Transformations
What Shou Shu Has Done For Me....
Sat, 2007-11-17 23:00 | by jackstrappette
What Shou Shu Has Done For Me.... Shou Shu has done alot to transform my life over the years that I have studied, practiced and used it. Life was already a bit on the edge from my childhood....a few years in the United States Army and time spent with the NATO forces in Bosnia in end of 1993, 1994, and a fraction of 1995...sent me the rest of the way over the edge. I was not a humble guy for a few years after that. I was constinately in trouble, bar fights and dealings with the low lifes of society. I was on a pretty quick downward spiral that would have either gotten me killed or into prison. That started to change with Shou Shu in 1997....when I met Shifu Brad Sefraph. I was in a bad situation, caused by myself, in a bar...and he came to my aid and saved my behind. I'd seen alot of big, burly guys walk through people before...but Brad did it in a manner that was controled and calculated. There was no barbarian berserker rage...he was calm and focused and flowed through powerfully. That was the moment when my life had started to change. Not that I learned anything that night....or for some time after that, but it changed the way I saw things and gave me something to strive for. He told me that evening that he had studied Shou Shu, but he didn't tell me what it was and it was a while before I saw him after that....and longer still before he would even talk to me about what Shou Shu was. Before I began to study Shou Shu, I had a real downward view on life. I hated life and almost everything there was about it. I didn't really care about living to see the next day, it didn't matter. After Brad started teaching me Shou Shu, that started to change. I had a reason to get up in the morning other than going to a dead-end job where the pay was minimal...provided I got paid at all. I've always believed that you cant get anything for free...but I've had a boss before that seemed to think that eight hours of hard labor wasn't always enough to warrent a pay-check. With the Shou Shu, I had somthing positive to think about to make the day go by faster and happier. It gave me something to do other than go to the bar and get drunk every night as well. Shou Shu made me humble, it helped me to realize that I was FAR from perfect and that things had to really be worked at to make them worth while. I had to be dedicated to what I was learning....and Shou Shu was worth that dedication. Training in the rain and in the snow...kinda like the military, but building integrety instead of anger and resentment. The five main principles of self that Shifu Sefraph pushed to instill in me was Honor, Integrety, Perseveirence, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit. Over time....those values begin to grow, I really didn't notice it at first...but they were there. I lost that selfishness and began to care about other people again...I found shame in the things I had done before, accepted it and went on to find a better understanding of the people and world around me. Shou Shu gave me guidence and structure...purpose. In the eyes of society....Shifu Sefraph would not have been viewed as a "White Knight"......he was a rogue in the sence of law and order....he believed in justice at what ever cost. The lives of the many outweighed the lives of the few. His honor was his life...and in the end, such dedication may have been his weakness for helping those who could not help themselves. Shou Shu is the greatest combat art I have ever witnessed, and I'm greatfull for everything that Brad taught me...but even Shou Shu cant stop a bullet that has your name on it. I will continue to study the Shou Shu he taught me in the manner he taught me, and I will do what I can to learn more...not just for myself, but for his memory and for those who need someone to step forward when they cant. In closing, I would like to share one of the last philisophical discussions I had with him...I feel he already knew the fate that awaited him when he told me the code he said he lived by; A Warrior is Sworn to Valor Their Heart Knows Only Virtue Their Blade Severs the Unholy Their Courage Protects the Oppressed Their Might Upholds the Weak Their Word Speaks Only Truth Their Wrath Undoes the Wicked Their Honor is Their Life.... He said he found these words in a movie once, and that they struck a place in his soul that was his Warrior's Spirit. To him, those words told all there was to tell about being a man or woman of integrety and selflessness. I memorized those words, as I grow in Shou Shu and work to become a better man, his spirit will be with me so long as I work for the benefit of others through what I become. -Jack
My many thanks......
Sun, 2006-12-31 22:08 | by AnonymousShou Shu has given me a new breath of life. Before now, I have always walked a ravors edge that simply left me feeling empty. A few years ago I started to study the art of Shen Ku. Its not a combat art by any means, just one with a base that embraces survival. Shen Ku has a few meanings;"Secret Stranger", "Dark Visitor", and "Phantom Passanger" to name a few. All these meanings have a substance that concerns being in the shadows. Below is a passage I wrote before I started to practice Shou Shu;
"How far have you traveled in this world we live in? How many things of wonder have you seen? How long have you traveled and how much have you suffered at the hands of others....or have you suffered because of your own actions. The things we do change our lives, even if we never see it. Actions are like pebbles cast into a lake. They cause a splash and send small ripples radiating all around...eventually the water becomes still again and all appears normal. However, those pebbles sank to the bottom...so what lies beneath the surface has been forever changed. It will never be as it once was...for better or worse. How many paths have you followed in your travels through this life? How many decissions have you made that have caused you to take the wrong path. More than you will probably ever realize. Theres no telling how far we could actualy be or what we could have accomplished if we didn't make mistakes. Its impossible to tell just how much pain and suffering we've caused along the way. I suppose the mistakes we have made were to teach us to change. Life is a tangled web we weave, how long can we live before we are caught in our own web. Will we find redemption for the sins we have comitted, will we be forgiven for our mistakes...or will our souls perish into darkness as our final breath is released. I've lost track of the paths that I have taken...they have led me down many dark trails. Each time I see a light ahead, something catches my eye and draws me away from the path of light....I find myself once again on a trail of darkness with a handfull of friends and only a flickering light of hope to remind me that my travels are not in vain. Everyone has a purpose, I know I do...I'm simply to blind to see what it is. I will...as we all must, continue...for it is not in me to perish or give up. Hope has kept me alive this long and will continue to do o, through the length of my life is but a drop of water no larger that the eye o a needle in the sea of time. I will struggle down these paths untill I find the one that was created for me. As I think of it...fate and destiny are not certain, perhaps I will need to leave all these beaten paths, followed by countless souls through-out time, and cut my own path through this wilderness of webs. I am my own being, I seek enlightenment not only for myself but for the good of others as well. I have free will to do what I feel is right...and no man, woman, nor beast may judge me! I am walking in shadow...the shadow that rest between light and darkness...the warrior renounces anything in his experience that is a barrier between himself and others. It is a difficult thing to accomplish, its hard to accept the sins we have committed. Even harder still it accept forgivness and renounce guilt. Strive we should, never give into dought and never nurture a dark seed planted by another...only sow and reap what what is seen to be right to yourself."