225,253 and Still Going

Scout and I

 

Today my blog hit 225,000 views, that is a quarter of a million.

 

That fact does humble me. And I have made 980 posts here.

 

On the advice of Mario McKenna, I started it back on August 9^th, 2008. Just as a way to share my passion with my students and perhaps their students in the future. I had spent 40 years in study on the arts in many ways, and I didn’t want them to have to re-invent the wheel so to speak.

 

40 years reading and watching so many things. I used to have thousands of martial arts magazines. Kept some material and heaved the rest. Likewise over a thousand books, So perhaps some of it could be saved for their future reference.

 

Much of the blog is a way to explain the history of my studies for them, or to explain many details of our training.

 

It was not meant for outsiders, but I believe knowledge is more useful if shared. I have allowed others to see this, I have refrained from using it to generate money.

 

If any enjoy and can use what I have saved and write, then they deserve access to it.

 

I use the blog to look and think, I do not criticize others. If I am not interested in their art(s) then I do not write about them.

 

The world is a big place. Oft times there are many answers that work and are at the same time diametrically opposed to each other. Knowledge is not always what you think it is.

 

I selected the name for the blog as follows from my first post.

 

Isshin/Zanshin

 

 

Isshin as focused concentration goes hand in hand with Zanshin as global concentration.

The more we focus in great detail on the small, the more we focus in great detail on the large, together define our limits, moment by moment.
I practice/research/study/teach my private Isshinryu practice of Bushi No Te Isshinryu these past 35 years.

I practice/research/study and at times teach yang long fist tai chi chaun these past 30 years. (note it is now longer alas)

My practice was formed by Tom Lewis' Isshinryu; by Charles Murray's Isshinryu; by Ernest Rothrock's arts of Yang and Wu Tai Chi Chaun, Pai Lum, Sil Lum, Tai Tong Long and of course his Faan Tzi Ying Jow Pai; by Tristan Sutrisno's Shotokan, Aikido, Tjimande and Kobudo, by a close encounter with Sherman Harrill's study of Isshinryu; and of course many times many friends sharings.

My life is defined by my family, supported by Marueen my wife and my children Victor Michael and Caryn Alyssa.

And of course the drive that makes me practice tai chi on my driveway at -20 degrees f., drive through ice storms and blizzards to train, practice at midnight, in pouring rain, in dense fog, to scream at my french dictionary as I've translated books from the French for my friends and otherwise find incredible texture and depth from my efforts.

I hope I can share my thoughts on the very small and the very large, my isshin as well as my zanshin, my concentration on my art, my life.