Martial Vitality

  I've decided to retire from martial arts, for now at least. I started this social media presence in January 2016 , so the seven year journey is now concluded. I took my last BJJ class in March 2020 , as Covid-19 was first surging in the US. I injured my back in that session, and my left arm and shoulder had been bothering me for months. I figured some time off might help anyway. In April 2021, after getting my first two vaccinations, I had another round of shoulder surgery . The rotator cuff fix combined with a bicep repair was worse than my previous three shoulder surgeries. It took about a year to return to a relatively pain-free life, even with diligent physical therapy and care. I originally had a goal of staying with BJJ for the long haul in order to earn a black belt. Given that it took me  2 1/2 years to pass my blue belt test , I had many years ahead of me, even before Covid hit.  I think of earning my blue belt as one of the five toughest physical challenges I've fa

  Today, 18 January 2022, the Martial Vitality project is six years old. I started it as the Rejoining the Tao blog in  January 2016 . The Martial Vitality brand arrived later, when I was considering open a school. I consolidated both projects under the Martial Vitality name in  July 2020 .  Martial Vitality captures what I find interesting about martial arts, outside of martial arts history. For example, the  #martialartstechniqueoftheday  from my  Instagram account  shares images of techniques, generally from very old grappling texts. If you prefer  Twitter  or  Facebook  I post using the same hashtags there. In my last post I wrote that I Am Indeed Recovering from Shoulder Surgery . Due to the pandemic I have not trained since March 2020. I am considering whether or not to return to jiu-jitsu. Since the pandemic started, my school closed and reopened under new management and trainers, and in a new location. Some of my favorite instructors from my previous gym have moved even farther