Anyway, not to get carried away, but we wanted to give a bow of recognition and respect to a great boxing warrior who had the courage to go the distance after seeming defeat to become three times heavyweight champion of the world. Yet even greater was his courage and integrity of his moral conviction. The old boxing master was a warrior monk indeed. Happy Birthday.

Along the martial path to mastery, the very meaning of martial arts changes at different stages of our development. Just like the same oak tree appears differently during the four seasons – green buds in spring, lush foliage in summer, colored leaves in autumn, barren branches in winter – our values, what is truly important to us as individuals, changes as we grow and mature. Not just our punches change to animal moves and then to internal palm strikes but our thinking changes.

The young warrior trains the body striving for six pack abs and kick ass prowess. Of course, this is the popular Bruce Lee image of martial art, becoming a total fighter in all fighting ranges: kicking, punching, trapping and grappling. The macho art phase.

But there is more. Chinese Shaolin and Daoist kung fu is mental. The martial scholar delves into the intellectual aspects of fighting history, philosophy and science behind the physical techniques. A this stage, the martial scholar explores theories like yin/yang, five elements, the principle of Dao as well as bio-mechanics, leverage, anatomy that underlies a well executed hip throw techniques and strategy. As the martial warrior strengthens the body, the martial scholar is simultaneously strengthening the intellect.

Yet the rarefied realms of the martial way is that of the martial monk, who seeks the spiritual liberation as Bodhidharma taught. The meaning expands beyond the ring, mat or street to life itself. At this stage, the goal of martial arts is a transformative process for liberation of the self. But it is terrifying to confront our inner demons, few enter this part of the path.

The challenge of Evolving Martial Artists (warrior/scholar/monk) is to bravely shatter through their existing understanding of martial arts and become inner warriors of the mind and spirit. Keep going.

The Dragon is a symbol of the ultimate power of nature. In kung fu, it symbolizes high level martial arts. The TanDao Dragon is coming!

Of course, our goals are to be more powerful, faster or learn that new take down, kata or be the best of the best. But these goals are too general to have effective impact on learning. Research shows that creating specific goals that can be measured (increasing number of repetitions or time) and put in a progressive time frame (in three weeks… three months…half a year…) is an effective method of achieving excellence.

Less is more: Specialize on Single Technique

But even before making up your schedule you must have a specific goal. So for example, this New Year focus on mastering a single technique, say a front kick. Of course, practice all your other kicks but concentrate on understanding everything about a basic front kick.

Do you know there are at least seven different ways of delivering a front kick? It’s not enough to learn a technique and how to apply it. Even a basic front kick has many subtleties. All you need is one for fighting, but learning nuances and variations will give you hidden insights into bio-mechanics and tactical application that apply to all your kicks. After a year of intensive specialized training you will have a realistic front kick as a core weapon to add to your personal fighting repertoire.

Evolving martial artists discover that specializing on a specific technique for a long period of time opens up secrets to the martial science and art. Think about it: what single technique do you want to master? Got it? Then go for it this year.

Watch out: The TanDao Dragon is coming this year!

Lawrence Tan

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