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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Combat sports & self-defence
Growing up in Maplewood, New Jersey the only Black, Muslim-American
in hijab, in middle school Ibtihaj discovered fencing, a sport
traditionally reserved for the wealthy and elite. Though she would
start fencing later than most at 12 years old, she had an
undeniable talent-the sort that would soon put her on the
international stage. But Ibtihaj saw something more in her Olympic
journey: an opportunity to take action, to stand up and make a
Muslim-American woman of color impossible to ignore. Ibtihaj's path
to Olympic greatness has been marked with hateful opposition and
near-debilitating challenges-bigotry from teammates at Duke
University and Team USA, death threats, and social hardships as a
Muslim-American. In Proud, her exhilarating emergence from young
outsider to national hero and outspoken activist is a timeless,
uniquely American tale of hard work, determination, and resilience
that hasn't been told.
Soul of the Samurai contains modern translations of three classic
works of Zen & Bushido. In Soul of the Samurai, bestselling
author and respected translator Thomas Cleary reveals the true
essence of the Bushido code or Zen warrior teachings according to
17th-century Japanese samurai master Yagyu Munenori and his Zen
teacher Takuan Soho. The three works of Zen & Bushido
translated in Soul of the Samurai are: The Book of the Sword by
Yagyu Munenori The Inscrutable Subtlety of Immovable Wisdom by
Takuan Soho The Peerless Sword by Takuan Soho Yagyu was a renowned
swordsman and chief of the Shogun's secret police, while Takuan was
the Zen spiritual mentor to the Emperor. This samurai philosophy
book contains the first English translations of their seminal
writings on Bushido. Cleary not only provides clear and readable
translations but comprehensive notes introducing the social,
political, and organizational principles that defined samurai
culture--their loyalty to family, their sense of service and duty,
and their political strategies for dealing with allies and enemies.
These writings introduce the reader to the authentic world of Zen
culture and the secrets behind the samurai's success--being "in the
moment" and freeing the mind from all distractions, allowing you to
react instantaneously and instinctively without thinking. In these
classic works, we learn that Zen mental control and meditational
training were as crucial to the Samurai as swordsmanship and
fighting skills.
This unique book by Master Shi Ming and Siao Weijia explores the
Chinese science of mind/body and the refinement of consciousness in
the higher martial arts.
Reach for the Highest Level of Tai Chi Practice You can achieve the
highest level of tai chi practice by including tai chi sword in
your training regimen. Here's your chance to take the next step in
your tai chi journey. Once you have attained proficiency in the
bare hand form and have gained listening and sensing skills from
pushing hands, you are ready for tai chi sword. The elegant and
effective techniques of traditional tai chi sword Tai chi sword
will help you control your qi, refine your tai chi skills, and
master yourself. You will strengthen and relax your body, calm and
focus your mind, improve your balance, and develop proper tai chi
breathing. This book provides a solid and practical approach to
learning tai chi sword accurately and quickly. Includes over 500
photographs with motion arrows! *Historical overview of tai chi
sword*Fundamentals, including hand forms and footwork*Generating
power with the sword*12 tai chi sword breathing exercises*30 key
tai chi sword techniques with applications*12 fundamental tai chi
sword solo drills*Complete 54-movement Yang Tai Chi Sword
sequence*48 martial applications from the tai chi sword sequence*10
tai chi sword 2-person matching drills No matter your age, tai chi
sword is a wonderful way to improve your health and well-being. Tai
Chi Chuan is one of the more popular health activities practiced
today. According to the NCCAM div. of U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, between 2.3-3 million people practice tai chi in
the United States. Recommended by healthcare professionals,
practiced for pleasure, fitness, or martial arts; by young and old
alike, tai chi creates a vast community of people practicing for
many different reasons. Many students expand their practice to
include the Tai Chi Sword. It's fun, builds strength, and develops
concentration and focus. Tai chi sword is integral to the long-term
study of tai chi and qigong. This revised edition of our classic
book on Tai Chi Sword includes a new modern, easy-to-follow layout;
each movement is presented in 4-6 large photographs with lucid
instructions on how to perform them; shows martial applications to
help get the angles correct. Other sections offer a brief history
of Tai Chi Sword, fundamental training routines, and qigong
exercises to connect your Tai Chi Sword practice to your internal
health.
Christian Tobler makes a deep dive into the fighting traditions of
the late 14th and early 15th centuries, particularly as recorded by
Johannes Liechtenauer (1300-1389). It was a time of plague, of the
Hundred Years War, of the Peasants' Revolt, but also a time when
the origins of the European Renaissance were formed. In the later
years of this turbulent time a shadowy figure named Johannes
Liechtenauer systematized lessons for swordsmanship, wrestling,
armoured and mounted combat. Recorded in cryptic, rhyming verses,
it fell to masters of the 15th and 16th century to record, clarify
and expand the grandmaster's instructions in an extensive body of
fencing manuals. As the world of the knight receded into history,
these texts - many extensively and beautifully illustrated - were
forgotten by all but German-language antiquarians and fencing
historians until the last decade of the 20th century, when they
were rediscovered by a new audience of martial artists and
historians. No author has done more to reveal this lost world of
German knightly martial arts to a modern audience than Christian
Tobler. Lance, Spear, Sword and Messer is a rich collection of
Tobler's work, containing extensive material on topics as diverse
as the two-handed sword, spear, poleaxe, wrestling, and the use of
long shields, combined with thought-provoking analysis and
historical commentary that will occupy the mind-and challenge the
preconceptions-of students and historians of medieval German
martial arts. In addition, the martial career-in arms and in the
literature of arms-of Emperor Maximilian I, often called "the Last
Knight," who was himself a devoted student of the tradition, serves
as a capstone of this collection. Maximilian's literary output,
including a planned but unwritten fight book, was a similar
capstone in his own lifetime at the waning of the Middle Ages and
start of the Northern Renaissance.
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