Back on the saddle again.

It has been two years since my last post. I did not mean to be gone so long. The last two years have been rough.

During the time of my last post my oldest son was sick. It turned out to be brain cancer. He passed away on Feb. 27, 2009.

My son also took Kenpo for a while (as well as Wado-Ryu). He enjoyed it. And getting back into it reminds me of him; we had fun together in training. As a tribute to my son here is his picture. He was 1o years old.


I am not trying to bring you down or upset you. Just providing context for things. Needless to say during the last two years Kenpo and training were the last things on my mind.

But, I am back to training. Had my first session in two years with my instructor last week. Glad to say I was no where near as rusty as I had feared. In fact, it felt like I never took any time off at all! That is a credit to Sifu Jim Taylor. He is a great teacher.

So, I hope to update this blog on a regular basis and to continue to share my journey in Kenpo with those who happen to stumble across this blog.

Update

Sorry it has been awhile since I have updated this blog. I have just been pretty busy.

I am getting close to testing for my purple belt. Maybe in a week or so. But, I had a small set back last night. I was sparring and ended up cracking my ribs! Ouch!

I was sparing with a guy who is a second degree black belt in tae kwon do. I was doing great; blocking his kicks and getting my own shots in. But then he faked a kick to the left, I went to block that, dropped my check hand just a little too low and he nailed me with a roundhouse to my right side.

Normally that would be no big deal. We do wear chest and head padding (no foot padding. We spar in our street shoes). But, as I went to block his fake kick I turned my body some. He ended up kicking me right under the pad (with a very solid kick).

The funny thing is that it did not hurt that bad at the time. We finished sparring and then went out and had some beers. I got home and knew something was wrong. The pain was pretty bad. This morning when I woke up...UGH! I could not move and it hurt like hell to breathe. Long story...cracked ribs.

I will be out of pocket for a while now. So, hopefully I can heal up and be back in the studio soon.

Passed my test!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've just been busy. So here is a quick post to make up for it!

Finally...finally I got my orange belt two weeks ago! I actually passed the test three weeks or so ago. But my instructor wanted me too "pass it strong" before getting my orange belt. And on my test two weeks ago I just nailed it! I am now having fun learning the purple belt techniques. There are 7 techniques for the purple belt (there were 6 for the orange belt, in addition to learning the basic stances, blocks, movements, kicks, and punches). I have been shown 4 of them: Stopping the Storm, Raking Hammer, Hidden Wing, and Circling Serpent. So far my favorite two are Stopping the Storm and Raking Hammer. Circling Serpent is the most complex technique I've learned thus far. It involves not only a block (a parry), but a well placed back fist, a reverse punch to the rib area, a knife edge kick to the back of the knee, and a take down as well. It is fun practicing and learning this one. But it is complex. It's a great challenge! I am enjoying it.

Ed Parker

I found this video clip of Ed Parker on You Tube. GM Parker is the father of American Kenpo. I liked this video and think you will too.

Tao Te Ching

This blog is primarily devoted to kenpo karate. But, from time to time I will spotlight other styles of martial arts and share with you what they are doing. Hope you enjoy.

While reading the forums over at the Shen Lung Kung Fu website, I came across a discussion on books. Shen Lung Kung Fu teaches one not only how to discipline their body (through martial training), but it also teaches one to discipline their mind. Students of Shen Lung have "bookwork" that goes hand in hand with their marital training. The three books that Shen Lung Kung Fu students study are The Tao Te Ching, The Art of War, & The Analects of Confucius.

One of their students summed up nicely the reason why they study these books.

"(Tao Te Ching) opens your spirit; (The Art of War) expands your reasoning...into the darker and less pleasant corners of reality; and (The Analects) Confucius brings you back to yourself and the humility of daily life."

I like this. It makes sense and, to me, would seem to greatly expand one's knowledge of the martial arts (particularly if you study a Chinese martial art). So, starting today I am going to begin my own study of these three books. I am hoping, that through my studies, I can come to a better understanding of humanity, and thus a better understanding of myself.

I am going to start with the Tao Te Ching. I found several websites that have English translations of the Tao Te Ching.Here is one of the translations I like the best, and here is another. Wikipedia also has an extensive list of English translations if you'd like to look through them.

Even though I am not a Shen Lung Kung Fu student, my style shares a lot with it. Kenpo, coming from China, shares a lot of the principles and flow of Kung Fu (In fact, kenpo can be classified as a type of kung fu). Hopefully, by following the insights of my friends in Shen Lung, I can become a better, more well rounded martial artist...and a better person.

Kenpo In Action

Here is Nathan performing the IKCA Chinese Kenpo Master Form (Nathan was going for his 4th degree black belt). This is very well done and is a pleasure to watch.

IKCA Master Form

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My Journey In Kenpo

My interest in kenpo began long before I ever stepped foot inside a kenpo dojo. In junior high school I started taking karate lessons at a dojo close to my house (shotokan). I really got in to the whole martial arts thing. Every magazine, every book, every movie that had anything to do with the martial arts I bought, watched, read, and generally soaked it all up like a sponge (yes, I even put good money down to watch several Jean Claude Van-Damme movies). It was around this time that the Jeff Speakman movie The Perfect Weapon came out on VHS. I saw it at a video rental store and it looked interesting. So I rented it…and was totally blown away by the martial art style of Jeff Speakman.

I was a little bit familiar with kenpo due to reading about in the various martial arts magazines I bought. But, I had never before seen kenpo in action. So I began to study up on kenpo (that is when I first came across the name Ed Parker and his books). I seached my area for a school that taught kenpo. Alas and alack, there were none. Most of the schools in the area (at that time) taught taekwondo, shotokan, judo, etc. So, I continued my studies in shotokan until high school…where I was forced to choose between football and the martial arts. After carefully considering my options I found that I got far more dates after a football game than I ever did after a martial arts tournament. Thus, my raging teenage hormones, and a few cheerleaders, compelled me to lay my martial arts training aside. But, martial arts (and kenpo in particular) stayed in my mind.

Flash forward 10 years later. I moved to Alabama to attend graduate school at the University of Alabama. While driving around town one day I heard an ad on the radio for a local karate dojo. I thought about that ad all day. I got home and still could not get the ad out of my mind. I remembered how much I had loved being in the marital art community. I missed it. I looked around and saw my young sons playing. I wanted to share something with them that I had once loved so much. So I decided to sign us up for karate lessons.

We looked around at various schools. There are some good schools here. But, some were not kid friendly and some that were kid friendly wanted just too much money. I had almost given up finding a good school here. But then, as we were driving home, out of the corner of my eye I caught a sign that read “The Kenpo University.” Kenpo. Here. Close. I made an immediate u-turn and went into the school. To make a long story short, when I left that studio not only had I signed up for kenpo lessons, but so had my oldest son and my wife.

Finally, 15 years after watching Jeff Speakman and developing an interest in kenpo, I was going to be a part of the kenpo community. I could not wait.

(To be continued)