Seasons Gratings!

My martial arts teacher is a woman named Tammy Parlour. Saboumnim Parlour, to give her proper title, runs the London branch of the Wol Ge Kwan Hapkido Academy where I train.

But when it comes to gradings she invites the founder of the academy, Master Gedo Chang, from the main school in Chicago to conduct events.

As he visits the UK three times a year I’ve been fortunate enough to grade under Master Chang and attend his seminars and without doubt he and Saboumnim Parlour are two of the best teachers I’ve studied under. Ever. Anywhere. At anything.

Master Chang also lectures on his visits and one of his favourite subjects is how ki exercise, which is a bit like tai chi, yoga and meditation all rolled into one, works.

To do this he uses a jar full of water which has dirt at the bottom and a lid on the top. Then at the start of the lecture he takes the clear jar, shakes it and disturbs the dirt which mixes with the water so nothing can be seen through it.

He then goes on to explain how the stresses of life can make the human mind a bit like the cloudy jar as it too is a thing that can possess utter clarity but too often it has everyday worries polluting it.

He then settles the jar at the side and begins demonstrating ki exercise techniques and explains how the combination of slow movements, regulated breathing and meditation helps settle the mind so it can metaphorically resettle the dirt at the bottom of the jar.

By the end of the lecture the dirt in the actual jar has generally settled back to the bottom and the water is clear again. It’s a wonderful illustration of a complex idea.

Anyway it was bearing this in mind that I signed the class Christmas card for Master Chang. In my head I meant to write ‘the dirty water in my jar is becoming much clearer, many thanks’.

But as it was following a very tiring lesson and there wasn’t much space on the card I cut some corners and ended up writing ‘my dirty jar is much clearer, many thanks’.

Sadly I wrote the word ‘jar’ like ‘jam’ so my philosophical message of thanks to the most respected man in the academy read ‘my dirty jam is much clearer, many thanks’.

There are times I should fire myself…