Sunday, May 26, 2013

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Weeding Out the Weeds

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Oh really? One man’s weed is another man’s cuisine. Take the lowly dandelion. Weed? Flower? Pest or foodstuff? Dandelions are used for food in some cultures. Dandelion greens are nourishing and rich in vitamin C. Wine is made of the flowers and textiles can be woven from the strands of the stalks. So taking that [...]

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No Holds Barred

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I just finished watching an excellent documentary about mixed martial arts. Like many lifelong martial arts I’ve watched it grow from its infancy to where it is now and like most of my peers I have mixed feelings about it. It is probably the fastest growing sport in the world today. It is definitely a [...]

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Putting Your Best Foot Forward

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Before I embark on this one sided discussion let me do a disclaimer. I am not trying to send you into communication overload with these articles and messages. Having dedicated well over half a century into the study and teaching at the martial arts two things have occurred that have caused this prolific outpouring. I [...]

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Stillness in Combat

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Okay, many of you are probably looking at me funny at this point. What the heck is he talking about now? Has he finally lost it? Not really, my brothers. You probably think that stillness in combat is a recipe for disaster. It’s according to what one means by stillness. Have you ever seen a [...]

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Strength in Unity

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My brethren; this is not a religious dissertation though you’ll find some quotes the Bible used to illustrate a point or two. I admonish those of my brothers who are not Christian to bear with me and not turn away from the truth that I’m trying to expound. As much as I would like to [...]

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Students of the Heart

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In my fifty five plus years of studying, researching and teaching the martial arts I have had only a few personal, closed door students. In years past in Japan and Okinawa an uchi deshi was a live-in student. Since it’s hard to find a wife who will allow you to move a private student into [...]

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White Belt Karate for The Black Belt Fighter

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There has always been a marked difference between karate do and karate jitsu. Actually at one time there was no karate do. There was only karate or as it was called in its earlier incarnation, tode. First and foremost karate was a tool. It was a fighting system; a tool for survival in an often [...]

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Building On a Preexisting Foundation

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Archaeologists often find older cities beneath cities that rose up later. I’m not sure why that is but maybe it is because they use the strength of the foundations of the previous structures to build on. I could be wrong in that assessment but the principle seems pretty sound to me. If it’s usable why [...]

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Black Dragon Tales

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My greatest passion in my martial art career is being a dragon. In the Christian religion the dragon represents evil but in the Chinese philosophies it represents the power of heaven and the chi or intrinsic energy. In the martial arts the dragon represents subtlety and conservation of energy. The mythical Chinese dragon was a [...]

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The Passing of a Warrior

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I was hoping not to do another of these soon. I’ve had only a few mentors in the martial arts and another of those have passed. It’s a fact that as you grow older the frequency of the deaths of friends and family become more prevalent. This lets me know that I am getting old. [...]

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