Transmission of Knowledge

Imagine that you aspire to be a TENNIS STAR

(and let’s say you have unlimited resources).

Where would you go for your training ?

Would who be the best trainer or coach ?

Who has the best knowledge; and who might

have the rare ability to teach (or transmit)

that knowledge to someone else ?

It has been proven that the best way to learn
something is to learn it from someone who
already has that knowledge.

So let’s say you use your best resources

to obtain John McEnroe as your coach--

tee, hee. McEnroe can probably speed you

through the training in ways the YMCA

just can’t. Five years of training (without

injury) under the tutelage of a great

master will skyrocket almost anyone’s

skill.

How did McEnroe become the world's
number one champion ? His coach was
Harry Hopman, a world-acclaimed coach.

And how did Alberto Tomba, a rich kid from
the city of Bologna, become the best ski
racer in the world ? His dad hired the ski
racing legend Gustavo Thoeni.

Was Mike Tyson destined to become the
greatest boxer of all time ? Or was his
skill carefully developed by his amazing
coach, Cus D'Amato ?

Some of the very best skiers I know

cannot teach a damn thing to someone

else.  I don’t shame them for it. They

just don’t know how to teach.

Of course, Venus and Serena Williams
learned tennis from their dad, who was
not a premier coach--
so not all stars are created by another star.

And there are lots of other variables.

Most people do no become tennis stars,
nor do they have the resources.

This blog is about the transmission

of knowledge. Because that’s what

they call it in the internal martial arts.

If you want to learn something, go find
the best teacher you can. If you want to
learn Tai Chi and martial arts, go see
Grandmaster Fu.

Ten Reasons Why Our Health System Sucks

George W. Bush confidently told us that
we have “the best health care system in
the world.”

Rudolph Giuliani echoed that moronic 
statement by claiming we provide
the “best medical care in the world.”

Not even close.

In fact, the U.S. has the most expensive
health care system in the world; but the
health care outcomes-- which are the
statistical considerations of things like
infant mortality, life expectancy, length
of hospital stays and appropriateness
of medications-- demonstrate to the world
that the U.S. health care system ranks
below most other developed countries,
down by Czech Republic.

In a recent Bloomberg study of 48 countries
for Most Efficient Health Care, the United
States ranked 46th, right behind Iran,
Turkey and Dominican Republic.

When I point my finger here, I'm not
pointing it at the hospital system, or
insurance system, or some twisted
account of what the government should
provide; I'm pointing my finger as us,
the U.S. of A. And by "health care system,"
I am including the WAY WE LIVE.

Here's why our health system sucks:

1. Diet
Diet isn't what you avoid eating, it's
what you eat. Sugar correlates directly
with diabetes; greasy foods are now
said to contribute to Alzheimer's;
and both contribute to obesity. But
on the other side, people who try to
lose weight or stay thin end up in the
E.R. or the hospital because they don't
eat things like meat. Most of the vege-
heads and vegans I've known get sick
all the time. Alcohol is dietary; and
though we don't drink as much as
many places, our drunks are as
drunk as anywhere. Our diet sucks.

2. Exercise
"Whaaat ?" you say, how can exercise
be part of the problem ? Check out
the injury rate of bicycling; it's worse
than football. It's been two years
since The New York Times expounded
on How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.
Everyone knows that running causes
degeneration of the joints and puts
people in the hospital for knee and
hip surgeries. Tons of people tear
a muscle lifting weights. And the new
Cross-Fit fad is hurting people all
the time. Injuries from exercise
costs money, missed work and ends
up causing more and more problems
as life goes on. We're hurting us.

3. Sports
Apart from mere exercise, "Athlos"
or competition pushes people to do
all kinds of crazy. Kids get hurt
playing football, basketball and
soccer. Adults get hurt running
marathons, triathlons and "tough
mudder" competitions. Ballet and
gymnastics are likely to tweak your
body for life. But wait-- there's more !
Now we have "extreme sports," where
people go bigger and faster than
ever before; hell, they even make
stuff up to be extreme. Broken
bones and collapsed lungs have
nothing on the cost of traumatic
brain injuries and shattered spines.
Subtract that from your bottom
line, America.

4. Lack of Self-Care
In China, people take care of
themselves. Here, we run to the
doctor just as soon as something
goes wrong. There's a tremendous
difference between the two. The
Chinese exercise for health and
longevity. We exercise to look
good and to get six-pack abs.
The Chinese carefully choose
each food for its medicinal
benefits. We eat whatever sounds
good or is lying around. Simply
put, we just don't take care of
ourselves. The Chinese must take
care of themselves because they
don't have the option to run to a
hospital. An ounce of Prevention
is worth seven pounds of Cure.

5. "Preventive Healthcare"
Alright, you understand the point
that we don't self-care--
but little do people realize that
our medical system has a function
it calls "prevention" that can make
things much worse. In essence,
these are the medical screenings
to indicate pre-cancer cells and
the like. The problem with these
screenings are the high percentage
of "false positives," meaning the
test will "indicate a problem" that
will likely never manifest as a
disease. For men, the Prostate-
Specific Antigen (PSA) test tells
the likelihood of prostate cancer.
One in 1000 men will be saved by
the test; but 4-5 will die from
cancer even though they've been
screened. Most men with elevated
PSA levels turn out to not have
cancer; and only about 25 percent
of men who get a prostate biopsy
(flesh removed and tested) due to
elevated PSA levels actually have
prostate cancer. But the elevated
PSA makes men very anxious, and
many times they demand the doc
perform surgery; this can lead to
all kinds of successive problems
like impotency and urinary issues.

6. Infliction
That's the best word I could
come up with to describe the
U.S. phenomenon of people
shooting each other and
running into each other with
automobiles. Both of these two
situations are unique to the U.S.
They are cultural issues created
through our rich but short history.
No where in the world do so
many people get shot by firearms
or find themselves in car accidents.
We do inflict sexually-transmitted
diseases upon each other too.

7. M.D. Ego
The reason guys like Bush and
Guiliani proclaim our health care
system as the best is because of the
unparalleled egos of medical
doctors. They go to school for a long
time, have to endure rigorous job
training, and end up feeling god-like.
Mis-diagnosis is rife in the U.S., and
so is misappropriate choice of med's.
M.D.s refuse to have anyone looking
over their shoulders, check ing their
work. But 40 out of 100 medical
charts have glaring mistakes, and
98,000 people die every year from
mistakes doctors make. Doctors are
messed  up !  As my Chinese doctor
says all the time,
"Western doctors kill people !"

8. Ignorance of Other Systems
To make matters even worse, there are
arrogant groups of assholes out there
who still demand that Science-based
medicine is the only way-- even
though our health system is as bad as
it is, and these assholes have no other
ideas on how to make things better. They
ignore the 5000-year old Chinese
system, even though it's fare more
cost effective and kills way fewer
people.

9. Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals are killing people.
Have you heard the news about
statins ? Statins are the drugs to
help control cholesterol. Well,
they are killing people ! Hormone
therapy is killing people. Doctors
prescribe Prednisone for everything--
and it robs you of your immune
system. Listen to the commercials;
since drug companies have to list
the possible side-effects, you get to
hear all kinds of crazy things that
drugs can do-- but most important
is when they say "can sometimes
cause death."
One hundred years ago, cocaine
was the hot pharmaceutical. Now
they say aspirin would never get
through FDA approval. What does
that tell you ?

10. Stress
Money, marriage, sex, love, cars,
kids, driving, sitting, family, health,
addiction; Lust, Gluttony, Greed,
Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride.
The American lifestyle is rife with
catalysts of stress; and it is well short
of remedies.
Alcohol is temporary.
Vacation is temporary.
Most of the common fixes are just
band-aids, and just about as temporary.

Which Foot Do You Favor ?

Stand, and relax.
Which foot do you favor ?
Have you ever noticed this before ?

Whether you're 20, or 30, or 40, or even
god-forbid older than that, you've been
favoring that foot for a long time.

How do you think this affects the rest
of your body ? Is it possible that your favored
foot is creating asymmetrical use of your
knees ? Or your hips ?

Yes, it's more than possible. In fact, favoring
one foot develops asymmetrical "stretchings"
of some tendons, and asymmetrical "stabilizations"
of some muscles.

In effect, this creates diagonals and slants
throughout your entire body-- and messes
you up completely. All of your physical
movement, including your walking-gait,
will be effected by favoring that foot.

Now let's scroll back up and look at the photo
at top of the blog one more time. Do you notice
any problems ?



Look again.




Now scroll down.

How about now ?

The red line across her shoulders is not level.

"So what," you say. "That's because she

favors standing on her right foot. "

The great Tai Chi masters say "your sickness is

to be found in your hips and waist," and that

"when one or both shoulders are lifted, sickness

can enter the body easily."

Okay. Now what if she were sitting ?

You draw the red line.

Obviously, this is not the same woman, but

we can imagine that it is--

or that both of these women favor her right foot

when standing, and her LEFT BUTT CHEEK when

sitting. This position does look fairly natural, doesn't it ?

What would you say about her shoulders ?

Now look at this guy.

He doesn't appear to be favoring one foot,

but I'm sure that he is. From first glance,

he appears to be posturally "straight."

But with the red lines, he clearly is not.

And how about this guy ?

Can you see it ?

Can you see that he is all kinds of crooked ?

Or are you still saying,

"So, what? So, What !!"

Well, you know what folks look like when

they get older. Favoring one foot does this:

While his shoulders appear to be straight in

this photo, quite obviously, nothing else is straight.

True story, this is what happens to the body when it ages.

I like to pick on Jillian Michaels because I think
she hurts more people than she helps.
Look at her and draw the red lines:

Believe it or not, these are in chronological order.
In most photos, Jillian is sloped like this.

And some day, Jillian Michaels is going to look like this:

Your question should be,
"How do I head this off ?"
or
"How do I keep myself from getting more and more crooked ?"

First, look at yourself when you brush your teeth.

Do you lift one shoulder ?
Is your back crooked ?
Are you favoring one foot ?

There are folks with tremendously healthy, straight bodies.
They look like this:

Even standing on one foot, their shoulders are level and there
are no crazy slants and diagonals across their bodies.

These people practice Tai Chi.
There's a lot more to it than you think.