Thoughts on swordplay, mastery, coaching, teaching, and living with intention.
A few months ago I decided to go on a diet. It was not a change in my eating habits but a change in my mental consumption. I had caught myself over the course of the pandemic reading more and more...
The biggest barrier to getting great work done is trying to do great work. Prolific writer and blogger Seth Godin shares that for every blog post he publishes he writes at least three, and this man...
Rhythm is the most important thing to cultivate on the path to mastery. This small tool has been essential to keeping the practice of swordplay alive as well as many other practices such as...
I'm a big fan of slow sparring as a training tool. It is an ideal way to focus on mechanics and precision, develop strategic and tactical awareness, and work on the necessary relaxation and fluidity...
The idea of pursuing personal excellence is great, but functionally how do you do it? I've written about beating the boredom of repetitive drilling, and promoting an excellence mindset. Yet when you...
One of the awesome things about Historical European Martial Arts is that they come from a rich historical tradition. And this tradition includes a wealth of instructional books written from within...
Last Saturday morning at 5:30am I began a trip from Vancouver to the town of Monroe in Washington state, about 3 hours south of Vancouver, with five of my students from Academie Duello. It was our...
Sometimes, I have hated swordplay. This is something I truly love and has been an enduring passion of my life. But when the fire is gone a sense of resentment, frustration, or anger can remain in its...
"To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." – Elbert Hubbard Putting yourself out into the world is a surefire way to invite criticism. All who do encounter those who detract. Yet is...
