I recently posted a note from Robert Wallace in South Carolina asking for help getting gear for a class he's running at a boy's school there. These are kids with problems and we all know martial arts can really help these guys. Tony Velada in Chicago and Tony Perez in Australia have responded and are sending uniforms. How about you? See my recent post entitled "a request to help some kids" on 11 August.
Thanks to both Tonys.
Monday, August 23, 2010
More items uploaded
I just uploaded some podcast interviews with Steve White (link at http://www.leewedlake.com/) and more original Green belt videos are coming online at http://www.kenpotv.net/.
I did a four-part interview with with Mr. White in which he talks about abour kenpo in New England, how he grew his school from part-time to one with 400 active students, and more. I encourage anyone with a school or club to listen to him. There's historical info in them about how Parker kenpo took hold in New England and that there's a difference in it and what is called "New England Kenpo". Steve also discusses his philosophy of growing a student from beginner to black.
On KenpoTV you'll find the majority of the gun and knife techniques coming on view in the next ten days. I just finished shooting the rest of the original Green belt techniques and they'll be coming up soon, too. We'd missed one two man technique and that's been done, as have the rest of the kick defenses and combo punch techniques. More chi kung and instructor materal is coming, too.
I did a four-part interview with with Mr. White in which he talks about abour kenpo in New England, how he grew his school from part-time to one with 400 active students, and more. I encourage anyone with a school or club to listen to him. There's historical info in them about how Parker kenpo took hold in New England and that there's a difference in it and what is called "New England Kenpo". Steve also discusses his philosophy of growing a student from beginner to black.
On KenpoTV you'll find the majority of the gun and knife techniques coming on view in the next ten days. I just finished shooting the rest of the original Green belt techniques and they'll be coming up soon, too. We'd missed one two man technique and that's been done, as have the rest of the kick defenses and combo punch techniques. More chi kung and instructor materal is coming, too.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The doctor is in
This is big news for fibromyalgia sufferers. Dr. Rowe sent this along.
Chinese practice of tai chi may be effective as a therapy for fibromyalgia, according to a study published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
A clinical trial at Tufts Medical Center found that after 12 weeks of tai chi, patients with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, did significantly better in measurements of pain, fatigue, physical functioning, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education. Tai chi patients were also more likely to sustain improvement three months later.
“It’s an impressive finding,” said Dr. Daniel Solomon, chief of clinical research in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “This was a well-done study. It was kind of amazing that the effects seem to carry over.”
Although the study was small, 66 patients, several experts considered it compelling because fibromyalgia is a complex and often-confusing condition, affecting five million Americans, mostly women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since its symptoms can be wide-ranging and can mimic other disorders, and its diagnosis depends largely on patients’ descriptions, not blood tests or biopsies, its cause and treatment have been the subject of debate.
“We thought it was notable that The New England Journal accepted this paper, that they would take fibromyalgia on as an issue, and also because tai chi is an alternative therapy that some people raise eyebrows about,” said Dr. Robert Shmerling, clinical chief of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, co-author of an editorial about the study.
“Fibromyalgia is so common, and we have such a difficult time treating it effectively. It’s defined by what the patient tells you,” he added. “It’s hard for some patients’ families and their doctors to get their head around what it is and whether it’s real. So, that these results were so positive for something that’s very safe is an impressive accomplishment.”
Recent studies have suggested that tai chi, with its slow exercises, breathing and meditation, could benefit patients with other chronic conditions, including arthritis. But not all of these reports have been conclusive, and tai chi is hard to study because there are many styles and approaches.
The fibromyalgia study involved the yang style of tai chi, taught by a Boston tai chi master, Ramel Rones. Dr. Solomon and other experts cautioned that bigger studies with other masters and approaches were necessary.
Still, patients, who received twice-weekly tai chi classes and a DVD to practice with 20 minutes daily, showed weekly improvement on an established measurement, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, improving more than the stretching-and-education group in physicians’ assessments, sleep, walking and mental health. One-third stopped using medication, compared with one-sixth in the stretching group.
Dr. Chenchen Wang, a Tufts rheumatologist who led the study, said she attributed the results to the fact that “fibromyalgia is a very complex problem” and “tai chi has multiple components — physical, psychological, social and spiritual.”
The therapy impressed Mary Petersen, 59, a retired phone company employee from Lynn, Mass., who said that before participating in the 2008 study, “I couldn’t walk half a mile,” and it “hurt me so much just to put my hands over my head.” Sleeping was difficult, and she was overweight. “There was no joy to life,” she said. “I was an entire mess from head to foot.”
She had tried and rejected medication, physical therapy, swimming and other approaches. “I was used to being treated in a condescending manner because they couldn’t diagnose me: ‘She’s menopausal, she’s crazy.’ ”
Before the study, “I didn’t know tai chi from a sneeze,” said Ms. Petersen, who has diabetes and other conditions. “I was like, ‘Well, O.K., I’ll get to meet some people, it will get me out of the house.’ I didn’t believe any of it. I thought this is so minimal, it’s stupid.”
After a few weeks, she said she began to feel better, and after 12 weeks “the pain had diminished 90 percent.” She has continued tai chi, lost 50 pounds and can walk three to seven miles a day.
“You could not have convinced me that I would ever have done this or continued with this,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a cure. I will say it’s an effective method of controlling pain.”
Dr. Shmerling said that though tai chi is inexpensive compared with other treatments, some patients would reject such an alternative therapy. And Dr. Gloria Yeh, a Beth Israel Deaconess internist and co-author of the editorial, said others “will say, ‘It’s too slow, I can’t do that.’ ”
But she said it offered a “gentler option” for patients deterred by other physical activities. “The mind-body connections set it apart from other exercises,” she said, adding that doctors are seeking “anything we can offer that will make patients say ‘I can really do this.’ ”
Chinese practice of tai chi may be effective as a therapy for fibromyalgia, according to a study published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
A clinical trial at Tufts Medical Center found that after 12 weeks of tai chi, patients with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, did significantly better in measurements of pain, fatigue, physical functioning, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education. Tai chi patients were also more likely to sustain improvement three months later.
“It’s an impressive finding,” said Dr. Daniel Solomon, chief of clinical research in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “This was a well-done study. It was kind of amazing that the effects seem to carry over.”
Although the study was small, 66 patients, several experts considered it compelling because fibromyalgia is a complex and often-confusing condition, affecting five million Americans, mostly women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since its symptoms can be wide-ranging and can mimic other disorders, and its diagnosis depends largely on patients’ descriptions, not blood tests or biopsies, its cause and treatment have been the subject of debate.
“We thought it was notable that The New England Journal accepted this paper, that they would take fibromyalgia on as an issue, and also because tai chi is an alternative therapy that some people raise eyebrows about,” said Dr. Robert Shmerling, clinical chief of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, co-author of an editorial about the study.
“Fibromyalgia is so common, and we have such a difficult time treating it effectively. It’s defined by what the patient tells you,” he added. “It’s hard for some patients’ families and their doctors to get their head around what it is and whether it’s real. So, that these results were so positive for something that’s very safe is an impressive accomplishment.”
Recent studies have suggested that tai chi, with its slow exercises, breathing and meditation, could benefit patients with other chronic conditions, including arthritis. But not all of these reports have been conclusive, and tai chi is hard to study because there are many styles and approaches.
The fibromyalgia study involved the yang style of tai chi, taught by a Boston tai chi master, Ramel Rones. Dr. Solomon and other experts cautioned that bigger studies with other masters and approaches were necessary.
Still, patients, who received twice-weekly tai chi classes and a DVD to practice with 20 minutes daily, showed weekly improvement on an established measurement, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, improving more than the stretching-and-education group in physicians’ assessments, sleep, walking and mental health. One-third stopped using medication, compared with one-sixth in the stretching group.
Dr. Chenchen Wang, a Tufts rheumatologist who led the study, said she attributed the results to the fact that “fibromyalgia is a very complex problem” and “tai chi has multiple components — physical, psychological, social and spiritual.”
The therapy impressed Mary Petersen, 59, a retired phone company employee from Lynn, Mass., who said that before participating in the 2008 study, “I couldn’t walk half a mile,” and it “hurt me so much just to put my hands over my head.” Sleeping was difficult, and she was overweight. “There was no joy to life,” she said. “I was an entire mess from head to foot.”
She had tried and rejected medication, physical therapy, swimming and other approaches. “I was used to being treated in a condescending manner because they couldn’t diagnose me: ‘She’s menopausal, she’s crazy.’ ”
Before the study, “I didn’t know tai chi from a sneeze,” said Ms. Petersen, who has diabetes and other conditions. “I was like, ‘Well, O.K., I’ll get to meet some people, it will get me out of the house.’ I didn’t believe any of it. I thought this is so minimal, it’s stupid.”
After a few weeks, she said she began to feel better, and after 12 weeks “the pain had diminished 90 percent.” She has continued tai chi, lost 50 pounds and can walk three to seven miles a day.
“You could not have convinced me that I would ever have done this or continued with this,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a cure. I will say it’s an effective method of controlling pain.”
Dr. Shmerling said that though tai chi is inexpensive compared with other treatments, some patients would reject such an alternative therapy. And Dr. Gloria Yeh, a Beth Israel Deaconess internist and co-author of the editorial, said others “will say, ‘It’s too slow, I can’t do that.’ ”
But she said it offered a “gentler option” for patients deterred by other physical activities. “The mind-body connections set it apart from other exercises,” she said, adding that doctors are seeking “anything we can offer that will make patients say ‘I can really do this.’ ”
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
A Student Visit
Now and again instructors will get a visit from a former student who drops in to report on things. In my career I've gotten many such visit and had another recently. A week or so ago one of my young black belts came by before he shipped off to Germany with the US Air Force. Austin Cooner was one of those kids who started in the junior program, moved up to teen and then into the adults. In the meantime he worked on graduating from high school with an International Baccalaureat degree. His father, Jeff, and sister, Olivia, started taking kenpo, too. He and dad have a close relationship and went mountain climbing together, summiting some pretty tall peaks.
Austin enlisted and recently graduated top of his class in the USAF Air Traffic Controller school, which qualified him for a choice spot. Austin dropped in, in uniform, to say hello. He thanked me for being a positrive influence in his life and credits his martial arts training with helping him develop the necessary discipline to accomplish what he has. It's pretty satisfying to hear.
I've heard from many students like Austin, some as much as 30 years after they trained with me. One is an international lawyer (Khoa Do in San Francisco, and he fought on the Cung Le team there), Tony Velada in Chicago, now an IT guy for United Airlines, Terry Hyland, who is an FBI agent, and Chad Dugan of Ft. Myers, who is not just a nuclear engineer but finished medical school lately. One of my junior browns, Kal Judah grew up to go to the Air Force Academy ( I gave him his first flight in an airplane) and Pat McGerty of Chicago went to West Point. The list goes on.
I'm glad to have contributed to their success and could not do it without their parents. So if you have a mentor in your life that you haven't told them what they mean to you, do it. It may mean more than you could ever know. Too often, as instructors, we don't know what we did and it's great when you tell us.
Thanks.
Austin enlisted and recently graduated top of his class in the USAF Air Traffic Controller school, which qualified him for a choice spot. Austin dropped in, in uniform, to say hello. He thanked me for being a positrive influence in his life and credits his martial arts training with helping him develop the necessary discipline to accomplish what he has. It's pretty satisfying to hear.
I've heard from many students like Austin, some as much as 30 years after they trained with me. One is an international lawyer (Khoa Do in San Francisco, and he fought on the Cung Le team there), Tony Velada in Chicago, now an IT guy for United Airlines, Terry Hyland, who is an FBI agent, and Chad Dugan of Ft. Myers, who is not just a nuclear engineer but finished medical school lately. One of my junior browns, Kal Judah grew up to go to the Air Force Academy ( I gave him his first flight in an airplane) and Pat McGerty of Chicago went to West Point. The list goes on.
I'm glad to have contributed to their success and could not do it without their parents. So if you have a mentor in your life that you haven't told them what they mean to you, do it. It may mean more than you could ever know. Too often, as instructors, we don't know what we did and it's great when you tell us.
Thanks.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Podcasts update
Sice uploading my first podcasts in late June, I've found they've been downloaded over 1300 times. This past week Dr. Rowe and I did some on impact injuries to your breathing apparatus, catgorizing them three ways. You can affect breathing by shutting off the nerve signals, by choking off the air or by impact. I describe how KenpoTV works, too. Listen at
http://feed.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/3314/mp3.rss
or through i Tunes at
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=381705015
http://feed.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/3314/mp3.rss
or through i Tunes at
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=381705015
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Learn how to learn
Dr. Rowe and I were discussing something and we agreed that people often don't know how to learn. We're told to go study but not HOW to study. Here's an example.
He and I are working on the dynamics of breathing; the functional anatomy, chemical reactions and such. I need to know more. What do I do? Marc likes pictures. So he draws stuff for me (and you. See my website newsletters.) Then he adds a narrative. We follow up with discussion - "I'm gonna teach you something".
He gives me homework. I can go to Google and type in "respiration". I get loads of items. I can narrow it down if I need. I can also go to Google images if I need pictures, Google video to see animations. I go to Google scholar and the technical stuff from studies such as what the doctors write is there (read the abstracts).
Got the info. Make time to watch or read the material and take notes. Write down questions. It takes discipline. I found that the Chinese don't call someone Master until they have mastered Five Excellences. What I also found is that to do that you need some serious time management. Thomas Jefferson supposedly took 20 minutes a day per subject. That's a pretty effective time allotment, I've found. If you think abut it, it makes sense. You don't get bored with trying to read mathmatics for hours. You switch gears and keep things fresh. This may not apply to a college student with a big test coming but it will work for the rest of us.
I hate being called Master because I am not a master of kenpo or anything else. I am designated as such in three disciplines, but that's other people laying that on me. The kenpo world calls me master. In the aviation world I am a master flight instructor. In my work with the Civil Air Patrol I have a master level in two areas (specialties). But I know I need to know more and be better at it. So I pursue further education and that requires discipline to study and to know what to study. That's why I need a schedule.
The Dana organization prints a newsletter about studies of the brain. In a recent issue there was an article about how today's communication vehicles are actually changing the way we think. Instead of focusing we jump from place to place to gather information. It's affecting our ability to concentrate. Just what we need...
He and I are working on the dynamics of breathing; the functional anatomy, chemical reactions and such. I need to know more. What do I do? Marc likes pictures. So he draws stuff for me (and you. See my website newsletters.) Then he adds a narrative. We follow up with discussion - "I'm gonna teach you something".
He gives me homework. I can go to Google and type in "respiration". I get loads of items. I can narrow it down if I need. I can also go to Google images if I need pictures, Google video to see animations. I go to Google scholar and the technical stuff from studies such as what the doctors write is there (read the abstracts).
Got the info. Make time to watch or read the material and take notes. Write down questions. It takes discipline. I found that the Chinese don't call someone Master until they have mastered Five Excellences. What I also found is that to do that you need some serious time management. Thomas Jefferson supposedly took 20 minutes a day per subject. That's a pretty effective time allotment, I've found. If you think abut it, it makes sense. You don't get bored with trying to read mathmatics for hours. You switch gears and keep things fresh. This may not apply to a college student with a big test coming but it will work for the rest of us.
I hate being called Master because I am not a master of kenpo or anything else. I am designated as such in three disciplines, but that's other people laying that on me. The kenpo world calls me master. In the aviation world I am a master flight instructor. In my work with the Civil Air Patrol I have a master level in two areas (specialties). But I know I need to know more and be better at it. So I pursue further education and that requires discipline to study and to know what to study. That's why I need a schedule.
The Dana organization prints a newsletter about studies of the brain. In a recent issue there was an article about how today's communication vehicles are actually changing the way we think. Instead of focusing we jump from place to place to gather information. It's affecting our ability to concentrate. Just what we need...
Friday, August 13, 2010
Breathing, Part Two
I've added a second part to last month's article on breathing on my website Member section. Here's an excerpt.
Getting a sense of just how much more deeply you can breathe using both does the same as using maximum range of motion for learning a punch. You start to know how much you have and can get through “big” moves and then learn to condense them. You get the same amount of power in a shorter stroke. Now you can start to see what your lung capacity is and then begin to control your breath. This will be handy when you exert yourself and need to resort to a breathing technique to recharge yourself as you tire. In other words, you can use partial capacity for some of the exertion, enough to get the job done, and when you need more you change the breathing. This relates to the “second wind”. It’s part of a series of metabolism changes. It’s pretty complex and I’m not the guy to talk to about it. You can watch this to see the metabolic changes. It’s a little lame and has ads in it but you’ll get the idea. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/10323-matter-and-energy-glycolysis-and-cellular-respiration-video.htm
Let’s talk about reverse breathing. This is a complicated subject and I’m going to address it briefly. Normally you read about it in relation to internal martial arts. What they want to get you to do is instead of letting your belly stick out as it does with diaphragm breathing, they want you to keep it in. Very simply, this tends to pressurize air in the lower lung and cause it to permeate cell membranes and force some oxygenation. It’s way more complex than that and beyond what I want to cover here.
Go to http://www.leewedlake.com/ to join the Member section for $29/yr. There are almost 200 articles in there to help you enhance your education of kenpo and related subjects.
Getting a sense of just how much more deeply you can breathe using both does the same as using maximum range of motion for learning a punch. You start to know how much you have and can get through “big” moves and then learn to condense them. You get the same amount of power in a shorter stroke. Now you can start to see what your lung capacity is and then begin to control your breath. This will be handy when you exert yourself and need to resort to a breathing technique to recharge yourself as you tire. In other words, you can use partial capacity for some of the exertion, enough to get the job done, and when you need more you change the breathing. This relates to the “second wind”. It’s part of a series of metabolism changes. It’s pretty complex and I’m not the guy to talk to about it. You can watch this to see the metabolic changes. It’s a little lame and has ads in it but you’ll get the idea. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/10323-matter-and-energy-glycolysis-and-cellular-respiration-video.htm
Let’s talk about reverse breathing. This is a complicated subject and I’m going to address it briefly. Normally you read about it in relation to internal martial arts. What they want to get you to do is instead of letting your belly stick out as it does with diaphragm breathing, they want you to keep it in. Very simply, this tends to pressurize air in the lower lung and cause it to permeate cell membranes and force some oxygenation. It’s way more complex than that and beyond what I want to cover here.
Go to http://www.leewedlake.com/ to join the Member section for $29/yr. There are almost 200 articles in there to help you enhance your education of kenpo and related subjects.
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