Balanced Life Skills Martial Arts

This photo and comment is from a  friend of mine that I believe says a great deal about what we eat and allow our children to eat.

What does this picture tell you? My doctor has had this “processed food” on her counter ever since 2010 and 2011 respectively. I asked her why she had it out, she stated “to show people what they are putting into their bodies”. This is man-made “processed food”, not real food. Over time real food will decay, grow mold and produce a decomposing odor. This “processed food” has not done any of that, matter of fact it has kept it’s original size, shape and texture. Your body has to work harder to breakdown and digest this stuff over real food. Since I’ve seen this, I have not had any fast food.

Will you promote good health and stop eating fast food, processed food or anything that is not good for your health?

Teaching character and life skills to students

Want to eat more healthy?  Try some of these suggestions of things to eliminate from your diet or at least severely reduce to almost never eating.

1. Soda – yes that includes “diet” soda too.  Too much sugar and chemicals.  Artificial sweeteners are chemicals too that still fakes your body into releasing insulin and store fat.

2. Bread / gluten – your digestive system does not process these foods in an efficient  manner, they easily pile on the calories without much nutritional value. (slow down on the pasta, white rice etc..)

3. Sugar – It is addictive and the more you eat the more you want.

4. Alcohol – ill effects on your liver, sugar content is high, and beer high in gluten.  Then there is the toxic nature of alcohol in general.

5. Dairy – Unless you are under the age of 2 your body does not have the tools to process the lactose.

6. Meat – Reduce or eliminate will help your digestive system.

Bottom line:  The way most Americans eat is 60% processed foods, 30% meat,  5% potatoes/rice and 5% vegetables.  Think about going a different route.  How about 60-70% vegetables, 20-30% meat and 10% fats (nuts, seeds avocados etc..)  Or even better reduce meat to 0% and focus on water based / plant based foods.

We have noted previously that our body is 70% water and so we need to eat foods that replace that  water naturally.  Want to be more healthy, lose weight and have much more energy – EAT HEALTHY.

This week has been crazy and awesome.  As I sit down to write about it, I realize one of the major differences in my life here and my life training in Wudang. There, when I train my mind is either off or focused on what I am doing, and outside of that I have fairly few demands on my attention and I have plenty of time to reflect and plan. So writing a blog happens fairly naturally.

Here at home, I work at an architecture firm, I teach, and I do demonstrations and talks about Wudang. There are always demands on my attention, and reflection often has to wait. So while in Wudang, the physical side of my training seems my prime concern, being home is a training ground for my internal art. This is where the theory meets reality.

That said, I had a wild but fun week. Thursday night I attended a Chinese embassy celebration of the Chinese New Year at the Meridian Center in DC. Definitely one of the neatest evenings I have had in a while. There were a lot of diplomats there, a beautiful musical performance, and two Chinese art exhibits, one of woodblock prints and one of modern paintings on porcelain. I was there with my kungfu sister who is working hard to establish avenues for the sharing  of Wudang culture and wisdom with D.C. and the U.S.

Friday was spent at the Bullis School in Potomac. I did a collaborative demonstration with two Shaolin monks. Of course, they were masters and I am still a student, so it was quite an honor to share a stage with them. I really enjoyed meeting them and other amazing members of the kungfu community in the D.C. area. It was wonderful to meet other people who dream dreams like my own.

It is the journey to black belt – it is not the belt, stripe, or the trophy that will bring us happiness. If we believe that when we reach this goal or get this accomplished – then we will be happy -it has never failed me to see that we will be disappointed. The reason is, we are tied to the results rather than the experience. Living in the moment we are in, learning as we go, appreciating everything that happens to us – even if we consider it as bad fortune. The reason is that everything we have or do not have, everything we get or do not get, has the ability to make us better individuals – even if we do not understand how or why at this time.

Parents especially, as much as we want the best and everything for our child, as much as it hurts to see our children not get what they want so bad, it is a part of life that if we learn to accept as part of the journey and learn from – we will enjoy the wanted results even more when they come.

We live in a society that demands results NOW and many are unwilling to accept waiting. But in reality that is not how life works – if we want happiness. Enjoy the journey to black belt, enjoy your experience learning anything new, yes even in school. In the end everything will be more enjoyable, each minute, hour, day, years and life. In the end when the goal is reached, whatever it might be, we will look back on the struggles and disappointments as learning experiences and those are the things that create our very best character.

I enjoyed this clip from a movie that demonstrates what we can learn:

Pancreatic cancer affects roughly 1 in 65 men and women.  Luciano Pavaraotti, Patrick Swayze, Chief Justice Ruth Ginsburg, and Steve Jobs all lost their life from pancreatic cancer.  In the last week it was reported by the “respected” Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, as saying that eating 1.8 ounces of processed meat every day — the equivalent to one sausage or two rashers of bacon — increases the risk by 19 percent, and the risk goes up if a person eats more.

In regard to the risks for pancreatic cancer smoking is one of the worst, increasing the chance of this deadly disease by 74 percent.  But even eating 100g a day of processed meat ( a small burger) increases the risk by 38% while 150g a day raises it by 57 percent.

Looking at what we eat is important for our health.  We have just completed the holiday season when many of us do not eat in our normal fashion.  But now is a good time to revisit our eating habits and make adjustments to better our health, short term and long term.

Teaching character and life skills to students

Each month we define and discuss a word of character development and life skill with all of our students.

This month the word is Health and will be defined this way.

Young students: Health means: “My body and brain are working well!”

Older students: Health means: Well being in mind, body and spirit.

Here are the worksheets for our students:

Health Worksheet Tiger Tots

Health Worksheet 5-6

Health Worksheet 7-12

Health Worksheet Teens : Adults

If you would like to see how we will talk about this subject with our students please follow our discussions here during the month of January or come in and TRY A CLASS.

January 9th through February 14th, I am pleased to be offering a seminar in Qigong at Balanced Life Skills. Qigong has been one of my favorite discoveries in the course of my martial arts education, and I am always excited to share my love of it with others.

What is Qigong? Imagine the practice of martial arts as a line. One one end is fighting, and on the other end is purely health oriented exercise. Qigong would fall near one end of the line, and it might look like this:Literally “Chi Work,” Qigong is a kind of moving meditation. In a series of dynamic poses combining breathing, flexibility, strength, and mental focus, it seeks to nourish the internal health of the body. It is adaptable to the level of the student; a sedentary newcomer and a conditioned athlete will both find challenge and growth.

There are uncountable permutations within this broad category of exercise, each with its own focus, theory, tradition, and practitioners. In Wudang, I have learned a few different Qigong practices. My favorite is Five Element Qigong.

In the seminar this year, I will be focusing on Five Element Qigong, but will range as well into other aspects of my own practice that have informed and enhanced the experience of Qigong.

The seminar will be held, January 9th – February 14th,  on:

Mondays 5:0o PM and 7:00 PM

Tuesdays 11:00 AM

Students should plan to attend at least one hour-long session a week, but are welcome and encouraged to attend additional classes for more guided repetition. Those interested are welcome to try a class in the first week for free. Seminar fee= $10/week

Corey Hopp in Yuxugong Temple

Corey Hopp is a full time student of kung fu.

Eight hours a day, six days a week, ten or eleven months of the year, he can be found punching, kicking, and jumping on the paving stones of Yuxugong temple in rural Wudang Mountain, Hubei Province, China. However, in January and February of 2012, Corey will be at Balanced Life Skills Martial Arts here in Annapolis, sharing some of his experiences with the local community.

Corey is a student of Master Yuan Xiu Gang of the Wudang Daoist Traditional Internal Kungfu Academy. Wudang Mountain has its own special style and tradition of martial arts, emphasizing softness and sensitivity, flexibility and balance. Students of Master Yuan’s school learn a variety of disciplines, including Tai Chi, that are intended to impart not only the ability to defend oneself, but also to protect and nourish one’s spirit and vitality.

Though he had been studying martial arts for a few years beforehand, Corey’s kung fu training truly began in January 2008. He had been teaching English at a small university near Nanjing for the fall semester. During his Chinese New Year holiday, he decided to follow his interest in martial arts and visit one of the ancient homes of Chinese kung fu. That first dark, cold January visit left its mark of snow, sweat, and muscle pain, and the determination to learn more about Wudang’s unique art.

Corey is now part of the traditional program at Master Yuan’s school. It is a rare and demanding opportunity for non-Chinese martial artists to be immersed in the same physical and mental training that has been handed down through many generations of kung fu practitioners.

Having grown up in southern Anne Arundel County, Corey returns here every year to spend the holidays with his friends and family and save money for another year of training. For six weeks in January and February, he will be offering seminars in the basic health practice called Qigong. Qigong combines breathing, stretching, and meditation to strengthen and relax mind and body.

I would like to invite all of our students and others in our community to meet Corey and practice with him for the short time he is here in Annapolis.  You can then follow his studies next year right here on our site.

Teaching character and life skills to students

This post is especially for our children, helping them to respect the differences that they can see when meeting someone new, but as an adult we can examine how we act or react when we meet someone new too.  It is said that when meeting someone new we draw a conclusion about that person within 10 seconds of meeting them, whether they are equal to, greater than or less than ourselves.

Having said that we have all heard the expression, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”  Teaching our children not to look at someones clothes, how they look or act and decide if we are going to like them or not.  Some people are going to be taller or shorter, darker skin or lighter skin, blue eyes or brown eyes, dress in one way or a different way.  They may be in a wheelchair or able to walk, have a happy disposition or there may be reasons that they are not as happy.  We do not know them without getting to know who they are, what they like, and how they will behave when they are with friends.   It is only after we have spent some time with them and see how they will treat us and what we have in common as well as what we can learn from them – before we know if we like them or not.

Rejecting someone as a friend because of the way they look- is not showing acceptance and may leave us with fewer friends.

Thank you to everyone that has contributed to the Balanced Life Skills Community this past year of 2012.  Our school has provided costumes, jump ropes, food for those in need here in our community and in other parts of the world.  Our students stepped up and did much to support USA troops stationed around the world.  Support for the teens in foster care this holiday season was the best ever.  With the support of our students we now have one of the most complete collection of books on the subject of bullying and relationships for students, parents and teachers.

Our Grants 4 Teachers fund has now given almost $30,000 to teachers in Anne Arundel County.  This year we started Bully Prevention Partners with the goal of creating a culture of peace in our schools and helping every child to feel safe in school and their community.  We have continued to support the Youth Suicide Awareness Task Force here in Anne Arundel County and this year with the help of one our students will be offering training right here in our school.

Upcoming this year will be a growing emphasis on Bully Prevention Partners and reaching out to the community.  In addition, we will be holding Safety Seminars for parents and young students to address how parents can talk to their children about safety including “good touch, bad touch”.  There will be guest instructors invited to the studio this year starting with Corey Hopp in January, Gerald Dawson in February and Keenan Cornelius in the spring.  I am planning on more nature hikes for students and in the spring (date to be announced very soon) BLS very first testing for black belt.  This will be an event you do not want to miss.

I am so proud of our students, young instructors and all of our families.  I promise to be here to continue to work on character building, physical growth in strength and skill, and teaching self defense in its most global meaning.  Working together we can have an impact on our community in a most meaningful way.