TanDao » Wellness

Groundhog Day

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:08:37 +0000

In Act One of Shakespeare’s Richard III, the future king says “Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son of York…” It is a statement of celebration, difficulty has turned a corner. Today, Feb 2nd, in Pennysylvania, the grand groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. The tradition tells us this means six more weeks of winter. This is the harshest season in the cycle. It may have a feeling of stagnation, coldness, isolation – with no imminent sign of spring.

Set in cold and snowy Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, we almost all know the film Groundhog Day has a hidden message. An egotistical weatherman trapped in time relives the same day for years until he is liberated by his own awareness. It is an endless winter, a time of seeing his shadow. This is an allegory of our spiritual journey.

We may see something of ourselves in the Groundhog Day protaganist Phil Connors. Inside of us are the moments of self loathing or self absorption. We are the grandiose, or the world weary. Both are painful. This is a time to take a good look — do you see your shadow? Where are you in your life? In your practice?

Our path is one of process, flow, progress. The story of the warrior always has at its core the apprentice finding his way along the road to mastery. It is learning from mistakes, preparation, practice, meditation, change, growth. For us at TanDao, the orientation is always the martial way, though the philosophy applies to anything you endeavor. It is the cycle of the Evolving Martial Artist: the warrior, the scholar and the monk. These three parts of the self are all moving, turning together, each with elements of the other changing us. We’ll slow it down to get a clear look at the stages of the evolution. In the first stage, there is youthful arrogance, egocentric attitudes, a stumbling, yet flexible growth. Second, a time for refinement and responsibility as focus shifts away from the self. Last, awareness beyond the self — compassion, as knowledge flows into serenity and wisdom. They are all moving into one another, flowing, changing. The final and total integration is the soul of the quiet master.

In change there is salvation. And redemption. If you are mired on your path, work to break the loop. Like Phil in Groundhog Day, learn to work, practice and play for the joy of work, practice and play. Take the journey, leave your ego in the dust. When you look, may you find no shadow there, as your long winter makes its way into the sun.

Toni Josephson

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And…our video downloads – Tiger Claw and our vbook, The Red Book

The Way

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:32:35 +0000

The feeling is strong, it overpowers my thoughts.
I am not aware of the reality that my blood knows only too well.
My mind is hostile for the wrong reason.
I am only son, and man,
And the need to be brother is tremendous.
~Kenny Rankin, Inside

This is the martial way, the human way…the WAY.

Listen to the incredible Kenny Rankin’s words and music Inside
Inside CD on itunes

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Abdominal Breathing: The Core of Internal Energy Arts

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:59:40 +0000

Our guest blogger is our good friend, Bob Ellal. The unique circumstances that brought Bob to the art dramatically shows the health benefits of qi gong and martial arts for healing. His path and insightful words come from experience, research and years of practice. Be inspired.

You’re in a convenience store, examining a can of Spam in one of the aisles. Suddenly a hooded man bursts through the door, pulls out a .45, and waves it in the cashier’s face demanding the contents of the cash register. You begin breathing shallowly, from the chest, as fear for you own life pervades you. Thoughts pinball through your mind: Will he shoot the cashier—and then me? Am I to die in a convenience store of all places? Where are the police?

The cashier complies; the robber bolts through the door. Your breathing slows and deepens and the thoughts in your mind slow. You become calm.

This scenario illustrates the connection between breathing and the mind: Breathe shallowly and quickly, and your mind generates a frenzy of thoughts. Breathe deeply, from the abdomen, and the thoughts slow and become manageable.

What has happened when you perceived danger was your body reacted with the fight-or-flight response—it’s kicked in the sympathetic nervous system, one of the two components of the autonomic nervous system. Your body floods with adrenaline from your adrenal glands as you prepare to confront the threat to your life.

As the threat passes you breathe deeply and the parasympathetic nervous system becomes engaged: heart rate slows, blood pressure returns to normal, adrenal glands stop pumping adrenaline into your system. Normality—you are calm and your body can return to normal operations, such as digestion.

The fight-or-flight response is vital for short-term situations—such as when our distant ancestors confronted deadly threats from saber-tooth tigers and immense short-snout bears. But if you are confronting a serious disease or condition, such as cancer or PTSD, your fear will trigger this response continuously, flooding your body with adrenaline and other chemicals such as cortisol. The effect? Your body cannot heal properly, as these substances compromise the immune system.

The solution? Learn to breathe deeply, expanding your abdomen and filling the lungs from the bottom up. You not only kick in the parasympathic nervous system but also provide much more oxygen to the blood, helping your immune system to operate at a high level.

And there’s another tremendous benefit from abdominal breathing: The lymphatic system, which relies on respiration and muscular action to work (it has no pump, such as the heart pumping the blood), will work much more efficiently. The lymphatic system contains vital elements of the immune system, such as the bone marrow—the blood factory—and the thymus gland, which kicks out T-cells, the body’s natural killer cells which destroy cancer and other invaders.

The lymphatic system does many things, such as producing lymphocytes that fight disease and removing toxins from the cells. If you are fighting cancer or another serious condition or disease, abdominal breathing is a crucial element in helping you win your fight.

I learned deep, abdominal breathing as the first step in my practice of qigong (chee-gung, which means energy work—Chinese internal energy exercises). It is also a vital component in other meditative and energy arts such as yoga, tai chi chuan and transcendental meditation.

You can learn abdominal breathing by expanding your abdomen as you breathe, focusing on filling the lungs with air from the bottom up. A good way to test if you’re doing it correctly is to lie on the floor and place a box of Kleenex on your stomach. As you breathe, the box will rise and fall with the motion of your stomach.

If you are fighting cancer, as I have many times years ago, you may be too tired from chemotherapy and/or radiation to do standing or moving qigong, tai chi chuan or yoga. But you can always lie down and breathe deeply, and still stimulate your immune system. It worked for me: four bouts of bone cancer, two bone marrow transplants between 1991 and 1996—and I’ve been clear ever since. Fifteen years of good health. I can’t catch a cold.

Bob Ellal

A special shout out to Bob, Geoff and Dylan! Happy Holidays!!

Visit Bob’s site: http://www.bobellal.com

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Macho Art vs. Martial Art

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:48:07 +0000

Are you tough? Well here’s a tale of real tough:

In ancient China, Rambo Lee and Conan Chan were bitter enemies from rival warrior clans. One day while practicing his swordsmanship, Rambo saw an old monk about to be attacked by a wild tiger. He fearlessly intercepted the beast by shouting and waving his sword. The tiger fled.

The grateful old monk bowed to the warrior who saved him and said that he would grant Rambo a single wish – anything he desired. But he cautioned, think carefully, because what ever he asked for the monk would give his sworn adversary, Conan Chan, double. Rambo thought a moment, then said, “Take out one of my eyes.”

Now that’s macho!

This anecdote elevates martial machismo to the absurd. Machismo is a vital element of martial arts. Life or death. Victory or defeat. Kill or be killed. Virile characteristics such as strength, courage and aggression accompany the warrior’s ethos. However, exaggerated display of macho aggression that may lead to bullying born of uncontrolled testosterone drives, liquor manufactured courage and showing off at the expense of others due to ego insecurity must be tempered and transcended through experience and maturity.

TanDao teaches that the martial warrior’s bold actions should be tempered by the martial scholars insight and guided by the martial monk’s way of peace. In our TanDao Tiger Combat book, which teaches extremely vicious tiger claw techniques that are banned even from brutal MMA, there is TanDao saying: “The fiercest warrior has the gentlest heart”.

Evolving Martial Artists practice the martial arts – not the macho arts.

Check out our Tiger Combat ebook

Keep practicing,
Lawrence Tan

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11/11/11

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:22:30 +0000

11/11/11. Is it a magical sequence of numbers? A gateway into spirit? Synchronicity? A symbol of unity? A wake up call? Something good? Something bad? Maybe nothing? It’s a world of possibilities and probabilities.

For certain: it’s the date, it’s a palindrome, and 11 falls between 10 and 12. In the binary system, 11 is a 3. Lucky for us, because we can seamlessly segue into our TanDao system.

In Tandao, the basics comprise only part of the journey. There is a greater awareness. In our holistic model of Triharmony, the essence of our consciousness is represented as an equilateral triangle with a circle in the center. In geometry, it is with three sides that an enclosure is formed and structure begins. For all things, it is the measure of possibilities.

At each of the 3 intersecting points there is: the warrior (body), the scholar (mind) and the monk (compassion/emotion). Seeking the balanced integration of the warrior/scholar/monk (body/mind/heart) is the path. Within that enclosure, at it’s center, lies true power: mastery.

We included the video from the 2011 New York City Marathon – a great sea of people, representing every stage in our evolution, from our individual goals to the shared experience.

Special shout out to all of our vets and their families,

Toni Josephson

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Water Dragon

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:52:48 +0000

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Universal Form – Tiger

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:05:18 +0000

Time to move! Try our signature exercise — the Universal Form, tiger style. GRRRRRRR…

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We Remember September 11

admin — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:17:11 +0000

In remembering those we lost, please remember those brave responders — they saved over 20,000 lives. Please support our Ground Zero workers, the heroes who are still with us, who deserve adequate care, by visiting the FealGood Foundation.

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London Riots

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:09:19 +0000

Our guest post is from Neil Hall, Chief Instructor at London Chinatown’s Tae Kwon Do.

The riots across London have touched the lives of many of our students who live and work in the areas affected, and many more who have been in fear of the violence which has spread with such speed from one part of the city to another, or who are afraid for the welfare of their family and friends across the capital.

Some of our students have had to move out of their area. Others have suffered from continual distress as looting has gone on around them, while others have suffered not only the inconvenience but also the fear caused by power cuts, or the constant worry that their shops, restaurants, office or school will be next attacked.

In adversity, we see people not only at their worst but also at their best. With our classes canceled, Chinatown Instructor Mr Jon Alagoa offered to escort people home from work. Facebook has seen a flood of support for students and their families not only from their classmates, but from their fellow students in our Cotswold classes. Truly, in many ways, I have seen kindness today which makes me proud of our common humanity. Next week, we are all on holiday. The spirit I have seen last night and today makes me sure that we will be back to class the following week. See you there.

When we look at the scenes of violence across the city where we were founded, it makes me stop to think about the commonly held misconception that martial arts in some way condones or even promotes violence. As I said in my book, “First Steps in Martial Arts,” I have heard this claimed almost daily since I worked with Phil Martin’s Champ’s Camp in Moss Side in the early 1990s. So let me say this.

We have suffered from the funding cuts with a loss of support for our work with young people (of all backgrounds, not just Chinese) in Chinatown. Okay. So what have our students being doing over the past days? Helping each other. Supporting their families, friends and neighbours. Cleaning up. Though God knows many have faced, and still face, the poverty that both recession and spending cuts force upon people, their condemnation of the violence has been unequivocal and unanimous. Whatever their age.

I am no longer young, and I am not naive enough to think that martial arts makes all people good people. It doesn’t. But I am certain that the martial arts students amongst the rioters would be few and far between. Compare their actions to the discipline, integrity, and humanity of our students over the past days.

For the next nights, please stay close to home and keep safe. Check your neighbours are all right and that the elderly and vulnerable are not forgotten.

Neil Hall
http://www.lctkd.com/martialartsblog.html

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Zen Slap

admin — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 13:50:11 +0000

There are life lessons everywhere, even in the most unlikely of places. For the Evolving Martial Artist, fighting is a metaphor for life. Engaging a daunting adversary who hits and inflicts pain is like entering the every day battles of life. Hell, it hurts.

Tough lessons are often employed by Shaolin kung fu masters to teach the tough demands of combat. And life. In American history, the Gold Rush brought people to the Black Hills of South Dakota and as the camp grew, a town sprung up around the prospecting. David Milch’s ground breaking Western HBO series Deadwood, based on real characters and events in the Old West, was a study in human evolution and our struggle to bring chaos to order.

In this scene from Deadwood, Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) the complex protagonist, ruthless and brutal, yet with his own morals, loyalties, and even at times, kindness, imparts a life lesson to the Deadwood’s newspaper publisher, A.W. Merrick (Jeffrey Jones) who is demoralized by violent misfortune, after being threatened, finds his office and printing press vandalized and in ruin. In Swearengen we see a classic example of the Eastern zen slap or as we say in the West, a kick in the ass.

However crude, it is wisdom for martial artists and non-martial artists alike.

Lawrence Tan & Toni Josephson

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