system for me at that specific time. While training these various systems I’ve always looked for the similarities in the systems.  My thought was that truth was in the similarities, and that differences could probably be attributed to ego.

So up until this month, every time I had learned a newer, and what I thought was a deeper understanding of a principle/concept, I had changed every system I practiced to fit my new understanding. My epiphany this week is that, that is wrong!  You’d think that after almost 40 years of training, I’d have things figured out by now? I guess the path I’m on is a long one. I think I’ll enjoy the journey.

So at this point in time, I think that the principles that are taught may have a universal truth. How ever the interpretation from system to system, while different can equally be true.  This is so for both internal and external systems.  If you are practicing the various internal systems, they each have there own energy. Don’t try to make them the same.  To quote Bruce Lee “Don’t think, feel.. or you’ll miss all that heavenly glory”.