Strike Diary - Ultimate Kenpo Alliance - April 15, 2005

April 15, 2005. Day 3. The trick is to get more physical activities into my day to get back to where I used to be. I read about tuna tossing. I am against tuna tossing and think that the people throwing contests can be hurtful (it is actually called something different, but I want to be politically correct). Bog or swamp snorkeling sounds horrible. I will never bog snorkel except by accident and that is assuming I have my snorkel on for some reason before being thrown in. I actually know a former champion cheese thrower, but simply I have no interest. I decide to stick to painting and my lighter activities for now, except for book lugging since I am a book dealer. The more books lugged, the better.


This is the third day of protesters being out on the streets. Since I have been making the climb back to somewhere since the accident. Mostly I have been running and doing some lighter exercises including small weights and getting more active now. I am actually against any full-contact that involves trucks and will fully protest against any such events without any need for reframing.


I do my morning check into the website. More posts about not posting and some posts disrespecting other members and the manager of the site, who is obviously away driving a truck. There is some talk seemingly for and against great bodies. (I am all for great bodies.) Sky, the assistant manager of the site is posting. She has the responsibility of maintaining and representing the site. Her Sensei is the manager of Ultimate Kenpo Alliance. Anyone who has ever had an instructor understands this situation and recognizes that she is doing a wonderful job. Besides, what is a strike without someone from "corporate" as spokes person? This is not a strike against the board or managers though, and the site has nothing in it that might bring people to apply the "corporate" word I mentioned as a negative term against them. It appears on the surface that it is about full-contact people and kenpo. Is it really?

It is actually a bit of a disappointment that some kenpo does not go up on the board as a positive show against the protest. Maybe the kenpo people feel they may be one of the first people to be part of the governments "Fitness Protection Program" should they break the strike. However, this is a peaceful protest of "Ghandish" proportions without the hunger strike and with the stated objective of people being free to post all the kenpo they want. (We can still eat what we want unless we are counting carbs, but just not post.) There is nothing on the boards to pull some martial art philosophy or motivations and happy friendship into my day. For some reason, those exchanges help me keep going on my martial arts training. I have been simply walking through kata and forms for a long time, performing them gently. Other martial arts "goings on" keep me interested.


As a long time student of spirituality, religion and philosophy, I have to ask myself... Is spiritual philosophy a point in Kenpo or in the modern martial arts in general? I am told that a lot of people do not receive any of the training or ideas that are not physical. My teachers certainly gave forth a lot of philosophy that is intended to help one survive and use martial arts in any situation. This includes the mind. They spoke of ways to navigate the world with gentleness, humor and the expressing oneself with thoughtfulness in order to avoid needless battle. If we happened to find ourselves doing a lot of "needless bar or other battling" we would be out of the school.

What is keno philosophy and how is it differentiated from other martial arts philosophies?

How does it help the student navigate through life's big bumps and truck of life?

This includes the ideals you carry even if you cannot jump and kick the way you normally do. I have to be careful not to complain though... despite my huge collection of books not one of them is specifically on kenpo philosophy.