Hi all,
Self promoting myself. I wrote Torn Gi and a Number Two Lead Pencil, an autobiography about my journey through martial arts. I've had other people read it and they said it won't win any prizes, but a good read. Check it out and hope you enjoy it!!!
Torn Gi
Sensei Domi
Senior Kata 70 to 79 Year Old Division
Looks like some old time Baby Boomers still got it. So if he can, you can!!!
Hippies Can Still Make This World Be A Better Place for You and for Me!
American Recall Center Website
As part of my effort in providing Baby Boomers with information of value, I copied and pasted this email from Dr. Mario Trucillo, the Managing Editor of the American Recall Center, a service that provides key health care information to people like you and me. Hope this helps! Sensei Domi
Hi,
I’m Dr. Mario Trucillo, the Managing Editor at the American Recall Center, we’re a brand new site devoted to providing health and wellness news in simple, straightforward terms. Our goal is to help our readers take complete charge of their health by being fully informed. I found your blog while looking for members of the baby boomer generation to contact about a recent piece we’ve put together.
I’m hoping you’d be willing to post this on your blog for your readers to see, as we want to spread awareness for the simple, but commonly overlooked steps you can take to help keep loved ones safe.
Because baby boomers are often the primary caretakers for their aging parents, it’s important to do everything possible to keep them safe. With falls being a leading cause of severe injury, we've put together an infographic with some easy tips to help keep the home safe for our parents and elderly loved ones.
At The American Recall Center, we aim to empower individuals with relevant medical information in plain language. Our information and resources span a variety of topics and have something that can benefit everyone. With guides on joint care, to dangerous medications, we keep our readers, and their health, in mind as we cover some of the most important health topics around.
Please let me know if this something you’d be willing to help with and I genuinely appreciate your time.
Thanks,
Dr. Mario Trucillo
Hi,
I’m Dr. Mario Trucillo, the Managing Editor at the American Recall Center, we’re a brand new site devoted to providing health and wellness news in simple, straightforward terms. Our goal is to help our readers take complete charge of their health by being fully informed. I found your blog while looking for members of the baby boomer generation to contact about a recent piece we’ve put together.
I’m hoping you’d be willing to post this on your blog for your readers to see, as we want to spread awareness for the simple, but commonly overlooked steps you can take to help keep loved ones safe.
Because baby boomers are often the primary caretakers for their aging parents, it’s important to do everything possible to keep them safe. With falls being a leading cause of severe injury, we've put together an infographic with some easy tips to help keep the home safe for our parents and elderly loved ones.
At The American Recall Center, we aim to empower individuals with relevant medical information in plain language. Our information and resources span a variety of topics and have something that can benefit everyone. With guides on joint care, to dangerous medications, we keep our readers, and their health, in mind as we cover some of the most important health topics around.
Please let me know if this something you’d be willing to help with and I genuinely appreciate your time.
Thanks,
Dr. Mario Trucillo
Video Learn Tai Chi Yang Style Long Form
By now almost everyone has heard about Tai Chi, slow motion movements that looks like a dance practiced by healthy but old Asians at a city park. There are benefits, no doubt; thousands of years of evidence prove it.
No one should be denied the opportunities of learning it. Though going to a certified instructor is the preferred method, other ways are available. This video or series of videos I produced and published in this blog could be that opportunity.
Yang Style Long Form Tai Chi has about 88 sequential movements and when done correctly takes about 20 minutes. Because of its length, aside from making your body move in ways you're not used to moving, the biggest challenge is retaining or remembering. When I learned it many years ago, I mimicked my instructor’s movements for about three years till it finally set in. Through the wonders of technology and the Internet, I was able to produce this video showing the form in its entirety with step by step instructions.
Rande Scott Worcester Sound Healer Reiki Practitioner
Rande Scott Worcester recently received his certification as a Master Reiki Practitioner.
He is also an accomplished sound healer currently servicing the Salinas Monterey area.
For more information and/or appointments, Master Rande can be reached at:
randesbreath@gmail.com
or at
310 428 4156.
Copy of Master Reiki Certification
Old Dogs Actually Can Learn New Tricks
Article repost from http://seniormartialarts.blogspot.com/2012/12/old-dogs-actually-can-learn-new-tricks.html
By Russ Johnson
This 66-year-old dog recently began taking bo staff lessons after seeing some of the amazing things that can be done with this ancient weapon. The bo staff is one of the most popular weapons used in martial-arts tournaments, and I've got to say that we've come a very long way from the old wooden staff that might have been used, say, a thousand years ago.
To begin with, competition bo staffs generally are no longer clunky, hand-carved wooden items. Most of them are tapered so that they can generate more speed, and they come in a wide range of materials, from wood to graphite. The more exotic lightweight staffs aren't designed for actual combat, of course; they're meant to be spun, twirled, jabbed, and whipped at imaginary opponents in a formal exercise that's judged for creativity, fluidity, and precision.
Now I should mention right up front that I'll never be a world champion with the bo staff. In fact, so far I have countless bruises that give testimony to the difficulty of mastering the fancier bo staff techniques. But so far I haven't broken anything -- well, no bones . . . but perhaps a few household objects and a couple of wooden bo staffs -- and I'm gradually getting my brain and body to cooperate in the venture.
This, by the way, is what my bo staff training is all about. When you cease challenging your body and mind, they figure it's okay to slow down. And before you know it, you've merged your atoms with those of the living room couch and the TV remote. Not good.
But there's something else about the bo staff that has become quite apparent as I check out my new bruises each day. Even a lightweight competition bo staff can generate tremendous striking force, the combination of speed and a small impact surface. Yes, those ancient warriors knew what they were doing when they first began using wooden staffs as weapons.
What can you and I do with this information? As we age and inevitably lose muscle strength, we can substitute a simple weapon in our self-defense arsenal. Think cane. Think walking stick. Here you have two common objects that are often found in the hands of seniors anyway, so why not learn how to use them for self-defense?
If you want to see what a simple cane can do, head to Google or your favorite search engine and look for YouTube videos on "cane self-defense," "cane fu," or anything similar. You'll find lots of videos, some better than others, all of which demonstrate that something as basic as a cane can become a highly effective weapon when used with a bit of skill. And listen: you don't need to become a competitive athlete to use a cane effectively, nor do you need to hold a black belt in some martial art. What you need is some basic training and the willingness to say, "If necessary, I WILL DEFEND MYSELF."
Seniors are all too frequently the targets of assaults of every description, and in some cases -- depending upon the strength and fierceness of the attacker -- there's not much to be done about it. But in many cases, perhaps even most, a senior who is mentally prepared to defend himself or herself AND who has some training to back up that willingness can hold off an attack and buy enough time for help to arrive.
What's that you say? You don't need a cane for walking? So what? Buy a cane, take some lessons at a local martial arts school, and begin carrying the cane whenever you're headed someplace where trouble might be waiting, especially at night. Knowing how to disable an attacker with a swiftly applied cane or walking stick could one day save your wallet or your life.
Interested? Check around for senior-friendly martial arts schools in your area. You may also find that a local senior center offers a class in self-defense using a cane or walking stick.
Be the old dog that learns a highly useful new trick. It's not too late.
Posted by Russ Johnson at http://seniormartialarts.blogspot.com
This 66-year-old dog recently began taking bo staff lessons after seeing some of the amazing things that can be done with this ancient weapon. The bo staff is one of the most popular weapons used in martial-arts tournaments, and I've got to say that we've come a very long way from the old wooden staff that might have been used, say, a thousand years ago.
To begin with, competition bo staffs generally are no longer clunky, hand-carved wooden items. Most of them are tapered so that they can generate more speed, and they come in a wide range of materials, from wood to graphite. The more exotic lightweight staffs aren't designed for actual combat, of course; they're meant to be spun, twirled, jabbed, and whipped at imaginary opponents in a formal exercise that's judged for creativity, fluidity, and precision.
Now I should mention right up front that I'll never be a world champion with the bo staff. In fact, so far I have countless bruises that give testimony to the difficulty of mastering the fancier bo staff techniques. But so far I haven't broken anything -- well, no bones . . . but perhaps a few household objects and a couple of wooden bo staffs -- and I'm gradually getting my brain and body to cooperate in the venture.
This, by the way, is what my bo staff training is all about. When you cease challenging your body and mind, they figure it's okay to slow down. And before you know it, you've merged your atoms with those of the living room couch and the TV remote. Not good.
But there's something else about the bo staff that has become quite apparent as I check out my new bruises each day. Even a lightweight competition bo staff can generate tremendous striking force, the combination of speed and a small impact surface. Yes, those ancient warriors knew what they were doing when they first began using wooden staffs as weapons.
What can you and I do with this information? As we age and inevitably lose muscle strength, we can substitute a simple weapon in our self-defense arsenal. Think cane. Think walking stick. Here you have two common objects that are often found in the hands of seniors anyway, so why not learn how to use them for self-defense?
If you want to see what a simple cane can do, head to Google or your favorite search engine and look for YouTube videos on "cane self-defense," "cane fu," or anything similar. You'll find lots of videos, some better than others, all of which demonstrate that something as basic as a cane can become a highly effective weapon when used with a bit of skill. And listen: you don't need to become a competitive athlete to use a cane effectively, nor do you need to hold a black belt in some martial art. What you need is some basic training and the willingness to say, "If necessary, I WILL DEFEND MYSELF."
What's that you say? You don't need a cane for walking? So what? Buy a cane, take some lessons at a local martial arts school, and begin carrying the cane whenever you're headed someplace where trouble might be waiting, especially at night. Knowing how to disable an attacker with a swiftly applied cane or walking stick could one day save your wallet or your life.
Interested? Check around for senior-friendly martial arts schools in your area. You may also find that a local senior center offers a class in self-defense using a cane or walking stick.
Posted by Russ Johnson at http://seniormartialarts.blogspot.com
Martial Arts Defend Against Aging/Article Reprint from WorldHealth.net
Posted on March 26, 2004, 3:51 a.m. in Aging
(HealthDayNews) -- Baby boomers bent on getting back into shape may want to give their love handles a karate chop: A new study finds the martial arts to be safe, effective exercise for 40- and 50-somethings.
"If you want to do something that's fun, different and good for self-defense -- and good for long-term self-defense against disease -- do the martial arts," says study author and physical therapist Dr. Peter Douris, of the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, N.Y.
His findings appear in the March 25 issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
For most people, the decision to get fit usually means buying a gym membership or shelling out money for expensive home-exercise equipment. But what about alternative methods, such as practicing the martial arts?
In their study, Douris' team examined the overall fitness of 18 individuals between 40 and 60 years of age. Nine of the study participants had been practicing soo bahk do, a Korean martial art similar to karate or tae kwon do, for about three years. The other nine participants maintained a more or less "couch potato" lifestyle.
Overall, the soo bahk do devotees "were much more flexible, had more leg strength, less body fat, better aerobic conditioning and better balance" compared to the sedentary study subjects, Douris reports.
The martial art practitioners had an average 12 percent less body fat than the non-exercisers, the researchers report. They also seemed much stronger -- while sedentary types could only muster up 37 sit-ups in a row on average, the soo bahk do practitioners averaged 66 sit-ups before exhaustion set in. The martial arts group also displayed more than double the balancing power of non-exercisers and outperformed the sedentary types when it came to flexibility.
The study did not compare the benefits of the martial arts to that of gym workouts, running or other fitness options. However, Douris estimates that the average soo bahk do class raises students' metabolic level -- a measurement of changes in the metabolic rate -- to about a 10, a level equal to that of jogging.
And he believes that older individuals, especially women, needn't be put off by fears they will be injured trying out karate-like sports. "It's not like ju-jitsu or judo, where you're doing a lot of flips and throws," Douris explains. "There isn't that much of that in soo bahk do. You do fall down when you're 'free-sparring,' but there's people in the classes that are 60 years old -- they get right back up. There's plenty of women in these classes, too."
Dr. Douglas McKeag, a sports medicine expert at Indiana University in Indianapolis, believes the martial arts "are a perfectly acceptable way to boost fitness, certainly in middle age it makes a great deal of sense. The sport is capable of delivering the type of stimulus that the body needs to get in shape." But he cautions that, as with any new sport, beginners "have to come at it relatively slowly and intelligently."
Douris, 47, has been practicing soo bahk do and tae kwon do since he was a teenager and says he routinely beats competitors half his age in tournaments. He calls the sport "self-defense against aging."
In a second study, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that another one-on-one contact sport, wrestling, boosts the immune system of adolescent boys.
The researchers measured levels of immune system white blood cells in blood samples from wrestlers aged 14 to 18 years old, taken before and after a typical 90-minute wrestling bout.
Wrestling appears to produce "significant and robust" elevations in immune cells, indicative of a healthy rise in immune function, the researchers report.
The finding came as no surprise to McKeag. "The fact is that wrestling, as with any form of exercise, can keep a person healthy." Exercise stimulates all of the body's organs, he says, including the lungs, heart and other vital structures, creating "a much more efficient body."
"If you want to do something that's fun, different and good for self-defense -- and good for long-term self-defense against disease -- do the martial arts," says study author and physical therapist Dr. Peter Douris, of the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, N.Y.
His findings appear in the March 25 issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
For most people, the decision to get fit usually means buying a gym membership or shelling out money for expensive home-exercise equipment. But what about alternative methods, such as practicing the martial arts?
In their study, Douris' team examined the overall fitness of 18 individuals between 40 and 60 years of age. Nine of the study participants had been practicing soo bahk do, a Korean martial art similar to karate or tae kwon do, for about three years. The other nine participants maintained a more or less "couch potato" lifestyle.
Overall, the soo bahk do devotees "were much more flexible, had more leg strength, less body fat, better aerobic conditioning and better balance" compared to the sedentary study subjects, Douris reports.
The martial art practitioners had an average 12 percent less body fat than the non-exercisers, the researchers report. They also seemed much stronger -- while sedentary types could only muster up 37 sit-ups in a row on average, the soo bahk do practitioners averaged 66 sit-ups before exhaustion set in. The martial arts group also displayed more than double the balancing power of non-exercisers and outperformed the sedentary types when it came to flexibility.
The study did not compare the benefits of the martial arts to that of gym workouts, running or other fitness options. However, Douris estimates that the average soo bahk do class raises students' metabolic level -- a measurement of changes in the metabolic rate -- to about a 10, a level equal to that of jogging.
And he believes that older individuals, especially women, needn't be put off by fears they will be injured trying out karate-like sports. "It's not like ju-jitsu or judo, where you're doing a lot of flips and throws," Douris explains. "There isn't that much of that in soo bahk do. You do fall down when you're 'free-sparring,' but there's people in the classes that are 60 years old -- they get right back up. There's plenty of women in these classes, too."
Dr. Douglas McKeag, a sports medicine expert at Indiana University in Indianapolis, believes the martial arts "are a perfectly acceptable way to boost fitness, certainly in middle age it makes a great deal of sense. The sport is capable of delivering the type of stimulus that the body needs to get in shape." But he cautions that, as with any new sport, beginners "have to come at it relatively slowly and intelligently."
Douris, 47, has been practicing soo bahk do and tae kwon do since he was a teenager and says he routinely beats competitors half his age in tournaments. He calls the sport "self-defense against aging."
In a second study, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that another one-on-one contact sport, wrestling, boosts the immune system of adolescent boys.
The researchers measured levels of immune system white blood cells in blood samples from wrestlers aged 14 to 18 years old, taken before and after a typical 90-minute wrestling bout.
Wrestling appears to produce "significant and robust" elevations in immune cells, indicative of a healthy rise in immune function, the researchers report.
The finding came as no surprise to McKeag. "The fact is that wrestling, as with any form of exercise, can keep a person healthy." Exercise stimulates all of the body's organs, he says, including the lungs, heart and other vital structures, creating "a much more efficient body."
Mind Body Balance
In many parts of the world, the balance between the mind and body allows a person to live a healthy life despite challenges like chronic pain.
For example, I participated in contact sports like football, basketball, karate and kick boxing, jumped off roofs and fallen off rigs, trucks and trailers when I worked in the farms in Kern County. I was told by my doctor that my arthritic pains were due to the repeated pounding my body took while jogging on pavement streets. Of course when I started this regimen in the mid-1970’s after reading the book The Joy of Running by Jim Fixx, above all things, to maintain good health. Aside from a bout with gout, which might I add was the most painful moment of my life, my body and limbs held up pretty well. When I approached 50—years-old, the early morning stiffness I tolerated for the past 10 years transitioned: I felt aches, burns and pain in the joints. It wasn't an immediate onset, more like gradual, targeting my right instep, ankles, knees, lower back and right shoulder, worse on cold wet days, non-existent on warm mornings: What a mess, sometimes not able to move an inch because of the swelling and pain.
As a martial artist since 1972, I was fortunate enough to learn qigong and tai chi when I trained in the Bay Area and San Francisco Chinatown. It took me three years to learn and about a month to forget when I decided to resume karate, kickboxing and long distance running. Little did I realize that 30 years later, I’d resume the Chinese ancient exercises due to the pain. Who knew that when I was taking punishment in a football field weighing 126 lbs. that I’d be shuffling like an old man when I turned 50.
A child from the Woodstock Generation, I learned that synthetic substances weren’t good for the body. Even medical Marijuana was better (to some of you all “way better”) than some of the stuff we got at a pharmacy. I took the NSAIDs, aspirin, and acetaminophen only when the pain was too much to bear. As I researched Traditional Chinese Medicine, I learned that illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, cancer, arthritis, and heart conditions were caused if not exacerbated by blockages in our meridians. These are cavities in our body where chi or our life’s forces or energy flows throughout our body. By opening up these blockages through energy cultivation exercises like tai chi and qigong, illnesses, at least the symptoms of these illnesses would be relieved (some claim to be cured – and that would be a topic in a future blog).
So fortunate I was to be trained in these techniques; the help of several books and the Internet, I was able to relearn the ancient movements that contributed to my being able to move about nearly pain free.
Due to a Medicare program that will be non-existent in the not so distant future, I resolved to work till I die with absolutely no plans of retiring and have to be healthy and strong enough to live many more years.
My dad as a farm laborer worked till he died; ergo, like father, like son.
As a former Bruce Lee look alike (well, I thought I did) turned cripple struggling to live in pain, I learned that once you’ve reached the PAIN STAGE, aside from taking strong pain medication and/or surgery, alternatives existed that could help. Come on, part of growing old is suffering some pain. We can’t go through life complaining about it. We have the ability and wherewithal to find ways of dealing with it and getting on with our lives, which I’m sure you have some pretty good living to do. So with that said, I learned that the basics like diet, exercise, rest and stress relief were key factors in living healthy if not healthier. Different types of low impact exercises (yoga, Pilates, ball room dancing, diet, life style changes, homeopathic and herbal remedies, acupuncture, massage, mental and spiritual reflection, guided imagery – all are available, relatively inexpensive, and there to help.
My future articles will address some of these subjects.
Now this is from an old Baby Boomer Sensei whose only qualification is his years on this planet. I am not a doctor, spiritual leader, nor any other expert (well, I'm old and I think I’m pretty darn good at it): I am however a karate sensei and martial artist whose picked up some neat mind body balance ideas that could be useful. Just like the following statement by one of my idols:
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” - Bruce Lee
Oops Wrong Apartment? Yeah Right.
by Alan Kandel
What am I talking about?
According to a Fresno Bee account (you can read all about it right here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/11/03/3053987/catching-up-for-week-of-oct-29.html), under the subheading: “Intruder alert.”
Here’s what went down:
“Jannine Ramirez had just won a Fresno karate competition when she arrived at her east-central Fresno apartment early Sunday and found an intruder inside. She kicked down her bathroom door, then kicked the intruder through a shower door. She continued with an onslaught of kicks and punches until he was outside her apartment on the 2500 block of Maple Avenue.”
Of course, there was going to be reader reaction. Of course!
One commenter wrote: “Bravo to you, young lady!! You have just showed that idiot that it might not be safe to go where you don’t belong. i don’t believe for a minute the story about this guy not knowing he was in the wrong apt. Just know that what you did should be commended, not chastised!”
And, a second commenter wrote: “This woman is classically paranoid and decides the guy is harmful while he states, he lives there. Has he tried to lay a finger on mother or daughter? Has she tried anything but the power monger of many men that are equally domestically violent and abusive in our society?”
Differing reactionary perspectives, to be sure!
The Bee offered some additional explanation: “Detectives determined that Wilberto Zapata, 18, was drunk and really thought he had broken into his own apartment. He was cited for unlawful entry into a home and later released.”
Copyright Alan Kandel. November 4, 2012.
100 Year Old (Plus) Kung Fu Master Lu Zijian
“Knight of the Yangtze” Lu Zijian dies at the legendary age of 118
by Barry van Wyk
(Article Reprint)
ON OCTOBER 22, 2012
The front page of the Chongqing Economic Times (重庆商报) today features a glowing obituaryto Lu Zijian (吕紫剑): Chinese martial arts expert, “Knight of the Yangtze”, “Swordsman of the North East”, “Three Time Knight”, fighter against Japanese imperialism, witness to three centuries and now dead at the freakishly old age of 118. Sounds like an awesome story of a modern Chinese hero, except that much of it might be pure fantasy.
Chongqing Economic Times does have a ripping yarn of an obituary, however. We are told that Lu was born all the way back in October 1893 in Yichang (宜昌市) in Hubei province, which means that he was two months older than Chairman Mao. After 118 years of fighting foreign bullies, training and teaching martial arts, and dabbling in being a doctor and painter, Lu finally gave up the ghost yesterday morning when he died in his sleep. Shortly after Lu passed away, journalists from the Chongqing Economic Times went to speak to his former disciples and family members to get an idea of the main events in Lu’s long life. The fantastic story that emerged from this goes something like the following:
1893: Born in Hubei province to a family famous for martial arts.
1900: At age seven, Lu “follows his mother” and starts training in martial arts.
190_: Lu becomes a close associate of Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲), the famous Chinese martial arts fighter who defeated foreign fighters in publicized fights.
1911: At 18, Lu arrives in Beijing and takes as his master a former bodyguard of the empress dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) named Ding Shirong (丁世荣). Lu starts studying the martial art form Xingyiquan (形意拳).
1912: Lu moves to E Mei Mountain (峨眉山) in Sichuan province to train in baguazhang (八卦掌).
1920: Lu takes part in martial arts competition in Nanjing and wins first prize.
1924: “Patriotic industrialist” Lu Zuofu (卢作孚) asks Lu to help him take back shipping rights on the Yangtze from imperial powers. Lu proceeds to fight and win a duel with a famous Japanese samurai. Henceforth Lu is known as the “Knight of the Yangtze.”
1945: Lu is appointed as martial arts instructor by KMT generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蒋介石). A bodyguard of US General Marshall called Tom John challenges any Chinese to a fight. Lu takes up the offer to fight the 1.9 meter American and beats him using baguazhang.
1979: Lu Zijian is elected a member of the Chongqing Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference. Lu starts to participate in martial arts competitions.
2002: Lu obtains the highest rank in the Chinese martial arts association.
So there you have it, a swashbuckling, ever-unbeaten, patriotic and long-living fighter, teacher, man of peace and member of government. It’s a great series of events but it is filled with inaccuracies and much of it is patently untrue. Firstly, when exactly did Lu die? Chongqing Economic Daily tells us that Lu died ‘yesterday’, which is 21 October 2012. This would have made Lu 119 years old, not 118. While the Chongqing Economic Daily keeps using the word ‘yesterday’, it is unclear when ‘yesterday’ actually was.
Secondly, there is evidence to suggest that Lu was nowhere near 119 when he died. The Chinese Wikipedia entry on Lu points to an entry in a collection of documents entitled Yichang City Literature and History Materials (宜昌市文史资料) from 1986 stating that Lu was in his seventies at the time, meaning that he was actually born sometime after 1907. In fact, this same collection of archival material on the city of Yichang (where Lu was from) has information that contradicts virtually every aspect of Lu’s resume for the first third of his life. For example, another entry from 1992 records that Lu stayed on in Yichang until the 1930s, when he was forced to flee to Sichuan because he beat up a bodyguard at a brothel. Lu then went on to establish a clinic in Chongqing in 1938. He thus never became a close associate of the legendary Huo Yuanjia (who died in 1910 and may not even have fought any foreigners), and never fought General Marshall’s bodyguard.
Yet what a tale. And how ever old he was, he has now passed on. Of that at least we can be sure.
Links and sources
Chongqing Economic Times: 踢过日本武馆跨过三世纪 长江大侠走了
新华山论剑: [转帖] 江湖大骗子==》吕紫剑
Wikipedia: 呂紫劍
图破壁的博客: 《宜昌市文史资料》三篇与吕紫剑有关的文章
Lu Zijian homepage
by Barry van Wyk
(Article Reprint)
ON OCTOBER 22, 2012
The front page of the Chongqing Economic Times (重庆商报) today features a glowing obituaryto Lu Zijian (吕紫剑): Chinese martial arts expert, “Knight of the Yangtze”, “Swordsman of the North East”, “Three Time Knight”, fighter against Japanese imperialism, witness to three centuries and now dead at the freakishly old age of 118. Sounds like an awesome story of a modern Chinese hero, except that much of it might be pure fantasy.
Chongqing Economic Times does have a ripping yarn of an obituary, however. We are told that Lu was born all the way back in October 1893 in Yichang (宜昌市) in Hubei province, which means that he was two months older than Chairman Mao. After 118 years of fighting foreign bullies, training and teaching martial arts, and dabbling in being a doctor and painter, Lu finally gave up the ghost yesterday morning when he died in his sleep. Shortly after Lu passed away, journalists from the Chongqing Economic Times went to speak to his former disciples and family members to get an idea of the main events in Lu’s long life. The fantastic story that emerged from this goes something like the following:
1893: Born in Hubei province to a family famous for martial arts.
1900: At age seven, Lu “follows his mother” and starts training in martial arts.
190_: Lu becomes a close associate of Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲), the famous Chinese martial arts fighter who defeated foreign fighters in publicized fights.
1911: At 18, Lu arrives in Beijing and takes as his master a former bodyguard of the empress dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) named Ding Shirong (丁世荣). Lu starts studying the martial art form Xingyiquan (形意拳).
1912: Lu moves to E Mei Mountain (峨眉山) in Sichuan province to train in baguazhang (八卦掌).
1920: Lu takes part in martial arts competition in Nanjing and wins first prize.
1924: “Patriotic industrialist” Lu Zuofu (卢作孚) asks Lu to help him take back shipping rights on the Yangtze from imperial powers. Lu proceeds to fight and win a duel with a famous Japanese samurai. Henceforth Lu is known as the “Knight of the Yangtze.”
1945: Lu is appointed as martial arts instructor by KMT generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蒋介石). A bodyguard of US General Marshall called Tom John challenges any Chinese to a fight. Lu takes up the offer to fight the 1.9 meter American and beats him using baguazhang.
1979: Lu Zijian is elected a member of the Chongqing Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference. Lu starts to participate in martial arts competitions.
2002: Lu obtains the highest rank in the Chinese martial arts association.
So there you have it, a swashbuckling, ever-unbeaten, patriotic and long-living fighter, teacher, man of peace and member of government. It’s a great series of events but it is filled with inaccuracies and much of it is patently untrue. Firstly, when exactly did Lu die? Chongqing Economic Daily tells us that Lu died ‘yesterday’, which is 21 October 2012. This would have made Lu 119 years old, not 118. While the Chongqing Economic Daily keeps using the word ‘yesterday’, it is unclear when ‘yesterday’ actually was.
Secondly, there is evidence to suggest that Lu was nowhere near 119 when he died. The Chinese Wikipedia entry on Lu points to an entry in a collection of documents entitled Yichang City Literature and History Materials (宜昌市文史资料) from 1986 stating that Lu was in his seventies at the time, meaning that he was actually born sometime after 1907. In fact, this same collection of archival material on the city of Yichang (where Lu was from) has information that contradicts virtually every aspect of Lu’s resume for the first third of his life. For example, another entry from 1992 records that Lu stayed on in Yichang until the 1930s, when he was forced to flee to Sichuan because he beat up a bodyguard at a brothel. Lu then went on to establish a clinic in Chongqing in 1938. He thus never became a close associate of the legendary Huo Yuanjia (who died in 1910 and may not even have fought any foreigners), and never fought General Marshall’s bodyguard.
Yet what a tale. And how ever old he was, he has now passed on. Of that at least we can be sure.
Links and sources
Chongqing Economic Times: 踢过日本武馆跨过三世纪 长江大侠走了
新华山论剑: [转帖] 江湖大骗子==》吕紫剑
Wikipedia: 呂紫劍
图破壁的博客: 《宜昌市文史资料》三篇与吕紫剑有关的文章
Lu Zijian homepage
Boards Don't Hit Back. But...
by Alan Kandel
We all have our moments. Those times when things just don’t go as planned.
Who hasn’t, right?
So what would you have done if the situations described below happened to you? How would you have handled them? These questions may be a bit academic-sounding, but still, they prompt thought.
Visualize being asked to help out in a martial arts demonstration. At this demonstration there is an audience. In this case, audience members consist of fellow martial artists and non-martial artists alike. Your duty, should you decide to accept that responsibility is to break wooden boards. The problem is you don’t yet have any board-breaking successes to your credit. So, how to proceed?
This is exactly the situation I got myself into once.
I was asked to assist in a karate demonstration helping an experienced practitioner. There came a point during the exhibition where I was called upon to break a two-inch-thick pine board utilizing a yoko geri kikomi or side thrust kick using the outside edge and heel of my foot. It was in the early 1970s when this undertaking transpired, so please forgive if I can’t exactly tell you whether my attempt to break the piece of wood was with my right or left foot. However, in making an educated guess, I would say it was with my right one. At any rate, the board, held by another –and I can’t tell you by whom – was about waist or chest high. Having gotten set in I assume an appropriate stance, I then proceeded to execute the side-kick technique. There was nothing. The board refused to cooperate and thus remained intact. It probably didn’t even flex. Okay, so what to do?
Again, I kicked and, like before, the board stayed whole. I can vividly recall hearing someone – in a whisper –advising me to first step through or side-shuffle and then lift my leg and kick. I was bewildered. It wasn’t registering. It wasn’t sinking in. I was caught up in the moment. Instead, what I was doing from my established stance, was just raising my leg and thrusting it sideways, half-expecting the wood’s splintery fibers would just obliterate due to the force of my kick. Wood fibers aren’t made of steel. I know this, but, still, what gives here? Finally putting two-and-two together and, after thinking things through a bit, the light bulb lit. Literally and figuratively following through just as I had been coached, I assumed my stance, crossed in a sideways motion one foot in front of the other, delivered a kick with what would be the leg that was farthest from the board and … success! If anything, the experience was humbling; not the humiliating one that one might expect.
Since one good demo deserves another, having achieved success, even if limited, it is understandable that more demonstrations would follow. Of course, more experience was gained along the way. But that goes without saying.
Then, about 15 years later I enrolled in a post-baccalaureate degree program at California State University, Fresno, majoring in education. At that level, academic requirements for many of my classes involved writing essays as opposed to taking tests. As it turns out, in one class in particular, I had to give a speech on motivation which was my topic. Of course I had to make my speech on motivation motivating. So what did I do? As part of the presentation, I decided I was going to break a board, but instead of using my foot, I was going to use my fist. Anyway, this was the plan, at least. Since I felt there might possibly be repercussions if I had asked the class instructor or a fellow classmate to hold the board for me to punch. So, I decided it was best that I hold the piece of wood in my left hand and hit it with my right. I also knew it would be inappropriate to kiai (a concentrated or focused yell) in the academic setting I was in, so I refrained from doing so.
Taking a few deliberate breaths, I executed the fist-blow and history repeats itself; the board refused to give. So, here I am trying to give a presentation on board-breaking as it relates to motivation and instead of doing a number on the board, the piece of wood in my presence, was getting the best of me. The knuckle of my middle finger swelled up like an inflated balloon.
Here again, what to do?
Call me crazy, but standing before my audience, and refusing to give in to defeat, not only did I focus on the board, but with intense thought processes I was intent on my fist going through the board, and not just hitting it. With the concentration of a laser beam now directed at the object in my left hand, after a couple of deep breaths, my right arm traveled forward from my side, fist closed and, lo and behold, a broken board. The saying: “you can do it if you put your mind to it,” definitely rings true.
Like in the account describing the earlier demonstration, the board of choice for the latter one was also two inches in thickness. But, unlike in the first account, instead of it taking me many tries to get the job done, it only took two attempts. Even so, I can’t be for certain, but I am almost positive there was a split-second’s doubt that I would break the board in question especially after the initial attempt at doing so failed to produce the hoped-for results. But, as it stood, in the face of defeat, there obviously was something there driving or compelling me to not relent, to not give up, in other words.
These two board-breaking experiences being what they are, with good reason, are ones I’ll never forget. Somewhat bewildering though these may have been, it is with fond recall that I remember these. It will always be this way. Interestingly, it is the other more routine or mundane of experiences, martial-arts related or otherwise, not only have vanished from thought, but are long forgotten as well.
So, in considering whether the experiences detailed above are UFO or unforgettable flummoxing occurrences as it were, I’ll say! After all, what would the human experience be without such? I’m sure many can relate.
Copyright Alan Kandel. October 28, 2012.
We all have our moments. Those times when things just don’t go as planned.
Who hasn’t, right?
So what would you have done if the situations described below happened to you? How would you have handled them? These questions may be a bit academic-sounding, but still, they prompt thought.
Visualize being asked to help out in a martial arts demonstration. At this demonstration there is an audience. In this case, audience members consist of fellow martial artists and non-martial artists alike. Your duty, should you decide to accept that responsibility is to break wooden boards. The problem is you don’t yet have any board-breaking successes to your credit. So, how to proceed?
This is exactly the situation I got myself into once.
I was asked to assist in a karate demonstration helping an experienced practitioner. There came a point during the exhibition where I was called upon to break a two-inch-thick pine board utilizing a yoko geri kikomi or side thrust kick using the outside edge and heel of my foot. It was in the early 1970s when this undertaking transpired, so please forgive if I can’t exactly tell you whether my attempt to break the piece of wood was with my right or left foot. However, in making an educated guess, I would say it was with my right one. At any rate, the board, held by another –and I can’t tell you by whom – was about waist or chest high. Having gotten set in I assume an appropriate stance, I then proceeded to execute the side-kick technique. There was nothing. The board refused to cooperate and thus remained intact. It probably didn’t even flex. Okay, so what to do?
Again, I kicked and, like before, the board stayed whole. I can vividly recall hearing someone – in a whisper –advising me to first step through or side-shuffle and then lift my leg and kick. I was bewildered. It wasn’t registering. It wasn’t sinking in. I was caught up in the moment. Instead, what I was doing from my established stance, was just raising my leg and thrusting it sideways, half-expecting the wood’s splintery fibers would just obliterate due to the force of my kick. Wood fibers aren’t made of steel. I know this, but, still, what gives here? Finally putting two-and-two together and, after thinking things through a bit, the light bulb lit. Literally and figuratively following through just as I had been coached, I assumed my stance, crossed in a sideways motion one foot in front of the other, delivered a kick with what would be the leg that was farthest from the board and … success! If anything, the experience was humbling; not the humiliating one that one might expect.
Since one good demo deserves another, having achieved success, even if limited, it is understandable that more demonstrations would follow. Of course, more experience was gained along the way. But that goes without saying.
Then, about 15 years later I enrolled in a post-baccalaureate degree program at California State University, Fresno, majoring in education. At that level, academic requirements for many of my classes involved writing essays as opposed to taking tests. As it turns out, in one class in particular, I had to give a speech on motivation which was my topic. Of course I had to make my speech on motivation motivating. So what did I do? As part of the presentation, I decided I was going to break a board, but instead of using my foot, I was going to use my fist. Anyway, this was the plan, at least. Since I felt there might possibly be repercussions if I had asked the class instructor or a fellow classmate to hold the board for me to punch. So, I decided it was best that I hold the piece of wood in my left hand and hit it with my right. I also knew it would be inappropriate to kiai (a concentrated or focused yell) in the academic setting I was in, so I refrained from doing so.
Taking a few deliberate breaths, I executed the fist-blow and history repeats itself; the board refused to give. So, here I am trying to give a presentation on board-breaking as it relates to motivation and instead of doing a number on the board, the piece of wood in my presence, was getting the best of me. The knuckle of my middle finger swelled up like an inflated balloon.
Here again, what to do?
Call me crazy, but standing before my audience, and refusing to give in to defeat, not only did I focus on the board, but with intense thought processes I was intent on my fist going through the board, and not just hitting it. With the concentration of a laser beam now directed at the object in my left hand, after a couple of deep breaths, my right arm traveled forward from my side, fist closed and, lo and behold, a broken board. The saying: “you can do it if you put your mind to it,” definitely rings true.
Like in the account describing the earlier demonstration, the board of choice for the latter one was also two inches in thickness. But, unlike in the first account, instead of it taking me many tries to get the job done, it only took two attempts. Even so, I can’t be for certain, but I am almost positive there was a split-second’s doubt that I would break the board in question especially after the initial attempt at doing so failed to produce the hoped-for results. But, as it stood, in the face of defeat, there obviously was something there driving or compelling me to not relent, to not give up, in other words.
So, in considering whether the experiences detailed above are UFO or unforgettable flummoxing occurrences as it were, I’ll say! After all, what would the human experience be without such? I’m sure many can relate.
Copyright Alan Kandel. October 28, 2012.
The Sweet Smell of Success? Or Just Fumes
It has been said, without the bad, the good cannot be
appreciated.
Life’s journey for nearly all, I would say, is anything but
straight. How we proceed in such is all predicated upon the choices we make or
those others have made for us. We make good decisions, we make bad.
When good decisions are made, we derive a sense of satisfaction from such. When
bad decisions are made, watch out! We cringe, bristle at the thought, protest,
sometimes vehemently. Once getting beyond any one of these or a combination
thereof, we either dwell on the regrettable or we get over it, maybe some of
both, vow not to do such again, and move on, forward, hopefully.
Soon after I graduated from college in 1976, as I mentioned
in my first post, I was in search of a career. This was a trying time; a period
of much trial and error, a period in which the waters were thoroughly tested.
In one interview, I was instructed to take a qualifying test. Since it was in
the field of electronics the test involved analyzing circuit diagrams and
determining such things as voltage, current, resistance and so on and so forth.
Well, I have absolutely no qualms in admitting I scored a 40 percent. The
gentleman interviewing me seemed so disappointed that I scored so poorly that
before I had even made my way out of the building, I was practically being
scolded. You see, he knew one of my college instructors, and apparently the
interviewer had high expectations. By scoring what I did, I can only guess for
the man doing the hiring it was a big let-down.
The good – and bad – news is that I eventually did find a
job, but it only lasted a year. I was appropriately placed in the test and troubleshooting
department, and with a total of six technicians, one of which was the
supervisor, all but two of us smoked. For the record, I am one of the ones who
didn’t.
At first, work was tolerable. Then as smoking became more
frequent with more smoke filling the indoor air and therefore for me more
unbearable, I asked one of the head honchos if I could have my workbench
relocated to an area where the smoke was far less noticeable. The place I
suggested that my workbench be relocated to, there was plenty of room, but, not
surprisingly, my request was curtly denied.
Meanwhile, it just so happens that during this time I
practiced martial arts and, believe it or not, but there would be more fumes to
deal with, although they were from an entirely different source. Like at work,
it wasn’t a case of smoke just getting in my eyes. It went way past even that.
An irritant if not an outright nuisance would be more like it.
Practice was held in a steel-framed building with exterior
edifices consisting of corrugated, galvanized-but-painted-steel panels and for
interior walls, drywall. At any rate, the building housed two businesses – a
dojo and a shop for repairing automobiles. It is not too difficult to imagine
the implications here, so I’ll leave it at that.
And speaking of cars and as if to be adding injury to insult,
the car I was driving had much to be desired. It was a used car I bought in
place of the one I’d been driving, for that one was in an accident, not my
fault but that makes little difference. It turns out the replacement set of
wheels I purchased had a small break or hole somewhere in the filler neck that
led straight into the gas tank and when driving up hill especially, with a full
tank of gas, well, in any case, if you haven’t guessed by now, even if I never
glanced at the fuel gauge, I was fast reminded of such. In fact, gas fumes
could be detected in the car’s cab even with windows closed. When it rains, it
pours, I guess.
At any rate, that vehicle became a good candidate on a new one as a trade-in, something I should have done the first time around. Live and learn.
The dojo eventually relocated to another building, one that was more conducive to training and as for the job, well, with much intestinal
fortitude and who knows what else I had managed to summon, I approached the
department super and exclaimed, “I’m done,” to which came his reply, “In that
case, go get another [waveform analyzer to start work on].” Apparently not
getting my drift (pun intended, of course), I reiterated, “You don’t
understand, I’m done.” End of story.
Copyright Alan Kandel. October 15, 2012.
Martial Arts and the Restraint Factor
I witnessed an episode of road rage once. It wasn’t pretty. I was traveling on a main city thoroughfare, and seemingly out of nowhere, two vehicles appeared, and caught up in what looked like a “cat and mouse” chase. Meanwhile, the vehicles’ occupants were slinging, let me guess, expletives at each another. By this stage, the rage had obviously intensified and by the time the dueling factions made it to the intersection ahead, the drivers of both vehicles executed right turns, one still in hot pursuit of the other. And that was the last I saw of them. I couldn’t help but think that soon a suitable place to park the cars would be found and the warring parties were then going have it out, try to settle the score and, for what, because somewhere back down the road one driver maybe unintentionally or inadvertently cut the other driver off?
I look at this example and think the whole situation could have been avoided had individual and collective restraint been exercised.
That situation reminds me of another and it involved me.
Having nothing at all to do with martial arts training, nevertheless, I happened one day to be riding a bicycle and on a portion of a road on which I was riding, there was a steep downgrade. It was a two-lane country road and off on the side was a narrow shoulder with loose gravel. In the interest of safety – my own, during descent, I decided to occupy the center of the lane. The road speed limit was 40 or 45 and I estimate my speed to be about 35. In the corner of my left eye, I just happened to catch sight of the corner of the front bumper and headlight of a trailing car just off my bike’s rear wheel. We’re talking mere inches here. It was then that I noticed the vehicle’s two occupants laughing it up and right at that moment the car began to pass me. Once having done so and pulling back into the lane ahead of me, the driver maneuvered the car in such a way that I was literally being run off the road.
I was furious!
At the bottom of the hill there was a traffic signal and for vehicles traveling in my direction the displayed light was red. When I caught up to the offending car, the occupants of which had given the term “out-for-a-Sunday-joy-ride” new meaning, this is when I approached (and reproached) the person sitting behind the wheel: “How would you feel had you killed me?!” It was probably not the smartest move on my part. In response, the driver assailed an expletive in my general direction and then took off.
Honestly, I could have been killed. But all that happened was I got hot under the collar and was the target of an expletive. In hindsight, probably what I should have done was get the car license plate number report it to police but, being I let my emotions get the best of me I did not think in a rational manner. (For all I know when I approached the driver, he might have put a gun to my face, one just never knows). That I walked away from this incident, I was then in a position where I could put it all behind me, and that’s what I did, until now.
One never knows when they’ll find themselves in a situation where there is the potential for a disastrous outcome.
There are times where people’s differences of opinions cause flared tempers that escalate to the point of no return. But in thinking, why let things reach this stage? In some situations maybe there is some macho thing going on where one side has to prove dominance. I suspect, in many cases, that’s probably part of it.
When I regularly practiced martial arts I learned self-control. And by having and practicing restraint, one can benefit greatly.
The takeaway here is in trying situations try to keep cool-headed. In doing so, chances are good that good judgment will prevail. But also be mindful that no two situations are exactly alike and different situations dictate different responses.
Restraint is one of those tools and it’s golden!
Copyright Alan Kandel. October 4, 2012.
Armchair Spectating: An Interested Observer’s View
by Alan Kandel
In case you haven’t already noticed, martial arts have appeal. Ever wonder why that is? I don’t think people give this a whole lot of thought primarily because it probably isn’t all that important as far as what people tend to think about. Even so, there is no denying martial-arts appeal is real.
In case you haven’t already noticed, martial arts have appeal. Ever wonder why that is? I don’t think people give this a whole lot of thought primarily because it probably isn’t all that important as far as what people tend to think about. Even so, there is no denying martial-arts appeal is real.
The
appeal is two-pronged. What I mean by this is there is participant (or practitioner)
appeal and there is also spectator (or fan) appeal. Some invariably relish
participating in addition to watching the action from the sidelines.
Unlike
in most other sports, in competitive martial arts, participants are allowed to
bash each other’s faces in – to a certain extent, that is. I mean where else is
this even permitted? Of course, rules must be strictly adhered to otherwise
things can get pretty ugly rather quickly without such. From some fans’
perspective, the more pounding taking place inside the ring or, in other words,
the more of a beating one contestant takes, the better.
So,
I must ask a question right here and right now: Would competitors still compete
if:
1)
there were no prize money attached (professional), and/or
2)
there was no fan draw (be it on an amateur or professional level)? For that
matter, I wonder if competitive sports would exist at all if not for the fans.
Did
I answer my own question?
I
believe I did.
Correct
me if I’m wrong, but I believe as humans we have an innate need to be entertained.
So, building on that, as far as sports competitions go, what makes martial arts
so appealing to so many is due to the entertainment value that martial arts
possesses. In fact, as far as
competitive sports appeal goes, it ranks high on the interest scale. Is there
is really anything else like it anywhere? Some diehard baseball, football,
boxing, basketball, professional wrestling, etc. fans might disagree. No
consensus? No problem. Having a favorite, having an opinion – it is part of
what fandom is and that there is the name of the game.
So,
as long as there is an audience to observe, competitive martial arts will go the
distance. If there is ever a doubt, regardless of reason, always remember: Hand-in-hand
go sports and fans.
Copyright
Alan Kandel. September 18, 2012.
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