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

Rumor Has It...

 ...that the Master will be in town soon, and we'll get to meet him.

In this case, "master" is used as a title, and an indication of mastery of the art of Oom Yung Do, and meant with great respect.

I'm looking forward, actually, to see what this will be like. I don't know if the master will be evaluating students, teaching, or demonstrating, or just here on a social call. Somehow, I suspect it will be a bit of all the above.

I never in my wildest dreams thought I might meet of even speak to a master of a martial art. I thought such things in my life were relegated to the movies.

On another note, both practice and weight loss have had a tricky side this week. I really worked out hard on Tuesday, and my right knee was a little stiff and sore on Wednesday morning. I went and trained on Wednesday as well, and I was pretty sore afterwards. I've really been using the herbal recovery formula, and took the day off on Thursday for my wife's birthday. That helped with the sore knee. To be more accurate, my right knee has been stiff and achy, no sharp pains.

I worked out fairly solidly this morning (Friday), and that seemed to loosen the knee up a bit. I'm moving better now, and feel like I'm on the mend. 

However, Thursday off didn't help for weight loss at all. I was down to 303.8 Lbs on Wednesday & Thursday mornings. While I was off, I took my wife to her favorite dentist in Orange county. That resulted in me eating restaurant food twice in one day. I tried very hard to eat light, but the restaurant menus had no good options for that. Even skipping dinner, one day of eating in restaurants and not practicing put me at 308.6 Lbs this morning. That's about two weeks of weight loss gone in one day, for perspective. I feel like the Universe is warning me ahead of the holidays.

At the end of practice today, we did a walking meditation called "baghwa" walking. It involves controlling the breath and doing mental energy work, or pulling in Chi from the Universe. It's wonderful stuff, and leaves me feeling calm and energized.

I also took in the Jade dragon poster (I ordered a 24" x 36" print) in to a locally-owned custom frame shop here in town. The frame I chose is a green and bronze faux bamboo, with a natural hued linen matting, and low-glare, slightly matte finish glass. I'm so looking forward to hanging it in the Jade Dragon Lounge, AKA my home dojo. I'll post a picture of it hung after it is on the wall, but here's the image:

Jade Dragon Poster

Thank you for reading.

I bow to my instructors, and all who have preserved, improved, and passed down this art before me.

Thank you for reading.

With Respectful Regards,

Dan

The Jade Dragon Lounge Dojo...

The Dragon Lounge Dojo...

Space is all what you make of it,

Dusty wasteland,

Or useful living.

In this space something living is being created,

Learning,

Spiritual,

A suitable form,

A desired outcome,

Small treasures added each day.

The Dragon Lounge is being born,

A place to dance with Chi,

Find the center of my time and space,

Moving in meditation,

Soft as mist,

Hard as jade,

Hoping to fly.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford

© 11/08/2025