A Passionate Voice

I watched a documentary the other night, about how singing brought a nation together, and beat Communism. It was inspirational, and got me thinking about the passion our voices bring in Kung Fu.

Think about your sound focus. What is its purpose? To breath? To scare your opponent? To occupy your mind? How about using your sound focus, or counting loudly for your partner, to bring out their passion, their intensity, their strength?

I found this to be so true at the Boot Camp this weekend. When your body is tired and sore, and when you think you don’t have any energy left, it is amazing where the reserves come from when your partner is yelling your numbers at you.

It gave me the encouragement to keep pushing, to find the joy in the exertion. It let me know that I wasn’t alone out there, that someone was cheering me on.

There was a post on Kwoon Talk earlier this month about encouraging your teamates, and how simple that can be. Just by running beside someone, believing in them, can give the strength to keep going. It is so true. Here’s an example from this weekend.

During the fitness test, I was ready to give up my horse stance at the 3.5 minute mark. But then when Master Brinker yelled out the time, I thought, hey, I can do another 30 seconds. Then he yelled out the 4 minute mark, and again, I thought, hey, only 30 more. Then the next thing I knew, I hit the 5 minute mark. Without that loud verbal encouragement, I might have given up before I was really ready.

And then the kicks were right after that. I could barely stand, let alone throw a kick. But I tried, and with my partner yelling out my numbers, I was able to go beyond what I thought I was capable of, and my energy came oozing back.

Our sound focus not only helps ourselves, it helps to encourage those around us. Feel the energy in the room, when the whole class is yelling. The room almost vibrates. Then try a quiet class, where everyone is self conscious, and the energy is just not really there. I find it harder to get motivated that way.

So I encourage you all, to use your sound focus, and feed off the energy it produces. (Now if only we could bottle that and run our cars on it!)