Marcus Chen (12) starts and ends every kung fu class with three minutes of meditation.

“There’s something called three chamber breathing where you focus on separating your body into three sections starting from the chest, lungs and dantian area,” Marcus said. “With each inhale, you inhale slowly and breathe through those three sections and exhale through those three sections going in order. It helps me build focus and strength in my immune system. When I concentrate, I try to let all the stressors in my life go and not think about them when I begin meditation, so that when I start class, I can focus just on what I’m learning without any distractions from the outside world. When I finish class, I meditate again to absorb the material that I just learned.”

Just as athletes devote hours to training for their sport or performers to mastering their talent, Marcus dedicates countless hours towards learning kung fu.

“The first time I went to [Ascension Martial Arts], I liked it a lot because it was a relatively small class size and the dojo was small, and it really emphasized on self-discipline and working towards a goal and being very rigorous with yourself along with your training,” he said.

Typically attending class three times a week, Marcus notes how practicing kung fu has enriched his daily routine and made him more aware of his surroundings.

“I began paying more attention to my lifestyle and how food or exercise affects my body, and I keep a very strict routine of exercises that I do everyday.”

In order to advance to the next color belt, Marcus has to pass both a physical and material test. There are six color levels—white, yellow, blue, green, brown and black—and Marcus currently holds a second degree brown belt.

“There’s a physical test, and then there’s a test for your material. The material is stuff that you practice and learn in class while the physical test is basically a physical test where you just test if you’re physically capable of doing the requirements. To prepare for it, you practice a lot of the material in class. Then you spend a couple more classes mastering that material so that when you do have the test, you won’t have to hesitate or anything of that. For the physical test, it’s not usually a problem because I take my training really seriously, so when it comes to the physical test, I just get through that,” he said.

After training for over two and a half years and mastering a variety of materials and skills, Marcus had the chance to become a teacher at the same dojo, an opportunity he welcomed as a way to guide students in lower color belt groups and to pass down his knowledge to those who shared similar interests.

“The most rewarding part about teaching is that as you teach, you begin to learn stuff that you may have missed while you were learning it yourself,” he said.

Marcus appreciates the self-motivation required to mastering the art of kung fu and has realized the amount of effort and determination needed to earn high belts.

“It’s just you and your material, and how fast or how quick and how well you learn that material is dependent on how much you want to put in. You begin to start learning things about yourself through that process, seeing how much you’re willing to work for something, how much you want it. As I went through each belt, I began to realize by putting in the effort now and all the way until the testing day, I was able to feel the gratification of all the hard work that I put in each day until I mastered the material.”

Alan Jiang (12), a close friend, recognizes how Marcus has evolved his will to succeed over the past year.

“When I first met Marcus in English class [last year], he was a pretty shy person, laid-back. He was pretty tired all the time, but this year when I got back from summer to see Marcus, it’s a 180 degrees flip. Marcus became a lot more motivated and optimistic in life, so he looks at problems from a different perspective. Usually, back then, he’d be like ‘This is too tiring. I’m not going to do it,’ but right now, Marcus faces the problems with a smile and pulls through his problems. He’s been working very hard in the gym, and I think it helps him relieve the stress and makes him more motivated, not just in working out but academically and in life,” Alan said.

Marcus has found fulfillment along his journey of introspection.

“Being honest to yourself is sticking to what you set out to do even when there’s no one watching and doing what you know is right for yourself even though no one is there to tell you to do it,” Marcus said. “My physical goals are a way of showing the progress I’ve made and the hard work that I’ve put in.”