

Master Thiago Pereira
moyfatlei.myvt@gmail.com
@thiago_moy
Well, you could have seen me there in September 1999, shortly after trying on the newly bought Moy Yat Ving Tsun uniform: a black polo shirt with a green and red logo, and black trousers with the same logo. While my mother was gathering papers, uniforms, and everything that made up a sort of kit you received when enrolling at the then "Moy Yat Ving Tsun Jacarepaguá School" located on Tindiba Road, my Si Fu, at 29 years old, asked if my mother and I had any questions. Perhaps to everyone's surprise, I said yes. Seemingly curious, he smiled and asked what it was. I then asked: "Do you ever think about quitting?" Seemingly finding the question odd, he didn’t answer. Instead, he asked another question: "Why are you asking that?" Still smiling, I replied that I had encountered a few instructors who had quit teaching after a while. Si Fu, finding it amusing, concluded: "Well, I don’t think I’ll quit, you know? And don’t worry, because if I ever did, there would be people to look after you." Well, perhaps even with all our creativity, we couldn’t have predicted the direction our lives would take 25 years later...
When one begins at such a young age as I did in the Kung Fu Family, at 15 years old to be more precise, your Si Fu inevitably participates, as the relationship allows, in very basic but fundamental aspects of your development as a person. Depending on your background, this becomes even more important, as was the case for me. Over the years, my Si Fu, sometimes playfully and other times directly pointing it out, made observations about how I dressed. It was not a matter of judging whether my clothes were beautiful or what brand they were, but rather making me aware of how appropriate (or not) my attire was for a given occasion.
When I was 16, for example, I was always with my bicycle, and I bought a silver Nike shirt that I loved. I wore it in the morning at the Mo Gun and, in the evening, there I was again, with my bicycle and the same shirt. I had played football earlier in the day, and at 16, it seemed perfectly fine to me. A role-playing game session had been scheduled as part of the Kung Fu Life Process at the Mo Gun, led by Carlos Klimick. When Si Fu arrived and shook my hand, he furrowed his eyebrow and asked, "Weren’t you wearing that shirt in the morning?" For everyone else, the evening was about the RPG game; for me, it was about the shirt I was wearing. It felt as if the weight of the world had descended upon me. With a simple question, I never stopped paying attention to such details since I was 16. Even today, I generally carry two shirts with me, depending on what I will be doing during the day. But among so many instances regarding clothing, without a doubt, the most emblematic one was the shirt I wore for my "Baai Si"...
Sitting there, the only thing that crossed my mind at the end of these memories, while waiting for my disciple to buy a suit for his Master’s title ceremony, was an English expression that I wouldn’t be able to translate, but it was what I thought: "What a ride!" Si Gung then asked if we could go, but I had barely sipped my espresso, lost in my thoughts. The lesson that stayed with me from this opportunity was that, many years later, from my sweaty Nike shirt at sixteen to the moment when my disciple buys his suit for the title, I realised that my development through "Kung Fu Life" was still very compartmentalised in my mind. As a result, the ability to choose the appropriate attire for each occasion had not yet been correlated with other aspects of my life. It seemed to me that these are memories I carry and that guide me when needed, but they have not been fully incorporated to the point where I could forget them, and yet their logic would still be present in my actions. It is like seeing someone practising a form, where, whenever the person still needs to remember the next movement, it is proof that they are not yet in the "Kung Fu Dimension".
"Na Dimensão Kung Fu não existe mágica" – teria dito Grão-Mestre Leo Imamura quando comentei com ele, empolgado, sobre um determinado processo que parecia ter se dado de maneira "mágica". Na ocasião, não entendi muito bem, afinal, estava apenas dramatizando minha história. Mas, recentemente, talvez tenha conseguido compreender melhor o que ele quis dizer. Acontece que, desde dezembro, vinha conversando com ele e com o Mestre Fabio Gomes sobre o início do COMANDOS Marcelo Alves (foto acima), veterano do Exército Brasileiro no Programa Ving Tsun Experience. Marcelo é uma pessoa com muita experiência de vida e também com experiência junto ao Mestre Fabio Gomes, com quem vem desenvolvendo um trabalho muito especial ao longo dos últimos 25 anos, junto às Forças de Operações Especiais e equipes de segurança de forma geral. O Comandos Marcelo Alves assiste ao Mestre Fabio em suas instruções em diferentes cenários, bem diferentes dos de um "Mo Gun", mas esse Comandos ainda não havia iniciado formalmente sua "Jornada Kung Fu". Portanto, depois de muita conversa, iniciamos esse trabalho logo após o Ano Novo Chinês, na residência do Mestre Fabio Gomes, onde fomos gentilmente recebidos pela Sra. Adriana Lima, esposa do Mestre Fabio, que nos ofereceu um café da manhã.
In some way, for every class I schedule with Marcelo Alves, none of my invited disciples are able to attend. It seems that something always happens. For this reason, I have had a very special opportunity to teach these classes alone, without anyone guiding or assisting me. However, it is in no way similar to when I first started as a professional in 2008. I have been able to clearly perceive the results of accompanying Grandmaster Leo Imamura in the classes of the Ving Tsun Experience Programme in São Paulo. He never does anything off the cuff; we meet beforehand for coffee, and if we arrive early at the Institute, he asks those present to work among themselves on the topic of the class. When the class begins, he defines the order in which each tutor will approach their student. He observes carefully how each person is performing, commenting to those on the outside what is working well or not in the ongoing work, in a manner that allows us to improve when it is our turn. Furthermore, when we conclude our round, he comes to us and always respectfully comments on what is not quite right. Another important aspect is the presence and manifestation of martiality from the very first moment of Level 1 of the Ving Tsun Experience Programme. Perhaps this is why, at the end of the last class, I sent a message to Grandmaster Leo Imamura, deeply moved by what had just taken place. Perhaps you, the reader, may not understand, but the feeling of dedicating oneself to something and seeing the results is indescribable. Because, many times, it seems as though everything happens to prevent me from going to São Paulo or Brasília once again... You see, it is not like going to the neighbouring district. Many people believe that, because I do not have children or a wife, this process is made easier, but it is not quite like that. Every individual has a specific complexity in their life, and it manifests itself whenever we are in a process of self-improvement. If you do not have a very clear purpose when your mind asks you "What for?" or "Why?", you are lost. And in our business that is the "field of emotion", where there are no trophies or substantial financial gains, and instability churns your stomach, your answer to these questions must be very coherent.
Por isso, na última aula dada a Marcelo, em seu trabalho, ele me perguntou gentilmente: "Você acha que terminamos antes das 16h?"- O relógio marcava três minutos para as 15h, então eu respondi que sim, afinal, caberia a mim arbitrariamente encerrar a aula no limite do horário. Havíamos almoçado antes, e agora estávamos ali. O Programa Ving Tsun Experience tem seu material constantemente atualizado e deixa claro, por exemplo, a diferença entre "Intencionalidade estratégica" e "objetivo". Além disso, não adianta você ler e replicar o que está na apostila; é fundamental você ter a experiência, como eu sigo tendo, de assistir a alguém que entenda este Programa e possa orientá-lo sobre como melhorar. Afinal, "Mobilização" é um processo bem diferente de "Tutorização" e vice-versa. Por isso, tínhamos dois fatores fundamentais ali: o desejo do Marcelo de dar o seu melhor, completamente coerente com a educação por investimento, e o meu novo preparo. Com isso, encerramos a aula de maneira breve, pois já havíamos contemplado a intencionalidade. Marcelo sorria largamente, e eu olhei para o meu relógio: "15:22h". - "P*** que p****" - pensei. Fiquei emocionado por dentro. Eu nem tinha olhado para o relógio, e não havia mais nada a fazer ali. - "Thiago, parece que eu corri 60 km", disse Marcelo, animado e com um largo sorriso, e prosseguiu: "Parece que passaram várias horas". Eu ainda estava em silêncio, pensando nos vinte minutos. Eu não tinha conduzido aquela aula em vinte minutos porque eu quis; ela tinha acontecido assim porque deveria. E ali, eu e Marcelo, tomando consciência do tempo cronológico, sentíamos o estranho efeito da passagem do tempo dentro do "Tempo emocional". - "Bom, eu vou tomar um café, como você está ocupado..." - comentei, sendo interrompido por Marcelo. - "Não, pô! Como acabou bem antes das 16h, eu vou tomar café com você!" E lá fomos nós para o pós-evento .