Shoulder pain: rotator cuff

Having pain again so need to go and see the doc…this video was a timely reminder of how the shoudler *should* work…

Freaky martial arts EU video withdrawn

Well they said it was withdrawn because it was deemed racist, but I say it just looks plain freaky!
Check out the banned video here:



Interestingly it features a Bruce Lee yellow leotard clad lady passively resisting a practitioner of a Chinese  chuan fa, a Brazilian capoerist and a kalaripayattu master. (ref. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17276838)

Don't know what kalaripayattu is?
Check out….



And if you're not at all au fait with Indian martial arts you should also check out the following BBC article about 'Shastar Vidya' (thanks LQ) or the Indian Sikh 'dying martial art'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15480741

Be the best you can be in your world

Towards the end of a short video I saw on the BBC site entitled The art of boxing, I was struck by this quote by the boxer and artist Thaddine Swift Eagle Johnson. An inspiring short video, it looks at her life as a champion boxer and the challenges she faces but also touches on her philosophy and how to look at things when life seems bleak.

She says, "Be the best you can be in your world, or…someone else's world. Be that champion in someone else's world. Smile to someone on the street. You don't know what their day was like. That would make their day."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16880075 

2012 Annual Gathering

For some years now, we have held an annual training event in Madison, WI, which we call the Annual Gathering. Our 2012 event is coming in March. Click on this link to read the flier. On the link page, there is a button to register and pay.

We also conduct our annual Sandan Board Exam on Friday during the day (before the Gathering begins). Interested/qualified candidates for this year's test should fill out the test registration (ignore the fact that it still reads last year's dates, and remember, there is a one-time cost for the testing is $300). If you are curious about our testing process, you can read this previous blog post on the subject.

Thanks for reading,

Now, come train.

CT

Kung fu piano playing

Not as weird as it sounds. This pianist has developed an idea of continuous music and which necessitates long periods of piano playing sometimes culminating in 19 notes a second being played. Lubomyr Melnyk says that this requires a martial arts mindset: in order to achieve this speed one needs to turn one's body "into water".

"The technique is based on a martial arts, kung fu use of the body and the energy"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16794606

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubomyr_Melnyk

Be water, my friend…..

The Grand Master says, "she works hard, she can do it": Memoir of a female Kuk Sool Won master

BBC News - Iron Butterfly: Memoir of a female Kuk Sool Won master 

Nice little film from the BBC about a young female martial artist who follows her dream.
http://bbc.in/yuFmrc

"As a young girl growing up in 1950s South Korea, Choon Ok Harmon faced a dismal future as the youngest of seven brothers and sisters living off money their mother earned free-diving for shellfish in the ocean."


Also an interview by the publisher of the book and (ghost) writer:

Meditating our way into 2012

What with the last few months being somewhat turbulent I need to stay focused on task when I'm busy, but when I have down time it's important for me to dis-connect from those issues. Meditation is a good way but for me it is hard to stop that buzzing in my brain (and I don't mean this lovely Belgian coffee)!

Possibly here….
http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/default.asp?col=05&t=centerlist.htm&CenterID=287