FEMA 19th Anniversary

From Shimei Naomi, Turtle, Chrissy and Airn:

FEMA celebrated it’s 19th anniversary November 14 – 17, 2008! We hosted visiting guest instructors Sifu Jen Resnick and Sifu Sonya Richardson from Hand-to-Hand Kajunkenbo Self-Defense in Oakland, CA. They taught 4 classes: Professor Coleen Gragen’s Knife Form, Street Fighting, Martial Arts as Healing Arts and Sparring: Forward Pressure! We loved every single minute! FEMA students were able to get a concentrated taste of Kajunkenbo – and enjoy the very unique and signature style of having these two skilled martial arts and healers share their knowledge and training.

It’s hard for me to pin down a favorite class or even a specific technique or drill…I loved the material and how the information was presented. The intentional and mindful way the material was taught lends itself to FEMA having collective re-memory.. This will allow us to successfully incorporate the principles directly into our training and practice. So many drills, techniques and exercises to practice and train!! Some of the highlights were the sparring drills and learning to stretch muscles I didn't even know existed :) Exciting!

The awards banquet on Saturday evening was held at Sawatdee Thai Restaurant. We had a wonderful group of folks in attendance who enjoyed great food, celebrated everyone’s accomplishments from this past year and honored our head instructor and visiting guest instructors. FEMA membership presented Shifu with a series of gift cards so she can shop at her favorite golfing store. Fore!!! Shifu presented our honored guests, Sifu Sonya and Sifu Jen, with a certificate commemorating their classes taught.

Our own Shimei Naomi received her San Dan or 3rd degree black belt this year from Shifu. As a way to honor Shimei Naomi for this awesome accomplishment, the students presented her with a gift at the banquet. An art piece was created having FEMA students including the FEMA girls and FLY teens finished the sentence "Thank you Shimei Naomi for....". As you can imagine, there were many heartfelt responses as everyone was excited to have the chance to thank Shimei Naomi for all she gives to the FEMA student body. Thank you to Kirsten (Taylor's mom and a taiji student at FEMA) for putting this all together for us!**

The following FEMA adult students received awards:
Anna for Most Courageous Beginner
Jaqi for Best Attendance/Hardest Working
Megan for Most Committed
Shanna for Outstanding Positive Energy and Creativity

The FEMA girls had three awards of their own:

Zoe for Best Big Sister (now in FLY J)

Anna S. for Best Etiquette

Marisol for Most Fearless

The teen class (FLY) gave awards to:

Emma: For her "bomb diggity" Judo throws, fashion and sense of humor.

Fresa: For her great attitude and ability to remain a "mellow marshmellow" under pressure.

Adrienne: For her quiet grace and awesome shirts.

We had some delicious chocolate cake and ice cream to finish off our evening....  

Dear Old Henry

When I was about 9 years old my mom and I took riding lessons at the double SS Oaks stable in a small Arkansas town. My mom was quite good and placed in several competitions. For a period of time I would come every Sunday for my lesson and each week I would find myself on the most ancient horse so gray he was, in fact, pure white. His name was Henry. Week after week Henry and I would plod around the arena in circle after excruciatingly slow circle. All the while, my teacher would nag me constantly about the position of my feet, wrists, hands, thumbs, chin and so forth. I became increasingly frustrated at my progress upon old Henry. One Sunday I gathered my courage and complained to my teacher that “this horse is too slow”. Much to my surprise, my teacher sent Henry into a bit of trot. Certainly we were not going at top speed, but by gosh we were finally moving! I was holding on for dear life, crying a little, and secretly happy to finally be going somewhere! Expect, of course, we weren’t going anywhere, just continuing in the same circle we had previously been plodding along in. A few weeks later, when I returned to gather Henry for our usual slow progression around the arena, Henry was gone. When I asked about Henry I was told he had died. Now I know I felt sadness for Henry, but I know I also felt excited to finally get the chance to ride a faster horse! Indeed, I was given a bigger, shinier, brown horse that appeared faster just standing there then Henry ever did in motion. This was to be my first lesson where I fell off the horse

When I arrived at FEMA my complete knowledge of martial arts included a 3 month period at a karate school, one PAWMA camp, and I’d seen Karate Kid many, many times. All I really knew is, I wanted to do super cool kung fu stuff. My first class at FEMA was in Monday night taiji. I was so happy to be training that I didn’t notice how slow we were going. After a little more than a year of training, the opportunity came to train in Shanghai, China. I couldn’t believe that I might get to go to China where I was sure we were gunna do kung fu movie stuff. Yes!! I signed up. This was to be the first time I would meet our teacher’s teacher, Shigong Alex Feng, and the 3rd time ever for me to ride in a plane. After some discussion between Shifu and Shigong, it was decided I would train in the Yang style taiji 24 form when we reached China. “Oh boy”, I thought as memories of Henry suddenly bubbled up, “now I’m on a slow horse to China!”

After 14 hours of my constant concentration psychically helping the pilot fly the plane, and what I consider to be pure magic, we landed safely in Shanghai. The next day I found myself in a large arena with the most spectacular gung fu action taking place. Shifu training in a twin dao (sword) form, Shijie Tina with whip chain, and there were countless other awe inspiring activities all around me. I, meanwhile, began with the taiji walk. This was excruciatingly slow progression as the teacher, Mrs. Zong, taught me correct placement of my feet, wrist, thumbs, hands, chin and so forth. Where was the form? When did I get to learn to fly around in bamboo trees? Would I EVER get to go any FASTER?! With dear old Henry plodding around in my memory, at least I knew better than to complain this time.


So okay, actually some of that gung fu stuff looked really scary. Also, there were bruises that were large and colorful. Ouch. Maybe I secretly started to be happy to be going slow, realizing that perhaps I enjoy the taiji walk more than flying around in trees. I mean, who am I kidding, I really do hate to fly. At the end of two weeks of training, which included an entire day of “Cloud Hands Hell”, I still wasn’t performing awesome gung fu. I did however, have a deep desire to continue training. I couldn’t wait to return home and learn more from Shifu.

Once we were home, I made a few discoveries. Like taiji class was often the only thing that would help me show up for Monday classes when I knew it was a judo night. Taiji became the practice that would renew my energy and set my foundation for attempting those fancy gung fu moves and judo throws. What happens when I’m trying to learn something that moves quickly? In order to feel success, I practice “taiji” speed for awhile. And lo and behold, quite often those awesome gung fu moves come from a taiji form!

The 9 year old me lost interest in horseback riding and never placed in any competition. But there’s an important gift I received from that short period in my life that has helped me immeasurably in my current training. I’m grateful that my days with Henry gave me the good sense not to whine about going too slow and to continue on even when I wasn’t getting what I thought I wanted. Now I can often recognize that I’m getting what I need at the time. Sure enough, it becomes every thing I’d like to have anyway. Thank you to all my teachers, and Henry, I hope I’ve done you proud. ☺

Respectfully submitted 7/6/08
By Airn Sheahan

Dominic has been right there supporting Anna at Judo on Saturday mornings for the last 4 years. It always amazes me how much he picks up on her lessons. Recently he drew his interpretation of a Judo roll. For a seven year old boy I thought he did a pretty good job!

-Stacey

Two more baby pictures

Myo-O

Shimei Naomi

Meditation on breathing

For many years, I've stopped once in a while to enjoy breathing. Sometimes I do this every day, sometimes I forget until something reminds me. I think youraverage person on the street would be baffled by this– what's to enjoy? It's breathing. Everyone does it.

The first time I thought of this, I had a bad cold,with stuffy nose, dry mouth, and aching throat, until it was unpleasant and painful no matter how I tried to breathe. I tried telling myself it could be worse –I've had asthma attacks where every breath was painful and my lungs were so tight I felt like I would suffocate. This didn't ease my misery really, but I decided that when I could breathe normally again, I'd take a minute to enjoy it. I needed to get through this cold until I could try this new idea. It sounded kind of weird, and I'm always ready to try some new, weird thing.
Since then, I've tried to remember to do this fairly often. Sometimes I just marvel at the easy, natural ebb and flow of air, in and out again.
Sometimes I take a big, deep breath, loving the way I can take in all the air I want, keep it for as long as I like, then when I'm tired of it, let it go and get some more.
And all this air is free! It's good stuff, too, not like when I was a kid. Especially downtown, I try to notice how the air these days is crystal clear and sweet. I remember when every car, truck, and bus had it's own little gray-brown cloud behind it. I used to hold my breath a bit when a bus went by, because they smelled so bad. All the pollution control and air quality laws passed in the past thirty years have had a tremendous impact. Nowadays, you could almost suck the stuff straight out of the tail pipes.
When I have a chance to lay down in the fresh grass, I sometimes think about our symbiotic relationship with plants. Exhaling nice, moist, carbon dioxide ladenair all over the grass, then inhaling the sweet,oxygen rich air the grass gives off in return. I hope the grass enjoys this as much as I do.
So enjoy breathing. Pay attention to the smooth flow,the natural way your body knows just how much it needs, and the easy availability of air. Take a moment to breathe freely.
Enjoy it.

-Jaqi

Below is one of my favorite quotes that I think is particularly relevant, especially in light of our recent discussions surrounding fear and diversity. It is a quote taken from part of Nelson Mandela's Inaugural speech in 1994. It's very sweet and I thought it would be nice to post on our blog.

- Shanna

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not in just some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Nelson Mandela
Inaugural speech, 1994

Why I joined FEMA

The shortest answer possible is that I got fed up. I've been pawed, and I've been groped, and I've been stalked, and simply got fed up with being afraid.

After a particularly bad encounter with a creepy man on a bus late at night, I was standing at a dark bus stop talking on my cell phone with my girlfriend trying to find the courage to make it the rest of the way home. It was at this point, when she kept suggesting that I carry a gun and I kept telling her no; I decided I had to take a self-defense class.

The next day I started doing research on the web. I found a lot of martial arts classes that I didn't think I wanted to take. Then I found an article on Women's Self-defense by Laura Kamienski that sounded true to my way of thinking. And this article lead me to Chimera. From Chimera I followed the search engine to NWMAF (National Women's Martial Arts Federation) and from there to FEMA.

I emailed Shifu Kore' to find out if I would be welcome. I came and observed a class; and here I am in the beginners' class. And now I am developing the confidence to believe that I don't have to be afraid anymore.

-Lisbeth

Shifu/Sensei

In my red cowboy skirt, boots and hat complete with two six shooters. Age 3 or so

Singing "VOLARE" was my favorite thing to do at that time. Age 5 or so

-Shifu Kore

Tenacity

Age in pic: 1

Age now: 26

Belt level: red

This is a pic of me doing what appears to be push-ups in the grass a month after my third or fourth hip surgery. I think it represents tenacity, especially when faced with challenges related to my hips. I've always been one to push myself and go beyond what some people believed I was capable of. Or perhaps that's just a Taurus thing. ;)

- Rose

Woo! Theme!

On Monday, Shifu asked the advanced class to submit childhood photos that demonstrated qualities that students still have today. They will be updated on the blog as I receive them. Stay tuned for more!

-Megan

International Women's Day

This year was FEMA's first appearance at International Women's Day. Women of all ages and cultures were there. Many interested people came to our booth and inquired about our programs (and of course there were a few who had even taken classes at FEMA in the past). Also, many other girls & women's rights organizations took our brochures and were interested in self-defense classes, or even partnering with us.

All in all, it was quite a refreshing event. The keynote speaker, Robin Morgan, was awesome. I was reminded that women started the peace movement and we are the majority of the human species yet still not respected as we should be. I also learned that in many African languages, the word for woman is the same word as farmer. And until the 1940's genital mutilation was legal in the United States-- any woman who was caught masturbating or was thought to be in a romantic relationship with another woman was at risk!

I am really glad I went, it was good networking for our school as well as informative. Thank you to Shimei's Chrissy and Airn for helping out in the afternoon. To quote Robin's closing remarks, "We will be post-feminism when we are post-patriarchy."

- Shanna Swanson

One of the reasons why I appreciate FEMA so much recently came to light when I was at a bridal shower for a relative of mine. We were sitting at a table eating cake and all of the women around me were talking about how “fat” they were and how they “can’t” do ____________ (fill in the blank with whatever activity you want) because of their weight. This was even talk coming from the 18-19 year olds who were 90 pounds soaking wet.
There was a point in my life where I would have joined into this negative talk and shrugged it off as completely normal. But this time, I just sat there in stunned silence and counted my blessings for finding a school where no body type is considered in a negative light and words like “can’t” will earn you extra pushups.
While I have my own body issues (even though intellectually, I know I have no reason to), since coming to FEMA to train, I have more good days than bad. Training here has given me much more confidence to say “So what?” to the popular idea that women have to be thin as rails, and preferably under 5’6”.


- Megan Treziok

20th Anniversary Celebration for Grandmaster Wen Mei Yu

Our dear GRANDMASTER WEN MEI YU'S 20th Anniversary of teaching in the United States was celebrated this last February in Los Angeles with Sifu Debbie Leung, Jian Mei Branch Sister from Olympia, Washington and myself traveling to share in the gala which happened over the weekend of February 23-24, 2008. Sifu Doria Cook-Nelson (GM Yu's top student), Debbie and I visited with G.Master Yu on Saturday at her home in Corona. We went over details in the Liangong Series and clarified a few things. She was very happy to see us! She is getting better slowly but surely, and having everyone who loves her so much around truly helped her spirits! Ella and John (more wonderful students) offered their home in Monrovia, Calif. and hosted a "High Tea" with delicious snacks and a special mango cake on Sunday afternoon, followed by everyone going out to a scrumptious Shanghai-style Chinese dinner at a nearby restaurant. Over thirty people attended the events. G.Master Yu awed us with a special calligraphy demonstration at the High Tea.

Everyone cried when Doria read what Annabelle wrote about how much G.Master Yu has given to her students and friends over the last twenty years here in America.
G.Master Yu is a very special person, and an incredible teacher. We are so lucky to be a branch of such a Grand and Beautiful Tree!

- Shifu Kore Grate