Slow, Careful Review...

Practice today in class was constructive. 

I was the only student in the dojo after the first twenty minutes, thanks to a special event in town.

I was able to practice all my current forms in slow motion, paying close attention to the footwork of turns, weight transitions, and pivots. I am suffering from a minor knee injury, and I'm modifying my forms to avoid any sideways stress on the injured knee.

I will be testing second-section on Monday evening. The school is aware that I'm testing with a minor injury, so they're making accommodations so that I don't injure the knee further.

It was very quiet, and I was able to maintain focus. It was helpful. I am slowing working the footing out.

Thank you for reading.

I bow to my instructors and fellow students, to our past masters of the art, and all who have preserved, improved, and passed down this art before me.

With Respectful Regards,

Dan

Climbing The Mountain Of Jade Ghost Dragon Practice...

 

Dragon Practice

It's a cautious time in my practice. More on that in a bit.

Just for reference, the "Jade Ghost Dragon" is becoming my personal totem - the "spirit" of my martial arts practice. There are times when this art seems quite spiritual. 

I've been suffering from a pulled ligament in my knee for a couple of weeks now. I'm working it through, but slowly.

A big part of it is how I shift my feet before moving from one position in a form to the next, and just as important is exactly how I shift my weight from one leg to the other.

I'm having to deeply and intently analyze the root footwork of every form, and again retrain my muscle memory to compensate. I'm taking my time, and consulting carefully with our instructors.

I am also doing a LOT of hard training to strengthen my knee muscles, quads, and glutes. Every bit of strength I can build in my legs will help - and is helping - stabilize my knee.

As National Instructor Ben stated tonight, there is a silver lining to my going through this now; When I become an instructor years from now, and I have a student who suffers with knee trouble, I will know exactly how to help them. What I also think is that I can in that case teach them some footwork from the very beginning that will help prevent doing any additional damage to their knees.

I'm hoping that I can make this a contribution to the art some day.

Jade Ghost Dragon, lead me safely up the mountain, so that I may help others with their climb some day.

Thank you for reading.

I bow to my instructors and fellow students, to our past masters of the art, and all who have preserved, improved, and passed down this art before me.

With Respectful Regards,

Dan

The Dietary Changes I Made In April 2025, Prior To Starting Oom Yung Doe In August, 2025

(With a couple of minor updates recently)

Breakfast:

* 3 hard-boiled eggs, rolled in various spices. (Not salt) (Video short of how I apply spices: https://youtube.com/shorts/jXErvbAli4o?si=FRxDUxINcgvOarRa )

* 1 carrot

* 1 celery stalk

* 1 radish (10-2025 addition)

* 2 generous handfuls of cherry tomatoes.

Lunch/snacks:

* 5 pitted Medjool dates

* 2 handfuls dried cherries

* 3-4 pieces of crystallized ginger 

* 3 handfuls of mixed nuts

* 2 handfuls of dried cranberries 

* 1 can of tuna fish 🐟 (Skipjack)

* Twice a week, 1 can individual-sized Bush's baked beans. (09-2025 addition)

* Occasional handful of wasabi and soy almonds 

Dinner Sun-Thur:

2 meals from Factor's "Chef's Choice" menu. ( Factor: Get 50% Off + FREE MyFitnessPal Premium+ https://share.google/s4nKBMjrmLh18NyQ5 )

Dinner Fri:

3 street fish tacos and 3 deep fried mushrooms from Killarney's Irish Pub in Temecula, CA 

Note: I do take the following supplements:

Daily:

1 multivitamin 

1 psyllium husk fiber caplet

1 3,000 mg D3

1 1,000 mg Fish Oil

1 Glucosamine Chondroitin

Every other day:

1 turmeric with piperene (black pepper extract)

All the a tumbler of V8 vegetable juice that has a splash of Cholula and a splash of Worcestershire sauce in it.

Regards,

Dan Stafford

More Tired Horse...

I was back in class last night, but my right knee is still giving me grief.

Doing a lot of leg and knee strengthening exercises.

Regards,

Dan Stafford

On-Call, The Importance Of Home Practice, And A Jade Dragon Lounge Update...

 

The "Jade Dragon Lounge"

I was able to get the Jade Dragon poster framed and hung in my home dojo, the "Jade Dragon Lounge" just yesterday.

I have been on-call for work since this past Friday and through today, so I haven't able to make it into class.

The flooring you see above is comprised of 12" x 12" interlocking padded tiles that are 1" thick. It makes a decent workout space, except for the lamp hanging above, which is very tall. I have a much lower-profile lamp on the way to replace it with soon.

I have been practicing every day at home since I have been on-call. My weight is now down to 302 lbs as I head into Thanksgiving, from a high of 342 lbs last April. I have lost 40 lbs through diet and exercise in seven months. I am still losing weight yet, although I expect Thanksgiving and Christmas to slow that a little.

Still, I plan to practice every day, even the holidays. I will be back to my regular 4-5 days per week in class on Monday.

One of my main mottos in life is "keep moving." By this I mean physical exercise. (The other is "life is better on a low-drama diet.")

Having a space to practice in at home is a huge, major blessing. I also try to work in little bits of exercise throughout the day wherever I have a few quiet moments. A little bit of "moving isometrics," or leg strengthening squats and lunges, or gyroball wrist, hand, and arm exercises.

I was also able to clip our school flags from the video of me demonstrating in the virtual tournament:

Oom Yung Doe school flags

We bow with respect to the school flags whenever we enter of leave our school. I think that is a very healthy practice.

Thank you for reading.

I bow to my instructors and fellow students, to our past masters of the art, and all who have preserved, improved, and passed down this art before me.

With Respectful Regards,

Dan

Brief Notes And How I Did In The Local Virtual Tournament...

So I ended up getting a bronze silver metal for my demonstration of Tae Guk Chung. (Short form Tai Chi)

This is the first form I learned, and though I am still perfecting it, I've made a lot of improvement in 2 months. 

That being said I've also found a couple of places where I've been twisting my knee slightly while doing this form. I've had to learn to retrain my muscle memory during a couple of the moves to open my foot, meaning to turn it out an angle before I make the move rather than after. However I will get this down. 

I am now down from 342 lb last April to 306 lb now, so my weight loss is on track. I also am feeling much much stronger walking around and moving through daily life. 

I am also trying to work small amounts of exercise in at various points throughout the day in order to help speed up strengthening my body for training. 

I don't really mind if it takes me 2 years, or 5 years, to get to a black belt. The point is to do it safely and preserve my mobility as I get older. That's the entire reason I started this style / system. 

I will persist. 

I bow to the students who have gone before me.

I bow to the instructors who have trained all my instructors throughout the lineage of my new art. 

I bow to all my fellow students. 

I am grateful for what I have found here, and those who have come before me.

Regards,

Dan Stafford

Time For Intense Focus And Caution...

I have been having trouble with my knee for a few days now. 

I've had trouble with it since I was a teenager, so I am not surprised.

Certain moves in the form are twisting my knee out of alignment. Some of it is me not opening my foot properly before a turning move, and a few points are my feet sticking to the floor too much.

I've discussed it with the head instructor, and I will be focusing 90% on my footwork until I am able to work through this. I also will be wearing socks to reduce friction when I have to rotate my weight-bearing foot.

I really don't mind if this slows me down. Better to get it worked out properly and committed to muscle memory, rather than to do damage to my ability to move.

Inch by inch, so be it.

With respect, thank you for reading.

Thank you to the teachers and students who have gone before me.

Keep moving.

Dan