From my beginnings I have trained many places.
Of course in dojo and on training floors with count.
Too many gym floors to mention.
In local civic centers and church basements.
At times at McDade park outside Scranton,
On its grass, hillsides, forest paths and on a
narrow bridge over a culvert.
On the beach at Ocean City, Maryland.
At the campground under the trees at the Grand
Canyon of Pennsylvania.
Many campgrounds at many martial arts summer camps.
At the Derry Boys and Girls Clubs,
And on the parking lot outside of it.
My backyards and my driveway,
between my rows of blueberry bushes.
And on a narrow path leading between tall bushes.
On many hillsides.
When appropriate I used those places to instruct
focused training.
On the bridge to learn to keep your spins in Chinto
toward the bridge center.
On the narrow path between the bushes to teach the
same lesson.
And the rows between the blueberry bushes for Naifanchi and Chinto.
I have practiced Tai Chi play guitar
while be
standing atop the stump from a tree
I had removed that same tree which
provided sections of tree trunk (5 of
them)
Perfect to practice and teach Naifanchi
while
standing atop them.
I woken camps up to do Tai Chi in the early morning
mist.
I have taught Kusanku night fighting applications.
Even applications that had the students place their
fact in the mud on the ground.
I’ve crossed a stream between two ropes while
holding a bo in my hands.
Even the passing police car had to come back twice
to see what we were doing.
And on the same drive way we have done karate when
it exceeded 100f.
I was
outside on the driveway doing kata.
When attending conferences
I started my morning
outside doing kata.
Seattle, San Francisco, San Antonio, Knoxville and
other places.
Anytime, anyplace I am is an appropriate venue.
These days I step out back
and use the plastic grass
under the rising Arizona Sun.
The photos show where I began in Lewis Sensei's dojo in Salisbury, Md. and where I ended up in my backyard in Buckeye. Az.
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