Shastar Vidiya and Nidar Singh Nihang

Another great Shastar Vidiya clip.



Nidar Singh and The Chakar:

"OK, we don't need you to do that." Self defence claim as Teenager shot dead in Florida

This article about a Florida man who shot a teenager, claiming self defence, highlights Florida's seven-year-old self-defence law, nicknamed the "shoot first" law.

It's worth reading this article and reflecting on how you feel about self defence and what you think might constitute it. Not only from a legal point of view but a moral one also. How would you have acted in this situation?

At one point when the neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot the teenager started following someone he said was suspicious, the police dispatcher talking to him over the phone said, "OK, we don't need you to do that."

Worthy of reflection, I think.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17438627
The fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager in Florida has prompted protests demanding the arrest of the perpetrator, who says he was acting in self-defence. How much force does the law permit?

Afghan female boxer at Olympics 2012

Whatever happens at the Olympics, I think Afghan female boxer Sadaf Rahimi's already a winner…

The BBC site says, "Under Taliban rule, women in Afghanistan were forbidden from participating in any sports." Here's a BBC video about Rahimi's fight to the top

And another by Al Jazeera:

Shoulder pain: rotator cuff

Having pain again so need to go and see the doc…this video was a timely reminder of how the shoudler *should* work…

Freaky martial arts EU video withdrawn

Well they said it was withdrawn because it was deemed racist, but I say it just looks plain freaky!
Check out the banned video here:



Interestingly it features a Bruce Lee yellow leotard clad lady passively resisting a practitioner of a Chinese  chuan fa, a Brazilian capoerist and a kalaripayattu master. (ref. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17276838)

Don't know what kalaripayattu is?
Check out….



And if you're not at all au fait with Indian martial arts you should also check out the following BBC article about 'Shastar Vidya' (thanks LQ) or the Indian Sikh 'dying martial art'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15480741

Be the best you can be in your world

Towards the end of a short video I saw on the BBC site entitled The art of boxing, I was struck by this quote by the boxer and artist Thaddine Swift Eagle Johnson. An inspiring short video, it looks at her life as a champion boxer and the challenges she faces but also touches on her philosophy and how to look at things when life seems bleak.

She says, "Be the best you can be in your world, or…someone else's world. Be that champion in someone else's world. Smile to someone on the street. You don't know what their day was like. That would make their day."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16880075 

Kung fu piano playing

Not as weird as it sounds. This pianist has developed an idea of continuous music and which necessitates long periods of piano playing sometimes culminating in 19 notes a second being played. Lubomyr Melnyk says that this requires a martial arts mindset: in order to achieve this speed one needs to turn one's body "into water".

"The technique is based on a martial arts, kung fu use of the body and the energy"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16794606

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubomyr_Melnyk

Be water, my friend…..