Our compassion goes out to our friends and family in the Northeast. As I write this they have been hit with two snowstorms since our departure and foresee another ramming this coming weekend. We, fortunately, got out while the getting was good.
Some may be waiting in anticipation of where we disembarked. We copped a squat in our favorite Central American country and town Nosara, Costa Rica. We wanted to choose a place that would reflect complete relaxation and retreat from the rush and hurry energy of which we came, a place that would require minimal exertion on our part to undergo decompression. The comfort of this local provides us with a safe haven and respite due to our familiarity. We have been here 5 times now, 4 years in a row, bringing the wee one here first when she was a mere 6 months. Here we have close friends, make new friends, and meet friends of friends.
Nosara is a surf and yoga mecca, ironically CNN and National Geographic voted it one of the “11 places to go in 2014”. Our hotel the Harmony, is the pinnacle of serenity and nature’s elegance. Time floats and becomes transparent – time evaporates. No really, the hotel has no clocks in the rooms or common areas and there is no Television. No clocks or watches seem to allow the body to naturally reset its rhythms. Wake with the sun to the sounds of the howler moneys and exotic birds collaborating in the distance or maybe a 3-year-old eager to explore the beach. Sleep when the urge comes to slip into a siesta. Lights out literally in the common areas of the hotel at 10 PM and physically when the body draws you to retire synchronizing to the natural, rhythmic body clock.
Now we are boundless, nomads. Several days in and it has yet to completely bore into our consciousness. Comparable to when a lover leaves, the familiarity is so fresh one expects the silhouette to surrey in and settle back into the comfortable nook. Last year on this same trip Rick and I began to discuss the strong possibility of taking this conduit and here we find ourselves with an open pallet to add the strokes deliberately and thoughtfully. The same we that stands here now in the universe of our creation. Since fate agrees, then who are we to disagree?
Pura Vida!
Tag: Guro Rick
Love and Knife Disarms
Current and past students came from far and wide to reunite and live the experience one last time as a master, Guro Rick taught his last seminar as owner of Princeton Academy of Martial Arts. It was an excellent seminar, as all of us have become accustomed to as students of Rick. Taking advantage of the unseasonably beautiful weather, the attendees worked through various knife work drills outside in the sunshine. Later in the afternoon things progressed inside the Academy with knife disarms, tie-ups, and Rick guiding people to brainstorm their disarms issues, using it as learning experience for the students. The last elements covered were Kali/Silat entries and takedowns. There was much information shared but Rick’s intention, which he made clear, was to give the attendees something that they could take home, practice, and progress with.
The mood of the day was uplifting and high energy, one could feel the electricity about the room. The mood was blithe with over 50 attendees, many of which could not help reminisce throughout the day. And yes, at the closing there were some eyes welling. As I perused the group, watched Rick teach during the seminar, and spoke at closing to the group, it was difficult not to get teary and get choked up.
I believe that many others feel just as I do. It has been nothing more than magical. For almost 27 years Rick has made PAMA a place of solitude. Within a group one is truly alone with oneself while training. Uniting the mind and body daily, because no one can help, as you are getting punched and kicked or the weapon being wielded towards you. You must be in that moment with yourself, feeling the life surge through the physical body as your human instincts kick in. Not that of maiming or harming another but, that of self-preservation and preservation of life. More and more in this world there are very few places where we can truly feel, understand being alive and in control of that life right down to our core. And sometime even shaking within that core from the sheer bliss, release, and relief.
Living and breathing the warrior’s path even till his departure; Guro Rick over the years has shared not just the physical parts of the arts but analyzing and discussing the details of the human psyche. Altering students not just in the flesh, but also in the dark corners that most people do not want to explore. No one is truly losing Rick as an instructor, every time people train they will be able to hear his voice and visualize the motions and hopefully, more importantly, live through his guidance as courageous warriors.
He is not leaving martial arts completely nor will he be leaving his students floundering. They will be taken care of carefully by the new Sifu Mike Lee and Lao Si Mike Wolhfert and the rest of the assistant instructors. This blog was created as a meeting point for us to all to remain together on this journey. I imagine that Rick and I will continue to talk about Martial Arts daily as we do now and continue to train but, I do look forward to what genius may come out of this transformative process.
Living Wherever We Are 