The Graceful Martial Art of Wu Shu

We just finished watching the film True Legend in which Su Can is looking to perfect the martial art of Wu Shu. He goes through many challenges, getting his arm broken, his father getting killed, and even losing his beloved wife Ying...but after all these horrifying set backs, he always manages to slowly pick himself up and learn something more about the martial art of Wu Shu.

Watching the film I felt such a deep connection and even yearning to practice and perfect a martial art which is graceful and mature like Wu Shu. The last time I did any martial arts was when I was around 10, learning a little Karate, and then 16, learning the Sikh martial art of Gatka (which is not really very difficult!).

I believe the reason for the deepness of my feeling is three-fold: one is that my family's ancestry are all warriors (Kshatriyas) and so its in my blood, two is that I really love physical fighting and God gave me a very hard fist for my build, and three is that my spiritual father, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, was very much akin to the perfected angel-like Wu Shu spiritual warriors shown in the movie. He was more destructive than even those who practised the darkest arts, and yet more delicate and sweet than a flower. He was a perfect spiritual warrior, born out of total compassion and kindness - a concept which today is virtually non-existent.


People who practice martial arts today either become too macho, full of anger and ego, or are too soft to ever be able to fight in reality. Rare...really rare...are those who have transcended their ego, their anger, their revenge, are fearless, sweet, kind hearted and extremely skilled martial artists. In the past people had time to dedicate to practising martial arts, these days there is hardly even 5 minutes spare to talk to a friend, let alone spend countless hours in training!


But what I think is achievable is 1 hour a week going to a martial arts lesson after work. It's good for de-stressing, letting out some steam and keeping the body fit at the same time. Intention is however important, a martial artist should never be overly ambitious to win every fight nor should derive pleasure from inflicting pain on another to prove they are better - I've seen martial artists suffer from both.


The real martial artist lives in the present moment, not distracted by winning, losing, emotions or thoughts, but completely present to every moment of the fight. Being present, time slows down and one can see everything much more clearly.


So, I think this is an exciting new chapter to my life. I look forward to going to my first martial arts lesson in a long time!