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Good morning, I have started a journey of self healing through study of the origins of Muay Thai... Okay. I've started this journey at least three times now. Seriously; this time is different. This time is different because of the wholesome content available to us learners via the Library and YouTube posts. A special thanks to @Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu for all his hard work behind the camera (And editing software? Or is that all Sylvie?) I've spent hours behind glass myself and respect the challenge of capturing real life. A mentor has told me many times that an injury of the body impacts the mind. An injury of the mind impacts the body. I have scars in both places from years of mistreatment of self and neglect of self. Short take-away from the lesson was that where we choose to address the recovery from the injury is up to us. Since the mind and body are linked; we are in control of where we begin treatment. Getting out of whatever pattern is causing the injury and the subsequent guarding reactions our body is the first step toward healing. Dealers choice; treat mind or body first. I sort of view it like hopping on a merry-go-round and then going for a 10 mile run around it while its spinning. Stepping off the ride is... stepping off. Short summary: I'm currently a devops engineer. Formerly a research engineer for autonomous vehicle systems, and before that, an IT guy and engineering student. Life brought me home from the adventures to have a family. I'm a well trained, but casual low brass player (mostly tuba now.) I ran 5-10 miles a day for half a decade. Over night that was stripped from me. On that path, I discovered a few things which led me here; to post on this site. 1. It's hard to work out at sea. There was a punching bag in the forward hold next to my cabin. I had a stop watch. After 8 weeks of playing around, completely unaware of what I was doing other than some basics I'd been taught as a kid about how to shift weight; I was still hooked. I used some of my sea pay to buy a bag and some gloves 2. I learned that trying to lift-push-rock a 3500 lb station wagon with one foot on the ground and the other on the clutch to skip the starter past a broken tooth on the flywheel is stupid past the age of 30. One sneeze and 2 days later; I was in the ER. 3. Three years of struggle later, we camped on a sheet of 5" ice. My crampons went to my wife. I fell on the ice a bunch of times. (8-10; I lost count. ) Just felt wrong afterwards, stopped running. Almost stopped working out. On the way back to active, pushed things too far. Ended up in the same boat of not being able to walk for a few days. I had no time for myself and never addressed it. Almost 5 months later: 4. First Maine snowstorm of the year. I went out to shovel. First full handle and I'm limping back in. 2 weeks later, taking X-ray's. Insurance denies MRI, so I do PT for 6 weeks. At the end of PT, I'm way worse. Have an MRI confirming ruptured L5-S1 lumbrascarpal joint. Get an epidural. Yay. It helps. They recommend surgery. 5. Acupuncture and PT instead with some good people. I'm just good 2 months later. Back to walking and running. Still don't take time for myself so I know I'm going to ... During this time, I rediscovered the "Thai Low Kick". Had to perform surgery on my cheap bag as I'd blown out some of the sand bags. The concepts of forward-facing stance, high guard, and mental focus appealed to me. I just didn't take the time. 6. 2019 first snow storm; I shovel. I end up on the ground. GRRR. 7. I'm pretty much at rock bottom now. I'm looking at local gyms; and no one does anything other than stuff I know I shouldn't do with my limitations. Closest PT apt with someone I know could help is 5 weeks + out. For almost a month, I had been falling into a pattern of sitting on a heating pad for hours to get my piriformus, hamstring and glutes under control. One day I tried to go force myself to run on the treadmill in the garage one day to "get back on the wagon" and found it covered in sand, broken kids toys, and boxes. A few days later, I came home from work, motivated to get back into my PT and make the burning pain stop and found my work out spot was covered with random boxes and decorations. Enter the mind injury. I got worse. I was eating poorly. Ramen twice a day some times. Frequently skipping meals. . Occasionally consuming more rum or beer than I should to dull things. Lots of coffee. Not enough water. I was gaining weight. And I was getting pissed off that I was gaining weight. I was getting pissed off that I couldn't find the time or space to do the PT I had known would help. I was wasting hours, aimlessly watching videos on YouTube on topics I was passionate about. Some where in this, I caught on to the "I was getting..." meme. We were old friends already. I was sad to see this one return. And also the realization that "I was searching..." meme was active too. I was searching for a way out. Searching for inspiration; for purpose. I've been at this game of life in interesting situations long enough to know there are no easy answers or ways out. Any one who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves, Richard Feynman style. One of these particular nights when I knew I couldn't sleep due to my leg being locked up, and maybe a few beers, I got routed into a sequence of MMA fights. In that, sequence, some how, I stumbled upon a video from this site's Heroine, @Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu. For some reason now (probably because I've watched over 300 of her and Kevin's videos since) I can't find the original in my history. It was her discusing the low kick after a training session with a legend from the golden era. 8. It got in my head, in a good way. It may have taken a few weeks for it to get hold, but to me *now*. I'm 12 days in to "now" with 200 knees on a bag every day. I'm not wasting away on a heating pad, chowing down on random videos and ramen anymore. I've finally discovered what "teep" means and I'm working towards 200 of every strike a day. Then 500. (My Jab was already pretty good, but my cross was weak.) What inspired me to "step off my circle" was the nature of the fighting style. The origin is a pure form of "root vs root". Posture vs posture. After 200 knees in the morning; I don't hurt anymore for the rest of the day. Next posts; ( assuming I don't get banned <grin> ) will be about what I'm actively doing to restore my breathing and posture while studying the Library entries (and YouTube bits) for insight about root mechanics and maintenance. The origins of my injury would have been prevented if I had experienced and internalized the origins of the craft this site aims to save.

That was very inspiring... Thank you sir for sharing your story... ❤

I was...I am...very moved by this post. This is everything I'd hope to hear and read from others, such a human story. All about our frailty, and our ache to be better, to find better, in something, in ourselves. And it is fucking incredible that for whatever reason Sylvie and her work sparked something in you, that all your gears got triggered to turn in whatever beautiful way you are turning them. Thank you for taking the time to write so realistically. It means a lot.