East West Martial Arts

Self Defense (Again)

2011-12-12T21:43:00.002-06:00

Simply because I have a friend who disagrees, I feel the need to say this again.

First go peek at this, then let me know which of those you can defend yourself against with a kick, a punch, or a gun.

Self defense ain't what you think.

Why, Why, Why?

2011-12-07T20:24:00.002-06:00

Why study kung fu?

To defend oneself? To get fit/healthy? To learn to fight? To build discipline? To build confidence?

All these things can be done without kung fu training, and I have known kung fu artists who had not successfully done any of the above.

So, why study kung fu?

Kung fu and other martial arts have a reputation for being able to instill in their practitioners strength, discipline, confidence, etc., but they do not in and of themselves accomplish anything.

A martial artist can be a great humanitarian or a bully, a wise sage or a con artist, a mentor to children or a convincing illusion of one out to sign them to three year contracts.

The secret is not in the martial arts themselves. The secret is in your approach to the martial arts, and the instructors approach to the martial arts.

At one point, my motivation as a martial artist was to get good at kung fu. At this time I believed in the illusion that being good at kung fu meant I was a good athlete/philosopher/humanitarian/leader/etc.

At one point my motivation was a dedication to "the art" I wanted to perfect the art in myself, then perfect it in others. Again I believed in the illusion that the art itself would do all the work.

If you don't believe there is an illusion out there, go browse some martial arts school websites, most of them will tell you all about the "benefits of training in the martial arts" but if you ask the instructor, "How does martial arts training teach each of these benefits?" will they be able to answer?

So what am I doing to break free from the illusion?

First of all I fight hard to stay off the pedestal. Lots of martial arts students want their teacher to be Yoda. Sorry I guys I am a flawed and fallible human being.

Second, I want to use martial arts training to teach other important things. Training for each belt test with a long term goal of obtaining a black belt can be used to teach goal setting. Repeating a drill over and over again not only improves the drill, but teaches one how to practice for any other achievement. Memorizing a sequence of 200 movements teaches that we can accomplish bigger things than we thought we could. Training for "self defense" teaches us to always practice self defense even in our eating habits.

Third, I must remember that HOW you train your kung fu decides what you get from it. If you train only for fighting, you will learn only fighting. If you train only for fitness you will get only fitness.

If you approach Kung Fu as a holistic analogy for everything you do in life it can be a revolution in your life.

A Present? For Me?

2011-11-19T20:25:00.002-06:00

If I did not enjoy my day at work, why do I insist on reliving it all evening in my mind?

I will, instead, focus on the present. Just like in sparring, if I am busy rehashing and reliving mistakes from earlier, I will not see the punch that is coming NOW. If I am too focused on the things that happened that I did not like, it will hinder my ability to enjoy NOW.

Now, I am with my family, my favorite three girls in the world, now I am heating water for tea, now I can still taste the chocolate brownie I just ate.

Also if I am too focused on what may come at work tomorrow, or the rest of the week, I am ripped away from cherishing now.

Now, I can smell the tea, now I have peace in my home, now I am relaxing.

Can't

2011-11-15T09:32:00.002-06:00

A little over two years ago, I went with my wife to watch a local triathlon. She had recently gotten serious about running and had some interest in this triathlon thing. After watching, she decided she wanted to do it. Her main problem was, she was afraid of the bike portion.

Some dear friends worked together and got her a bike to ride, she started riding, continued running, and started working on her swimming as well. A year after watching that triathlon, my wife who hadn't swum in years, and was afraid of riding a bike on the road had logged hours upon hours in the pool and miles upon miles on the bike. I went to watch another triathlon, this time she was racing.

I was so excited for her, and inspired, I really wanted to do a triathlon too. I had some problems though, first of all, it hurt to run. I had some pretty intense plantar fasciitis going on as well as recurring bursitis in my left hip. Walking a mile was painful for me, running (I believed) was impossible.

So, instead of triathlon training, I just upped my other training, Kung Fu, kettlebells, pushups, crunches, cardio rounds. . . I got into great shape, but was constantly lamenting the idea that I couldn't run with my wife.

One day while she was on a run, I caught up to her on my bicycle. On some spontaneous kick, I got off the bike and ran about a mile with her. It didn't hurt, so I started thinking about running again.

There was a race she was going to run on Thanksgiving morning, people kept suggesting that I run it with her. On the Wednesday one week before the race, I said to my wife, "If I'm going to run this race with you, I'd better find out if I can actually run 5 kilometers." Then I walked out the door in khaki shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of beat up cross training shoes. I ran five kilometers. It didn't hurt.

Until the next day anyway.

The next day I could barely walk due to sore muscles in my legs, but there was no hip or foot pain. I was pumped. I ran my first 5K 8 days later. I finished in 26:47.6 for an 8:38.6 minute/mile pace in 128th place out of 369 finishers.

I've been running ever since. There have been times when I had some hip pains, and foot pains, but I learned stretches and exercises I can do to alleviate, and prevent them. There were times when I didn't want to get up and go out and run, but I did anyway. There were a couple of times I had to take a break from the running schedule to not aggravate an injury, but I've been doing it ever since. Tomorrow is my "running birthday" as my wife calls it. She inspired me to run, and because of it, I am healthy, fit, dedicated, and strong. I've added running to my list of new things I can do.

Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Self Defense Technique #3

2011-10-29T06:30:00.002-05:00

People who know me well know that I can be very picky about terminology and phrasing.

Today I'm getting picky about the phrase, "self defense technique".

I think the term as I grew up with it is too vague and contributes to an incorrect image of how those techniques work.

You've probably seen the videos, in which the sensei/sifu/teacher/coach has his student standing there with both hands outstretched holding on to simulate a two handed front choke. The instructor goes step by step on how to perform the "self defense technique".

I believe that teaching these as "self defense techniques" rather than "hold releases" gives a lot of people the impression that an attack is a non dynamic situation in which if A happens and I do B I will be OK. I intend to teach them as hold releases, and I need to teach them starting static to learn the technique, then progressing to a "messier" situation to make it more frustrating and challenging.

Focused Energy

2011-08-23T20:45:00.002-05:00

I have discovered that I need to refocus my energy. When my energy is unfocused, it just goes wherever it will, the results are sometimes positive, but usually just amount to spinning tires.

Often when I don't have a clearly defined focus for my energy it leads me to obsessing over some topic that was on my mind for a good reason, but really didn't need me to be obsessed about it.

So I think it is time I refocused my energy.

Insurmountable?

2011-05-17T07:21:00.003-05:00

Starting off with a big word today.

That's how I felt last night about the triathlon. It felt insurmountable.

I can do the run, I can do the bike ride (my goodness Glen Lily Road is steep though), but I haven't really seriously swum in a long time. I had swim lessons as a kid, (thanks Mom), but I never enjoyed swimming, so I never got good at it (so I never enjoyed it, so I never got good at it. . .) so the swim is a big challenge.

I've always loved to play in the water, and I could swim well enough to get back to the boat if I fell out, or to survive if the boat sank, but that was the extent of the purpose of swimming in my mind.

So now I'm trying to learn to swim 400 yards without a rest, wait, scratch that. So now I'm trying to learn to swim.

. . . and it seemed insurmountable last night as I watched the guy in the lane next to me swim continuously for my 15 minute turn in the lane, then continue swimming while I took my 15 minute turn watching my daughter, then he kept right on through my next 15 minute turn in the lane.

. . .and it seemed insurmountable as my wife and stepdaughter swam back and forth, back and forth, over and over.

. . . and it seemed insurmountable as I couldn't manage to swim the length of the pool without pulling my head up out of the water, and as I couldn't manage more than 50 yards without a rest.

I was feeling discouraged, but then I remembered, 1 1/2 weeks ago I couldn't swim with my face in the water at all, 1 1/2 weeks ago, I couldn't manage 25 yards without a rest.

It still seems like a huge mountain to climb, it still feels insurmountable at times.

but,

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.

--Randy Pausch

If You Want to Change the World. . .

2011-01-25T09:52:00.006-06:00

It sounds overwhelming, "Change the world", so start small.

Change yourself. That can sound overwhelming too, so again, start small.

You don't have to restructure your whole life all at once, pick one

area and start there.

Maybe you choose to live a more sustainable lifestyle, you don't have to turn your yard into a 100% organic farm this year. You might just start a vegetable garden, and make your house more energy efficient. As you get the hang of it, you can keep making improvements.

Maybe you choose to improve your health. You don't have to lose 50 pounds, stop smoking, stop eating fast food, and run a marathon this year. Start small, walk 30 minutes a day and stop smoking. Once you've got a hold on that add something else.

Maybe you choose to be more religious, you don't have to join the monastery/convent, just make a commitment to attend your service of choice once a week. Add more later.

Start small, grow big!

(This is the tree that grows from that seed.)

I Challenge You!!

2011-01-16T13:21:00.002-06:00

Easy challenge though, if you have a yard, or a balcony, or a porch, build a square meter garden. Not enough room for a square meter garden, do a square foot or a hanging plant.

Pick whatever food you want to grow. Then grow it. Repeat again next year, and so on and so on.

http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/gem/Training%20Program%20in%20EnglishWeb.pdf

Resolution?

2010-12-31T19:51:00.004-06:00

Have you chosen a resolution for the new year? I'd like to suggest awareness.

Wake up and look around you. Think about self defense, not necessarily from punches and kicks. Look at the threats around you and decide how you are going to protect yourself.

If you were walking down a street and you noticed that the further you went the more you were in the wrong neighborhood, a neighborhood that would most likely shorten your life, wouldn't you turn around and get out of there?

So take a look at the neighborhood you are walking into now. Do you smoke? Do you have lousy food habits like I did two years ago? Are you sitting on the couch day after day without getting up and being active?

If you are doing those things you are walking into a dangerous neighborhood, you are shortening your time on Earth. You are taking years away from your life, years that your kids could have you and they won't. Trust me, even when they grow up, they will still want you to hang around for a few more years.

Is it worth it to keep walking down that road? Is it worth your life to hang onto those habits? Is a little more nicotine worth the grief of your loved ones? Is taking the easy path, not getting up and getting fit, worth the price?

Wake up, get up, get aware, move towards health and sustainability, change a few habits. You don't have to go insane with it, you don't have to go off the grid and have a sheep farm. Drive a little less, walk a little more, eat a little healthier. Make small changes.

You can't run a race without taking lots of small steps.

www.franklinkungfu.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/East-West-Kung-Fu/85287569502

Have You Gotten Complacent?

2010-12-28T11:58:00.006-06:00

Are you feeling stagnant? Have you hit a plateau? Getting bored with where you are?

Are you doing the same old things and getting the same results?

That's how I was feeling about two years ago. I was doing some pretty good stuff and getting some pretty good results, but I didn't really feel like I was making much progress, in kung fu, in fitness, in life. . .

So I did something about it. Heavily influenced by my wife's F.I.R.S.T. program and Tom Callos' Ultimate Black Belt Test, I put together my own program. I called it the Ten Tigers Program.

It's fairly ambitious, 35,000 pushups and crunches in a year is just the tip of the iceberg. I did the program two years running, and it starts again in March. A few brave folks decided to join me on the journey and change their lives too. For my students, it also included one on one training sessions. It is hard, it is fun, it is life changing.

And it's coming again!

If you want to get up and do something about all that complacency, you have some choices, commit to your own training plan, (feel free to look at the Ten Tigers program as inspiration), commit to doing all the stuff I've already published in Ten Tigers, or come join the fun with us in 2011.

If you are one of my kung fu students, it's easy, come ask me. If you are a martial arts student with someone else, ask them to use my blueprint, if they won't ask them if you can do my program. If you aren't a martial artist at all, you can still do it, it's customizable.

So get off the couch, come join the fun, and change your life.

www.franklinkungfu.com

www.facebook.com/Sifu.Steven

Fail or Win?

2010-12-01T10:07:00.002-06:00

They called it a fail, I call it a win.

see more funny videos

Alone at home, he spotted a masked intruder fought him off enough to escape and escaped. Good self defense.

Beware the Headlines!

2010-11-10T08:32:00.006-06:00

Lose Weight By Eating Junk Food

Chinese Court Sentences Drunk Driver to Death

Missing Baby Found in Sandwich

All of these are real headlines, but none of them are really what they seem. The story doesn't always match what the headline implies. The goal of these headlines is to get people to read the articles (obviously), but it seems that in many cases the result is that people remember the headlines rather than the actual story.

Go ahead. Click on the first headline. Be sure to read down to the part where the nutrition expert says he does not recommend that you lose weight by eating junk food.

Click on the second one and get "the rest of the story."

Check the third one while you're at it.

Don't automatically believe the headlines, whether they're online, on TV, or coming out of people's mouths.

www.franklinkungfu.com

www.facebook.com/Sifu.Steven

Master

2010-11-10T08:12:00.004-06:00

In martial arts circles, one hears the word "master" a lot. Most of the time it is used as a title, such as; Master so and so will be here this week; or I learned from Master such and such. . .

In some cases that title is thrown around too easily, and in a few cases (still too many) a martial artist gives him/herself that title.

This is all coming to my mind because someday, my sifu will put that title on a certificate with my name, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it, and have found my peace.

I choose not to think of it as a title.

I choose not to think of it as a noun.

I choose to think of it as a verb.

Master Steven O'Nan.

That is one powerful verb, and one powerful call to action don't you think?

Back on Track

2010-10-19T07:36:00.001-05:00

I'm getting back on track. I've been feeling overwhelmed and at times defeated, but I'm getting back on track. It is a good feeling, and it is exactly what we have to do when we get off track.

If it sounds simple it is because it is simple.

I said simple, I didn't say easy.

2010-09-09T07:04:00.000-05:00

Lesson Learned the Hard Way

2010-08-24T10:51:00.002-05:00

Once the tournament was over, I had lost a legitimate 18 pounds. I feel great at my new weight. I decided to give myself a little treat and indulge in some fast food. I clocked out for my lunch break and drove over to Wendy's.

Spicy chicken sandwich, french fries, sweet tea. Mmmmmmm.

Afterwards, I started feeling sluggish. This had not been happening while I was religiously eating healthy stuff. Actually, sluggish was not a strong enough word. I felt sedated. I honestly felt like someone had slipped something into my meal.

I guess in truth, they had probably slipped a lot of things into my meal.

So, the pre-tournament diet will become my usual diet. Unhealthy foods will be rare, soft drinks will be treated like the CANDY they are and will be consumed extremely rarely. ( A 20 oz. Coca-Cola has as much sugar as 18 Jolly Ranchers.) I will try to focus my shopping on the outside edges of the grocery store (That's where they keep the produce, meat, and dairy the heavily processed foods are in the middle). I'll read labels, look for wholesome foods and just be aware of what I am eating, and why I am eating it.

When I Will Retire From Competition.

2010-08-17T05:41:00.005-05:00

Lately, with every tournament I compete in, I wonder afterwards how many more I will do. You see, there just aren't many instructors out there competing. There really aren't many school owners out there competing. It all makes me wonder what it seems like to others for me, a school owner/instructor to still be out there competing.

Some may think I have something to prove to others, that I'm out there to make a point. Some may think I have something to prove to myself. Neither of these is the case, and it really doesn't matter what people think. What matters is what I and my students stand to benefit from me competing.

You see, every time I have competed so far, I have learned something about myself, about competing, about running a competition, about training for competition, about my art, and the list goes on.

So I guess the answer is that I will continue competing for as long as it continues to make me a better martial artist, and a better martial arts instructor.

Knowing When to Let Go.

2010-08-12T09:53:00.004-05:00

Once, in sparring, my partner grabbed my arms with his hands. He smiled slightly, considering his advantage. I stepped back into a horse stance pulling him off balance, then kicked him in the gut with a lead leg sidekick. It was light contact, so he squeezed tighter. I shuffle stepped towards him, hooking my lead leg behind his ankle and shifted to a bow and arrow stance. This caused him to fall backwards. Still he held on, pulling me down on top of him. Now that I was on top, I freed my right arm and punched him in the side of the head, then freed my left and punched him in the jaw on the other side.

He didn't know when to let go, and so kept getting himself into more and more of a predicament.

Often life throws challenges, hurts, injuries and insults our way. There is a time to hold tight and fight, but there is also a time to let go.

Several years ago, my mother and father paid me a visit. My then fiancee, and now wife cooked them dinner. The reason they had come was to tell me that my Mom had been diagnosed with cancer. They had a plan for how to fight the cancer, but the odds were against her. The only thing in my power to do was to support her in her battle.

As time went on, the cancer progressed, there came a point when my mother knew the battle was lost. She chose to let go of it.

I got married at her house, three months before my planned wedding. My mom passed away a week later.

Part of me still holds on to the grief and pain. Part of me is still angry at that disease that took my mother from me.

Every time I feel that way, and find myself holding on to the anger, I have to remind myself to let go of it.

Anger won't bring her back, and it won't heal me.

I let go of the negative feelings over and over again. I hold on to the love she showed me throughout my life, to the memories, to all that she gave me. I hold on to all I learned from her, and I share that with my wife and children.

Self Doubt

2010-08-10T05:59:00.003-05:00

It's Tuesday morning, 4 days before the national tournament, and self doubt has shown its head.

"What if I don't make weight?" "What if I didn't practice enough?" "What if, what if, what if, what if. . .

So then I exercise the rational part of my brain. First I answer the questions honestly. If I don't make weight, I'll spar the big guys, if I didn't practice enough, I won't perform my best. . . All in all it is really small potatoes.

Then I remind myself that the tournament is the FAKE goal. I've already accomplished the real goals. I'm in great shape, I know what it takes to lose 20 pounds, my forms are looking better, I've gained self esteem. . .

The tournament is just icing now.

Pain and Suffering

2010-08-08T06:46:00.004-05:00

Sometimes, as a father, I have to witness my beautiful little girl suffer. Sometimes small things, like when the "new Shrek movie" was sold out and she had her heart set on seeing it. Sometimes bigger things like when I had to pull a splinter from her foot. Eventually there will be some really big pains in her life that I can not prevent, or change for her.

Pulling the splinter from her foot was agonizing for me. She screamed, she cried, but she bravely held still while I worked on it. It was really imbedded in there. It broke my heart to be sitting there causing her so much pain as I poked and prodded and pinched and squeezed. I finally got that little sucker out of there though.

If I had left it in, it would have been worse, infection, doctor's office, antibiotics. . . I know that the best thing her daddy could do at that point was to cause some pain and get that splinter out.

We all have to go through some pain sometimes. A good workout leaves sore muscles. There is some pain when stretching muscles. There is also pain when stretching our boundaries, when stepping out of our comfortable box. It takes courage to get out and try something new. I think it is even harder to watch someone you love do the same, even if you know it is the right thing for them at that time.

Sooner or later, someone will call my daughter a dirty name, some friend of hers will hurt her feelings, some romantic interest will break her heart. As her daddy I will not like seeing her suffer, but I will let her suffer, I will be there to help her through it, but I will let her learn from her suffering. I will not take away the lesson that comes with it.

My Personal Tournament Results

2010-07-14T07:28:00.003-05:00

Improved my diet.

Lost 7-8 pounds.

Trained harder.

Had fun.

Reconnected with old friends.

Made new friends.

Saw the results of my hard work.

Watched my friends/students face their own challenges and come out smiling.

Good tournament.

www.franklinkungfu.com

franklinkungfu.blogspot.com

tentigersteam.blogspot.com

Start Counting

2010-07-09T06:18:00.002-05:00

Just found this, gave it a read and want to pass it on.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/07/07/a-not-so-random-act-of-kindness/

Watch Out For Snakes

2010-07-07T07:51:00.003-05:00

We went camping at Natural Bridge State Resort Park for the 4th of July weekend. The park is great, wonderful trails beautiful campsites, the place is kept very natural which is what we like.

We were camping in bear country, in fact, very near the place where a bear attack happened just a few days before our trip. So we took the first step of self defense: awareness.

We learned about how to not attract black bears, what to do if we saw a black bear, and what to do if approached by a black bear.

We didn't see any bears.

We did see what we thought at first was possibly a copperhead, right near our campsite. As it turns out that one was more likely a northern water snake.

Copperhead

Northern Water Snake

That snake, however, reminded me about awareness, we'd been so focused on bear safety, I hadn't been thinking about snakes. So I started being more careful about where I walked, and where I looked while walking, and spotted this one.

So the lesson that I was reminded of was one I preach a lot. Awareness. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we should try to be aware of, not paranoid about, but aware of the threats we are most likely to face. We should be aware of how to minimize those threats and protect ourselves. By the way if you didn't click on that last link, you really should, it will help you be aware of the threats we face in the USA.

www.franklinkungfu.com

franklinkungfu.blogspot.com

tentigersteam.blogspot.com

Tournament Training

2010-07-01T15:46:00.004-05:00

I've been training for the tournament. Training pretty hard too.

Once upon a time, tournament training for me was practicing my forms.

This year I'm taking it seriously. Not because I'm obsessed with winning. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm going to try to win, but winning isn't all that important to me.

I've simply discovered that by training to win, I'm really, really training. And that is a win.

www.franklinkungfu.com

franklinkungfu.blogspot.com

tentigersteam.blogspot.com

Climbing the Ladder

2010-06-08T07:24:00.002-05:00

My daughter is 2 and a half. Now that the weather has warmed up, we've been spending more time at the local parks again. The changes in her coordination since last fall are pretty amazing to see.

Last spring, she would only climb up on the playground equipment with help. By last fall, my help was no longer needed, but having me there as a safety net was necessary for her to try climbing.

This year, she has started climbing the obstacles on her own while I watch from a short distance.

She did find one obstacle that was a bit much for her though. She climbed up on the first step, and then back down.

Up again.

Down.

Up one more time.

Down again.

Then she had pulled her courage together and climbed up the ladder, as the arch of the ladder pulled her into a different position, however she was unable to figure out how to continue on. She looked around, then called out, "Daddy help me, Daddy I need help."

I ran over and put my hands around her waist and helped her to the top.

Cute story isn't it? It also struck me as an outline for any time we attempt new challenges.

We start off with help and instruction from someone. It might be a person there with us, or a video or a book, but we start with help. After a while, we can do it on our own, but it is nice to have a safety net, someone to give us corrections. Eventually we gain confidence and try newer and bigger things.

What we have a tendency to forget a lot of the time, is how to call out for help. Too often we realize we are in over our heads and we forget that it is okay to ask for help.

www.franklinkungfu.com

franklinkungfu.blogspot.com

tentigersteam.blogspot.com

The Master

2010-05-29T06:38:00.003-05:00

There have been two key events in my martial arts career that have been very important in shaping the way I view martial arts training, and martial arts masters.

One was shortly after my red sash test. (For those who don't know, at East West Kung Fu, the red test is one of the "big deal" tests.) A fellow student who started training before me, but had been out of the school for some time when I got my red sash, had just come back to class. He saw me with my red sash on. He came over to me and in a low voice said, "How does it feel like to know you can walk through walls!?!?"

Walk through walls? I was shocked, that hadn't been part of my red sash test. I realized that he had this illusion of graduating into the upper ranks of kung fu. This illusion that if you reached that level, you were somehow more than human. I really still felt human. I really still was human. I couldn't figure out how he had come to believe that my martial arts experience made me more than human, until I caught myself doing the same thing to someone else.

In 2002 I had the opportunity to travel to China and participate in seminars with Chen Yong Fa, the "keeper" of his family lineage of martial arts. (His great, great, grandfather started Choy Lee Fut Kung Fu.) I was in China for a couple of days before I saw Chen Yong Fa, I didn't realize how much I had built him up in my mind until. . .

I was loading on the bus to go from Guangzhou to Xin Hui where we would be training. I got on the bus and started looking around out the window. There he was, the keeper of the style. There was Chen Yong Fa, one of, if not THE most qualified teacher of Choy Lee Fut on the planet. There he was standing on the sidewalk . . . smoking a cigarette?

WHAT?

"Yoda is not supposed to be a smoker," my martial arts fantasy was screaming at me. Then I caught myself, and thought, "Oh yeah, he's just a guy."

Sure he's a guy who is really really good at what he does, but he is just a guy.

Before and since then I've met a lot of kung fu masters, John Ng, Tom Pardue, Don Averitt, Tracy Sawyers, Kenny Vaughn, Lam Chun Fai, Don Hamby, Mike Marshall, Mak Hin Fai. . . Now I have it solid in my head, they are just ordinary people, ordinary people who have acheived extraordinary things, but ordinary people.

I've seen these guys do amazing things, but I've also seen them in less amazing situations, I had a staff meeting with one of them in swim trunks bobbing in the Gulf of Mexico, I've seen one of them tell conflicting stories about his kung fu lineage, one of them shared his dinner with me when mine didn't arrive at the restaurant.

Some day, some one will confer upon me the title "master". Keep in mind, I'm just a guy, sitting here, typing away and drinking the coffee my wife made this morning.

www.franklinkungfu.com

franklinkungfu.blogspot.com

eastwestkungfu.ning.com

tentigersteam.blogspot.com

Act Before the Emergency

2010-05-18T07:50:00.000-05:00

Start your self defense now. Don't wait for the emergency. Sure there are things you can do if you are attacked. There are the punches, the kicks, the knees to the groin, and so on, but why wait for the emergency to defend yourself. Develop habits starting now that will prevent the emergency. Develop habits like avoiding known trouble spots, anger management, communication skills, and kindness. Do a good job with these and you may never have to use the emergency measures.

Start your self defense now. Don't wait for the emergency. Sure there are things you can do if you are attacked. There are things like chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, and so on, but why wait for the emergency to defend yourself. Develop habits starting now that will prevent the emergency. Don't smoke, maintain a healthy weight, protect your skin from the sun, eat your fruits and veggies. Do a good job with these and you may never have to use the emergency measures.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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eastwestkungfu.ning.com

tentigersteam.blogspot.com

You Would Think. . .

2010-05-14T10:55:00.003-05:00

Once, in a conversation with a friend about communication, my friend said, "You'd think he'd have figured that out a long time ago." I responded, "Why would you think that, did you tell him a long time ago?"

www.franklinkungfu.com

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eastwestkungfu.ning.com

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Tournament Training

2010-05-11T10:08:00.003-05:00

I've officially started training for the tournament. This is unusual for me. Although I've gone to one or two tournaments a year for the past several years, it has been a long time since I actually decided I was going to play to win. In the recent past, I've picked my competition forms the week of the tournament, sometimes the night before the tournament. Not this time, this time I am preparing my sets starting now, two months ahead of time.

I'm also preparing for the continuous sparring. I have changed my cardio from two minute rounds with a one minute break, to 45 second rounds with a 15 second break. It makes for a different workout. It is more intense action over a shorter period of time. The last time I sparred in a tournament I was doing long cardio sessions, and long sparring sessions, this trained me to pace myself for long periods instead of pushing harder for the two minute rounds in that tournament.

The truth is, I still don't care if I win or not. This time, I am going to enjoy the training a lot more.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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tentigersteam.blogspot.com

If ADD Were the Norm

2010-05-09T11:57:00.002-05:00

If what we call ADD were the norm, and those who didn’t have those attributes were rare, we would likely still call the condition of the few ADD. Those people who had ADD would be the unfortunate ones who were unable to tune out the background noise of life and focus on the task at hand. They would be the ones who were unfortunate enough to have to stop typing, reading, or solving a puzzle to have a conversation. They would be considered unfortunate in that they could not quickly jump from what they were thinking on to a new, more interesting, and probably more important topic. Intolerant people would be frustrated with the inability of those so afflicted to leave a task for later, their inability to jump to another task, then back to the one at hand. They would seem slow, unable to adjust to new situations, unable to start preparing for a task until after they had completed the first one. We would be surprised that they didn’t have the multiple channels of attention, having to get through life only thinking about one thing at a time.

With patience and tolerance for those people, however, we could make the most of their uniqueness. We would need someone to go behind us and turn off the stove, to remind us of the unfinished projects, to organize the wonderful piles of work we created into meaningful and manageable conditions. We would need them for those boring jobs like analyzing data and doing research. Basically, if we could just be patient with their shortcomings, they could serve an important role in our society.

We need to remember in life, that just because someone is different from us, doesn't mean there is something wrong with them. We all have our place and purpose and our uniqueness should be seen as an advantage.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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tentigersteam.blogspot.com

Earth Day Fair

2010-04-22T10:45:00.002-05:00

Don't forget to go check out the Earth Day Fair in Franklin this Saturday.

Don't forget about our Project Based Leadership Training this Saturday.

Don't forget Ten Tigers workout Saturday.

Don't forget I'm not answering my phone on Sunday.

www.franklinkungfu.com

eastwestkungfu.ning.com

Kid Escape

2010-04-14T16:41:00.002-05:00

Some video samples that I'm checking out. Tell me what you think. Click here.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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A New Mission.

2010-04-07T08:05:00.004-05:00

When I first decided I wanted to teach martial arts, I had a mission. I wanted to transfer the martial art Hung Gar in as authentic and traditional a way as possible. My dedication was to the art.

My mission changed.

After a while, I realized that the art was a means and not an end. My mission became to better myself through practice of the martial arts and through applying the skills developed in martial arts to the rest of my life.

My mission changed.

Now I am reaching out to others. I want them to improve themselves through whatever means is available. Since I see martial arts as a powerful means to that end, I teach people through Hung Gar.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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eastwestkungfu.ning.com

tentigersteam.blogspot.com

Lunging to Bow and Arrow Stance

2010-04-05T07:32:00.001-05:00

I just ran through some of my Hung Gar forms and discovered that In Sup Yin Kuen you shift to bow and arrow stance 60 times, in Fu Hok 55, in Gung Gee 68 and in Warrior Palm 42 times. Warrior Palm has 74 stance changes total, I hadn't thought ahead of time to count the total stance changes in the others.

This high incidence of shifting to that one particular stance shows the importance of that movement in the Hung Gar system. To create a powerful punch or strike, we use the full mass of our bodies, and the muscular strength of our arm, shoulder, latissimus muscles, and our quads and glutes.

Many styles rotate the back foot away from the punch, moving some of the body mass out of the punch, and disconnecting the power of the leg from the power of the strike. In Hung Gar, we root that back heel to the ground and drive forward.

It's obvious to me from the prevalence of that movement in the forms that it is something we are intended to master that one small movement, to do it until it is automatic. So when practicing your Hung Gar forms, root that heel in and drive forward.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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Why I Want to Be an NSDI Instructor

2010-03-29T09:35:00.002-05:00

This fall, my stepdaughter goes off to college. She will be living in a dorm room on campus. In large part, she will be on her own. This is a huge step for her, and we are very, very proud. I know that odds are, she won't have any problems, I know that odds are, she will be completely safe. I also know, that if the odds don't keep her safe, if the security measures in place on campus don't keep her safe, that I won't be there to keep her safe either.

If someone breaks into her room while she is here in my home and she screams that someone will have two adrenalized black belts storming after them in very short order. If it happens at her dorm, I don't know who will be there and how they will respond. There is only one person I trust to keep her safe in this situation.

She will have to do it herself.

I want to arm her with the best tools possible to do it.

I want to learn more about personal safety instruction, so that I can share that with her as soon as possible. I also need to share that with my other daughter who is only two years old.

I can't always be there to protect my daughters, but what I teach them will ALWAYS be with them.

What about your sons and daughters, who will be there for them when they are out on their own?

I am looking for financial help to cover the costs of this program. Once certified I will be offering non profit self defense classes with this system.

www.franklinkungfu.com

eastwestkungfu.ning.com

Self Defense

2010-03-25T12:38:00.003-05:00

I've been reading a lot on self defense lately. The problem with the martial arts world is that we martial artists who have been doing martial arts our whole lives, practicing techniques, visualizing ourselves in a self defense situation, sparring, etc. don't have a perspective of what it is like to not have done martial arts our whole lives.

Most martial artists when asked about self defense immediately start thinking of techniques and movements, rather than attitude and mindset. Attitude and mindset are so deeply ingrained in some of us that we can't even consciously call those things to mind.

Showing some one what to do if they are grabbed, is kind of like telling people the treatment options available if they get lung cancer someday. We are better off telling people not to smoke, than telling them about treating lung cancer.

Likewise, we are better off teaching/learning what it takes to avoid a confrontation in the first place over what to do when we've messed that part up.

More to come.

www.franklinkungfu.com
eastwestkungfu.ning.com

A Kung Fu Parable

2010-03-15T11:59:00.001-05:00

The old master walks out onto the modern training floor and sees one of his students practicing one technique from one of his forms over and over again. The student asks the master, "Sifu, will you show me the applications of this technique again, I would like to perfect my understanding as well as my execution of this technique."

The master shows him how the technique should be performed and what its purpose is, then asks the student, "Why are you so intent on perfecting this one technique?"

The student replies, "If I perfect this one technique, I will move on to perfecting the next technique in the form, then the next. Eventually this will enable me to perfect the entire form."

"Why are you so intent on perfecting the entire form?"

"I want my performance on my upcoming black belt test to be flawless so that there will be no doubt in anyone's mind that I deserve the black belt. I want to earn my black belt."

The student repeats the technique a few more times, then asks the master, "Sifu, what was your black belt test like?"

The master smiles and says, "When I trained with my sifu, there were no belt tests, and no belts. I started using belts and tests after I moved to the United States."

The student asks, "Why did you decide to start using belts and tests?"

"I saw that when a student has a goal such as a black belt that he or she must earn at a test, he or she will work very hard to perfect the forms."

"Well, Sifu, why is it so important to perfect the forms."

"Because if one has perfected the form, one has perfected each movement within the form."

The moral of the story is, do not confuse the means with the end. The student saw learning the movements as a means to achieve the end of earning a black belt. The master saw the black belt as a means to achieve the end of motivating students to perfect their performance.

The end should be improvement of the self. The means may include perfection of physical performance of martial arts techniques, or education at a university, or meditation, but one should keep the end in mind.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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Perspective.

2010-03-12T09:38:00.006-06:00

I was looking today at some pictures that made my struggles and problems seem so very small. It's all about perspective.

First, General Sherman, the world's largest tree.

Next,

General Sherman from a different perspective.

And finally, General Sherman's home planet, Earth, from a different perspective.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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Awareness

2010-03-03T16:13:00.002-06:00

As a member of the National Speleological Society, I receive a magazine entitled, "American Caving Accidents". The purpose of this publication is to bring awareness to the types of caving accidents that occur, what the causes of the accidents are, and how to prevent these sorts of things from happening again.

This got me thinking about what I believe is the key to self defense. Whether it be self defense against an attacker, against pollution, against heart disease, or really just about anything, there is a common key to defending oneself effectively.

Awareness.

My Sifu, Master Tom Pardue often talked about awareness. He would say that if you are walking out of Wal-Mart, and you look around and notice something that gives you a gut feeling that something is wrong, trust that gut feeling, and go back in.

That example hits awareness on several levels. First being aware that a parking lot at night is not always a safe place to be and so looking around. Second, being aware of things that are warning signs such as people behaving suspiciously. Finally, being aware that sometimes there is a reason we have those subconscious feelings and feel the urge to go back inside.

Martial arts training should also bring awareness. Awareness of what ones strengths and weaknesses are. Awareness of how to compensate for, or even remove the weaknesses, awareness of how to best use ones strengths.

Awareness is the key to effective self defense.

www.franklinkungfu.com

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Are You Still a Black Belt?

2010-02-17T13:16:00.002-06:00

Recently, my wife and I had a discussion about black belt status which came down to one question, "Are you still a black belt?"

I've decided that to answer that question, (the answer will be different for every person) one must define what it means to still be a black belt.

If earning a black belt, and being a black belt means that once upon a time in my life I met all the requirements to pass my black belt test. Then anyone who ever passed that test is still a black belt. That is kind of like being a high school graduate. Even if you've forgotten the quadratic equation and the location of the first battle in the civil war, they don't take away your high school diploma.

Personally, and this only counts for me, still being a black belt means that today, I could still pass the test I took to get mine, it means that not only have I maintained my knowledge and abilities, I have increased them. For me, to keep calling myself a black belt, I have to earn it every day.

MMA, RBSD, TMA What's the Answer?

2010-02-10T15:06:00.002-06:00

So if you ask most of the Mixed Martial Arts guys they will say that Traditional Martial Artists spend too much time on technique and not enough time fighting, and Reality Based Self Defense guys spend not enough time on technique and fitness with too much emphasis on adrenal response.

If you ask the Reality Based Self Defense guys, they will say the Traditional Martial Artists and the MMA guys spend too much time in controlled scenarios and not enough time with adrenal response.

If you ask the Traditional Martial Artists they will say that the MMA guys are too focused on sport, and the RBSD guys don't spend enough time practicing the basics and building new techniques.

So who has it right? Who has the answer for how to learn to make martial arts real, viable self defense techniques.

I think they all do. I think that, like the 5 blind men who argued over what an elephant is like, they each have a piece of the puzzle.

If you spend all your time on technique in a sterilized situation with a compliant partner you miss a piece of the puzzle.

If you spend all your time sparring within the confines of the rules of a sport, you miss a piece of the puzzle.

If you only do an intensive two day course and never train again, you miss a piece of the puzzle.

While I'm at it, if you don't work to improve your relationship with the world around you, or your leadership skills, or acts of kindness. . . you miss a piece of the puzzle.

Honor Thy Body

2010-02-03T13:21:00.002-06:00

Your body, that thing you move around in. That collection of bone and muscle and organs and sinews that contains you. How important is it to you.

I believe that we are all here for a reason, that we have something to do here, a job or a mission or whatever you want to call it.

I also believe that part of that mission is to honor our bodies. Our bodies are the vehicles that allow us to do whatever it is we are meant to do.

Imagine if you gave someone the gift of a classic car, or a new car, or whatever kind of car you like and they absolutely trashed it. They never changed the oil, they left cigarette burns in the upholstery, never changed the air filter. They decided to see what would happen if they put sugar water in the gas tank.

The car would be ruined they wouldn't be able to travel in it, and neither would anyone else. They would have destroyed a very useful machine and would be in need of a replacement.

We have each been given one body, one vehicle to get through life in. It is a wonderful gift, and we should honor that gift. We should avoid filling it with empty calories, we should avoid cigarettes and other drugs that will destroy our bodies, we should eat our veggies, we should exercise.

My body is important, is sacred. I need it to get through my life. I am certain my daughter would like me to make it last as long as I can.

Finding Time Versus Making Time.

2010-01-25T11:40:00.003-06:00

I caught myself thinking, "I just can't find time to. . .". So I started thinking about that phrase again. "Find time", what exactly had I done to try to find time? It turned out in this instance I had done nothing to try to find time. I was just passively hoping to find time. That's kind of like hoping to find a check in the mailbox, or hoping that without practice I'll just get good at my kung fu (or whatever other endeavor I'm taking on).

So I started thinking about actively finding time, maybe that would work. So I start looking at my daily schedule and realize that there were lots of spot where I might have time to do something. I hadn't found it because I hadn't been looking for it. So hooray I found time.

I still didn't follow through with what I had found time for. Something else always got in the way.

To meet a new commitment/goal/whatever, I have to MAKE time. I have to set aside time in my day that is dedicated to whatever thing I couldn't FIND time for. Sometimes the schedule can be very exact (12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Sometimes I need it to be more flexible (as soon as my daughter goes down for her nap at least three days per week).

The Ten Tigers Program last year really taught me how to do this.

Give What You've Got

2010-01-20T10:59:00.002-06:00

I believe that a person who has, should give to a person who has not. A recent example in my life: I have a willingness and ability to crawl into small, inhospitable, natural openings in the bedrock. A man whose dog chased a raccoon into one of these spaces did not. So a friend and I tried our best to get in there to get that dog out. This particular cave quickly became too small for us to get far enough to get the dog, but we tried our best.

A friend of mine who has enough money offered to give gas money and buy supplies for people who would be willing to try to get in.

There are lots of ways to help out in the world around you. Think about what you have that you can give, and chip in. Maybe you don't have money, but you have time to volunteer, or maybe you have money but no time. Find a way to use the gifts you've been given. You've been given them for a reason.

If anyone out there has been given the gift of amazing shrinking powers, there is a coon dog that could use your help.

Facing Danger

2009-12-11T15:06:00.002-06:00

Master Tom recently posted this great quote on Facebook.

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never! - Winston Churchill

It reminded me of something that happened to a friend of mine in college.

This particular friend was about 5 feet and 6 or 7 inches tall, and at the time probably weighed about 110 to 120 pounds. He was a very happy-go-lucky guy and never did anyone any harm. In fact at the time of this event he professed himself to be a pacifist.

One night, while he was walking on campus some guys jumped out of a truck, made accusations about his preferred company, and proceeded to beat him up while he shouted, "Stop! I'm a pacifist! I'm a pacifist!"

He told me that he realized that perhaps there was room within pacifism for self defense.

A few weeks later while walking across campus, (apparently he was perceived as an easy target for this sort of activity), a truck pulled up near him and some guys jumped out of the truck, making accusations about his preferred company. This time my friend grabbed a broken bottle he saw next to the curb and turned to face them with determination in his eyes. He told me later that he figured he was going to get beaten up again, but this time he was going to make them think twice about going after anyone else. The guys took a look at him and jumped back in the truck.

There are never any guarantees, but part of self defense is making yourself less of a target. This can be accomplished in lots of different ways, don't walk alone at night, walk with awareness of your surroundings, walk with confidence. If you take are successful with self defense ahead of time, you may never find yourself in a face to face self defense situation.

www.franklinkungfu.com

What "Self Defense" Means to Me.

2009-12-07T08:27:00.003-06:00

I recently asked via Facebook what "self defense" means, and got back a great variety of answers.

Click here for the thread.

Now, for what self defense means to me.

I believe that self defense happens in stages or steps.

1. Awareness/assessment of possible threats in general.
2. Awareness of the likelihood of facing a threat in a specific situation.
3. Using the knowledge gained in the previous steps to reduce the chance of encountering a threat, and to increase your ability to face the threat if needed.
4. If, despite previous efforts, a threat arises, fight or flight (or some combination of both) will be necessary.
5. Follow up. Knowing how to respond after the threat has been avoided or eliminated.

Now for a couple of hypothetical real world examples of the five steps I've listed.

1. Each year during busy shopping days of the Holiday season parking lot robberies rise and we see all the reports on the news of how to keep yourself from being a victim.
2. Suppose on the local news it is revealed that on three different occasions in one week someone was violently robbed in the parking lot of a particular store at a particular time of day.
3. Sally decides to avoid that store at that part of the day, buys herself some pepper spray to carry in her purse, and practices how to carry and use her new personal protection device.
4. Unfortunately, Sally is approached in the parking lot where she was shopping. She had practiced staying aware and saw the person coming. She raises the pepper spray she was holding in her hands and starts backing away towards the door of the store and escapes unharmed.
5. After she is safe, she calls 911 and reports the event.

Hypothetical situation number two.

1. John looks up the top causes of death in the USA and finds this. Seeing that number one on the list is heart disease with 631,636 deaths he decides to learn more. (He also notices that assault is not even on the list.)
2. John suddenly realizes that all of his grandparents died of heart disease and decides to go to the doctor and see what his health situation is like. It turns out that his diet which is high in saturated fat and his family history put him at high risk for heart attack.
3. John changes his diet and starts an exercise program to try to decrease his chances of heart attack.
4. Despite his lifestyle changes John's blood pressure remains high, so he goes to the doctor to get a prescription to help lower it.
5. John makes regular trips to the doctor to assess his condition and educates his children about what he has experienced.

So, as you can see, I believe that self defense encompasses more than what to do if someone grabs your purse, arm, or neck, but how to prevent that from happening in the first place. I also believe that self defense involves protecting your heart, lungs, and brain from disease.

Are we, as martial artists focused on the assault side of self defense? Of course we are, and we should be. We should, however, also be focusing on the other aspects of self defense, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

One of the great things about martial arts is that, if approached properly it can address all these issues. As for the top causes of death, fitness acheived in martial arts classes can reduce the chance of heart disease, some cancers, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and diabetes which are all in the top ten causes of death in the USA.

Types of Aggression

2009-12-03T13:33:00.003-06:00

I was recently reading some articles dealing with two types of aggression/attackers. The author divided the two categories of attackers into the "Alpha Male" and the "Predator".

I encourage anyone studying or interested in martial arts to read the article, and read the discussion posted below it.

Giving Thanks

2009-12-01T08:44:00.000-06:00

In the past few years, there have been sacrifices my family has had to make to try to get East West Kung Fu off the ground. Operating in a small town, and opening up at the beginning of a recession has meant we had to cut back on non-essentials, work part time jobs, and struggle financially.

I thought that considering the recent holiday I would take a little time to give thanks for all the help we have received from people who apparently believe very strongly in what we do.

In the past few years, people have bought my family countless dinners, I was given a brand new bicycle, and so was my stepdaughter, my car repairs were paid for, people donated housekeeping supplies for the kung fu school, I was given transformers toys, I was given dvd's, people have given me loans to keep the kwoon in business, people have given me money outright to keep the kwoon in business, and the list goes on and on.

It is easy to forget how good we have it sometimes. It is easy to get distracted by all the struggle. So I wanted to take a moment to be greatful to all who have helped us through the struggle.

I hope that you will take a moment to do the same.

Sometimes When Shopping, I Lose Perspective

2009-11-09T11:56:00.000-06:00

When shopping at the store, and trying to balance nutrition value of foods with the dollar value of foods is when I most forget that I have more than I need.

I'm sitting at a ten year old computer connected to the internet by dial up, but that is more than I need.

I have a 19 year old television set, receiving broadcast TV through a DTV converter box. It is more than I need.

I have a Playstation 2, one of the controllers has the outer covering of the cord worn away and recovered with duct tape. It is more than I need.

We have 2 cars. More than we need.

We have a 3 bedroom house. More than we need.

Plenty of people in the world live in one room mud and straw huts, no TV, no plumbing, no electricity. Some people go get water from the same source the local cattle bathe in. When we think we need things like sattelite TV, smart phones, new cars . . . it is because we have forgotten that we have more than we need.

Greatness

2009-09-29T12:30:00.002-05:00

When I was in elementary school, I was not challenged to greatness. School work was not a challenge to me, it came easy. In fact, with almost no effort, year after year, I would get all A's and one B on my report card.

From time to time my father would talk to me about "buckling down" and getting serious about my school work, but I did not see the point in working hard because getting good grades was so easy for me. My theory as a child was, "If I can get grades like this with minimal effort, why would I want to work a lot harder to get slightly better grades?"

I was coasting.

I was also developing bad study and work habits that still come back and bite me to this day.

A year ago I put together the Ten Tigers program for me and any students who wanted to join me. The purpose, for me, was to stop coasting. The program requires lots of exercise, lots of hard work, reading, acts of kindness, exercises in sympathy, writing, and lots more.

The Ten Tigers program is very challenging, it is also very rewarding. It has changed the way I live every day. I'm in the best shape of my life, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

The whole premise is to work hard, to strive for greatness. Why settle for what comes easy when you can reach towards your full potential?

Why coast downhill, when you can pedal and build up momentum for when you have to go uphill?

Why settle for mediocrity, when you can strive for greatness?

“There are countless ways of attaining greatness, but any road to reaching one's maximum potential must be built on a bedrock of respect for the individual, a commitment to excellence, and a rejection of mediocrity.”

Buck Rodgers quotes (Former American Baseball Player. b.1938)

Mastery: In Someone Else's Words.

2009-09-25T21:18:00.001-05:00

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Is-Mastery-And-Why-It-Makes-All-The-Difference-In-The-World&id=16455

Why Compete: Finale

2009-09-24T12:45:00.002-05:00

I spent a few months with no desire to go to anymore tournaments. Then as Master Tom's tournament was coming around again I decided that I would go ahead and participate in that one again. I started looking at my motives, trying to encourage myself to get fired up for it. Then I realized I wanted the tournament to be a means not an end. Instead of training for the tournament I decided to use the tournament to train. I decided to be open to any experience, any learning I could get from the process.

I realized that a lot can be accomplished through a tournament. I realized that the reward is not the hunk of plastic, or admiration of others, or setting an example for others. The reward was the training leading up to the tournament. So by the time I got on the competition floor, I had already won a bigger prize than anyone could give me.

I was no longer competing to win, or competing to set an example, or competing to put on a show.

I was simply competing to compete.

My purpose for competing now is to experience the competition, and be open to any insights or lessons that come from it. I am no longer imposing my will on what I want to get from the competition.

AND I'm having fun.

Why Compete? Part Two

2009-09-16T13:43:00.000-05:00

When I first saw how important winning was to many people in tournaments, and what lengths some would go to to make sure that they won, I went on a mission.

My mission was to win without all the rule bending and breaking that I was seeing. To win forms and weapons competition without acrobatics added to my martial arts, to win sparring competition with traditional technique instead of point sparring techniques that would fail miserably in self defense. I wanted to show people that tournaments could be won without all that, and at different tournaments I had varying degrees of success.

Every body else, though, kept on doing the same things they had been doing. I had failed myself because my motivation was in the wrong place. I was trying to change other people.

After I realized my motivation was in the wrong spot I started competing for my self, not for others. My mission became to win with honor. I wanted to honor the traditional forms and techniques of the martial arts I study, and win tournaments in the process.

I learned a lot from this period in my life, but it still was not fulfilling. The idea of winning just wasn't doing it for me. When I won it was nice, but not what I envisioned it to be. When I didn't win, there were feelings of disappointment. So I needed a new answer to the question, "Why Compete?"

Coming soon: Part three of "Why Compete?"

Why Compete? Part One

2009-08-24T06:10:00.000-05:00

Recently having participated in a martial arts tournament, I've been thinking about the variety of reasons that people compete in them. I'll be posting my thoughts on some of the reasons that lead people into tournaments.

Reason number one for competition: To Win.

Some see this as the main, number one, most obvious reason to compete. Some believe that if you are not playing to win, there is no reason to play.

To some, winning is so important that all other considerations are secondary. If you have to bend the rules to win, you learn how far you can bend them before they break, and you learn to break them without getting caught. Learning how to break the rules becomes part of the competition. I have seen people at martial arts tournaments wear their sparring gear loosely on their hands so they can slide it nearly off their hands, giving themselves 6 to 8 inches more reach. I have seen people using a tactic called "taking your warning", in which at the start of a sparring match you kick someone as hard as you can in the stomach to wind them, you take the warning for excessive contact, and the advantage of a winded opponent.

These and other tactics are the result of a desire to win no matter what. Another result is feelings of disappointment, frustration, and anger when one doesn't win.

You can probably guess, that to me, winning is not a very good motivation for competition.

Next I will be discussing reason number two, which could be a subset of "Competing to Win". It is "Winning With Honor"

Who Got You This Far?

2009-08-16T14:10:00.003-05:00

I recently had a student say to me, "Thank you for bringing me this far." I reminded this student that although I may have walked in front of him/her, it wasn't me that brought them this far.

Always give credit and gratitude to your teachers, role models, coaches, etc., but also remember, that they can not take you anywhere. You must decide to go there, you must do the work to get there, and you must continue on past the point you have reached.

If you give someone else too much credit for your achievements, what will you do once they are gone? Smokey The Bear always said, "Only you can prevent forest fires." The same applies to your positive achievements, "Only you can take you there."

Fast Food

2009-06-16T23:15:00.000-05:00

We live in a fast food society. We thrive on instant gratification.

Have you ever gone over to the microwave, frustrated that the baked potatoes aren't done yet? Do you have any idea how long they take in a conventional oven?

We put a meal in the microwave, then anxiously tap our feet for the grueling two minutes we have to wait.

We growl and curse as we sit at the fast food window for three minutes and thirty seconds. "What is TAKING so long!?!?"

Take a moment today to slow down. Stop and smell the roses, literally if you want. Today I saw something I had never seen before. I had never stopped long enough to notice that the Eastern Red Cedar bursts forth in little blue berries. So I stopped. I looked.

So today,

stop.

Look.

Another Challenge

2009-06-12T12:58:00.002-05:00

One of the things I would like to teach at East West is the joy of rising to new challenges. It is hard to meet new challenges without new experiences, so my challenge today is to find an appreciation for something new.

I'm learning how to grow bonsai trees now. While learning about it, I'm also developing a whole new appreciation for the art form. When I took my trip to China in 2002, one of the places we visited had several bonsai on display. At the time I did not have an appreciation for the art. I walked past them without a second glance. If I had the appreciation then that I do now, I'd have studied them and taken dozens of pictures.

So the challenge is to find something that you don't understand why some people love it, be it a sport, an art form, a restaurant, and try to find out what all the buzz is about. You don't have to start liking whatever it is, just try to find an appreciation for what it is.

Limitations

2009-05-31T09:20:00.004-05:00

We all have limitations, an upper limit on what we can do and accomplish. We are human and therefore have limited potential.

Did that sound negative? Keep reading.

Sometimes we have a very clear picture of our limitations. I have flat feet, and if I train barefoot my plantar fasciitis flares up.

Sometimes the picture is much hazier. I was never very good at pushups (I despised pushups, so I didn't train them, so I stayed not very good at them). I always just said, "I'm lousy at pushups."

Then, I started this Ten Tigers Program, and now I'm averaging over 100 pushups per day. Now I'm pretty good at them. I can do 46 in 30 seconds, and 63 in one minute. My limitation has changed.

We all have upper limits, but we often don't really know what that upper limit is because we never test them.

I don't really know the top speed on my Toyota Camry because I've never tested it (and never will).

I have decided that I will keep gradually pushing myself to bigger and better things, to test my upper limits.

I will become stronger and fitter, I will become smarter and more emotionally healthy, I will become a better teacher of martial arts and a better leader of people.

And, I will drag as many of you as are willing along for the ride.

Thank You

2009-05-06T11:42:00.002-05:00

To all those who have been helping with our move. To all who have supported us through this move. To all who have been willing, but unable to help.

Thank you.

We are in a smaller school now, but it's big enough.

I happen to believe that bigger is not necessarily better. I believe that too many of us have been fixated on bigger/richer/faster is better. I believe there is a time to downsize, a time to give away wealth, and a time to slow down. Money for money's sake is a waste of time. Having a bigger truck/house/yard for the sake of status is a waste of resources. Getting everything the moment we want it is detrimental to our ability to work towards a goal.

Can you make do with less? Can you be wait for the things you want? It's harder than it sounds.

Again, to all who have given so much in moving and remodeling and preparing for this change I cannot thank you enough. I cannot pay all the favors back. My plan, instead, is to pay it forward.

Self-Defense Training for The Master of the Martial Arts

2009-05-01T23:06:00.001-05:00

Self-Defense Training for The Master of the Martial Arts

Posted using ShareThis

Something New

2009-04-17T10:29:00.001-05:00

So I have been working on close range sparring lately. Specifically staying off the ground, while successfully sparring in extreme close range. It's something new for me. It is still uncomfortable for me, and I get hit more often when I do it, than when I stay in my comfort zone.

That is what happens when you step outside your comfort zone. Things are uncomfortable, challenging, exciting, and difficult. If they weren't, we wouldn't call it a comfort zone.

Also, when you step outside your comfort zone, you learns.

There is only so much that can be accomplished by doing the same thing today that was done yesterday, and doing the same thing tomorrow that was done today.

So my challenge for today is for you to do something outside your comfort zone, try something a little different, break your routine. It can be a simple little thing or a whole new project, as long as it is something new and different.

What is Self Defense?

2009-04-16T06:44:00.002-05:00

I tell the kids in my classes that self defense is "how you keep you safe". When most people think of self defense they think of either martial arts, or a concealed carry license, or pepper spray, or some other technique or device designed to disable an attacker. The words "self defense" conjure up thoughts of the best way to release oneself from a headlock, or a bearhug, or a choke hold. Yes, these things are self defense.

These things are self defense in the same sense that open heart surgery is self defense in case of a heart attack.

If I were to have a heart attack, I am glad that there is a such thing as open heart surgery, just as if I am attacked I am glad that I've spent most of my life involved with martial arts.

However,

When it comes to heart attacks, I hope to never have to resort to open heart surgery. To that end, I am practicing self defense. I have cut down on red meat, nearly completely replaced the grains in my diet with 100% whole grains, increased the vegetable and fruit intake in my diet, I exercise daily. All these things are intelligent self defense against a heart attack.

So why don't more martial arts schools consider the same approach to self defense against physical assault? Sure there are some (very rare) unavoidable situations in which one must defend oneself, but true self defense training should encompass much much more than punches and kicks.

How do you keep you safe from physical attack? Hopefully not by waiting until the attack happens. Be kind to people, more kindness in the world will help. Practice anger management. Don't react without thinking first. Avoid situations that are likely to put you in a physical confrontation. Defend yourself with your mind first, (don't get in a fight and I guarantee you won't get hurt in a fight), your legs second (run, run, run), and your fists absolutely last.

Goals

2009-04-02T08:27:00.002-05:00

There are a variety of goal setting methods that have been published to maximize one's ability to meet those goals. The basics of goal setting seem to be fairly universal.

Be positive in how the goals are phrased. Rather than "Try to stop being so lazy" phrase it, "I will improve my proactivity."

Be precise. Rather than saying, "I want to lose some of this extra weight." say, "I will lose 15 pounds by walking 30 minutes a day 5 days a week and not eating any more fast foods."

Record your goals and your progress. Keep yourself honest.

Make your goals realistic and acheivable. "I will become a better martial artist by training 30 minutes every day," is more acheivable than, "I will learn to walk through brick walls."

Set your goals, then reach for them.

Who Do You Love?

2009-03-29T12:20:00.004-05:00

Think about the person you love most in the world. Even if it is you, think of this person. Now put this person in the form of a 12 month old child. A child who has needs, but can't really meet those needs for themselves. They need food and water. They need loving companionship. They need education/learning. They need nearly total physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental support, and they need if from you.

What would you be willing to do to support this child. Would you work two full time jobs? Would you do whatever you could to insure they had the best education possible? Would you do what it took to make sure they had healthcare? What if they were starving, how far would you go to make sure they had food? What if they were alone in the cold with no shelter? In the middle of a war zone?

Wouldn't it be nice, if everyone on the planet treated everyone else on the planet that way?

Why don't we start treating everyone that way today?

Hurdles

2009-03-29T12:08:00.000-05:00

While working on the requirements of my Ten Tigers Program, I am making all sorts of discoveries. I have discovered that with a little practice, it is easy to do 100 pushups and situps in a day. It is easy to do an act of kindness in a day. It is even easy to find time to do 20 to 30 minutes of forms training in a day. It is easy to make a blog entry once a week. There are, however, hurdles to meeting these goals.

There are hurdles, such as, caring for a toddler, doing the necessary marketing to grow my business, going to work each day, yardwork, family schedules, insomnia, and the list could go on and on and on. There are lots of hurdles, on some days more than others. With all of these real hurdles to overcome it becomes very important to avoid the fake ones.

There are fake hurdles that get in the way too. "I'm tired", "I don't feel like it today", "I'd rather play a video game, watch a movie, watch TV", the list could go on and on and on. Imagine an athlete about to compete in the 400 meter hurdles. In that race, the first hurdle is 45 meters from the starting line, then each hurdle is 35 meters apart. Now imagine that this athlete has for some reason decided that there is another hurdle halfway between each of the actual hurdles. For every hurdle his competitors jump, he will be jumping two. What are his odds of winning, what are his odds of even placing when he adds these imaginary hurdles into his race?

Why do we insist on adding these artificial hurdles? Why are there days when "Good Morning America" takes precedence over my workout? Why are there days that I put off the things that are good for my martial arts skill, my health, my mind, and my spirit until there is barely time left and energy left to do them? Why do I insist on adding hurdles that aren't really there.

Let's all make a commitment to start recognizing the artificial hurdles. When you have a task to do, that you want to skip becuase you "don't have time", do it with a stop watch running. Figure out how long it actually takes you, then remind yourself the next time you hear yourself say you don't have time. When you tell yourself you are too tired, do one more pushup, or situp, or front kick, or wash one more dish or whatever it is that you need to do. Then do one more. Take note of how much time you spend aimlessly wandering the internet or watching TV shows that you could skip. Let's make commitments to ourselves to use our time and energy more wisely.

We have enough hurdles in our lives. Don't add any imagined ones.

Value

2009-03-23T08:37:00.002-05:00

Try this out. Find a martial artist who has been training for at least three years. Ask them how many years of experience they have in the martial arts. Then ask them if they would take $100,000 in exchange for all the knowledge, experience, skill, and fitness they gained from the martial arts. If they say, "no", up the offer. Offer $500,000, then $1,000,000. When you find a price high enough that they take you up on your offer divide that total by the number of years of experience, then divide by 12. You now have a dollar amount that shows what their martial arts training was worth to them.

Personally I wouldn't take $10,000,000 for mine.

At that rate, classes would cost $33,333.33 per month.

You guys are getting a great deal!

The Car of My Dreams

2009-03-14T11:44:00.008-05:00

East West Motor Company has released details on the new fully automatic Soma. The Soma is the most intelligently designed vehicle ever created. The most impressive feature of the Soma is it's Self Adjusting Somatic Technology. The SAST enables the Soma to improve its performance based on the demands made by the driver. If you drive this vehicle regularly at a high performance level without redlining the engine. The engine becomes faster, more powerful, and more efficient.

The more it is driven the "smarter" it becomes. It has the ability to "learn" from its experiences. The more varied driving conditions you expose it to the more it adapts to those conditions. Even more amazing is that as it adapts to different driving conditions, its ability to adapt to conditions it has never seen is improved.

There are two major drawbacks to the Soma. If you do not drive it, it's SAST adapts to not being driven and loses power and efficiency. Also, although it can run on the fuel found at any gas station, the more convenient fueling stations don't carry the fuel that is best for the Soma. If you choose to run it on the more convenient fuels often, you risk clogging the fuel lines and decreasing the performance and lifespan of your Soma.

A video worth watching

2009-03-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&eurl=http://timrosanelli.blogspot.com/

It's Hard

2009-03-04T10:51:00.003-06:00

Being a stay at home dad, and running a small business at the same time is hard. It seems as though I'm either caring for my 15 month old, or caring for my business. As for time for myself on weekdays, at about 8:00 or 9:00 I get home, fix supper, or eat supper, then go to bed. It is a challenge and right now I am feeling very much overwhelmed by it. In an odd stroke of luck, the baby and the dog are both asleep, so I'm taking a moment to communicate with the outside world.

What I'm doing is hard, but there are those who have it much harder. I am struggling to pay bills, but there are others who don't even have the means to struggle. My business is growing slowly, but other businesses are failing. I have to remind myself that the key is to keep trying, keep struggling, keep pushing to find a way to accomplish the things I feel called to accomplish. One day at a time, one obstacle at a time, one challenge at a time.

It is the same as my ten tigers program. It is hard, but getting through it will be rewarding. I keep pushing through my program, one pushup at a time, one situp at a time, one act of kindness at a time. The struggle is half the fun.

And besides, my business did better than GM last year!

Melody Hill Cave

2009-02-08T10:29:00.002-06:00

Melody Hill Cave

One of the things I enjoy doing in my free time is cave survey. Lots of people go into caves and look around, but what I like to do is map them as I go. One cave I helped survey was Melody Hill Cave in Breckenridge County, Kentucky. We were continuing a survey that had been started by another team, so our first job was to travel to the other team’s last survey station and start mapping from there. When we got to our station, I understood why they had wrapped up that day of survey where they did. The passage at this point shrank from a generous four feet to a scant eight inches. So we started our survey.

Due to the confining nature of this passage, rather than go to each station drawing in the details I saw, I had to rough in the measurement points, then squirm through the passage making mental notes of what the passage looked like so that I could sketch it in when I got into the roomier three foot tall chamber. The cave had some more wide open spaces as big as ten feet tall, and some more constrictions as well. When we got to the final constriction my chest would not fit through, so the skinniest of our group continued on to wrap up the survey while I turned back to get to drier clothes outside the cave.

On the way out, I came to one of the constrictions and started to wriggle through on my belly with my pack strapped to my ankle behind me. My nostrils were filled with the scent of long packed mud, my ears were filled with the sound of my cave suit simultaneously scraping the floor and ceiling of the cave. I pushed with my toes and pulled with my fingertips. I moved about one inch. The passage was getting tight. I exhaled every molecule in my lungs and pushed forward again. I gained another inch. I tried again with no luck. I retreated a bit and took what seemed to be a completely different path through the constriction. Again, no luck. I tried this several times and then realized. . .

I was stuck.

Just the other day, I woke up in a pretty foul mood. A foul mood for me usually does not mean I am crabby or angry, it usually means I want to do nothing. It usually means I want to quit. It means I want to give up, surrender, stop struggling to make my business work, stop pursuing my dreams, stop doing anything. I tried to force myself to do my ten tigers daily workout. I got some of it in, but not much. I started thinking that the whole project was a joke. I started regretting making the commitment.

My foul mood persisted through the day. I hid it in a corner while I taught classes. I kept it to myself at kung fu. I came home feeling even worse. The next day I woke up in a foul mood. Another day of forcing myself through my workout. I got it done this time though. It did not, however, make me feel any better. Another day of hiding my mood in a corner while I did the afterschool program and what felt like class after class after class of kung fu. I kept trying to push forward, kept trying to take another path with no luck. I tried this several times and then realized. . .

I was stuck.

With the scent of long packed mud in my nostrils, and the sound of my breathing filling my ears, I thought of stories of cavers getting stuck in caves. Stories in which their attempts at self rescue resulted in cracked ribs, stories in which cave rock had to be chiseled from around the caver, stories in which clothing was cut off the unfortunate caver who was then smothered in butter or some other food product that another caver was carrying through the cave. None of these sounded very appealing to me just then, especially emerging from a cave in January wearing only butter.

I stopped thinking about all those things. I closed my eyes, exhaled and squirmed backwards to a more comfortable spot (by more comfortable I mean about 12 inches tall). I rested there and calmly thought about my options. I knew that I had gotten through this spot on the way in, so I could get back through. The real obstacle was the fact that fatigue and cold had worked into my body so my thought processes were diminished somewhat. I thought about my options, I could retrieve the garden shovel from my pack to attempt digging a ditch to crawl through, I could wait for the cavers behind me to catch up so one of them could possibly find that sweet spot through the passage for me, or I could panic, scream for help, scratch at the cave walls around me, and exhaust myself, necessitating a cave rescue call out.

None of those options sounded great, but I made up my mind to wait for my caving partners to catch up with me. I turned off my lights, lay my head sideways so that my helmet rested on the ground and cushioned my head and listened to the cave. I listened to the dripping water in the distance and the empty silence between them. When it is that quiet, your ears seem to reach out, feeling, searching for a sound. Eventually, they found one. The sound of cavers talking and laughing at the end of a survey trip echoing through the dark distance, then the sound of cave suits scraping along the floor and ceiling of the cave. As they neared I greeted them, and let one pass me. He was six foot one and 130 pounds, I was five foot seven and 175. He can go places in caves that I cannot. I told them I was having trouble finding the line through this passage. He went ahead of me to the left and up a slope where the extra inch made all the difference. I followed suit and was soon talking and laughing and heading out into the sunshine.

I had no control over the size of the passage, I had no control of the fatigue in my mind and body once it had arrived, I had no control of the effects of the adrenalin that poured through my body when I first realized I was stuck, but I did have the choice on how to react to all that I was going through.

I had no control the other day of the mood I was in, no control of whatever cocktail of hormones was pouring through my body. I did, however, have a choice on how to react to all that I was going through. So I got up and did as much as of my workout as I could make myself do. I went in and taught my classes with as much energy and passion as I could muster. I went home and shared my feelings with my wife who was very patient with me. I let her go ahead of me and find that sweet spot to crawl through, and started following behind. Soon we were talking and laughing and heading back out into the sunshine.

I believe. . .

2009-02-01T14:40:00.000-06:00

I believe you should read this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99478226

I Too, Have A Dream

2009-01-20T05:20:00.004-06:00

On the morning after the day celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr., I just wanted to let it be known that I too have a dream.

There are things in our lives that we hold sacred. Different things for different people. Some view the building that is their church as sacred. Others see the church that gathers in that building as sacred. For some a bible or a rosary is sacred. For some the flag of their country. For others, their car or their house is treated as sacred. Whatever it is that someone sees as sacred, they treat it with reverence, care, love, and respect.

When something is held sacred, their is often great offense taken when others do not treat the sacred as such. If someone were to come to a church service cursing and swearing there would be offense taken. If someone were to mistreat the family bible, there would be offense. We have seen the offense taken when someone disrespects the flag. For some of us, finding out someone had ran their key along the side of our car would bring on great anger.

So, anyway, back to my dream.

I have a dream that as time goes by, more and more people will start recognizing the sacred gifts we have been given, and start treating these gifts as sacred.

I have a dream that we will treat our bodies as the sacred gifts they are. We will fill them with good, nutritious food and avoiding junk food. We will avoid tobacco and other drugs that are detrimental to our bodies. We will exercise and give our bodies the strength, flexibility, and endurance it needs. We will drink more water and fewer soft drinks. We will endeavour to get enough sleep each night.

I have a dream that one day, we will recognize the sacred gift that is our mind. We will educate ourselves to the best of our ability. We will not fill our minds with hate, envy, malice, and greed. We will instead fill our minds with thoughts of love, generosity, helpfulness, and charity. We will use our minds to improve the world around us.

I have a dream that we will see the earth we live on as a sacred gift to be cherished. We will stop overbuying, overusing, and overpolluting. We will recycle. We will not dump motor oil and other fluids from our cars on the ground. We will conserve electricity, oil, and other fossil fuels. We will strive to use energy from renewable resources.

I have a dream that we will see each person around us as the sacred gift that they are. Whether they be old or young, whether they be Ivy league educated, or barely literate, whether they be too skinny or too fat, we will see them as the sacred gift that they are. When we look at the wonder that is each living thing, we will treat them with the dignity and respect that all people deserve. We will see that it matters less what group they fit in with, or what group we fit in with than the fact that we all share this life as one. We will stop putting importance on whether someone is clergy or criminal, jock or nerd, upper management or packer or picker. When we learn to see those around us as sacred the color of their skin will be less important than the color of their shirt.

Like King, I might not live to see my dream, but I am sure going to take as many steps in that direction as I can.

Superhero Society

2009-01-17T14:13:00.001-06:00

One look at movies over the last few years and anyone can see that superheroes are very popular. X-men, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and The Punisher have all had movies lately, and Wolverine, Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers are coming soon. It makes sense. What's not to like about someone using supernatural powers or advanced technology to soundly thrash the evildoers of the world? There are problems when these superhero sensations start working their way into our thinking, however.

There are three things needed for a good superhero story: A superhero to save the day, a supervillain who would have ruined the day if it weren't for that pesky superhero and, of course, some person to be saved along with the day.

So if I were to let myself have a superhero story in my daily thoughts, in my daily life, which of those people would I be? Most would consciously choose the superhero, right? There are those of us, though, that find ourselves playing the victim role. I think there are very few if any that see themselves as the bad guy. If I am the superhero, then whoever is causing me difficulty is one of those bad guys and everyone else gets to be the people of Earth whose very existence I will save. What would they do without me?

Some of us take great pleasure in being the superhero, while others feel pressure to play the role. Superheroes are the ones who always feel like they have to save the ones around them. They sacrifice their own health and happiness to pull everyone else out of their problems. Self sacrifice can be admirable, but what good is it to destroy one's own mental, emotional, or physical health to try to save someone else? If we neglect self care, we will soon lose the ability, as well as the motivation, to help others. Something I heard recently, I'm not sure where, "If there were children that you loved, wouldn't they be best served by keeping their mother healthy?" We are not invincible superheroes. We have to keep our own strength up, realize when we need to recharge, and help others from a safe position.

Now let's talk about that nasty old supervillain. If we allow ourselves to see "the other" as a bad guy, evildoer, or even just a rival who should be defeated, we are viewing things in an adversarial way. Yes, there are times to compete against others, but most of the time we would all be better off by working with those who disagree with us rather than against them. Working together with non-like minded individuals can produce surprising results. Imagine playing a game of Scrabble® in which, rather than trying to block points, the players were working together to see how high each could score. How would the game change? Working with adversaries is how our government is supposed to function. The idea is that people on the two sides of the aisle will come together and create better ideas than either would have alone. Too many times we view others as obstacles or adversaries instead of fellow travelers in this existence.

Finally, some people identify most with the victim role in the superhero story. They could be happy/rich/successful if only the circumstances around them were to change. A victim sees their problems as caused or fixed by others: coworkers, relatives, the economy, the government. . . or their problems are due to lacking the right coworker, the right love interest, etc. They believe that none of their problems are their fault, there is nothing they can do about them, so all they do is wait for Superman to swoop in and save them. These folks need to wake up right now. Although circumstances have a lot to do with successes, waiting around to be saved is wasted time. We must stand up and work hard if we want to achieve anything. Yes, it is easier if we are given a trust fund, yes, it is easier with a supportive family, but if those things are not available, it is all the more important to stand up and fight. Being “saved” by someone else won't change the habit of seeing life from a victim's point of view.

Watch all the superhero movies you want, enjoy them, but remember that life is different. Our adversaries aren't always adversaries when we can change our point of view. When we are victims, there is no need to sit around and wait for a hero to save us; we can work to save ourselves. When we feel the pull to be a superhero, we can make sure to keep ourselves healthy first. Remember that just about every superhero has some sort of psychological malfunction. Iron Man -- Egomaniacal thrillseeker, Batman -- absolutely obsessed with avenging the crime against his parents, The Hulk -- don't get me started on the Hulk. We are not superhuman, and we don't have superpowers, but we can do nearly as much good in the world by keeping our own lives balanced.

When the Going Gets Tough. . .

2008-12-12T16:12:00.001-06:00

How do you respond when something you have to accomplish is extremely difficult? What are the steps you take to apply yourself to a demanding project? How do you react when this thing that you must do is just too big for you? When it is something you cannot avoid, how do you tackle it?

Perhaps you start by studying the problem, making plans, comparing what must be done with what you are capable of. Maybe you call for advice from friends and family, or consult experts for tips and pointers, or maybe you research, study, or do some training to improve your ability to tackle the project, or you might build a team of colleagues/friends/family to work together to get through this difficult endeavor.

There are many approaches to choose from.

How do you respond when someone else, your child, friend, colleague, etc. is the one with the overwhelming task? Do you give advice, point them to experts, help them study or train, join the team they need to get through their work?

Life is one of those very, very difficult tasks.

There are a lot of people out there who think it is supposed to be easy. There are a lot of people out there who will sell you a house, a car, a watch, or a phone that they say will make it easy. A lot of people despair because no matter how much money, no matter how great a job, no matter their personal, political, or social power, they discover that life still is not easy.

Those people are looking for the wrong answer. The answer does not lie in lowering the bar until you no longer have to run and leap, but can simply step over it. The answer does not lie in a device that can organize your addresses, your calendar, and even your 1,500 downloaded songs to have at the touch of a finger. The answer is not in making life easier. Continually looking for some gadget to solve the difficulties of life will lead to continual disappointments.

The answer is the same as for other difficult tasks, to study, plan, learn, train, ask for help. In short, the answer is not in making life easier to handle, but in making yourself better able to handle it.

Would you expect an Olympic sprinter who wants to set a new world record to wish that the current record were not quite so fast, or to train with the difficulty of beating it fully understood? Would you expect an Olympic sprinter to train alone, or to train with a coach and teammates? Would the right path to breaking that record being use of steroids, or training the body with honesty and integrity?

Life is one of those very, very difficult tasks, so live every day in a way that makes you strong enough to handle it. Become strong enough to ask for and accept help when you need it. Practice patience so you can lend help when needed. Strengthen your financial situation so you can give to charities. Strengthen your emotional well being so you can be a pillar for others when they are weak. Make yourself strong, so others can lean on you.

How can all this be done? Practice. If you have an extra quarter, drop it in the Salvation Army bucket. If you have a free Saturday, help a friend move. If you are feeling secure, listen to someone who is struggling with life. Practice in little ways every day. Pick trash up from the ground and throw it in a can, hold a door for someone, buy someone dinner, play someone a song on your guitar, cut off your hair and donate it to Locks of Love. Ask for help preparing supper. Let someone else vacuum the carpet this time. There are millions of things you can do.

Start now.

Real Self Defense

2008-11-25T16:22:00.000-06:00

There is a crowd out there that strongly believes that the only purpose for martial arts training is to learn to fight. There are people who look at the “good old days” of how they trained. They glorify the fact that they went home from their kung fu classes with bloody noses and cracked ribs.

There is a crowd out there that believes that the purpose of martial arts training is to win competitions. For some it is point sparring in tournaments, for others it is kickboxing, and for still others it is MMA in a cage. These people train to win competitions. Some of them have great sportsmanship, others much less so. I have personally seen some embarrassing behavior at tournaments. I have seen embarrassing behavior on the parts of competitors, on the parts of their parents, even on the parts of their instructors.

There is a crowd out there that believes that the purpose of a martial arts school is to make lots of money for the owner. They reward their successes with Rolex watches, expensive cars, and homes that could house their family times ten.

I’ve never really been one to follow the crowd. I believe in following an ideal.

There are some martial artists out there following ideals. Personally I look back to the Shaolin or Siu Lum temple and why they started training in martial arts. I look to the ways in which the martial arts can preserve and improve lives.

According to legends the Shaolin monks had beliefs they wanted to spread to the world around them. When they attempted to travel they would be attacked by bandits. They started training in the martial arts. They gained a reputation as the fiercest fighters in the land. As a result of their reputation, they didn’t have to fight. People learned not to mess with those bald headed guys in robes. The original purpose of martial arts was to be able to fight in a world in which its practitioners needed to fight.

Do we need to fight today? Sometimes. There are, however, bigger threats to our health than physical attacks. How can we address the things that assail us in today’s world? I believe that self empowerment, self discipline, and self esteem are some of the best weapons we can develop today. Through these we can improve our physical health, our mental health, and our spiritual health. Improving these can stave off the real threats to us: heart disease, diabetes, depression, addiction. . .

Can we achieve these goals through martial arts training? Yes. Is it the only way? No. It is, however, the vehicle I choose to use to teach self empowerment, self discipline, and self esteem. At the same time, we get to practice an ancient cultural art and learn practical self defense if we are attacked. AND. It’s fun.

White Belt Eyes

2008-11-10T14:44:00.003-06:00

White belt eyes. The eyes of the beginner.

To have white belt eyes is to see that all the skill one wants to achieve is yet to come.

It is to accept that all the knowledge one wants to learn will come through time, training and hard work.

To have white belt eyes is to put ego aside and accept someone else as a teacher: To "empty one's cup".

To have white belt eyes is to believe that the knowledge one has is a raindrop compared to the ocean of knowledge one will learn.

Having white belt eyes means one has stepped out of one's comfort zone, has walked into something new and unknown.

One who has white belt eyes has sacrificed the known and the comfortable for something new and unkown and quite possibly scary.

When is the last time you looked at the world through white belt eyes?

What will you smell like?

2008-10-22T14:25:00.002-05:00

After my last trip to Webster Cave, as I do every cave trip, I hosed off my gear and set it out to dry. While picking it up a few days later I noticed once again, that cave smell. I really believe that it would take a lot of work to get that smell out of my caving equipment.

I have this gear that is dedicated to caving, it has a simple existence. Go into a cave for walking, wading, crawling, slithering, climbing, etc. It gets fully immersed in cave. When it comes out it gets hosed off, dries out a couple of days, then goes into a bag for storage until the next trip.

Because it spends its life that way, this equipment is permeated with cave smell. It’s not a bad smell, just a particular one. In fact, when I pull my equipment out to get it ready for another trip I relish that cave smell, it’s almost like stepping into the cave.

I’d be willing to bet that when I get home from a caving trip my wife smells that cave smell on me. I’d be willing to bet that when she does, she can see herself inside a cave. Smells can be powerful like that.

There are some people that, rather than immerse themselves in a cave, immerse themselves in negativity.

Have you ever experienced that? Have you had someone around you who was so focused on negativity that that’s all they talk about? I have.

I knew someone who every day when they got back from their fast food job selling hastily prepared fish had stories to tell. Always it was some rude customer or some lazy coworker or some incompetent manager. Always when they told the story I could see them reliving it. The stress of the situation came back, the tension showed on their face, the anger overwhelmed them.

It was downright scary.

So I started working on avoiding immersing myself in negativity.

Whatever you wallow in, you can expect to smell like.

Yes negative things happen in life, that doesn’t mean we have to wallow in the negativity. Get through it, experience it, learn from it, then let go of it. If you are going to wallow, wallow in positivity. If you are going to relive something, and share it with others, relive the high points. Positive things happen in life too.

Like I said earlier, when I come home after wallowing in a cave, I bet my wife gets a vicarious caving experience from the way I smell. I know that if I come home after wallowing in negativity she will get that experience vicariously too. Is that something I want to share with my loved ones?

Ten Tigers

2008-10-15T14:16:00.002-05:00

The "Ten Tigers of Canton" were a legendary group of martial artists in Southern China in the mid 1800's. They were mainly known for their fighting skills.

The Ten Tigers program at East West Martial Arts in Franklin is going to be about far more than just fighting skills.

Inspired by Sifu Tammy's FIRST program and Tom Callos's various programs, the Ten Tigers is about starting from where you are and transforming your martial arts, your actions, and your whole way of thinking.

There will be intense physical training. There will be private lessons, and group lessons. There will be huge strides made in your martial arts skills. There will be much more important things than those included too.

There will be environmental projects, community action projects, empathy training (ever spend a day blind?), reading, journaling, the list goes on.

The idea is that mastery should go beyond mastery of the physical side of the martial arts. What good is it to master a martial art compared to mastering one's self.

For more info email franklinkungfu@gmail.com, or call 270-586-2056

This program is an experiment, a chance for change

Did I mention. . .

2008-09-30T13:50:00.004-05:00

Did I mention that I hate pushups?

Vehemently.

I've never liked them.

They are good for me though. I've started preparing myself to go through my Ten Tigers program. So right now, every other day I'm doing the following workout.

20 Pushups and 20 situps,
10 minutes of stance work,
20 and 20 again,
Gung Gee Fook Fu Kuen (takes about 5 minutes),
20 and 20,
Fu Hok Seung Yin Kuen (another 5 minutes),
20 and 20,
Sup Yin Kuen (this one's about 7 minutes long),
and cap it off with 20 pushups and 20 situps.

Did I mention that I hate pushups?

I don't like broccoli either, but it's good for me.

Right now this workout takes about 40 minutes, I think with less rest between activities I can bring it under 35. Once the Ten Tigers program starts I'll be doing it daily. It is difficult, exhausting, hard to find time for (I have to make time), and so much fun once I'm done.

I have this theory about working hard for something. If you make working hard a habit, rather than an exception, when something hard comes along it's not so overwhelming. See if you are used to just sitting around, you aren't prepared to face an emergency. If you train yourself for hard work daily, a crisis can just fall into place.

If you take the fighting aspect of martial arts as an example you can look at it very easily. If you train martial arts daily, get in great shape and stay that way, build your awareness and timing, etc., you are easily able to defend yourself if you have to.

By the way, I discovered that those kung fu forms I've been practicing in my workout use a lot of the same muscles that pushups do.

Did I mention that I hate pushups?

If you practice something daily when you don't need it, it will be at your fingertips when you do need it.

If you practice patience every chance you get, with all the small little annoyances in life, you are more ready to remain calm when that other guy fails to stop at the red light you are sitting at.

If you practice love and kindness towards others every day in little ways, you are more ready to respond with love and kindness when your 17 year old daughter tells you she thinks she might be pregnant.

If you practice personal responsibility in little ways every day (put those candy wrappers and cigarette butts in a trash can) you will be more ready to take responsibility for the big things in life.

The harder you work when you don't have to, the easier it will be when you need to.

Did I mention that I hate pushups?

Sifu Steven O'Nan

My Three Favorite Olympic Moments

2008-08-21T21:46:00.003-05:00

Dedication, Spirit, and Courage.

Each of those words sums up one of my three favorite moments from the 2008 Olympic Games.

Dedication - This one will be on lots of people's lists. A swimmer took advantage of his natural physical traits and extreme dedication to his training and made history this year. He won eight gold medals in the Olympics. It wasn't easy. There was one race won by one one-hundredth of a second. He didn't do it alone. In one of the relays his team was behind on his leg and another swimmer came from behind to give his team the gold. His dedication to pushing his endurance, strength and speed as far as he could paid off and he is in the record books.

Spirit - Another swimmer got in the water with two swimmers whose previous times were far better than hers. She dove in and swam her heart out, she pushed her body as hard as she could. When she touched the wall she turned around and looked at the times. She leaped upwards in the water and pumped her fist in a show of pride and victory. She had come in dead last. She had also beaten her best time by two seconds. She wasn't celebrating a medal; she didn't even qualify for the finals. She was celebrating the fact that she took her strength, endurance, and speed to a new level.

Courage - An Olympic hurdler walked out onto the track in his warm-up suit in front of thousands of his home country fans. Over a billion people recognized him as one of China's two greatest athletes and expected him to take gold. He tried a warm-up run of the hurdles and it was obvious his ankle was injured. The injury was to his Achilles tendon. He stopped his warm-up run after two hurdles and crouched down to rub his ankle. When it came time to race he lined up in the starting blocks in obvious pain. The pistol fired, the runners took off, but there was a false start. The agony of the takeoff was obvious on his face. As the runners headed back to the starting blocks he showed to me what was one of the greatest acts of courage in the Olympic games. He removed the number from his shorts, turned his back on the expectations of a billion people and walked away from the largest moment of his life to protect his body from further and possible permanent injury.

Sometimes it takes the most courage to recognize that it is time to walk away from something.

Perspective

2008-08-09T05:27:00.003-05:00

Perspective

One fine July morning I put on my glasses, took my allergy medicine,
put on my shoes with arch supporting inserts, and got up to train. I
said to my wife, "I hate having to take allergy medicine to breathe.
I hate not being able to train barefoot. I hate having to have my
glasses to read words on TV."

As soon as those three sentences got out of my mouth I could taste the negativity I had just started my day with. So I started thinking
about those statements. I started thinking about the facts behind
them. I decided to step away from my emotional reactions to those
facts. I have allergies and I don't breathe well if I don't use some
type of sinus or allergy medicine. I have frequent flareups of
plantar fasciitis and am bowlegged, so training without the proper
support for my feet causes my feet, ankles, and knees to ache. I am
nearsighted so I need my glasses to read things at a distance.

At this point I had stepped away from my reactions to those facts and
was able to look at those facts as if it weren't me experiencing them.
I thought about what I would tell someone who had those issues and
had asked me for advice in dealing with them. I discovered that my
advice would be the same: Take your allergy medicine, wear your shoes, wear your glasses.

Then I was able to smile at myself and find some gratitude.

I am grateful that I have found affordable effective sinus medicine.

I am grateful I have found shoes that give me the support I need.

I am grateful that I have glasses that help me see well.

Martial Arts Is Life

2008-07-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

Tom Callos has been making the phrase "Out of the Dojo (Kwoon) and into the world." an important phrase to lots of martial artists. I never had that phrase to describe my thinking process, but when I heard the phrase I realized that has been my approach for a long time now.

In everything I do, I do my best when I use the same principles that lead to success in martial arts training, performing, or competing. I try to drive like a martial artist, spend money like a martial artist, play guitar like a martial artist, and so with all I do.

Basic principles in the martial arts include the idea of efficiency of movement. When performing a movement in the martial arts I want none of the movement I make to be extraneous. I want no wasted energy. The same applies when I drive. When I'm at a series of traffic lights it makes no sense to me to stomp on the gas to drive up to the next light just so I can stomp on the brake to stop on time. That wastes fuel, and brake pads. There are times in driving when a sudden acceleration can save you, but most of the time it isn't needed. Knowing how to drive efficiently is driving like a martial artist.

Grandmaster Tom Pardue has always said, "Defend yourself at all times." That is a phrase I have carried over to my spending habits. If I were to go out and buy everything I wanted, I'd have one heck of a Transformers collection, but I'd wind up losing my house due to debt that I would build up. Developing good money habits is spending like a martial artist.

When I perform a Kung Fu form; with or without an audience, my goal is to find that place where I give myself over to the performance. Part of being able to do that is having practiced the form so much that not much conscious thought is required. Playing a classical guitar piece is the same thing. When I have practiced a piece to the point that I don't have to worry about what is the next note, the next chord, the next fingering then my mind can surrender to the music at that point it is all about expression. That is playing guitar like a martial artist.

So, in everything you do, be a martial artist.

Sifu Steven O'Nan

2008-07-19T17:18:00.000-05:00

So today, with the house to myself; I decided to do something I have not done in a long time. I went to the closet and got out the bow my father gave me when he upgraded his. It is a PSC Infinity SR-1000, which means basically nothing to me. I pulled out the arrows I had set up for it at a local shop grabbed the keys to the shed, and went out to get the target I bought when I was given the bow.

Remembering that I was told not to shoot at the same spot repeatedly (there are five different targets printed on the thing) as that would wear out one part of the target prematurely I planned to start with the center target, and go around the outer four in a clockwise fashion.

As I stood there at 15 yards from the target, aware of the memories of my father shooting in preparation for deer season; (he would shoot from 90 yards with a 90 pound draw) I felt his shadow looming over me.

I told myself the same thing I've said time and time again to my martial arts students. "You aren't competing with anyone else, you are only competing with yourself." "Practice all the steps to the best of your ability." "Aim toward improvement and don't worry about perfection." I let go of the comparisons and expectations I was imagining and raised the bow.

thiiip-whack

thiiip-whack

thiiip-whack

What do you know? All three shots hit the bag, randomly, but at least they hit the bag.

Looking at the arrangement of my three arrows I decided that I would keep aiming at the center target. I didn't want to lose any arrows; and besides aiming at the same target doesn't wear out one part of the bag, that would require hitting it.

After a few more tries at 15 yards I decided to swallow a little more ego and halve my distance to the target. thiiip-whack, thiiip-whack, thiiip-whack.

My plan worked, by allowing myself an easier goal, I was able to start making small adjustments without the frustration of arrows landing randomly around the target. The feedback I was getting from my groupings was now making sense. After some work I moved back out to 15 yards.

That's when I realized. . . somewhere around 15 yards from the target is where I dropped the keys to the shed. . . I wish I had mowed the lawn first. . . where are those keys. . .

Oh well, thiiip-whack much better shot within an inch of my target, thiiip-whack, thiiip-whack. Nice grouping, now I'm getting somewhere.

As the muscles that go into shooting a bow fatigued my aim deteriorated. Becoming more distracted by the missing keys, the sweat running into my eyes, the mosquitoes buzzing didn't help either. I decided to wrap up with one last round.

thiiip-

No whack? I guess if the arrow doesn't hit the target you don't get a whack. Why did the arrows have to be camouflage?

thiiip-whack-ziiip

What was that? It turned out the arrow head came off after the arrow penetrated the bag.

Come on Steven, focus. Check your stance. Raise the bow. Pull. Breathe. Hold. Squeeze don't pull. . .

thiiip-whack

Bullseye.

Now I have to go back out there and look for those keys.