As a quick update to restart this feed here are some exciting things going on in the World of The British Ninja right now; 

• I have been named as the Legends of China Presidential Guest on the UCLA Martial Arts Silk Road to the Future China trip in 2015. More details to come....
• We begun research on Martial Arts & Cognitive Ability on Monday and have a great group of students!
• I am continuing to prep for my TBA Level 2 Muay Thai test which will be happening very soon I think!
• Hoping to begin a semi-regular teaching program in Sherman Oaks in the next couple of months. Stay tuned for more information. 

3 things I am grateful for; 

1. Good food. I just had spicy meatballs and spaghetti and spiced it up a bit myself...delicious (yes I am grateful for being able to eat, and eat well etc...but I just wanted a little mention of damn straight good food.
2. Creativity in all forms.
3. Not having everything I ever wanted.

My positive experiences today...great turnout at the Martial Arts Leadership Team :) Awesome story telling at Zanzibar Santa Monica at the Moths - Story Slam, some funny, some sad, some shocking, some bad! But all in all a great experience and cool venue. Meeting some excited students ready to train in martial arts, such a relief that people showed up! It gives a good promising vibe to the rest of the year! 

Exercise - Taught the prospective MaLT members some; Savate, Hapkido, Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai and FMA :) 

Meditation - I think this one is my nemesis....I did not Reiki myself to sleep last night, I read a new book "The Element" By Sir Ken Robinson....could reading be construed as mediation in any way? If so that is what I am doing again today for meditation :) If not then I may need some help on this one! 

3 things I am thankful for today;

1. Having a regular paying job :) (Thank you for pay day!)
2. Guro Dan's stories
3. Being healthy, especially my back holding up over the weekend :)

Positive Experience - One of my colleagues came into my office to day to chat and told me about her weekend seeing Adam Ant in San Diego! Free hotel and the Surf Liner train down there...sounded like alot of fun. Made me want to go off on an adventure! I did email her and tell her how much I appreciated everything she did for the department, I don't think she gets much recognition so I though I would give her some! :)

Exercise -  JKD I & II Classes at the Inosanto Academy

Meditation - Reiki sent to Shelby Chlopak for her neck and a restful sleep :)

Per advice from Shawn Anchor (TED Talks) I will start posting the following every day (or post for a few days when I get the chance!). each day I will be; meditating, exercising, writing 3 things I am grateful for, journaling about something positive and perform a random act of kindness. 



3 Things I am grateful for today (9/30/12); 
1 - An awesome collection of very talented staff at UCLA Instructional Programs.
2 - The opportunity to see photographic art about rock and roll for free.
3 - Organized and efficient student supervisors.
4 - Just got invited to a good friends wedding! (cheating with 4) - Congrats Ben Hopper!

My random act of kindness was giving my DJ instructor a ride to Venice so that his fiancé did not have to drive as far to pick him up. He had driven from San Francisco to attend my training meeting after attending a sponsorship event for his company 'JetPack' (provides cool DJ accessory bags) and therefore had no car and was pretty bushed, I think he was grateful :) 

I was also very fortunate to be able to assist Guro Conrad Cayman in demoing some blended Hapkido/Silat techniques at the 2012 West Coast FMA congregation on Saturday, it was a fantastically positive environment with all different types of styles and communities of different martial arts playing together in Gigies backyard! We represented the Inosanto Academy pretty well with around 10 of us there just having fun with FMA all day, got to joke, train and eat with my academy brothers which is always a positive thing :) I would also like to add that the Bruin Fest this year was incredibly positive, zero stress happy students, great instructors and awesome photography from JotoPhoto!

Until next time....

TBN.

My workshop had a good crowd for 8am today, about 20 people showed up to learn about martial arts and self defense. Zoomed through drills and techniques from JKD, Silat, Savate, Muay Thai, Capoeira and FMA....brief talk on self defense and I was out of time. My favorite moments were when the Hawaiian family from my Polynesian Games workshop on Wednesday showed up. All four kids were dressed out in there Karate Gi's and belts, and at the end they all came up to me, the two older boys bowed and shook hands. When the little girl came up I bowed, she bowed...then came up and hugged me! Cutest thing ever. Check out the photos below to see the workshop. Thank you to Tom Parry who was my reluctant assistant and photographer!!

8am tomorrow I shall be teaching on the beautiful Kahuku Terrace at the Turtle Bay Resort of North Shore Oahu, HI. My class will be "Intro to Martial Arts and Self Defense" I am going to attempt to show/teach 7 different arts (JKD. Silat, Savate, Muay Thai, Capoeira, FMA and Hapkido) in 50 minutes....possible?

  My intention is to show all the different bows and salutations and a simple drill        from each one, then go over basic self defense tips....no time for messing around.          Wish me luck :)

The British Ninja made an appearance at the memorial to the late Sifu Jerry Poteet today. Sifu Poteet was a student of Sigung Bruce Lee and has taught countless students and instructors for the past 60 years!! It was a very moving service with Jason Scott Lee breaking down while talking about his mentor and Linda Lee Cadwell speaking on his behalf also. While it was a very respectful service there was definitely underlying tones of the JKD nucleus vs. concepts argument. I will stick with Guro Dan's typical response in that I am too busy training to worry about it. One thing I will say is that while I did not know Sifu Jerry Poteet, he must have been a great man to elicit such beautiful words from so many people at the memorial.