8 Points of Root—A new perspective If you have ever trained Chinese Martial Arts, then you are familiar with Stance training—Horse Stance, Forward stance, Nail Stance, Crane Stance, Empty Stance, Dragon Stance, Snake Stance—to name a few. To gracefully accomplish these while using them to express power requires Root. Let's go beyond Theory. Try This...

功夫 Gong Fu- Time, effort, [energy], with attention to detail. –Grand Master Wang Tian Min and his Honored Student Shifu Ed. When you watch a master of Chinese martial arts (or any discipline) perform their art, what you are seeing is an expression of their Gong—the minutes, hours, days, and years they devoted to honing the details of their art. When a Master expresses their art form, it appears unique, effortless, natural, and is inspiring to the observer.

People are suffering. Stress is the suspect. Everything bad is stress. Stress makes everything bad. Many avoid stress whenever possible, resign themselves to what they can't avoid, and seek relief whenever possible. It is as if they believe more in the power of stress than they do in the power or energy. People relate to stress like it is the bogeyman of a horror movie and it is out to get them. Given the absence of energy management in the current models of stress management, they are not wrong, and for most people, it plays out like a horror story. I dislike horror movies. I do not enjoy victimization as entertainment. In a horror movie 15 victims run and scatter and the bad guy monster picks them off one by[...]

EMPOWERING LEADERS TO Inspire Change What if change was essentially a movement of energy? It is. What if social and personal change was as well? What if it was a matter separate from philosophy, psychology, religion, or education? What if all of these are manifestations of how energy flows through them? The Chinese believed this. The movement of energy through humanity and nature formed the groundwork of their theories of medicine, martial arts, and human relations. Just as life is a manifestation of sunlight, every endeavor from work to play is a movement of energy in and through matter.

Do you feel tired when you feel happy, fit, or healthy? Do you feel energized when you feel sad, injured, or sick? Have you ever noticed your energy level when you were happy or sad? Healthy or sick? Fit or injured? It is simple, our sense of wellness reflects our energy level. When we have an abundance of energy, we feel great. When we have too little, we feel bad. When life demands more energy than we have to spend or wish to spend, we feel stressed. Most people do not associate the presence of stress with a feeling of wellness. Usually, wellness involves the absence of stress, but as we know, all the vacation in the world cannot free us from stress. Have you ever felt stressed AND well? If you have the[...]

In addition to Resilient Stress Management, wherever I currently teach, I teach a style of Gong Fu called Shen Shing Wu Chan. Shen is spirit, Shing is movement, Wu is mixed Chinese martial arts, and Chan is meditation. Together they are “Inspired movement through conflict, while meditating.” I have the unique privilege of studying directly under Master Wang Tian Min, who grew up in China and had the rare opportunity to grow up studying under many Chinese martial arts Masters. Additionally, he studied Chinese medicine, philosophy, and culture: the I Ching, Ba Gua, Yin and Yang, and the Tao. Master Tian synthesized his knowledge and experience into the Shen Shing Wu Chan system. He embodies the art of extending[...]