I attended a special keiko in Millbury tonight held in conjunction with the Tae Kwon Do class taught by Rick Barrett. Roger Solomon arranged for the joint class, and Joe Zawielski taught. It was very interesting to see Shintaido through the eyes of other martial artists — made me appreciate what we have going. During one partner practice, I was … Read More
Boh at night: knocking down the stars
Last month, during the Perseid meteor shower, I decided to take my boh out to the lake at night to do a practice called “knocking down the stars.” Basically, as I understand it, you raise the boh in tenso (vertically overhead) and slowly begin making circles in the sky with the end of the boh. And so it goes…five minutes, … Read More
Group exercise: gazelles at the lake
Tonight we focused on one of my favorite group exercises: “gazelle.” With six of us forming a herd (flock?) of gazelles, we took turns leading the group forward, back, diagonal, back. Running around as a group, being aware of our partners’ directions, responding quickly to changes in direction by the lead gazelle. Always being aware of the center our our … Read More
Extending our reach: cutting the sky
Last week, we continued our exploration of the boh — what it feels like to work with it and some simple movements to warm up with. One theme we started to explore was “cutting.” Cutting is one of the basic themes in Shintaido, and you can do it a number of ways: with the boh, with the bokutoh (wooden sword), … Read More
Our first class: handling the boh
Our first practice, by the lake, shade and breeze, on the longest day of the year. Not a bad start!… Today we focused in our class on a few themes we’ll be visiting throughout the course: 1) handling the boh — what does it feel like? What momentum does it have? How do different bohs feel different? 2) using the … Read More
20 years later, I’m teaching a class…
After twenty some years of practice, I’m happy to be teaching an introductory class to Shintaido boh staff. Shintaido is an exercise/martial art developed in Japan from traditional martial arts, though focuses more on group activities, personal expression, and connection to nature. This new 8 week course will focus on exercise with the 6 foot boh (which will be provided) … Read More
ACM Conference: Pecha Kucha, Swords, and Exhibits
Gave my first Pecha Kucha presentation a couple nights ago at the Association of Children’s Museums annual conference in Philly. The session, organized by the ever savvy duo Paul Orselli and Peter Exley, allowed half a dozen or so of us to show 20 slides for 20 seconds each. And that’s it. I talked about (or tried to talk about … Read More
Fit Yoga Magazine Shoot
While we’re still in the month of March, I have to mention there’s a photo of me in the current issue of Fit Yoga magazine, demonstrating Shintaido, which I’ve been practicing for about 15 years. (In the magazine, I’m in the background on a Cape Cod beach, swinging a 6 foot staff called a “boh” over my head). What’s the connection … Read More