This was a very different day altogether.

As I said before, I'm going through this in the classroom with a student rolfer, so I should have assumed that he wouldn't always hit the right spots easily... I was getting such interesting results though, that I had almost forgotten the major things I had wanted fixed from the beginning, which still hadn't been addressed much until this session.

Each session, an instructor has looked at us at the beginning of the class and directed the student rolfing us as to what should be done and how... This time, a different instructor looked at me, and after explaining my problems (inner thigh overstretched, shoulder injury, tight right side abdomen), she knew exactly what should be done to fix them, and came by numerous times during the session to direct my rolfer to the right places and techniques.

I am extremely happy after this session. She got him to work on the inside of my left thigh, which had been overstretched in '98 doing kung-fu in China. She found the problems immediately and it was pretty tough to take the work in that spot, but later I realized that the injury I'd had for years was about 60%-80% improved! She also found after asking me about my shoulder and feeling around it that my arm's not sitting in the socket correctly. Spot on, as the brits would say... ;)

They both also examined the rotation and relative positions of each of the lumbar vertebrae today, and it was hard for my rolfer to figure out what was going on initially, but she slowly went through it with him until he got what was going on... They had me arch back, forward, and to the side, while feeling the right and left edges of each vertebra. Apparently, this allows them to feel whether the vertebra is turned to the left or right, or off kilter, so they know how to adjust the surrounding structures... It was very technical, and I'm sure they'll have a lot of intricate work to do to fix each vertebra in succesion...

We ran out of time at this point, but I felt very happy to know that these things will be addressed well before I get to the end. I don't expect everything to be perfect, but if these things can be improved substantially I'll be ecstatic.

I have another session tomorrow. I hope they can get my shoulder back in the right spot... That would make me feel like a million bucks. :)

This time was really focused on my pelvic area, thighs, and legs, to try to open up my gait and stance some more. These areas are tight on my front side, causing me to stretch to stand erect, and making it difficult to swing my leg behind me as I walk...

The pelvic area was difficult because it was really tight on me, and very light pressure send feelings of 'wrongness' darting through my whole pelvic area... I'm sure you know what I mean. The stuff in there just wasn't used to being stretched, or even messed with at all. It actually loosened up quite quickly though, and after the session I took a walk and felt amazing -- like my body was just a bag of water, flowing with each step... Very fluid and free feeling... It's really neat. ;)

He also worked again on opening my chest more. Apparently, the cavity under my sternum has a deeper than usual cavity, indicating that the fascia is stretched tightly there... After this work, the cavity looked much shallower and my chest was even more free and open, making deep chest breaths even easier than before... Very nice.

First of all, this is my 100th post! I'm pretty amazed that I've actually continued blogging this long... It may be some sort of testament to the addictiveness of it. ;)

I wanted to add my 2 cents to the question of what sort of footage of POWs would be a violation of the Geneva convention. It prohibits turning them into a so-called "public curiosity," i.e. a freak show...

Firstly, I don't think that is what the footage of Iraqi soldiers shown by U.S. stations is doing. The real point of this coverage is to show both the fact that some are surrendering, and the processes our forces are going though during the surrender. There is no freak show -- only generic footage of men walking with hands over their heads, or turning around, kneeling, and being handcuffed...

Secondly, some of the footage aired by Al Jazeera did turn the U.S. POWs into a public curiosity. It showed the dead bodies of soldiers in disarray, in close-up shots. This was too much. But the footage of the live soldiers is more on the borderline. I couldn't say definitively whether this bit was a violation or not, but probably not in my opinion...

Hopefully, both sides will reconsider this issue now, although I don't expect any better journalistic ethics to surface among the Iraqi state media...

Yes, everyone in the country has been glued to their TVs for days now.

I felt something very different in the first few days of the war -- a new optimism about the future, about how things are going to change for the better after this is all over. The daily display of U.S. soldiers' professionalism, focus, and honor is so impressive it's contagious. It's inspiring. I hope it rubs off on people. :)

I know a lot of people who read this blog disagree, but I honestly think that this is the right thing to do, and if we can be successful, it will be the beginning of a new age of progress for the middle east, and stability and confidence in U.S. and global markets. If we don't succeed (unlikely in my opinion), at least we tried.

I've also become somewhat weary of boring shaky camera footage. I think I'm going to try to watch less TV coverage -- 90% of it is footage of the back of another person or vehicle. 10% of it is incredible though, so what can you do?

Maybe I'll try to catch the latest from web and print media more...

This time he opened up my chest more, which made it a lot easier to breathe deeply into my upper chest... I can breathe very deeply into my abdomen, but my upper chest was somewhat constricted, and this helped quite a bit...

But most of the session was spent working on my pelvic area, thighs, and legs again. It helped my foot arch, which had settled down a bit since before, and I also learned that I shouldn't just relax my feet totally while walking -- I guess to remedy flat-footedness one needs to consciously "engage" the feet initially, until good habits are formed. The correct structure can be found by standing and lifting the toes -- this raises the arch and lets you know where your weight should sit on the foot...

I noticed in the pictures that a significant lopsidedness in my posture had been corrected already too, which was cool.

Unfortunately, I went and did some more rigorous bagua training a couple of days later, and my shoulder popped into a bad position at one point, completely unexpectedly... When my arm got hit with a shock at one point, my shoulder moved the wrong way and stiffened all my muscles up again. I think it's back to normal now, but I'll just take it a bit easier next time. ;)

I've been thinking lately about how there are so many things in my life that are really unbloggable...

The main thing that comes to mind is my martial arts training. I can't really talk about what I do, who my teachers are, or the amazing things I learn and practice... I'd love to, but it wouldn't help anyone do anything except endlessly intellectualize about things that need to be seen and felt to be understood.

It's similar in some respects to Sufism or other forms of mystic experiences such as are found in Zen...

I think that this is also part of the problem with talking about war in any far-removed context. There is no immediate experience of the sort that really gives you an understanding of the meaning involved. Intellectualizing without experience leads to seemingly impassioned arguments entirely devoid of a real understanding of effects or consequences... Pure sophistry...

This sort of thing is so common in martial arts, it's extremely difficult to avoid. Perusing rec.martial-arts reveals tons of 100+ post threads titled "What is the best MA?" or "Striking vs. Grappling", in which the posters endlessly argue points of strategy most of them know almost nothing about...

I guess what I'm thinking about is the boundary of the net's efficacy for the exchange of understanding, which is also the boundary of that ability in language in general. The things that cannot be conveyed through language should be kept out of any forum for debate, because that debate can't achieve any new understanding of the issue...

Whenever there are new and seemingly utopian visions, for instance with regard to the potential for blogging, I feel much reassured about my understanding of things when I can begin to see the limits of those visions. It brings me back into the realm of reality... :)

The other day I decided to go get a wireless PCMCIA card and see if I could find a cafe with free wireless... Well, upon installing it in the car outside CompUSA, I noticed that I could see the store's network and tried to load CNN's page -- when it loaded, I was so surprised. The feeling of being totally free from any physical connection, yet having access to the vast resources of the net is amazing. I know it's been around for a while, but I've never needed to use it until now, so this is the first time I've really experienced it...

So I'm in a cafe now where the net is free, and I just can't describe how cool it is.. :) I just chatted on IM with a friend in Florida... sometimes, you just have to sit back and let it blow your mind. ;)

This time he worked my shoulders, sides, back, and pelvis... The most intense parts were my pelvis around the leg joints, and all around my shoulders...

This time was really tough, because he was getting into parts that had been injured, like my left shoulder, or parts that seldom experience motion or stretching, like deep in my pelvis...

The most noticeable thing was that my injured shoulder was lowered and relaxed a lot, and felt much more flexible and stronger. Also, he said that the twisting motion in my back increased when I walked, whereas it had been too stiff before. This was hard for me to feel, but after he mentioned it, I noticed it too... That was something I had never thought about before...

The stiffness in my neck was reduced a lot as well, since the shoulders relaxed down more, reducing the pressure there... I feel better in a lot of subtle ways -- but this time was definitely difficult in terms of the 'pain'... You have to know that it's a challenge, but you can feel things restructuring, and feel so much better afterwards, that it's worth it...

Wow. The second session was yesterday, and I'm still trying to learn how to walk again... This time, he worked on my feet, ankles, shins, calves, and thighs...

My feet were naturally pointing out about 45 degrees, since I'm naturally flat-footed and somewhat bowlegged. This time, he worked on trying to correct all that as much as possible... It was pretty intense. He used his elbows and knuckles to get deep into my legs and rearrange the fascia. There were actually a couple of points where he had to ease up a bit because it was a little too painful... All of the rolfers seem very considerate about that though -- I can take a lot, so I usually just say it's fine when he asks if it's too much, but your mileage may vary. :)

So first he did one leg, and asked me to stand up and walk. It was the weirdest feeling... One of my feet was now almost naturally pointing straight ahead, while the other pointed out still. After he did both sides, and did some stuff in my shoulders and lower back, it was amazing... I felt taller, and it felt like all my weigt was on the outside of my feet, because he had put them in the correct position and created somewhat of an arch where there had been none before...

I'm still getting used to this one. What a huge change this was... it's a very weird feeling. I'm walking in a very different way than before... mmm. I wonder what the heck is going to happen to me next time now... ;)

These are just some pictures that I've taken around Denver...

Yuki in the Tattered Cover	Tattered Cover bookstore	Denver capitol building
Brown Palace Hotel	16th Street Mall	Larimer Square
Nice old building	Larimer Street	At "The Market" cafe...

Interesting article on CNN about what constitutes trademark infringement, etc.

Well, my first session was certainly interesting. I got to be photographed in my underwear from 4 directions, both before and after the session. I guess they'll do this for each session, to chart our progress and grade the students. ;)

I think I'm pretty much aware of the major issues with my body, but some more subtle ones came out as they were examining me in my skivvies. Apparently one side of my back is tight, which should be pulled down, and many other little things. The major things were my shoulder injury from skiing in January, my bowlegged and flatfooted stance, and my shoulders being too tight and pulled in towards my chest.

He worked a little all over, but mostly on freeing up my chest and back a bit this time, and although it's subtle, I think that my shoulders are freer and it's easier for me to take deep breaths in my chest. I still haven't had a chance to feel the changes for very long, but I think that something is better.

They use a combination of their elbows, hands, and knuckles to pull and stretch the fascia into place. My rolfer also asked me to open and close my hands while he worked on my forearms, and to move my leg in and out while he worked on my thigh a bit.

The only part that was painful was in my thighs, but it was a really good pain... like I knew that it was working out crap that shouldn't be there. He was very concerned about my comfort, but I can take quite a bit, so I just told him to go to it... :)

I think next time he's going to work on my legs or feet, so maybe I'll notice something more tangible then...

I do feel that my shoulders are lower and more relaxed though, and that it's easier to breathe... :) Good stuff. Nine whole sessions to go though... :)

Yesterday was our 3 year wedding anniversary! Unfortunately we weren't together this time, but at least we had Valentine's day together... I'll be back in DC this weekend so at least I'll get to see my girl again. :)

I've known Yuki since 1995, when we met during my sophomore year at CMU, under humorous circumstances I'll describe another time ;) We got married in March of 2000, but it feels like we've been together forever.

A toast to my beautiful, funny, loving, cute, adorable, incredible wife Yuki! I love you more than anything in the world. May we become cute old fogies together, and never stop having fun.

最近、中国が強くなっているにつれて、日本が弱くなっている事実が明らかになって来た。中国の経済にも政治体制にも問題は少なくないが、将来の中国は偉大な国となる兆しは明確だ。

それに、日本の現代文化はピッタリと中米交流に重大な役割を果たす可能性もあるでしょう。中米間にいわゆる　「天の浮橋」　の様な立場に立っているのではないか。アメリカのビジネス方法にも詳しく、中国人が違和感を感じない漢字の多い国でもある。おおざっぱに言えば、西洋とアジアの文化が混ざった国になって来たと思う。

このユニークな地位を生かせる者は日本にいるかどうか分からないのだが、日本の得点を深く考慮して賢く利用するのが必要ではないか。

Tonight I went to the initial orientation for the people taking part in the student training rolfing program.

The Rolf Institute is at the western edge of downtown Boulder, just at the foot of the mountains. I was surprised how small the place is, considering how well known they are worldwide now. I think they graduate 65 new rolfers this year -- a pretty small number.

I was (mildly) surprised to learn that it will be more like a classroom environment than I had thought. There will be 8 clients in the room all being worked on at the same time, all in their underwear. ;) I'm not squeamish about it, but you have to respect the overweight over-fifty people who are willing to put it all out there for this.

Everyone is to be photographed at the beginning and end of the process, and maybe in between as well, to be able to recognize the changes that occur.

Some interesting things that were mentioned: Some people apparently experience emotional effects due to stimulation of long-supressed feelings or memories when injured or sensitive areas are opened up. I don't expect to feel this, but who knows...

My rolfer mentioned that one time he worked on a guy with one shoulder cranked way up above the other one, but the shoulders became perfectly level after he worked out the instep of the guy's feet... Is it me, or is this starting to sound like some new-age religion? hehe... Well, what can you say? This stuff is pretty weird...

This weekend my Grandmother, Dorris Shields, passed away at 86. She went into surgery with a smile, and said she'd see everyone tomorrow...

She was an incredible person, thankful and grateful for everything she had... Loving and kind and hilarious... She had a huge laugh that no one could resist. Everyone who knew her will miss her tremendously.

This has been very hard on everyone in my family, since we were so close, and we all loved her so much. I'll be going back to D.C. this weekend for the services...