Tenguzake

Glenn is a lot of fun to drink with. Make sure that you buy him a beer if you ever get an opportunity. Did you read all his books and if so how did you like them? Be Genki, Tenguzake

Just finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Probably the best of the books so far and the ending wasn't unexpected. Currently reading: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell for work Personal Financial Planning by Gitman for a side business project. Advanced Stick Fighting by Masaaki Hatsumi for fun. Just came in the mail from Amazon yesterday. Be Genki, Tenguzake

I am very impressed with Warrior Wellness and what I've learned from the Maximology videos and intend to continue studying Coach Sonnon's material. This however, is the one place I feel that he is off track. Coach Sonnon and the Tribe's criticisms of traditional martial arts are too broad. They state that a person should be able to figure every thing out themselves and achieve a state of "mastery" without spending years at the feet of an instructor. I think that Coach Sonnon's methods probably can speed up the process of develpment of most martial artists. I don't think that most people can make it all up themselves using only his drills however. Or if they do, it will take them much longer than if they started with some base line of knowledge. Martial arts that have long histories are accumulations of knowledge of many people over many generations in many environments and they provide shortcuts to principles that are effective and are not always obvious to the uninitiated. Trying to find these by experimentation, while probably a great exercise in creativity and analytical thought, is time consuming and inefficient. The arts with long historys allow us to stand on the shoulders of those that have gone before and to speed up our own development by taking the knowledge that has already been found and starting from there. To draw an analogy, it is like starting to climb a mountain from the half way point as opposed to starting from the bottom. Your journey will be shorter and easier if you start half way up. My comments do not pertain to arts that require slavish imitation of the master with no tolernece for deviation, but to arts that are principal based that encourage the student to vary responses appropriatly while maintaining correct principles. I've been studying martial arts for the last 20 years and have been teaching for the last 11. In my experience the average person needs to reduce bad posture, the amount of tension they carry, and the desire to do everything with upper body strength alone before they can learn anything. There are no doubt a few exceptional individuals who could figure this out on their own, however the majority need guidance just to take this first step. Also, I have learned a tremendous amount from studying on my own and deconstructing techniques and putting them back together different ways, but I wouldn't have made it nearly as far if I hadn't received the insights into movement sophistication that I have from my teachers. My 2 cents. Be Genki, Tenguzake

The Maximology Video Set is a 5 tape set that appears to have been filmed at Coach Sonnon's first CST Instructor's training (Alpha Cadre). Tape 1 starts with some martial arts drills. The first drill is one in which a person takes turns pushing the major joints of his partner's body to deform the partner's skelatal structure. The goal of the person being pushed is to allow the force to move only the joint affected and to let that force go by. I'm used to practicing complete evasion of attacks, but this is a cool additional level in that it takes evasion to a closer level. It shows how to dissipate force if your initial evasion hasn't worked. This drill is done first with open hands and then with closed fists. Later in the video Coach Sonnon teaches a method of recruiting the shoulder elbow and wrist joints for a punch. He refers to this as Wavelocity. I've been playing with this method of punching and it still doesn't feel natural to me. It looks like something out of a break dancing routine. I'll keep playing with it and let you know if it gets better. There is one other partner drill in which one partner moves the other parner's body one joint at a time and the partner holds that position until he is moved again or until gravity causes him to fall. I've seen this drill referred to as the marionette drill in some of the articles on Coach Sonnon's site. I think this will be a good drill for a beginning martial arts student who has not already internalized effective principles of breaking a person's balance. I haven't tried any of the partner drills with my students yet, but will do so and will report back on this as well. The remainder of tape 1 has variations on some of the exercises from Warrior Wellness. I think that a person really needs the benefit of at least the beginning level of Warrior Wellness before they would be able to get much out of this section due to the relative complexity of the moves. I've been doing Warrior Wellness for a few weeks now and I really like it. My experience with the introductory level is that it is fairly easy. The intermediate level is significantly more complex and while doable at my current level of skill will require much practice to look and feel natural and fluid. I do think that Warrior Wellness is a great adjunct to any exercise or stretching program regardless of your physical goals or experiences. Tape 2 is pretty short at 37 minutes while Tape 1 is around 60 minutes. Tape 2 deals entirely with what Coach Sonnon refers to as Core Activation. He talked in Tape 1 about the bridge and about how to increase the sophistication of the movement. In this tape he demonstrates much of that and also of how to increase the sophistication of many abs exercises. One exercise was to start in a seated position on the floor and to roll back onto the shoulders raising the legs with knees bent over your head and then as you rock back up to a seated position extending forward with your solar plexus to arch your spine. The exercises get more complex from here. To this exercise instead of the arch at the top of the roll come to your feet. Then come to your feet and standup and arch your spine, tighten your glutes and your thighs for a full range of motion. There were several more variations from here. He also taught several exercises from a spinal arch position and from a position with the feet on the ground over your head. All of these exercises involved rolling to some degree or other and there were many that involved turning your body over laterally from these positions. It is difficult to describe these in words and even when you see them you have to rewind the tape and watch them over a few times to really see what he is doing. Based on some of what I've read on the Rmax site, I think that these exercises are what Coach Sonnon considers Body Flow exercises or possibly Kinetic Chains. I loved these exercises on tape 2. There were complex enough to be really challenging but not so complex as to be impossible. They also had a feel of play as opposed to a feel of exercise, despite which at the end of the tape I could tell that I had really worked my core. I love Hindu squats and pushups for what they do for me, but doing them is definitely exercise and not play. Doing Coach Sonnen's exercises from Tape 2 felt like I was playing like a little kid not doing another exercise program with set goals and expectations. Martial arts training and riding my bike feel like play as well. Pilates and Combat Conditioning, much as I like them don't feel like play. I actually can't wait to show some of these things to my toddler. I think he will be entertained seeing Daddy roll around on the ground. There were a few things I didn't like about the tapes. First they appear to have been shot with a consumer level video recorder, which thankfully was on a tripod. The only microphone is the one on the camera and at times Coach Sonnon is difficult to hear. I do wish they had splurged for the personal mike as they did for Warrior Wellness. The video editing is also pretty primitive on these tapes. Next, there is not much explanation tying one section or one tape to the next. They definitely presuppose that the viewer has prior experience with Coach Sonnon's work. He refers to a manual through the tapes that we as viewer's of the tapes alone don't have the benefit of seeing. I definitely recommend that a person get some experience with Warrior Wellness and read some of the articles at Coach Sonnon's site before viewing these tapes, else they may not make as much sense. I'll add a review for Tapes 3, 4 & 5 probably this weekend so look for part 2 to this review. Finally, I'd like to thank our anonymous donor for these tapes and Sean for mainting Taobums and the library so that I've gotten the opportunity to see them. Thanks again to Sean and Trunk for the initial introduction to Coach Sonnon's material. I will definitely pursue it further. Be Genki, Tenguzake

Sean, Yeah, the neck release from CKF 3 is a very nice addition to the neck exercises in WW. I think this will help me cut down on trips to the chiropractor. Be Genki, Tenguzake

I like Warrior Wellness so far. My schedule has been hosed up since I got it so I'm not doing it every day, but the times I've done it I do like it. I usually add some of the Chi Kung warmups from Winn's CKF 3 DVD after doing the Warrior Wellness routine. A couple of times I've done the routine in my office while listening to lawyers drone on in long conference calls. The deal I'm working on closes next week so I expect to have my review of Maximology out probably the week after. Be Genki, Tenguzake

Nope. Late 30s and it is still a favorite in the Tenguzake household. Maybe because I can touch my nose with my tongue... Have to try the coconut oil. Kids are an onslaught. Be Genki, Tenguzake

I second Peter's recommendation. If you go enjoy yourself. Tenguzake

My advice would be to go ahead and take your state's RE licensing course. It will be cheaper than one of the RE guru seminars and it will give you a decent idea of basics and what the laws are. In Florida you can do the licensing course for about $250 over the web or on CD ROM. The state exam costs about another $150. Once you have the license, you can apply your split of commision when you buy a property to the down payment which reduces the amount of cash you need upfront for the purchase. I'd be sceptical of most of the no-money-down stuff out there. Some of it is possible and even legal, but RE is hot enough in most places that there is no incentive for a seller to accept a second mortgage when there are often several cash offers available. If you decide you want to do this stuff professionally, check out the education program offered by the CCIM institute. http://www.ccim.com/ In my opinion you'll get a hell of a lot more out of that than any guru seminar. Good luck, Tenguzake

I like Keller's Millionaire Ral Estate Investor. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846 I own one rental property and want to either buy more or build a new fourplex. I haven't had the time to sink into it lately, but will later in the year or early next. RE gurus abound and often their advice is questionable at best or illegal at worst. Check out John Reed's guru rating site. http://www.johntreed.com/Reedgururating.html If I remember correctly you are already a real estate agent. Why don't you check out the CCIM program and do deals higher on the food chain? I think you'd get more and better education and a designation that is recognized internationally at a similar cost to some of the RE guru courses out there. Best of luck and be genki, Tenguzake

'02 & '03 is when my friend was over there. He told me he used to run into Chelsea regularly on campus. From his stories it sounds like Oxford is a great town. Your Pagan Pub Moot's sound like fun. Thanks for the story. Be Genki, Tenguzake

I haven't met Jan yet. I did have an email exchange with Mogg regarding bringing Jan over to Florida to do a seminar. At the end of the day our schedules didn't synch up, so it didn't happen. Since then my schedule has been too busy to go back to Mogg and to try to set up a time to do it. I'd love to meet him though. When were you in Oxford? I had a friend that was over there a couple of years ago doing an MBA at Magdalene. He is one of the capitalists. Please share your stories. Be Genki, Tenguzake

There are a set of mudras that are found within Ninjutsu and some other Koryu Japanese arts like the Tenshin Katori Shinto Ryu. They are derived from Shingon and Tendai Buddhism and basically are one of the parts of the San Mitsu or triple secret of coordinating thought, word & deed. In practice what is done is to connect a specific visulization with a specific mantra or spell and with a mudra to bring about a certain state of consciousness that aids in the completion of some goal. To develop the mudra as a trigger for a specific state of consciousness, the visualization and breathing exercises or chanting of the mudra is done first to bring about the state of consciousness and the mudra is connected to it. Eventually like Pavlov's dogs and their bell, doing the mudra will bring on the visualization and mental state associated with it. Modern Bujinkan Ninjutsu practitioners do not practice these for the most part. Stephen Hayes, I think, still teaches them in his Quest Center/Toshindo schools. Steve at some point was ordained as a Tendai preist. The use of a mudra as a trigger is something that was "rediscovered" by the founders of NLP. They refer to the same process of creating a desired mental state and setting a trigger to bring that state about as "setting an anchor". An anchor can be virtually anything, but is usually some sort of touch. It should be a touch that is not something like a handshake, where the person will constantly be getting similar touches, but something unusual where the anchor will not be likely to be destroyed. It could be a certain pressure touch on the shoulder or the elbow or tugging your left ear a certain way, etc. When setting the anchor, only apply the trigger as the desired state is increasing. Once it starts to wane, release the anchor. You don't want to anchor the desired state getting weaker. Jan Fries in Living Midnight uses the NLP approach to set some anchors to bring about trance states associated with the Taoist Immortals. In his Cauldron of the Gods, he uses the same method for establishing trance states associated with certain trees. His material is great if you are attracted to things magickal. It is possible to set anchors in others as well. I think there is some discussion of the setting of anchors to anchor good feelings in a person you are trying to seduce at www.fastseduction.com. I hope this is helpful. Be Genki, Tenguzake

LOL!! That's the same way you get people onto a Tokyo train. Q: how many people can you put on a Tokyo train? A: One more. I'll let you know when I get to 200. Be Genki Ron, Tenguzake

Genki is healthy, lively, well in Japanese. "How are you?" in Japanese is "Ogenki desu ka?" I lived in Japan for almost 3 years and it is just a turn of phrase that I use with my friends, many of whom are martial artists.

I'm up to 52 Hindu squats and 26 Hindu pushups. I hate doing the pushups, but I love what they are doing for me. I haven't started bridging yet. I'm doing some Pilates exercises and crunches instead. Yoda, are the books and tapes worth the $$? Be Genki, Tenguzake

Very Cool!!! This is a great resource. Thanks

I'm glad you guys are enjoying his stuff. Here is Jan's website: http://www.noctilucae.com/janfries/ And here is a sample of his writing: http://www.noctilucae.com/janfries/article1.htm You may do better buying his books through his publisher, Mandrake of Oxford than from Amazon. Amazon can take a long time to get his books to you. Be Genki, Tenguzake

Dark beer, red wine, and cognac are my favorites. Every once in a while I have whisky or tequila. I mostly drink on weekends and during business dinners. I have about a cigar a week. I practice after drinking and have felt no ill effects.

Lozen, Are you a Bujinkan student as well? I know a lot of the people involved in Warrior School. Be Genki, Tenguzake

I'm no longer actively involved in Western Magick because I think that for me personally chi kung and the Tracker School philosophy material is more effective. If I was going to do anything with it again, I would use Jan Fries's material as primary sources. I would describe his approach as speculative shamanism more than anything else. He draws from AOS, chi kung, NLP, other traditional neo-pagan material, and he also delves into the archaelogical record of various early peoples and makes some educated guesses as to what their religious/magickal practices were and then he tries out those practices. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-h...9096254-9238356 Living Midnight is a speculative approach to Taoist magick and he cites Chia in his bibliography. Seidways focuses on using shaking to enter trance states. Helrunar focuses on Northern European magick and actually has one of the best chapters I've seen on dealing with energy imbalances. Visual Magick and Cauldron of the Gods were good too. A decent secondary source is Phil Hines' books. He is more straight chaos magick but he still has some interesting ideas if you are drawn down this path. Good luck, Tenguzake

Trunk, My bed is too high to use the corner for Yab Yum... I'll have to buy the cube or come up with something else. By the way, Alchemical Taoism rocks! You have put together a great site with a lot of valuable info. Keep up the good work! Tenguzake

Sorry, I posted this after page 1. I didn't see page 2 yet...

This is something I've often wondered about Tom Brown and the Tracker School crowd. I haven't been in such a concentrated group of smokers since I lived in Tokyo. Peter, RedFox, any thoughts?

Very cool that there are a few of us. I'm doing Philosphy II in Nov. in Florida this year. What will be your next class? Be Genki, Tenguzake