Happy New Year 2026!

New Year's Ball Drop with fireworks

WE had class for two days this week, both Monday and Tuesday. Last week was the same. The holidays have come, and the year is gone. Happy 2026 to all of you!

This Monday and Tuesday, I worked a lot on Horse stance and knee strengthening exercises. I also did the dragon pearls, and Jhoong Bong staff practice. National Instructor Ben taught me stretches specific to Jhoong Bong practitioners on Tuesday evening.

I also started learning blocks and thrusts, strikes, and switching figure eight directions.

As for weight, I was down to 299 lbs on Christmas morning, and back at 309 lbs by the Monday after Christmas. As of New Year's Eve morning, I was back down to 306 lbs and falling. On this level, I'm glad the holidays have passed.

We also did a lot of core exercises yesterday evening on the floor, which I think is at least partially Pilates. When we did these last week, I was sore around the abdomen until yesterday morning. Today, I'm a little sore in the quads, shoulders and pecs, and abdomen, but the good kind of sore where you know the exercise did what you were trying for.

We're getting rain right now, and since the only place at home with enough room for Jhoong Bong practice at home is the back yard, I'm out of luck. At least until the sky dries up.

Keep moving, eh?

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

 

A Jhoong Bong Staff For Christmas

 

Jhoong Bong Staff For Christmas

My new Jhoong Bong staff arrived yesterday. It's a bit of a Christmas present to myself. I plan to stick with it until the Bo is a part of me.

Jhoong Bong Staff hung up

Practice yesterday and today was different. 

On Monday, it was largely stretches and strengthening exercises combined with energy meditation and breath work. This was much more of a workout than it sounds like. I broke a solid sweat by the end of class.

This evening, Tuesday, 12-23-2025, it was core exercises and kicks. A lot of it was done on the floor. 

I haven't tried many of these moves before, so I was starting from zero, referring to the core exercises, which are based on Pilates.

Thje kicks are another story - and towards the end, we were allowed to pull out the Wavemaster and practice on it, which was good. I was remembering my Tae Kwon Do & Karate classes from several years ago. Remembering, but having to rebuild the strength to get back to where I was then.

In all, it was a very good pre-Christmas workout.

I left a card for the staff at the school, hopefully they will find it.

Unfortunately, we're getting very rainy weather for the holidays, so I haven't been able to take the new Jhoong Bong outside and practice with it yet. I feel a little like a kid who got new electronics as a gift, but without the necessary batteries.

Still, it's good. The Jhoong Bong is very light weight. I'm looking forward to it. I think I'm going to call it "Dazzle."

I hope all of you reading this have a wonderful holiday and New Year!

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

Overdone.

 

Workout Sore

I overdid it in class - worked with the pearls on an exercise to strengthen the small muscle groups in my back along the spine. I had a serious talk with those back muscles, and now they're seriously talking back to me.

Mental note: Treat it like weightlifting. Don't work the same muscle groups two days in a row, especially not groups of small muscles that rarely get used.

My bad, but it'll make me more aware.

It also tells me that these muscles need strengthening, but carefully.

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

Wow - I'm Really Enjoying Jung Bo Practice!

 

Gong Bo

I got a thorough workout with my pearls today, and then National Instructor Ben started teaching us Jung Bo, which is a six-foot hardwood staff. I absolutely love it!

There's something about the staff spinning that, when it's going properly, just feels fantastic. Plus, it's something I can do without stressing my knee.

I didn't think I would want to do weapons training, but this one makes the most sense out of all of them. I often carry a walking stick when walking around the neighborhood because we have coyotes, and lot of people walk their dogs. 

I am totally going to dive into this one.

Also to note, there is a small ritual to observe when you pick up a weapon to train with; First, you bow to the flags in the room. Second, you pick up the weapon. Third, you bow to the instructor teaching you the weapon forms.

When returning a weapon to storage, you bow to the flags, place the weapon in its proper place, and then bow to the flags again.

Also, I picked up my new gi (uniform) from the tailor shop with the patches added to the sleeves and the pant legs hemmed up. Today was the first day I wore mine to school. Also National Instructor Ben presented me with my first belt, and taught me how to tie it properly.

It was one of my favorite days in school so far.

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 

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

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

Grasshoppers In Dragon School...

 

Grasshoppers At Dragon School

Today at school was very good, in several ways.

First, the master of our art in the US was there. I got to meet him briefly. It sounds like I will be working with him roughly around February - near my birthday - for advanced training and guidance on progression. I do have long-term goals for learning martial arts, with the intention to be of service to others. I feel that this will be a good thing.

Second, our Head National Instructor was there. He has an excellent sense of humor, and was teaching me some seemingly minor positional changes to my forms that lead to much greater engagement of my body core in what I'm doing. It's amazing what a difference small changes make in strength, structure, and engagement.

I worked out quite well, but my knee was still giving me grief. Our Assistant National Instructor helped me with some stretching exercises. I still am certain that the damp, rainy weather we're having right now is part of it. I've felt most storms coming in that knee since I was at least thirteen years old. However, it did improve. I will keep doing this particular stretch daily going forward.

It still amazes me, the kindness of this school. They work with people of all races, genders, ages, and conditions with kindness, consideration, and compassion. This really is a community, and so far, I have enjoyed meeting every person I've connected with here. I am grateful to be able to learn here, at this particular school, at this stage of my life.

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

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

My First Virtual Tournament...

Saturday I attended my first virtual tournament at Oom Yung Doe.

Tournaments in Oom Yung Doe are conducted in the manner of traditional martial arts tournaments prior to Westernization.

These tournaments are not sparring competitions. They are a series of demonstrations of various martial arts forms taught by the school.

Participants are judged on how well they have improved in their technique and form.

Everyone is cheering on the other participants. Good will is in the air, and the energy is very positive.

The demonstrations are amazing to watch. Participants are of all ages, races, and gender, and respect is not even a question. I am in my early 60's, and have watched demonstrations by students easily ten years senior to me and that left me envious of their ability to move in ways that I can't yet.

I know everyone there has worked diligently to achive these forms, and I feel privileged to be in their company.

The atmosphere is a microcosm of what I would wish and hope for greater society to become.

I demonstrated a short form of Tai Chi called Tai Guk Chung. (Update 11-14-2025: I looked it up in the study guide.)

We should get our results and access to videos of the demonstrations around November 22nd. I'm looking forward to it.

With respect,

Dan Stafford,

Bamboo Grasshopper.

The Latest Moves...

 

The Blues Of Feeling Better

So the latest, of course, starts with lots of practice. I try to get at least five one-hour sessions in per week.

The fun side: I'm getting a lot better at moving around. It feels like I've shaved five years off my gait in two months. I've also lost 30-32 lbs since late April of this year. The pants are looser, which is better for kicking.

The bluesey journey is that I think I'll be fine-tuning these moves for the rest of my life. One thing to be sure of; Martial Arts instructors will ALWAYS find something you can fine-tune a bit more in your technique. Grasshoppers may grow and change, but to the masters of the art, they will always be their grasshoppers.

I love the energy work, and I love the physical activity. To be honest, I love the challenge of building muscle memory, strength, balance, and timing.

I'm starting to learn my third form, but am also still working on perfecting the first two. I'm also building foundational muscle strength with specific exercises.

We have a space at the front of the house where we had a full-size air hockey table. I sold it off to make room for a small "dojo," so that I can practice at home when school is closed. That air hockey had been played maybe ten times in ten years. We'd though our granddaughters would play it when visiting, but not so much. Then they moved out of State.

I still need to change out the lamp overhead for something lower-profile, and fill the Wavemaster so I can bring it in and start practicing strikes, punches, kicks, and blocks. However, here's the space as it sits today.

The padded, interlocking floor tiles I added today.

Life is, of course, all about the journey. I also grew up reading superhero comics. I enjoy the aesthetic.

With respect,

Dan

Bamboo Grasshopper

How I Wound Up Studying Oom Yung Doe

 

Public Domain Antique Chinese Koi Illustration

First, what happened with Isshin Shorinjii Okinawa Te in Plainfield, Illinois; I broke my left ankle shoveling snow. Then we moved 45 minutes one-way from Plainfield. (The move was fallout from the 2008-2009 financial crisis.)

My recovery was long, class was far, and I just couldn't.

In 2015, we moved even further - to Temecula, California. 

Temecula is a beautiful smaller town in inland Southern California, and is the epicenter of Southern California wine country. I absolutely love the place, and we're permanently settled here.

Around 2017, I tried taking karate through the park district. It was affordable, but all the other students were children. The instructor was in his 30's.

The instructor had the students constantly sitting on the floor, and then getting up. This did not work for a body in its late 50's and well over 300 lbs. I pulled a ligament in my right knee trying to keep up with the up-down. It took two years to heal.

I had been looking for a Tai Chi class in Temecula for several years. I had a brief two-month exposure to it after my ankle recovered and while we were still in Illinois. (The instructor had to move away, and my work schedule changed) I absolutely loved it. I also knew it would help me strengthen myself without injury. Harvard actually recommends Tai Chi over other forms of exercise for aging well.

Oom Yung Doe kept coming up in my searches.

I finally went in to check it out after getting re-hired by the company I used to work for in Chicago.

Oom Yung Doe is fairly expensive here. It costs $250.00 per month to attend.

However, many of the students are my age or older. Many are working post-injury with physical limitations. The instructors are very "safety-first." They understand the older student.

I started with Tai Gup Chung, (Spelling?) which is a short form of Tai Chi. I've gotten fairly decent at it in five weeks.

I've also started learning Oom Yung Bop, which is a short form of Kung Fu, and am just getting into Tai Chi Chung, which is a much longer form of Tai Chi. I expect to be at this for several months.

However, I am doing well. I really like the instructors, and the other students. I am very, very grateful to be allowed to attend this school.

My weight loss has been slow but steady as well.

Sometimes doing the laundry is a pleasant exercise, as is the incremental learning of other ancient arts. It's the journey. It changes you, little bits at a time.

I look forward to a lifetime of practicing whatever I'm able to learn here.

With respect, thank you for reading, and thank you to those who have gone before me for carrying this into our time and presence.

Dan

Oom Yung Doe

I've been studying Oom Yung Doe for about 5 weeks now. I feel like I may have landed at the right place finally. 

The first four weeks, I was sweating buckets every day I trained.  My knees were stiff like boards. 

However, my weight  has been slowly going down. My clothes are fitting looser. (I've dramatically changed my diet, too.)

In the past three training sessions, I have only broken a light sweat. My knees are tight and stiff in the morning, but loosen up after I walk around for awhile at work.

We've been out in California for ten years now. 

Sometimes you have to deal with drudgery before you can find grace. You have to do the laundry if you want to have nice, clean clothes.

 One promise I have made to myself is that, no matter what happens with me or the dojo, I will continue to practice everything I learn for the rest of my life.

Dan