In the Beginning...

2008. I was rehabilitating from injuries and training to be a CST instructor (see story here -  http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/?p=411) , when a series of life events sent me down a very different path.  Work redundancy,  a divorce,  more friends dying and a week at Woodford folk festival changed the way I thought about living.  From married, a full time stable job,  and a house mortgage to single and living in a bus, with a new plan to travel the country from festival to festival.  That WAS the plan anyhow.  But not how the story goes.

Now,  married again and with a 2 year old daughter,  after going through bouts of depression and back on the booze to deal with it,  or not deal with it as it were.  Playing in bands again which led to becoming a full time vision and lighting tech or 'VJ' (http://www.monkwhy.com) for a while, meant spending a lot of time on the club scene and lots of sleepless nights and lots of alcohol.

But it's not all bad.  I love working in the music scene again and it was a line by Aussie hip hop artist Dialectrix that woke me up and pulled me out of the depression.  "I had to go and figure it quick,  lickidy split, getting rid of the negative activity shit.  The instant you do you soon recognise there's a change to ya mood and ya soul and ya mind... " ( track: what's important,  from the album audio projectile) yes music can do that!
Also thanks to the music scene,  recently in 2013 on a tour with Resin Dogs, The flight back from Melbourne, their Mc 'DNO' was watching me play Skyrim on my laptop and asked how much time I spend playing this. I said '180 hours so far' and with that he replied... "Imagine what you could have achieved in that 180 hours?" . And that was the last time I ever played Skyrim...

Now,  2014,  a tour in New Zealand over new years working as a VJ,  I met a friend who got me onto this liver detox tea by Artemis,  which tastes more bitter the worse your liver is.  And damn it tasted bitter. But after a few days it began to taste quite pleasant,  and I felt a lot better. And so it got me thinking about how good I used to feel every day.  Also on the same tour some new friends were talking about going back and training in martial arts after a long break and that got me thinking even more.  Should I go back to Taekwondo and Hapkido after a 7 year break.?
After all, my injuries are well recovered thanks to the help of a very experienced sports physiotherapist.  And I now know how to avoid such injuries.

So as of last week.  January 14th 2014 I decided to get back to it.  Im so out of practice id pretty much have to start over again, so instead of previous martial arts I've decided to switch styles and school to Brisbane's own Shaolin Kung Fu Guan. I've always been intrigued by the skills of the Shaolin monks, and these guys are the official representative of the temple here in Australia.

This blog is a diary of my daily practice and progress as I start back on a path to mastery.  Shaolin Kung Fu training with integrated CST and an attempt to get back to wellness and finish my CST instructor cert. And maybe even onto CST coach.
The Daily practice diary is part of the CST certification so hopefully by making it public,  I may be able to inspire some others to get back to it as well,  or make a start for themselves.
Besides, I've done this all before, how hard can it be???. ha ha ha.