- New Year's Resolutions - Silat Seminar - Student of the Month - Events - Recommended Videos - Video Technique - Announcements - Dietary Supplement -
New Year's Resolutions
Regardless of what is going on in the world as warriors we need to transcend! This list gives some great pointers to help enhance and maximize your martial arts potential.
- Pack your clothes at night. Mornings are cold and dark now and may be hard to get motivated. Also, keep a packed bag for PAMA and extra clothes in your car. That way you are prepared at all times to train.
- Set a goal for your next testing level in one of the classes. Register or set a date, tell your friends/family, and pay in advance, that way you are bound to it!
- Don't stop home after work! The TV, internet, and refrigerator will be there when you get done. Nothing is more pressing then your health and wellbeing.
- Keep nuts, dried fruit, or a healthy bar available and with you so you are not hungry. Have a snack after work to refuel your brain and body and get ready to train. (Psssstt, there are also healthy, yummy bars for sale in the pro-shop!)
- Buy yourself a Kali, Silat, or Jun Fan DVD in the Pro-Shop. These are great tools to support your practice, enforce what you are learning, and help you jump ahead!
- Stay for more then one class. You are already warmed up and mentally focused. Cross-training is a key to the totality of the martial artist!
- Get your body in line! Do an inventory, how are you feeling? What supplements and/or vitamins are you lacking? Don't waste your time with sub-par brands that will not be absorbed. We are spoiled, the Pro-Shop puts all of the best brands right at your fingertips!
- Get a private lesson to work on the things you have been struggling with and get brushed up on everything. These are great ways to improve and progress in the martial arts. You can always share them with another person so you will have a training partner to work on them with after the lesson.
- Have a book around to read at all times. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do and others are available in the Pro-Shop and are constant tools you can keep returning to and rereading.
- Get a family member or friend to join PAMA. Ask some of the family members who train at PAMA today, this is a great way to bond and spend quality time together. Also, it is a great motivator!
- Utilize the facility outside of class. The school opens at 10:30 and is open throughout the day until 10:00 P.M. each weeknight and 7:00 P.M. on Fridays. Saturdays the hours are 9:00 A.M. until at least 3:00 P.M. Use of the facilities is included in your tuition, take advantage!
- Supplement your training with a weight lifting regimen. PAMA has a gym so that people can get everything they need in one place. See the Pro-Shop to register for the Gym facilities.
- Get a training partner. There is a message board as soon as you walk in PAMA on the right. People who are looking for a training partner place their info on there. Hook up with someone and get some outside partner training in.
Upcoming Silat Seminar Announced!
Sifu Rick will be teaching a Silat seminar here at PAMA on February 7 from 10:30am-4pm. This seminar is open to the public so pass on the word. Register now in the Pro Shop! (Adult classes will be suspended this day. Childrens classes will still be held.) For more details, click here!
Student of the Month
- David Stengle -
David Stengle
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What is your profession and background?
I serve as an executive in a venture backed startup providing targeted video advertising technology. I have been doing technology startups for most of my career. My current job has a considerable amount of mostly domestic travel.
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What first turned you on to martial arts?
I have always fantasized about learning martial arts, and I did about six months of Kyokushin karate nearly 25 years ago. The head of the school only spoke Japanese (!). My two children preparing for their sash promotions at PAMA finally got me to move it from fantasy to goal in November 2007.
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What was your motivation for coming to PAMA?
I wanted to learn martial arts for mental and physical improvement. I also wanted to have a better understanding of what my children learn at the school and know enough to support them.
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What do you most enjoy about your training?
I find the school a special instructional place - it's very respectful and serious without being mystical, rigid, or self important. Getting a couple of hours a week where I can focus on the now is helping me in many ways, and I enjoy improving even though it's slow.
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What are your goals you hope to achieve through martial arts?
Self improvement (mental, physical, and skills).
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In what ways has your training at PAMA permeated into other aspects of your life?
PAMA gives me another reference point of teaching and learning. I am a big believer in life learning, continual improvement, and inclusive disciplines.
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Your children also train at PAMA. What effect has it had on them individually and as a family?
I think both children have benefited physically and mentally from their training. I see improvements in fitness and coordination; I don't think they realize how much they are learning.
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Any closing remarks?
After 15 months, I feel I am just scratching the surface of what goes on at PAMA. I feel lucky that such as school is so close to where I live and thankful that everyone has been so welcoming to a new student with grey hair.
Events
- New Years Eve Class -
by Mike Wohlfert (abridged by Mary Jo Colli)On Jan 1st, 2009, the students of PAMA were treated to a special class taught by Sifu to ring in the New Year. The beginning of the year was started out on the right foot to develop the mind, body and spirit as one. The experience started with a series of breathing exercises to get in touch with our inner selves and calm the mind. From sources of Yoga and Bon culture, we preformed fire breathing, alternate nostril breathing. With daily practice of these techniques we can achieve an inner peace and learn to quiet the mind from the daily chatter that plagues us all.
After quieting the mind and relaxing the body, it was time to wake it up and experience the physical. There were challenging drills with partners and multiple opponents. The concepts and focus of these drills were those of lightness and grounding techniques as well as their application and use. Sifu then began to talk about the areas of our very complex brains. We gained knowledge of perceptual states, archetypes, and time & space. Various drills were performed to learn how to tap into these areas and states at will, exercising our most important muscle, our mind. These drills helped us to focus in many ways on the Zen mind and our ability to reach that still point and single focus.
The class ended with a variety of inspiring and spiritual quotes and stories from Sifu. The overall approach of training and living as a martial artist were focused on. The martial arts are a way of life, not a hobby or recreation. The tools one learns in the martial arts are to be carried through every day life. To walk like a warrior every day, to take every step the way a warrior would step. A story that sticks in my mind is the story of the Samurai who was encroached by three men to challenge him. As he was eating with his chopsticks the men approached him, never having to draw his sword, they saw the way the samurai used his chopsticks and carried himself and they knew his skills were that of a true warrior and left without a fight.
Another point that was brought out was that most people are living in fear and lack the courage to do the things they want. Fear through the media, fear of people's reaction, fear of lack of money, fear of being uncomfortable. The true warrior has to get over his fear and be at peace with ones self. If the mind has fear inside you can not be truly at peace and on the path to enlightenment. When the universe shows you the path you should be on you can not be frightened to take it. Sifu did not start his journey to open PAMA and to teach the arts he was a student in love of what the martial arts have to offer. PAMA was the path that the universe set for him and he took it. If it was not for him to take the path we would not have been enlightened ourselves of the journey of martial arts. The class ended with comments and sharing by some of the students, warm wishes for all, and gratitude toward Sifu for allowing us to start the New Year off with this special learning experience.
- Holiday Party -
by Poneyboy MillerAs 2008 drew to a close, PAMA instructors and staff gathered at the warm and cozy dinning room at Alchemist and Barrister in downtown Princeton.
(left) PAMA Instructors and Staff laughing and trading stories, (right) Lao Si Mike presents Sifu with his gift.
Click here to see all the pictures taken from the night.
This year was difficult one, but we found the spirit of Christmas to gather and give thanks for what we had and to look forward to the year ahead. As customary with the holidays, we exchanged gifts, with Sifu Rick Tucci receiving a wonderful Wuhan Wind Gong and Si Suk Bernie Dudley a beautiful textured Jimi Hendrix painting. In return, Sifu gave each of us Mala meditation beads saying the beads were to help us center ourselves, or as Sifu said, "You can use them as decoration." :)
The unveiling of... the gong.
Click here to see all the pictures taken from the night.
We all wish you a prosperous, and healthy new year filled with growth, good will, and fulfillment.
(left) Si Suk Bernie doesn't hear Jimi, he sees him, (right) Sifu presented all of the instructors with very meaningful and spiritual gifts.
Click here to see all the pictures taken from the night.
- Holiday Get Together! -
by Max WangOn Thursday, December 18th, PAMA held a get together for students to relax and have fun for the holiday season. After a year of hard training, it was time for kicking back and socializing with fellow students without fists, kicks, and sticks. We all gathered together in the Blue Room for snacks and refreshments. The night rolled on filled with lots of joy, laughter, and some antics.
PAMA members in street clothes and enjoying the festivities.
Click here to see all the pictures taken from the night.
We started the night out with refreshments and food, including some award winning gumbo contributed by Ken Novack's wife (many of us needed to refuel from the Jun Fan class right before). The next three to four hours were spent chatting about multitudes of things going on in everyone's lives, of course, being the martial artists that we are, conversation drifted to martial arts from time to time.
(left) The history books come out - photos since the beginning of PAMA, (right) Light hearted slap fighting :)
Click here to see all the pictures taken from the night.
The true highlight of the evening was Sifu's picture albums from PAMA's inception, through the new millennium. For some of the students it was a good time to reminisce but for the rest of us, it gave us an great view of PAMA's birth, evolution, and, history. Thank you all who came out and contributed to a great evening.
Enjoying the night and learning about each other, outside of class.
Click here to see all the pictures taken from the night.
- Toys for Tots Drive a Great Success-
Sifu Recommends a Book
- The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe -
The Field: The Quest for the
Secret Force of the Universe
by Lynne McTaggart
Science has recently begun to prove what ancient myth and religion have always espoused: There may be such a thing as a life force.
In this groundbreaking classic, investigative journalist Lynne McTaggart reveals a radical new paradigm-that the human mind and body are not separate from their environment but a packet of pulsating power constantly interacting with this vast energy sea, and that consciousness may be central in shaping our world.
The Field is a highly readable scientific detective story presenting a stunning picture of an interconnected universe and a new scientific theory that makes sense of supernatural phenomena. Documented by distinguished sources, The Field is a book of hope and inspiration for today's world.
Video Technique
- Learn a Technique from Sifu Rick -
Sifu enters on a jab, cross combination using an inward to a backfist gunting. He then drives an elbow before preforming a foot trap and throw.
Video: regular speed - slow motion
Sifu performs the same technique, but instead of trapping the foot, he does a back sweep and throw.
Video: regular speed - slow motion
Announcements
- The 4 and 8 month tests for Jun Fan will be held on February 14. Please see an instructor for details and don't forget to sign up in the Pro Shop.
Dietary Supplement
- Chromium Picolinate -
Chromium Picolinate by Pure Encapsulations
Chromium picolinate is a highly utilizable form of chromium, promoting optimal regulation of cholesterol, as well as glucose and fat metabolism.
*Chromium is important for fat metabolism, enzyme activation, and the regulation of cholesterol. Chromium inhibits the synthesis of new fat from carbohydrates, thus freeing the mitochondria to burn already stored fat. In addition, chromium increases the effectiveness of insulin and optimizes glucose metabolism.
Credits:
Video/Pictures: Mary Jo Colli, Kurt Komoda, Mike Lee
Stories: Mary Jo Colli, Mike Lee, Poneyboy Miller, Max Wang, Mike Wohlfert