As a school, we are moving toward an informal non-profit model of business.
I have always preferred to teach by donation. The best times of my life have been spent in a park with a donation box. Somehow, I always got enough money to survive.
When I moved to a certain part of the country, I discovered that this didn't work. I would work all day and get about $10. To some people in this country, if you don't charge, it isn't worth anything. People were happy to pay for my classes, so I had to start charging.
I'm trying to return to my old way of doing things. I sank about $2,000 into equipment and software for the first of the training manuals. When I have recouped that, I will drop the price of the manual to only a little over the printing cost, and hope that people will donate enough to keep me writing and filming.
In the long term, if you all show the interest, I will be creating training material for other teachers. There are a lot of excellent teachers out there who have no idea how to go about creating books and videos, so I think we can help.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
An Update
Some of my regulars have requested updates on several areas of my work. Here you are:
The "Little Nine Heavens","Post-Heaven" and "Kunlun Green Dragon Form" books are all nearing completion. It's really more a matter of spare time, interest of the public, and fighting with technology.
The other books are out there. I have had to narrow my focus a little, since I'm working two full-time jobs right now. Both the Yang spear books and the Yang saber book are in the pipeline.
The applications manuals will take longer, since I have no local students that are trained enough to safely be victims or victors in the photos.
If you are interested in one of the books more than another, please post or email.
Technology is what is slowing me down right now. Getting all of it to work, especially at the same time, is currently a challenge. I don't follow the horoscopes, but I'm sure Mercury is in retrograde or something. My New-Agey friends always tell me Mercury is in retrograde when the technology starts acting up.
I may have to record sound into my cellphone for a while. It won't be beautiful, but you'll be able to hear me.
I'll be doing some video blogging to answer the questions I'm getting more effectively.
Once again, what I work on right now is based upon interest (and sales), so please drop me a line or donate or buy something if you want a particular subject sooner. I'm not in it for the money, but the amount of time I can afford to spend on this is dependent on income. I can comfortably live on about $20,000 per year up here in the low-rent part of the country, so I'm not getting rich off your dollar.
I'm only doing training programs for people who ask me. Mostly, it's a matter of creation, since I don't have the new programs organized yet. As soon as I have the infrastructure in place and move to a better location, I will be developing formal programs. I'm going to try and work for donations first. This has worked well for everyone involved in the past, but there ahve been times and places where I have worked very hard and not made enough to survive. (In some parts of the country, if you don't charge, people think it's not worth anything.)
Like the distance training, I'm waiting until I am relocated to start formally offering seminars.I might be willing to do some now, but my time is short.
The Books:
The "Little Nine Heavens","Post-Heaven" and "Kunlun Green Dragon Form" books are all nearing completion. It's really more a matter of spare time, interest of the public, and fighting with technology.
The other books are out there. I have had to narrow my focus a little, since I'm working two full-time jobs right now. Both the Yang spear books and the Yang saber book are in the pipeline.
The applications manuals will take longer, since I have no local students that are trained enough to safely be victims or victors in the photos.
If you are interested in one of the books more than another, please post or email.
The Videos:
Technology is what is slowing me down right now. Getting all of it to work, especially at the same time, is currently a challenge. I don't follow the horoscopes, but I'm sure Mercury is in retrograde or something. My New-Agey friends always tell me Mercury is in retrograde when the technology starts acting up.
I may have to record sound into my cellphone for a while. It won't be beautiful, but you'll be able to hear me.
I'll be doing some video blogging to answer the questions I'm getting more effectively.
Once again, what I work on right now is based upon interest (and sales), so please drop me a line or donate or buy something if you want a particular subject sooner. I'm not in it for the money, but the amount of time I can afford to spend on this is dependent on income. I can comfortably live on about $20,000 per year up here in the low-rent part of the country, so I'm not getting rich off your dollar.
Long-Distance Training:
I'm only doing training programs for people who ask me. Mostly, it's a matter of creation, since I don't have the new programs organized yet. As soon as I have the infrastructure in place and move to a better location, I will be developing formal programs. I'm going to try and work for donations first. This has worked well for everyone involved in the past, but there ahve been times and places where I have worked very hard and not made enough to survive. (In some parts of the country, if you don't charge, people think it's not worth anything.)
Seminars:
Like the distance training, I'm waiting until I am relocated to start formally offering seminars.I might be willing to do some now, but my time is short.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Why is Single Whip Called Single Whip
One of the funny things about the martial arts I teach is that when teachers don't understand a movement they are likely to make up an overly-complex answer.
Over the years, I have heard all sorts of explanations about why Single Whip is called Single Whip.
A lot of stuff about Qi, and a lot of stuff about the entire body moving as a singe whip.
It's really simple, folks. Single whip is called Single Whip because only one arm is doing the whip.
That's it. The Hook Hand is holding something in place. The other arm is performing a whip, which is a type of scissor throw. In a lot of styles, the arm also performs a compression throw and a sail.
I'll update this with pictures as soon as I have time. The bold terms are things you can look up.
Over the years, I have heard all sorts of explanations about why Single Whip is called Single Whip.
A lot of stuff about Qi, and a lot of stuff about the entire body moving as a singe whip.
It's really simple, folks. Single whip is called Single Whip because only one arm is doing the whip.
That's it. The Hook Hand is holding something in place. The other arm is performing a whip, which is a type of scissor throw. In a lot of styles, the arm also performs a compression throw and a sail.
I'll update this with pictures as soon as I have time. The bold terms are things you can look up.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Irony in the Martial Arts: Defeated by a Mouse
Statistically, martial arts instructor is the third most likely profession, right after ice skater and dancer, to injure themselves off the job. In other words, we spend so much time at work focusing on our movement that we are much more likely to twist our ankles, bang our elbow into something, etc., when we are not working.
Ironically, I have a new martial arts injury, which I got not by practicing martial arts but by writing about it. I seem to have a collection of issues related to overuse of the mouse and the undersize keyboard on my laptop computer.
Full combat martial artists actually seldom injure themselves. In the 20 years I have been studying martial arts from an actual combat perspective, I have only had minor injuries, such as twisted ankles and the occasional slightly broken nose (usually from teaching beginner students.) The only serious martial arts injury I have received in the classroom came from an unfortunate knife-fighting incident that almost cost me my thumb.
In my former career as a bouncer, I successfully took on bikers and gangmembers. Today I was defeated by a mouse.
Ironically, I have a new martial arts injury, which I got not by practicing martial arts but by writing about it. I seem to have a collection of issues related to overuse of the mouse and the undersize keyboard on my laptop computer.
Full combat martial artists actually seldom injure themselves. In the 20 years I have been studying martial arts from an actual combat perspective, I have only had minor injuries, such as twisted ankles and the occasional slightly broken nose (usually from teaching beginner students.) The only serious martial arts injury I have received in the classroom came from an unfortunate knife-fighting incident that almost cost me my thumb.
In my former career as a bouncer, I successfully took on bikers and gangmembers. Today I was defeated by a mouse.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Why is my Taijiquan Form Lopsided?
I get this question a lot, and not just in Taijiquan. "Why is my form lopsided? Some movements are only done on one side."
Answer 1 (Glib):
It isn't lopsided.
Answer 2 (Useful):
A form isn't necessarily a drill. In a drill, you perform your moves on both sides. A form is designed to hold the information necessary to reconstruct a system.
A lot of systems have forms that are also drills, in that each move is performed on both sides, but this is not a necessary feature of a form.
You are supposed to take each movement from the form and practice it independently, generally on both sides.
Answer 3:
The reason lot of movements in, for example, the Yang form are practiced only on one side is that the Yang family system defaults to a left lead. You are constantly trying to return to your fighting stance. Therefore, you are less likely to perform Single Whip on the other side.
This doesn't mean that you shouldn't practice it on both sides.
Answer 1 (Glib):
It isn't lopsided.
Answer 2 (Useful):
A form isn't necessarily a drill. In a drill, you perform your moves on both sides. A form is designed to hold the information necessary to reconstruct a system.
A lot of systems have forms that are also drills, in that each move is performed on both sides, but this is not a necessary feature of a form.
You are supposed to take each movement from the form and practice it independently, generally on both sides.
Answer 3:
The reason lot of movements in, for example, the Yang form are practiced only on one side is that the Yang family system defaults to a left lead. You are constantly trying to return to your fighting stance. Therefore, you are less likely to perform Single Whip on the other side.
This doesn't mean that you shouldn't practice it on both sides.
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