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| | | ALL DATES TO BE DETERMINED...
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| | | SO HOW WAS THE COMBATIVE MOVEMENT IMMERSION SEMINAR?
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Ask Ken...
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"This brief message cannot
fully capture the huge and heartfelt thanks I wish to express for an
invaluable training experience this past weekend.
As my introduction to
Guided Chaos, the Combative Movement Immersion Seminar exceeded all
expectations and was well worth the 10,000-mile round trip. I would
absolutely make the trek again and look forward to the next opportunity
to do so. And, if any Masters or Instructors plan on visiting the
Hawaiian Islands, I would be eager to connect for further lessons.
For
now, I will be diving deep into the drills and keeping an eye out for
suitable training partners. My journey in GC is just beginning, and I
don't intend to squander the momentum gathered from the seminar. Utmost
gratitude and respect to GM Perkins for creating and sharing this
radically ingenious and powerfully effective art. Mahalo nui loa to the
entire GC family for their hospitality, encouragement, and generosity
with their expertise. Please do keep in touch. A hui hou (Until we meet
again)..."
--Ken B. |
| Ask Ari... ------------------------------------ Ari Kandel, GC 4th degree
|
| "This moment marks two weeks since the kickoff of the November 3-5, 2017
Combative Movement Immersion Seminar in Elmsford, NY. About 30
newcomers, students, teachers and masters came from as nearby as down
the road, and as far away as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Kansas,
Washington, California and even Hawaii. We missed some of our local
folks who couldn’t make it, as well as our Guided Chaos brothers and
sisters from Europe, Asia, South America and other U.S. states, but they
stay in touch well from afar and hopefully will visit and receive
visits in the near future.
I almost did not attend. Between work
and family obligations, I assumed that it would be impossible to spare
the time and expense to travel to NY for an immersive three-day weekend.
As the date drew closer, however, the excitement of fellow
long-distance students, some gentle encouragement from John, the
surprising availability of my student Keith to travel with me (and split
costs!), and my incredibly understanding and resourceful wife conspired
to make me think hey, this just might be possible.
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|  |
WOW am I glad
I made it! Keith and I flew into White Plains Airport the morning the
seminar began (thus missing the first hour or so) and out the evening it
ended (likewise missing the end of the seminar and dinner), but what we
did manage to experience in Elmsford last weekend was
perspective-changing and possibly life-changing (in addition to
potentially life-saving, of course).
This was my first time
attending a GC seminar as a long-distance student, since moving from
northern New Jersey to Florida in 2014. I had attended portions of the
2012 Guided Chaos Boot Camp, and worked out with some of the
long-distance students at their hotel a couple evenings during that
event, but this would be different. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The
first thing that struck me (besides the limbs of various students and
teachers) was the sense of family in GC that I had partly forgotten
about. Within minutes of arriving at the seminar already in progress, it
felt like being welcomed home. Great start.
The rest of this may
become so gushy (splooshy to Archer fans) as to be almost unbelievable,
but . . . heck I could hardly believe it myself, and I was THERE, so
join the club!
John, the masters and teachers, and the
enthusiastic students combined to create an extremely open atmosphere
very conducive to deep learning.
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|  |
The overarching theme of the
seminar was how to understand and practice Guided Chaos better, at a
deeper, more internal level. John and team made the higher levels of the
art more understandable and accessible, and placed the students on the
road to far deeper physical, mental and spiritual practice. And made it
so freakin’ fun!
Being a long-distance person made it even more fun and immersive for me. Just look at this schedule:
Friday:
Land at airport, drive to seminar, train, drive to dinner with a bunch
of GC peeps, eat a great Italian dinner while discussing GC and related
topics with Al and friends, return to hotel, train with the dozen or so
students staying at the Hampton Inn, sleep.
Saturday: Wake up,
have breakfast at the hotel with the students while discussing GC and
related topics, drive to seminar, train, drive to dinner with a bunch of
GC peeps, eat a great Japanese dinner while discussing GC and related
topics with John and friends, return to hotel, train with the dozen or
so students staying at the Hampton Inn (plus Patrick—thanks for
visiting!), sleep.
Sunday: Wake up, have breakfast at the hotel
with the students while discussing GC and related topics, drive to
seminar, train, promise Keith we’d start saying goodbye at 4p in order
to not miss our flight, manage to not leave until much later than
planned yet still not miss our flight, talk GC and life at airport and
after landing.
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Thereafter: witnessing the torrent of texts,
emails, Facebook posts, shared pictures, videos, etc., between new and
old friends who were there, unable to contain themselves about how
awesome the weekend was. Trying to pass on the lessons and experience to
my class here in FL.
Some impressions:
John demonstrating
and teaching ideas that I may have already had certain inklings and
impressions of . . . and then taking them to the eleventy-billionth
level in practice and in application against big, fast, multiple
attackers.
Making new “old” friends: new temporally, but as if
old in terms of comfort, trust and general awesomeness. Reconnecting
with old friends on much deeper levels.
Amazing conversations
with amazing people about amazing experiences. Discovering connections
between our lives and experiences that we never knew existed.
Witnessing vast improvement in students from beginning to end of weekend.
Witnessing vast improvement in old friends since I last saw them and worked with them.
Witnessing even longer term students starting to open up to the deeper possibilities of GC for the first time.
Doing that myself.
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| Starting to understand some things John and Tim have told me over the years:- GC is really about understanding people. Understanding yourself, understanding others
- Higher level sensitivity = deep empathy, “Love”
- The
importance of a clear, empty mind (Zen meditative state) to fully
perceive the moment by moment reality of my own and others’ movement, as
opposed to my clouded judgements/interpretations/biases about that
movement
- Let Go
- Whatever someone may say, the hands don’t lie
- The importance of Yin and “feminine” movement
- And a lot more
Make
no mistake, all of this was trained and discovered within the context
of combative reality. GC has NOT gone all hippy/new-age/cultish in any
way shape or form. John was his usual jocular self, steadfastly staving
off any attempt (conscious or otherwise) of any student to view him as
anything other than a regular guy who has merely built up a shitload of
martial arts knowledge based on tons of real experience.
|
| Following
the seminar, among the long-distance crowd, notes were exchanged,
impressions were shared, and plans are already being made to keep the
contact and momentum going. Lamentations about the physical distance
that separates us, preventing us from training together more frequently.
A lot to figure out. . . .
I know I haven’t gone into detail
about the curriculum of the seminar, the drills and exercises we did,
etc. That wasn’t really the point. Heck, a lot of the best and most
educational moments of the weekend came when John interrupted the
planned curriculum, went off script and communicated exactly what was
needed in the moment."
--Ari Kandel 4th degree GC (visit his school in Boca Raton FL) |
| | GUIDED CHAOS is the GREASE that makes
all your OTHER training work BETTER.
|
|
"After experiencing Contact Flow hands-on with the experts, I consider it to be the 'piece de resistance' of martial arts."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--Dr. Jan Bloem, one of Europe's leading authorities teaching special police and military special operation units, www.datmovement.nl |
|
"Guided
Chaos should be required training for anyone interested in push hands
and the self-defense aspects of the internal arts."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--Sifu Ken Gullette, certified as an instructor with the U.S.
Chen Family, connected directly to the
Chen Village tai chi school through Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing. http://www.internalarts.typepad.com/ |
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