Sending everyone best wishes for a happy New Year from Downunder. It looks like Brisbane is going to have a wet end to 2024 but the grass is always greener after a storm, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to take aim and share some focussed mindscope thoughts to usher in the year ahead. 1.      Align your thought processes with positive imagery to chart your course. 2.      Gain clarity by increasing your awareness of and ‘mindmunch’ on the patterns that rule nature and ensure a seamless and fluid order to the world we live in.  3.      Flex your ’mindscope’ to squeeze something out of you that you didn’t know was there and in so doing train your soul. 4.      There is a new hunger for peace. Focus your ‘mindscope’, play your part and believe the seeds of peace you plant today will take root in your children and grandchildren’s lives. 5.      Not everything is what it seems. Use your ‘mindsight’ to ‘think your see’. 6.      Mindflip reality because everything has an opposite and reverse. The truth is, most people don't live, they race. Holding hands and sticking together will make us all feel happier and less lonely. Look at the ‘seat of you’ to work on your happiness. 7.      Tune your ‘mindsound’. Listen to the sounds coming out of you. Every thought, emotion, belief, or behavior you have creates a frequency that travels outside your body, carrying that frequency in a wave of vibration that's either positive or negative, influencing the world around you.  8.      A person’s strength doesn’t lie in their sword but in their brain. Your heart has its own brain. The higher order of logic and understanding comes from the heart. Unlocking your heart opens awareness to feelings and allows us to receive thoughts that lead with compassion. Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it. ‘Hold your think’ on this because this is a strength not taught. 9.      What you care about, you attract. What you attract, you create. What you create, you harvest. Reach out and touch somebody. What kind of touch will you add? 10. Remember, gates swing open, gates swing closed…and gates lock. Recognize you have choices. Aligning your choices with discipline will create moderation which leads to balance and balance leads to peace. Run your dream. Earn your tranquility and 'miti your gates'. 11. There are lines seen and lines unseen. There are lines straight, and lines curved. There are blurred lines. There are curved lines that begin where they end, making a circle. A line is a moral code. A circle of ethics with boundaries. Your lines define who you are. 12. When life is out of balance, wobble happens. Is the weight, mass, and density of your dark and light sides, proportioned? Synchronize your spin with your juggle. Happy New Year everyone.

Great time had at Surfer’s Paradise on our fabulous Gold Cast yesterday afternoon. Dominic Jones from Sendai, Japan caught up with Ian Ratcliffe and I from Brisbane to spend some time working on American Chuan Fa and Paxtial Arts concepts that went late into the evening. It’s an absolute pleasure to have Dominic join us on his 2nd trip “Downunder”. It’s turning out to be an annual event. We have a couple more chances throughout the week to get together before Dominic heads home on Sunday. Suffice to say there’s some great exchanges of philosophies, knowledge, skills and experiences amongst the 3 of us. So good to have you here Dominic albeit briefly.

My grandson Charles was having a sleepover with us this past weekend. On Sunday morning he awoke bright and early and declared, “Poppy, I’m ready for you to start teaching me karate.” And with that and a smile on his little face, he handed me his mums (my daughter Tash’s) white belt from 20 years ago. He quickly snapped to attention, bowed, and dropped into his meditating horse stance. Then arms and legs started going everywhere as he morphed into a ninja turtle lol. Charles is 6 and has Autism and ADHD. I’ve been hesitant to teaching him anything more than standing in a meditating horse stance to develop his discipline, control his breathing and become still. In this position he knows the only two things he is allowed to do is blink and breathe. Seeing how highly stimulated he was, I took this opportunity to give him his very first lesson in Paxtial Arts. I’d been thinking about how to teach what we have learned thus far in the philosophy course and I figured if I can teach Charlie, I can teach anyone. So I plugged my laptop into my 75” TV and put up an image of our glyph wheel. I asked him to get his colouring pencils, some blank paper and to take a seat. I asked him what do you see? He said, “this isn’t karate Poppy”. I asked more specifically, tell me three things you see. He answered, “circles, lines and colours,  it this isn’t karate Poppy, I want you to teach me what you taught mummy and Chloe (one of younger students preparing for her junior black belt exam). Time for a “pattern interrupt” and so I told him that his mum and Chloe and I had to start at the beginning, pointing as I said that to the mind section course glyph. I asked Charles, what does that look like and he answered, “my brain”. Perfect I said, and asked him if he could use his brain to draw the glyph wheel. After drawing this and writing, “Charles my glyph wheel” on the paper, I asked if he could name the colours of the course glyphs. Interestingly he went counterclockwise starting with the colours for Certify, Qualify, and Freeflow rather than clockwise with Philosophy, History, and Law. Time for another pattern interrupt. I said, “Hey Charlie, you’re good at math right?” and handed him another set of paper. I asked him to write down the number zero. What does that look like I asked and he replied, “a circle Poppy”.  Show me how you right that down, I asked. He did that and I then asked what is zero plus one. He wrote that down and I asked what that looked like and said, “a line”. “ Hmmm”, I said, “don’t you think that’s funny that the first two numbers are a circle and line and that’s what you said the glyph wheel looked like to you?” He said, “I know what comes next”. I asked what was one plus one. “Two”. What’s two plus one? “Three, Poppy I know what comes next”. This is where the teacher became a student. I fully assumed that he was going to say that four was the next number, so I asked Charlie, “OK what is it Mr. smarty pants?” To my astonishment he pointed to the figures on the page and said, “three plus two equals five!”He had picked up on the Fibonacci number sequence progression. We then worked through this all the way to 144. Not only that, but then I showed him how to graph that out and he then drew the boxes and the beginning spiral line! Then I directed his attention back to the glyph wheel on the T.V. pointing to all the lesson glyphs I asked him to count them all. He said, “I don’t have to Poppy, I already know, there’s 144.” Schooled again by a 6 year old. “Poppy, this isn’t karate”, he declared. “Stand up, show me your attention stance”, I asked. Up he got and I mirrored that. “What do I look like?”, I asked. “A straight line”. Now hold your arm up and open your hand I asked him. “What does that look like?” “A straight line Poppy”. Now make a fist. “Is that like a circle?” “Yes, Poppy”. I went back to the glyph wheel. “Tell me what you think are the three most important colours in this circle”, as I pointed to the section glyphs. “Red, yellow and blue, Poppy”. I then asked him what he thought the images within those colours looked like, and he replied with “my eyes”, “my ears” and a “hi-five”, lol. From here I went on to showing him how to do an upward block and pointed out how the path of the movement of his arm went from a straight line into a curve has it passed over his head. His little face lit up, “That’s like Paw Patrol but more, with a little bit extra”. This entire event only went for about 15 or 20 minutes being the limited of his attention span, but within that space of time we touched on , colours, math, reading, writing, sight, sound, touch, and physical movement. When he left to go home later that day, he gave me a hug and a kiss goodbye and said, “I will keep practicing my mind Poppy.” I love this little guy so much.

Wishing everyone all the best for 2024, the Year of the Dragon and the dawning of a new era.

During my recent stay in Hawaii whilst making my way home from visiting Mr. and Mrs. Parker, I had the opportunity to do some research into Hawaiian culture and in particular, the Hawaiian art of Lua. I learned alot about the deep sprirituality of the Hawaiian culture which echoed some of the discussions I had with Mr. and Mrs. Parker about syncronicity, spititual guides and legacy. I experienced some weird occurances on my pilrimmage which caused me to stop and ponder how many coincidences can their be before it becomes mathematically impossible. Many things made me go, hmmm. One of the more interesting things I learned was that Hawaiian’s believe that when you are out of alignment, when you step away from your responsibilities, your ancestors have no identity because their line stops with you. So when you are lost and out of balance and you step away from your responsibilities, and from your place in community then interestingly your ancestors, your line stops – there’s no more future. It's a bit of a long post so I've attached it as a file below for your to read. This book is a good read too.

As we approach another Christmas, my wish is that we can all activate our heroic potential to lead our best lives with courage and love, to usher in the birth of a new era where peace and goodwill flourishes for humanity.   Thank you for your friendship throughout this year and let's play the pipes of peace into a united and harmonious future for all. From my family to yours, may you all enjoy a wonderful Christmas and I hope that 2024, (the year of the dragon), is the year that you thrive in health and love, happiness and peace. In light of all the terrible and fearful things going on around the world right now, I think this song has a lot to say and I'd like to share that with you. When the War is Over - John Farnham. Aloha and maluhia

I have just spent 3 incredible days with Mr. and Mrs. Parker at Chateau de Parker and the Snow Globe Cafe. The experience was uplifting and it reinforced to me the monumental power that Paxtial Arts has to humbly and heroically blaze a new trail. It also awakened me to the very real possibility that each of us, one by one can help humankind to flourish and to do the greatest good in ways never thought possible. It is so fitting that Chateau de Parker is ground zero for Paxtial Arts. Peace, goodwill and abundance live there. I have felt the energy and a presence that eminates from both Mr. and Mrs. Parker that is just so sincere and authentic. We are all so very fortunate to have them as our beacon. If you have the opportunity to visit them, take it! I can talk to you about it. I can show you pictures. But it is something that you need to feel and experience. It will touch your soul. As I write this, I'm sitting at the Splash Bar of the Sheraton Kaiulani Hotel in Waikiki listening to the beautiful tones of Hawaiian music. I was mesmerised by a Hawaiian sunset earlier this evening as I stood fully grounded at the waters edge of Waikiki Beach. This trip as been my personal Camino pilgrimage and to round-out this adventure, I took a 10km walk this morning to what is arguably the birthplace of Kenpo Karate, the Nu'uanu Y.M.C. A. Now, 10kms I agree is not much of walk but with my Achilles heel injury on my left ankle and plantar fasciitis of my right heel, every step was like walking barefoot on stones, and it hurty a lot, lol. Anyway I was in search of the commemorative plaque to Professor William Kwai-sun Chow which was placed there about 2007. Unfortunately it was no longer there but I got to speak to one of the Y.M.C.A. staff, a guy named Dane Tai. He had no idea of the spiritual and culture significance of this building and before I knew it, I was giving a history lesson to 6 people who were equally unaware. They were blown away that this old guy who just walked in off the street from Australia, knew more than they did about their own culture and history. I mean to kenpo people, this place is somewhat holy ground. Anyway Dane said he knew some of the old directors and he would see if he could track down its whereabouts. Nonetheless it was well worth the walk even though it poured rain just before I got there. That’s called a Hawaiian blessing. It got me thinking that we must never let history be erased. It is through the stories from history that our ancestors live on in us. And so we must leave a legacy to our children and grandchildren, a legacy that speaks of peace, kindeness and love, compassion and gratitude. The spirit of aloha. Time for a Lava Flow cocktail as a nightcap. (I promise only one, lol). Aloha and maluhia, Tony

I took my grandson Charlie to see the new Paw Patrol movie yesterday. Whilst I was sitting there totally enjoying it watching the joy and wonderment on his little face, I couldn't help but see some paralells with us. What do you think? Paxtial Arts, influenced by Martial Arts ..."but more...with just a little bit extra."

(Re-posted from General Discussion 12/04/23) I'm reading a new book at the moment - Total Aikido: The Master Course, and came across this quote by the author, Gozo Shioda. Shioda sensei was one of the last living links directly back to Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba. "It is said that aikido is the Way of Harmony. I think it is simple to explain this saying. If you face someone, and you can make that person's animosity disappear, by your own true character, this is the Harmony of Becoming One. This is not a compromise. Harmony is a matter of having strength yourself, and then making the other your ally. He becomes your partner. This is 'making harmony in opposition.' But, unless you accumulate virtue, it is impossible. To sum up, the foundation is your own inner strength." I am an avid reader and have this prized collection of MA books in my library, many I've had for 50 years. Here's a picture of some of them. The pages are yellowed and worn in several but every page still speaks to me and every time I pick up anyone of these much loved pages of my life, I never fail to learn something new. Do any of you of any of these titles in your library? If so what's your favorite? Why? Do you have others you would recommend?

(Re-posted from General DIscussion 22/03/23) Hi guys, please bear with me while I try to flesh out my current line of thought. (I’m not sleeping very much at present – my wife is having a well earned holiday in London, so it’s just me, our dog and my mind running rampant, lol – thanks Ed and Baer for stirring the pot; I'm very tired but loving every minute of this.) In an earlier post I referred to an old Chinese saying that goes something like, “to rid yourself of a disease, you first must become one with the disease.” Therefore to overcome violence we must accept its presence and ideally believe in the remedy, peace. (I include acceptance as an addition to the Eight Considerations of combat found in Kenpo) because acceptance is the first step towards managing fear.      The positive self-talk of acceptance is, "well OK here’s the situation I’m in, it sucks, but here’s what I intend to do about it." The opposite of acceptance is denial. Denial prompts us to stick our heads in the sand questioning "Why is this happening to me, I don’t deserve this." Not particularly empowering, don’t you think? Denial has a close friend – apathy. Here in Australia we have a common saying that reflects this, “Ah don’t worry about it mate, she’ll be right.” Though we live in the exponential-age, we still have prehistoric minds. For survival’s sake we are hard-wired to be competitive, territorial and violent. There may be some who may disagree, and who would insist that they could never hurt or kill anyone, but they invariably add a revealing proviso; “Unless, of course, someone tried to hurt a loved one.” So, it could be said the capacity of violence is in each of us; all that varies is our view of the justification. (Even the Kenpo creed speaks to this, ” ……I have no weapons BUT if it’s a matter of life or death, of right or wrong….” What’s your definition of right or wrong?) Justification is dictated by our environment – what is in us, on us and around us – what we believe in, the circumstance we are dealing with right now, and who are we hanging out with, listening to, reading or watching etc. In his book The Gift of Fear, author Gavin De Becker (this book should be in everyone's library) shared a story that Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud once exchanged correspondence exploring the concept of human violence. Einstein’s letter surmised that; “man has in him the need to hate and destroy." In his reply, Freud agreed “unreservedly,” adding that human instincts could be divided into two categories; “those which seek to preserve and unite, and those which seek to destroy and kill.” He wrote that the experience of life evolves from their “acting together and against each other.” I’ve read too that the Gladwell Effect, (mastery of skill takes 10,000 hours of practice – repetition is the mother of skill, concept) can be hacked - to shortcut the time it takes to achieve an elite level of skill. How can that be done? Well, apparently Gladwell's assertions are based on a "common" untrained mind. Certainly, intuition can arise due to intense focus on a limited set of skills over an extended period of time - as martial artists we know this to be true. But when the mind-body system is actively aligned and occupied with training (integrated in a manner such as in how Paxtial Arts is organized) then perhaps there is the possibility that the ideals of self-mastery that Gladwell refers to can be achieved over a shorter arc of time. Now I qualify that by saying that I don’t know of any actual scientific data to support this but there is empirical and anecdotal evidence that does. Greek mathematician Archimedes said; “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” I'm drawn to think that perhaps the Paxtial Arts has the potential to become that fulcrum to create a tipping point and we can act as a lever where there are more of us acting together, sooner to “preserve and unite.” What do you think? (I'm done thinking for tonight - lol)