A Sincere Heart

Many students tell me they can't truly learn Gulun Kung Fu unless they're here in China.

Chris from New York proved them wrong.

When Chris first joined our online programme, he told me he'd been watching Gulun Kung Fu videos for many years. Waiting for this opportunity.

Within days of joining, he'd guzzled the entire video library.

"Really getting my teeth stuck into the practice," he told me.

When we first spoke, I could tell he was a man of few words. Answers very concisely. Introverted yet thoughtful.

I could tell he's the type who goes away, studies the details in private, really applies himself. Not just looking at the movements but understanding the principles behind them.

Doing Your Homework

Yesterday I taught Chris intermediate movements for the first time.

I was seriously impressed.

I could tell the man had done his homework. He'd watched the recordings, studied the explanation videos, really absorbed the details.

First time watching him attempt these movements, his skill level surpassed many students who've been practising for months.

Including most of those training here in person at the academy.

The Secret

I heard a famous magician once say that the secret to magic is "Spending more time on something than anyone would reasonably think possible."

This is exactly what applies to kung fu.

Mastery arrives when fascination with details exceeds what others consider reasonable.

Personally? I'm playing with movement patterns in all my spare moments. At some point I lost the ability to be embarrassed about practising in public. I have been found exploring XinYiBa movements while waiting for my luggage at the airport or in the waiting room at the dentist.

The Demand for Stillness

Internal martial arts—particularly slow, internal forms—demand extraordinary sensitivity to subtlety. Full-body internal awareness.

This requires stillness of mind.

This is why internal martial arts both cultivate and demand stillness. You need it to feel the subtleties. Without it, you're just waving your arms.

If you deeply care about your practice, you naturally start taking care of all the details in your life. You maintain the internal stillness and simplicity required for genuine progress.

Spotting the Ones Who Progress

It's very easy to spot the ones who progress.

Shifu Wu Nanfang puts it simply: Someone practising with awareness and a quiet mind can progress more in one year than those without awareness achieve in ten.

Having taught for some time now, I've developed an eye for it.

The hungry ones? Correct them once, they treat that correction like a golden gift. They return transformed, ready for more.

These are the ones I find practising during breaks, waking up early, while the others are sitting around chitchatting the whole time.

Those whose cups are too full, whose lives are too busy? I give them the same corrections repeatedly. They don't have enough space to digest what's been taught.

The difference between those like Chris—who deeply reflect on practice details with genuine fascination—and those treating it as a casual 30-minute warmup is night and day.

The Truth About Limitations

Chris's example dismantles the myth that you need to be in the mountains of China to truly make progress.

All limitations are only constructs of the mind.

A sincere heart can overcome all challenges.

What you need isn't proximity to the source but sincere dedication. The willingness to study when nobody's watching. The fascination with details others ignore.

And most importantly: the space in your life to let the practice truly sink in.