I am sometimes asked why I don’t have the ‘day off’. The answer is quite simple; there are few ways I better enjoy my day than teaching personal students. For a good teacher teaching is a vocation, a ‘calling’ which must be followed. In martial arts far to frequently this is not the case - too concerned with ego people teach for the ‘lifestyle’ or the money or the ‘glamour’ (and I even heard someone tell me he wanted to be teacher so he could have it on a business card!). To find this ‘calling’ you cannot be persuaded, charmed or sold but you must be ‘touched’ by it. You must feel it inside and know at once that it is for you...

 

I believe this feeling is the same for finding your master in martial arts. Just like not every job is right for every person, not every master is for every student. If you can listen to your inside ‘voice’ you will know when you have reached your ‘destination’. I can sincerely tell you that within 30 minutes of meeting my Sifu I knew he was the master for me (and, in converse, my Sifu thankfully also thought in a similar way). It was not the charm, knowledge or the charisma (although my Sifu has an abundance of all three) nor even the fact that everything I was searching for was there. But it was some kind of connection at a much deeper level.

 

It is hard for many people to understand, as to find ones place in life is a rare and fortunate occurrence. However, finding your calling is an essence ingredient in Chinese Wing Tsun. As a student, assistant, teacher and master you will spend many years teaching and improving the same things. While there are many different levels (and, like any art, Wing Tsun is a lifelong learning) the basic movements and principles are inescapable and require constant improvement and practise. As my Sifu once said to me: ‘To-dai, you must look to nature; a tree needs strong roots…’ To a person who simply enjoys the art this is fine for a few years but what about 10, 20, 40 years time? It is at this point you know whether a person simply claims to love the art or if they really do…

 

Sifu