Hello world!

Every once in a while I'll check the viewer stats to see who might be reading my blog. It doesn't tell me who, but it does tell from which country they are. That's kinda neat. Who would have thought something I'd be typing as kind of an online journal could be read by people from the UK, France, Germany, South Korea, to name a few.

Most of my friends don't know I have this blog, but it's not like I tell everyone about it. Not looking to become any famous type of blogger. Just thought this would be fun. Something that would be really fun would be to get some comments about my blog, especially from anyone outside the US.

With that said, I hope everyone out there is enjoying this Easter holiday, whether Christian, Pagan, or any other religion with a holiday right around this time of year!

Kick it!

I'm not nearly as flexible as I used to be! In the past year while studying Aikido, I've let my kicking skills diminish, along with my leg flexibility. Years ago I could do a split, and do decent side kicks to my height (5'10). Now I can barely kick chest high on my sidekicks. My body opponent bag is a good measure for the height stuff. At least I can still kick head high with my roundhouse and front kicks. I can blame Aikido all I want, but it's really on me to keep up with the kicking skills.

In Aikido, there's no kicking. None, zero, nada. Aikido's focus of being in control of your center focuses on keeping your feet in proper alignment for your center. Kicking can take you off your center, or so Aikido's philosophy goes. In Ninpo Chuan Fa, kicking is a decent part of the self defense stuff. Not necessarily kicking high, but kicking consistantly with effect. The high kicking aspect of martial arts like Ninpo are mainly for exercise and flexibility, not so much as to be effective in defense.

So here I am, doing rounds of hundreds of various kicks after lots o' stretching, and I am tired! Doesn't help that I'm a pretty heavy guy these days. Not the heaviest I've been, but definitely not slim. Working on slimming down. Still continuing with the weights, and now yoga and my exercise bike have become steady fixtures in my workout routine. Right now the only movie martial artists I can be compared to are Sammo Hung and Kevin James (see "Here Comes the Boom"). If I'm going to be teaching this stuff soon, I've gotta get comfortable again with all aspects of the art. Maybe then I can look more like Bolo Yeung as far as physique goes

Gonna keep on kickin', kinda like a Rockette  :)

-Peace and Balance

Progress, and a tough conversation...

John and I have met a few times, and with his wife Mona we've had some good discussions on how the revival of Ninpo Chuan Fa will go. We settled on two evenings a week 6-730ish depending on the schedule at the WREN building we'll be using, with a "free practice" class that I'll run every other sat morning.

I've created a Facebook page for the program(gotta love free advertising) and have gotten some good feedback from old students and potentially new ones. Mona is using her artistic talents to update the former symbol of the school. We'll be discussing the schedule aspect soon with Laura, who's in charge of the WREN building. She's excited for our program to be a part of WREN.

With all this planning, I had to make a decision on whether to continue with my Aikido training. Ninpo will take the bulk of my time for enjoying the martial arts, and with the drive to Aikido being an hour away, it is more out of my way with the time I'll be commiting to the new program.

I sent an email to Jack, my Aikido instructor, explaining the situation. We talked on the phone not long after. He was pretty bummed out that I was leaving his Aikido program. He had been hoping that I would test for Shodan someday, which might have been within a couple years. It's a small program too, with only a few of us. I'm also the one running the facebook page for Mt Washington Aikido. We'll find a way so that Jack can take over the page. I'd been taking Aikido for a year now, and have enjoyed becoming friends with Jack and the others in the program.

While I've enjoyed it, I'm more excited about training in Ninpo again.

Silent Warrior Martial Arts

John, his wife Mona and I checked out the space at WREN we'll use to teach the program. The space will suit us well, with space for a class up to about 12 people. The ceiling is also high enough that we can do work with long weapons like the bo staff or three section staff. John commented that he thinks the space is actually bigger than the old school's.

We've settled on a few things. First, age range is fourteen and up. Starting off with this, we should hold back on a kids program until things are well established.

Also, an update to the old logo would be nice. The old logo consisted of a monk, sitting within a dream catcher, surrounded by the seven animals of Ninpo Chuan Fa: Dragon, Tiger, Snake, Monkey, Crane, Leopard and Praying Mantis. Mona's a good artist, so she'll show John and I some of her ideas. I'm hoping the theme will stay similar to the former symbol. I always liked the dream catcher as an ode to John's Lakota heritage.

We're slightly changing the name, calling the program "Silent Warrior Martial Arts", to acknowlegde the new chapter from the days of "School of the Silent Warrior", which was an established school and business. Our program is part time, after all, since John and I are both too busy with full time jobs to fully open up a new school.

Last thing, we take the next month and a half to train together before we start teaching. This will give us time get up to speed and time for me catch up again so I know all my forms, combinations and techniques. It'll also give us plenty of time to decide on other aspects: uniforms, our schedules, time and days of class, promoting the program. I'm sharing all my ideas, but ultimately it's John's art, and his decision on the direction it goes.

Once we start training this week, I'll have to let my Aikido instructor know that I won't be attending classes anymore. I've been training in Aikido for almost a year now, and it's an excellent martial art, with a unique philosophy that I still find fascinating. And while I've enjoyed my training in Aikido, I'm really looking forward to training again in Ninpo Chuan Fa.

Excellent...

Ninpo Chuan Fa will be taught offered to the public again!

My martial arts teacher John, his wife Mona, and I met today to discuss what we could do and what we will plan to do over the next couple of months. Very productive meeting! Tomorrow we'll check out the space at the local WREN center where we can teach. 

Stay tuned true believers!

Ninpo Chuan Fa... a new hope

Got a big surprise this afternoon by a call from my old martial arts mentor. I honestly wasn't all that positive that he'd call me back. Thrilled that he has though!

We had a short discussion on what equipment we could both bring to the table, the space we could use, and his plans for cementing the art. We plan on meeting in a couple days to discuss further what we can do.

This is exciting stuff. Really hoping we can put together a program that can be taught 2-3 times a week. I'm also excited to learn martial arts again from my original teacher. 

Yoga... why not?

Eight  years ago I took a friend's yoga class. She's a fellow black belt from the old school, and a dear friend who works as a massage therapist and yoga instructor. I figured I'd be fine taking this class, I'm flexible and stuff! The class she taught that day was , shall we say, and intermediate level yoga class... and it kicked my ass! Keep in mind I'm built like a linebacker, stocky, muscular, and also  someone who knows his way around a kitchen.

Lately I've been feeling very... stiff. And I'm certain that it's due to too much weightlifting. This happens in the winter sometimes... too much lifting, not enough cardio. It's been more apparent in my Aikido class. One of the guys that joined recently teaches yoga part time, and he looks the part. Skinny, but in shape, flexible and very calm . When he attacks me, it's way too easy to throw him around. It takes more to manipulate his joints for pain though, due to his flexibility. This inspiration by him and the noted feeling of being like a tightened rubber band has led me to want to give yoga another try

Haven't taken one of my friend's classes since that one time , mainly since her usual yoga classes run on days I work. Recently that same friend started a yoga workshop for beginners. It's running on thursdays for seven weeks. Figured I'd give it a shot again.

First off, I'm the only guy in the class, but I at least know the instructor, and I know four of ten students from that first session. It was nice. Nothing too strenuous, perfect for a beginner like me. It was nice, even rejuvenating. Felt like my circulation was better after the class. I"m going to keep up with this workshop.

On a side note, I did take yoga class last october that another friend teaches. Great class, and good instructor, but it takes place on thursday mornings, one of two possible days I get to sleep in. If my other friend doesn't teach yoga on thursdays after this workshop is over, I'll go back to that other class to keep up with crazy thing called yoga...