Mindfulness

Many years ago, I was walking through the gym when I came upon someone I had met while visiting a local Karate school.  “Hello!” I said.  “How are things at your school?”  He shook his head and said, “I don’t train there anymore.  I realized that...

Taiji!

I am on the roof of the school, hidden by the privacy walls that surround that level of my building.  Half of the second floor of my school is my apartment, the other half is my garden.  I am often there, among the trees and plants in my container garden,...

Why ancient weapons?

The two men face each other across a path.  It is one man’s assignment to guard the path, the other’s assignment to take it.  They maneuver, each seeking an opening in the other’s defenses.  The man guarding the path is holding a spear, known among the...

Chan Si Jing

My hands move around me. They spiral and turn performing the shape of the Yin Yang symbol.  As they do, and I turn horizontally from the waist; I can feel the area of the Dan Tian, (abdominal muscles), making circles.  My legs are creating rotational energy,...

Chen Zhongyou

The sword makes a whistling sound as it cuts through the air.  Today I am practicing a form that had been lost for generations until one of my teachers, Sun Ruxuan, resurrected it from old documents. Sun Laoshi, or “Teacher Sun”, is one of the best swordsmen in...