O My Brothers! O My Sisters!

I attended seminary for two years, studied with the Montfort Fathers. In 1965 Holy Mother the Church and I parted company; wine, woman & song, with a batchelor’s degree and marriage in 1968, and I headed for the Coast. Got beat around a lot in CA, mostly for being a bit of an asshole and lightweight rowdy, a slow learner to boot. Zen training and then Aikido were what made sense.

After having decided that I’d had enough, I moved back to NYC. New York was good to me, made me strong, kept me honest. Bicycle messenger all day, down to Chinatown to study t’ai chi ch’uan, bike home over the bridge and up Atlantic Avenue. Getting in fights, rolling with the flow, motorcycles & pickpockets, damn what a show.

Found Herman Kauz, teaching at Brooklyn College. A practicing iconoclast, he helped students divest themselves of illusory assumptions. Accent on soft; who could do it? But still trained as a martial art for New York City wanderers. My life changed.

Moved to the mountains in 1978 after birth of first son. My teacher said “You should think about teaching.” And I said, “Yes sir.” and thought about teaching for two years; have taught continuously since 1980, with support and encouragement. Blue Ridge T’ai Chi Club still prospers in Ashe county (Panderos@Skybest.com).

About a dozen years ago, I was introduced to Master Jou, Tsung Hwa. We hit it off famously, he would laugh at me, I would laugh at him. He invited me to demonstrate at his Tai Chi Farm, not because of any great degree of accomplishment on my part, but more, I suppose, because of our friendship. He taught me the essentials of a qigong approach, and was that embodiment of example one meets only a few times in a lifetime.

I work as a Physical Therapist Assistant for Duke University Medical Center in the Rehab dept of Person Memorial Hospital. The opportunity to extend my training to many hours a day employment has been most valuable and enjoyable. I teach at the Person campus of Piedmont Community College, and at the Person Senior Center.