david, Yes, I am talking about the same person. And yes, some people can change, at least to some degree. My point is that we do not have to look far to find the dark side, the "BG-side" even among ourselves or even within ourselves... we need to be vigilant of ourselves first and foremost...

Mary S, Eerie, ain't it, the similarity between your near miss and the story seen from the other side... one of our very own who, many years ago, set out as a misguided youth to do exactly the same thing - for kicks - and ended up blowing his limb off before he could hurt anyone else. Not among us a...

Ian,
Contact Vinnie Christiano (through these forums). He may have some contacts for you re: JP rentals.

Yes, David, there is an important difference between going back to relearn something - getting back up on the horse after falling off - and falling into the compulsive counterphobic pattern.The problem with the counterphobic pattern is that it never suffices to quell the anxiety except momentarily. ...

Bill and Ted (re: Great Adventure), Interesting you should point this out today...I just gave a class yesterday at work (at the psychiatric inpatient unit)about the problem with the "counterphobic defense" to trauma. This is exactly what you are referring to when you point out that there i...

Mike-Sensei, I have been of the opinion for a long time that what Uechi-ryu needs (to help round out the training)is a prearranged kansetsu set. If we all took the time to learn it, and paracticed it in class like we do the other kumite and kata, these very effective moves would come closer to secon...

Hi, Bill! The ideal of a Martial Arts University along the lines you suggest, the Shaolin model, has been a fantasy much entertained by GEM over the years. But remained at the level of fantasy only because of the practicalities. And yet I think we have appraoched it, or at least a teaspoon of it, th...

Just for the sake of levity... I am reminded of the old joke around our dojo about the three animals of Uechi-ryu being Van, Arthur Rabesa and Jimmy Maloney!

Then there is the other side... if there were an effective "short cut" we all would have taken it a long time ago. Find the style you like and the teacher you like and do the work. Don't worry about the time. Sorry, but in my opinion you just can't rush it.

Other names associated with the mind-body-spirit movement in medicine, also known as psychoneuroimmunology... a nice word to know if you ever go on Jeopardy! Herbert Benson, Joan Borysenko, Bernie Siegel, Andrew Weil, Dan Brown, Deepak Chopra. Some more 'mainstream' than others but all worth reading...

A history lesson - art history, that is - may have something to teach us here. After the Renaissance in Europe painters and sculptors believed that art had reached its absolute zenith with Michelangelo, Rafael,Botticelli, etc. (the painters, not the turtles). The best any student artist could hope w...

Van, I had a good old childhood friend who studied martial arts under the protagonist of your Chicago story. Even years after the event that teacher held the Uechi world in disdain. He even seemed to force a kind of 'glass ceiling' on the rank my friend could ultimately achieve because he knew he wa...

Ted, I am not aware of formal research on the questions you ask -good questions- so I'll answer from experiences I and colleagues have shared. As I noted above to Van, I think those who have wrapped themselves in an unrealistic mantle of invulnerability probably do suffer a unique element to their P...

Van, I have a story that illustrates your point very well. A patient I treated several years ago who developed alcoholism and PTSD after he was robbed and beaten nearly to death by three guys who thought they were breaking in to a drug dealer's house. They got the wrong house. Surprised my guy while...

Martial arts training is one of the best ways for persons with a particular kind of post-traumatic reaction to get themselves back on their feet. The developers of "Model Mugging" and similar programs know this and market their method to women and men who have been victims of aggression. I...