I truly admire the insightful way in which one lives and exposes himself to the essence of martial arts, specifically to Kung-Fu Toa. Like many others before us, I also took a leap from the ordinary life style towards the disciplined martial arts way of life. Born in Panjsher valley, northern Afghanistan, I was fortunate to travel abroad and experience many cultures and understand life better. My exposure to Kung-fu began at an early age when I was 13yrs old in India, where I trained under the direction of Rahdan W. Maher and Z. Matin briefly before coming to Canada. During the first two years of life in Canada I was able to train Northern and Southern Shaolin Kung-fu, which equipped me with good understanding of the philosophy of this Art. In the year 1993 I further trained under the direction of Master H. Garmiani and was able to complete the seven stages of Kung-fu Toa in 2003. As one Roman writer states, “Mens sana in corpore sana,” which means “sound mind in sound body.” This is precisely the archetype of Kung-Fu Toa. Through rigorous physical training one can overcome the impulse driven body and hence master whats defined as the “Self”. Self mastery equates to self discovery through the evolution of training the body, mind and spirit. Therefore, through training an individual must reach the summit of the three sectors of our existence, the body, mind and spirit in a synchronized and balanced manner. This corely has been my search and journey in life to date. Before I stop writing I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my teachers, Hassan Garmiani in particular, for instilling this life learning tool which has enabled me to face the daily life challenges. He has indeed been a friend and one that I can look up to as a role model. My gratitude to grand-master Mirzahi for his everlasting servitude to all kung-fu-kais, and last but not least my family, whose absence would have life without meaning. Keep fit and God bless. Shapoor Fariad
Self Discovery, awakening the power within The way to discover oneself, or to instigate the infinite power that our minds possess is through regular meditation. What is meditation? It is the highest state of the mind, the meditative mind. Our existence constitutes three states, physical, mental, and spiritual. Through meditation one can reach the summit of our existence. It is the meditative mind that enables one to understand his/her existence and its purpose. The sum of the two equates to one entity, or oneness, and essentially God. To reach the inner- self one must meditate. Meditation is an activity that one can undertake to experience the divinity in everything, starting from self. In order to gain the benefits of self-realization a meditator must adhere to the guidelines as prescribed by different forms of meditation, and it is imperative to conduct it properly and on a regular basis. Meditation is a form of lifestyle that complements other activities in one’s life and is never apposed to other activities that is part of one’s life-style. This is nourishment to our thoughts and activities conducted on daily basis.One can meditate at any time of the day, morning, noon, and or in the evening. Some prefer to meditate in the evening as our minds are full with daily challenges and quite agitated. This allows one to focus and concentrate, and leave behind all that’s clouding our mind. At the same time clearing the mind from the impurities that reside in our thoughts. The mind is a beautiful ingenuity of nature and is sharp in evaluating tasks given to it, and functions at too rapid rate that’s beyond comprehension of any man-made Machinery. One can only compare its beauty to that of the sky when clear at night twinkling with infinite stars. Our mind too offers similar beauty in its functioning when it is clear of all the impure thoughts that clutters it. One must strive to bring that original beauty that the mind has.Everything is in a state of change. The only thing that does not change is the change itself. Keep fit, meditate, and strive towards that positive change by clearing impure thoughts and paving the way for the beauty and strength that resides in our minds.