Biggest freshest dandelion I’ve ever seen, in our side yard. I could dive right into it.
Winter practice (kangeiko) at Shintaido Farm…
Shintaido North East gathers for special practice over a two days a couple times a year. Here we are at our winter practice with friends from Quebec, meeting to sharpen our focus in the new year.
Making my own boh staff at Artisan’s Asylum makerspace
I’ve been hanging out at Artisan’s Asylum, largest makerspace on the East Coast, off and on for the last eight months or so. 40,000 square feet of tools, studios and workshops, including woodworking, electronics, metalsmithing, 3D printing…the amazing list of upcoming classes here. I was drawn there for access to woodworking tools in my quest to create my own Shintaido boh staff. … Read More
the keiko where we ended up in the pond…
…Wonderful keiko with Joe Zawielski at historic Trout Brook…trails, a heron, moon behind clouds, and the pond where we all ended up… (Splashing around in the water with the community of friends I’ve come to know over years, going out for dinner after…I’ll post some photos below in the “read more…” link, chasing each other around the field before the dip in the … Read More
My PechaKucha Presentation at ACM: “Behold the Stick”
So, here are the slides from my presentation at the Assoc. of Children’s Museum conference’s informal evening event. The theme: the stick is an undervalued tool, one that I rely on in Shintaido to connect me with nature. Some of the major points: We use the stick (boh, jo, bokutoh) in Shintaido to extend our reach. (Too often we limit … Read More
Becoming a digital me…
From my Shintaido adventures in Quebec a couple weeks ago, I tried out the digitizing bodysuit, testing it out for Bruno Bernier’s game project. (It’s the stretchy suit we’ve seen with the white orbs pasted around the body so the 24 cameras can track your movement). One thought: it’s pretty fascinating to see your movement tracked and transformed this way. … Read More
Knocking down the stars: Perseid meteor shower
Went out tonight for the remnants of the annual Perseid meteor shower. I’ve started a tradition where I take my boh (or jo) out, and practice the activity “knocking down the stars” during the meteor shower. The form is to slowly turn the boh overhead in the sky, making circles above, and knocking down the stars. (See my crude drawing). … Read More
An experiment: listening to trees
After the Shintaido International 2012 event, I have a couple themes running in my mind: connecting (or unifying) with nature, and developing my own meaningful practices to do this. And, following the event, we had an nice informal keiko (practice) led by Clélie Dudon focusing on listening to our partners. There’s a jumping exercise we do in Shintaido (tachi jump), palm … Read More
Shintaido International 2012: a few notes
I just returned from the largest, most significant Shintaido event I’ve been to, held July 3-6 at Sonoma State University north of San Francisco. To set the context: Shintaido is a living, growing martial art, one whose founder and many early practitioners are still alive. We had the rare opportunity to both witness and participate in the development of the … Read More
Intro Shintaido at Museums and the Web
I’m in San Diego for the Museums and the Web conference. Given that I’m on east coast time and will be waking up 3 hours earlier than the morning scheduled events, figured I’d do a little Shintaido in a park on the edge of the hotel property with a nice view of the water. If you’re here at the conference, … Read More