Hi All,

I’m EricR. I’ve been learning and practicing martial arts since 1989 and internal arts, particularly Nine Dragon Baguazhang, since 1997. This website is my journal of memories and lessons learned over the years.

I began martial arts in 1989 when I started training in Goju Karate. My primary reason for starting was the fear that I did not know anything about self-defense. I wrote about the incident that started my journey in a post called “How it All Started” (read it here).

Over the years I was fortunate to get involved with excellent teachers and made many friends. It has been an amazing adventure of discovery and now that I’m in my senior years, I find my appreciation for all those people and lessons deeper than ever. I cannot thank everyone enough for what you have taught me, and my hope is that this journal will honor your contributions to my journey.

The entries here are in no particular order. I write the stories and lessons as I can recall the details. I kept notebooks for part of the time, and some videos have stimulated my memories. These are combined with my current practices and recent discoveries as an older man.

The learning has not stopped. One’s body and mind are constantly changing and this means adapting practices and attitude to those changes.

If some of these stories inspire you to begin learning or to deepen your current practice, I will be pleased. It is most gratifying to be of service to anyone sincere about learning.

I retired from teaching in 2017. I am now in my late 60s and am indulging in another passion, composing orchestral and electronic music. Some of my music can be heard as background to the videos at Internal Arts University. My explorations in music can be found at EricRMusic.

Thank you for visiting.