My recent trip & seminar in New York was fantastic! Richard Garcia & Stan Koehler are not just great hosts, but wonderful people to be around, surrounded by wonderful friends, family & students! I always live by the attitude that you can learn from those you teach just as much as they can learn from you. But boy I never expected to learn quite so much in such a short amount of time, and to be so inspired!
I arrived in NYC Friday afternoon, greeted by Stan who right away gave me the New York experience taking me on trains and subways to East Harlem where I would be staying and teaching. I knew it could get crowded, but it really hit me when we entered an elevator that would comfortably fit four all of a sudden be filled with 6 to 8 people! Talk about violation of not just Threat Zone, but just space period. Following that, we had a nice walk to the house and then the dojo. It was great learning about facts and history of the area, as well as tasting some great food! One of the facts that I found interesting is that for such a big city, New York, and especially in East Harlem, doesn't have very many Martial Arts or Self-defense schools in the area. I was also troubled to hear of the violence that takes place a lot with the youth, more so than the images we see on TV happening to adults. The good news is that with people like Sifu Garcia and Stan Koehler, some of these kids are finding opportunities and help towards achieving the goals and dreams that they have, or never really put serious thought into thinking they could achieve because of their environment. One of the great people I met, Jonathan, put it well when he said, that he's learned that we shape our world with our words, so he tries to shape it in a way that helps him from being frustrated, or angry. Such Wisdom in application! Another great fact and new word I learned was gentrification.
You can look it up in a dictionary for a better definition, but it's basically where the middle-class & upper class come in and build newer buildings to move into areas like The Projects, displacing the poor people who were originally living in that area.
The worst part, as I learned from Diego (another great person, and good student), is that a lot of the store front buildings have the 2nd floors and up completely empty. And there is enough potential living space to house a lot of the homeless found on the streets of New York! Unbelievable.
The seminar itself went really well. It's very difficult to give people an overview of our entire method in two short days. So I showed as much as I could for the learning curve that was there, while at the same time leave everyone with information that they could train and build on. That way if I, or any other instructor goes over to visit, there can be growth for those who continuously come to each seminar to improve their abilities. We spent a lot of time on our Pre-figh
t/negotiation stance, the Threat Zone, and numerous footwork drills (especially dealing with ambush attacks and being pushed/pulled/grabbed by one person while defending against another...which the few kids that participated really liked as it was something they wished they knew during those moments they were "jumped" by attackers in the past) and the Powerline. Sunday involved more trapping techniques - Blindline & Double traps, closing the gap to get there, Basic Blow Aways, even defense against someone trying to tackle them to end up grappling, and ending with Slap Sparring.
I'm happy overall with what was accomplished, but I'm really happy with the results that took place Saturday. It shows that the newer way of presenting our long standing footwork variations can be picked up easily and combined really well. However, I don't want to take away from Sifu Garcia, who has been trying to work with his students to the best of his ability with the information he remembers from the 1-week Sijo intensive seminar he participated in, in August. Once again, his sincerity to get better and want to learn is so impressive and appreciated, and seen with his students who carry the focus and open mindedness that their teacher portrays often. It was nice to also see people who don't train with Sifu Garcia who are basically coming in new, with past experience in either traditional Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, or other styles, really put forth the effort to learn and try what I was teaching without trying to come in with the typical egotistical martial arts attitude where they still try to completely disregard whats being taught and do what they want to do. Everyone really tried to get it, and I was happy to see that energy. It's always greatly appreciated. You always hear people say they enjoy what we do and really liked it; I just hope they take whatever it is they enjoyed and actually try to incorporate it to what they do, and train it.
I unfortunately had apparently a sprained ankle during the seminar (as it was difficult walking around), and one of Stan's clients, Kevin who does a type of accupressure, message therapy graciously helped me by working on my ankle. I really wish I had the opportunity to say thank you again, but did not. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to finish off the rest of the seminar with the ability that I did. Turns out, too, that I have more reason to be thankful for his help, not just because he did so without any expectation in return, but also because he apparently works with high profile clients...celebrities even. So once again, I would like to say, Thank You Kevin!
Aside from the seminar though, as I mentioned earlier, I really learned a lot. Sifu Garcia's business partner, Stan Koehler teaches meditation to a lot of people in the inner city. But if you mention meditation to the people in that area, they think practicing meditation is a sign of weakness. That's why, in such intelligent fashion, Stan promotes what he offers not as meditation, but as Psychic Self-defense. Sounds cooler, and can be more appealing to those that think meditation is weakness. Thus allowing these people an opportunity to experience the benefits of meditation, as well as the communication skills that Stan teaches to reduce conflict and negative feelings that often occurs for those in all walks of life, let alone the inner city. Stan shared a few of these skills or focuses with me, and I'm eagerly practicing them within my family already to help with the relationships among parent/child, & significant other (or husband/wife) at home, and hopefully to see that spread in how my family (especially my kids) communicate with others outside of the family, too. Stan, was also gracious enough to lead me through my own meditation experience which was absolutely amazing! I thought I knew what meditation was before, but now I have a much better idea, and even greater appreciation for the benefits of meditation to both the mind and the body. Thus, now I'm practicing it daily to improve other aspects of my life. Thanks, Stan.
Finally, I just wanted to say that it was great meeting a lot of the people and getting to know them; especially Sifu Richard Garcia, his wife Alejandra, their kids and Sifu Garcia's mother. Richard, I consider you a friend and brother. Thanks for the great time! Alejandra thank you for hospitality! Thanks Stan & Jonathan for hosting the UFC get together Saturday night, and to Diego for hosting the Superbowl get together on Sunday! And also, I wanted to thank Mikey Miller, the 3rd Jr. Black Belt I gave years ago back in Shoreline, who now lives in New York. He helped out a lot in the seminar. And it was great spending time with him again before heading back home. Thank you for your friendship and being a little brother to me.
It was a pleasure meeting and interacting with them all. Hopefully I will see them all again in the future.
Couldn't have asked for a better 1st experience in the Big Apple!
t/negotiation stance, the Threat Zone, and numerous footwork drills (especially dealing with ambush attacks and being pushed/pulled/grabbed by one person while defending against another...which the few kids that participated really liked as it was something they wished they knew during those moments they were "jumped" by attackers in the past) and the Powerline. Sunday involved more trapping techniques - Blindline & Double traps, closing the gap to get there, Basic Blow Aways, even defense against someone trying to tackle them to end up grappling, and ending with Slap Sparring.
(Some of the particpants that were able to stick around for the group picture 
and to the Floating Punch, all participants really enjoyed the level of detail offered with the training. They also enjoyed how this level of detail in instruction helped make this seminar more than just mimicry and sweat inducing; instead becoming training with purpose to help start the participants on their journey to make the information, principles and techniques, truly "their own" - fitting their body type, personal tendencies, and physical abilities. Thus, allowing everyone to have the opportunity to go home and both remember what they did, and how to improve on it, and again, make it part of their own repetoire.
