Wow! What an adventure! (Long post)

June & July have been quite the months for me...
There's been a lot of learning these past few months. It's the reason why the updates don't come quite so fast as they used to. The great thing is there's a definitive direction that I want to go, and that IAM is headed.



Let's start with the month of June.

In June, I had the wonderful honor of once again attending & participating in another of Steve Smith's Mountain Retreats. I am continuously astonished at how authentically sincere Steve is with everyone he interacts with. There are opportunities that he could easily speak "matter of factly" to someone even if it hurts their feelings. Instead, he goes the route of compassion, but is never afraid to passionately share his concerns about the arts and making sure that each generation helps improve on the previous. My kids were SO thankful for the opprotunity to train with everyon, as well as with him, that they were so postively emotional about the experience. It speaks well of not just Steve, but the people he surrounds himself with; especially his students Brett & Tim. My boys are so thankful to them!

No matter what others on the net may say, his stuff WORKS! And it works to a degree of minimal effort & maximum effectiveness that I've been chasing after my entire life! And it involves more than just fighting! Steve often talks about how his teacher Fook Yeung would say "Gung-Fu is for healing". Boy did that retreat help heal me! Good interaction, good people, training in nature, having good family time at night in our own rented cabin...healing definitely occured! I look forward to learning more of what he teaches; the Fook Yeung Chuan.

Also, in June I learned and experienced what it's like to to see someone persevere for SO LONG and be rewarded for their efforts that I felt really uplifted, proud, and inspired! This is all thanks to watching my Dad walk with hundreds of other graduates, after his personal journey of over 30 years (caused by taking up the responsiblity of being a provider for his sons and wife, and all the things that come with it) to finally receive his PhD in his late 60's!

Love you Dad! So Proud of You!

Towards the end of June, i saw another example of hard work being rewarded when I saw my friend and former student Elias Ka'uhane perform during his first CD release party (which you can purchase on iTunes even)! It was a great event filled with support from everyone who are friends and close to Elias and/or just supportive of the Hawaiian local boy doing what he does so well, & getting closer to getting even more notoriety for it.

Proud of you Elias! and Great music too! (At least to this fan of all types of Hawaiian music)

Now for the month of July

Another Mountain Retreat with Steve Smith this time meeting some more great martial artists, traveling from as far east as Japan, South from California, North in Canada, and as far West as Geneva, Switzerland. More great learning to be had as this retreat gathered instructors in Judo, Filipino Martial Art of Visayan Style Corto Kadena/Lara Mano Eskrima, and Non-Classical Kung-Fu.

It's nice to see people of different styles come together and not try to let ego slip into the trainnig and make it negative, but rather have everyone open minded, sharing, willing to help everyone grow! A learning environment that can only be given credit to, thanks to the leadership of Steve Smith.

Then, last weekend I was able & thankful for the opportunity to participate in a 2 day seminar conducted by long time Jesse Glover Student and European representative, Pierre Hartman of Non-Classical Kung-Fu.

Learning from Pierre was a Great experience! Here is a man who is fast, can hit hard, and can really DO & make Work what he's learned, as well as teach it well to those that learn from him.

Some of the innovations he shared were not just so effective but really emulated the importance of & holy grail of Simplicity that Jesse Glover really pushed. And the best part about Pierre...NOT arrogant at all; Totally approachable. Really like the guy! Can't wait to learn from him more in the future!

There are so many other people i learned from and got to meet/train with for the first time this month that I would love to do so again in the future, and like Pierre are people I am happy to have met and hope to develop a good friendship with.

It's really been a great two months. And it all culminated with my kids class coming to a close for the summer (starting back up in September), which was a class I can proudly say there were definite improvements in movement, posture, balancing, strength gains, and improved interactions amongst kids who in the beginning were at odds a little.

Looking forward to taking all this information and experience and bringing out progression for myself and my students in the coming months.

Persevere, work hard, treat others well, only be part of a group with positive supportive people, who can help you heal and grow!