This morning my shirt was sopped in sweat. That’s
the norm when I train here on Hainan Island. It’s
even hotter than Florida, and much more humid –
so it doesn’t take much to get the beads rolling.
An attractice young lady in a blue dress walked past
me while I was doing some hip rolls. She stopped and
looked around when she was about 30 feet away – then
retraced her steps a minute later.
I smiled and turned to my friend, fully aware of what was
happening: “What do you think she wanted?” I asked.
“She want to talk with you – but she cannot start the talk.
You must start otherwise the Chinese people will look at
her and say, ‘Aaah, you like the foreign man, ha.”
I laughed and started a set of Hindu Squats.
A few minutes later a couple other women who were
exercising at the same time began to try to imitate what
I was doing, without letting me know. They’ve seen me
do this exercise many days in a row now – and were
probably curious right away, but cannot show it. So they
wait until they’ve seen me doing the exercise for a few
weeks, then they can try.
“They like you to teach them,” my friend said. “Sure, it’s
true, they want you to help them learn. But they cannot
come to you and say, “Will you help me do something?”
A few minutes later a lady that I see everyday begins to
work on a bridge from the kneeling position. She always
trains so hard, but once again, although she is stuck and
only imitating what I do as best she can, she will not ask
for me to help her – and being I’m somewhat reserved
myself, that makes for nothing.
Finally, though, I decide to do something I don’t normally
do. Instead of only focusing on my workout, I break the
ice with the lady and say, “Wo keyi bang mang ni hen
kuai.” I can help help you with this very fast.
She smiles and listens. I tell her to “fang song” – to relax.
I tell her to inhale deeply at the beginning of the movement –
then to exhale and release the tension in her muscles. I tell
her that if she will inhale and exhale and relax, she can go
all the way to the ground within one or two minutes. At her
pace she’ll never get there.
She doesn’t believe me when I say I can help her stretch so
far in such a short period of time – so I puff up my chest and
let her know I have trained many, many people and I KNOW
what I’m talking about.
She agrees to try. A minute later she is all the way to the ground.
She cannot believe it. She is stunned.
I look at her and say, “If you have the confidence that you can
do something, that is most important. Anything you want to learn
you CAN learn if you are willing to try.”
I go back to my workout.
Several other women gather around the lady to learn from her. They
would like me to help them, too, but they won’t ask me directly as it is bad
form.
This is a good thing as I have much to do.
Now, you might wonder why I don’t try to sell the ladies my program, my
Combat Conditioning or Combat Stretching programs.
Good question. I could do so – but when I’m in China, for the most part
I remain the mystery man. At my wife’s urging, as well as close family
friends, it is rare for me to ever tell anyone anything about myself. This
is Chinese culture.
And so, “What is your name?” is met with – “I don’t have a name.”
“Where do you live?” is answered with, “I live outside. I’m a wild man.”
“How old are you?” is followed by, “I have no age.”
And “What do you do for a living?” gets a “I take a rest” response.
Funny, isn’t it.
Good news for you is that you know who I am and you can read about my
track record. Tis a good one. And you can ask for help from me by
becoming a member of the Matt Furey Inner Circle – where we have a
private discussion forum where I and my elite group of Furey Faithful
are there to answer all your questions. Believe me, being in the clan
will help you make progress by leaps and bounds compared to struggling
all by your lonesome.
So take a serious look at becoming “one of us.” You can find out more at
http://www.mattfurey.com/furey_inner_circle.html
Kick butt – take names,