I am no longer maintaining this Blog - Please check out https://jrroy.blogspot.com/ & https://jrroymartialarts.blogspot.com/

 

The J. R. Roy Martial Arts Studio is CLOSED 

as of the end of September 2025

Proprioception

1. Physiology. perception governed by physiological receptors, such as muscles, tendons, and joints, as awareness of the position of one's body. Quotes I was talking of proprioception—your awareness of where you are in relation to everything else around you. -- Jennifer Fallon, The Palace of Impossible Dreams, 2008 Origin Proprioception entered English in the early 1900s as a combination of proprio- meaning "one's own," and reception meaning "the act of receiving."

Sensei Jeff Chaisson demonstrates how to do a Flying Side kick

The Approach

 The knee drives up

Flying Side kick

                                                                                                                                                                      

 The landing 

The snow's a great place to increase awareness about the symmetry of your Bagua Zhang circle walking.

FYI - Sifu was recently inducted into the Remy A. Presas Hall of Fame - Below is the press release

Sunday training, lunch and more.....

I had a fabulous morning and lunch with the A team.....Thanks to all of you that were able to present!

The training included a great warm up with Sensei, followed by a discussion on the nuts and bolts (Yin/Yang) of meditation then I led the group through the newest version of the standing meditation that I've been sharing with the T'ai Chi Ch'uan groups.

We did a Round to the music without the count on the Rt side....Great round coming off the warm up and meditation....the Chi was thick in the room....there was no mistaking the profound effect of practicing with a group of Old Timers...Ahhhhh!
We split up in A & B groups to work on the Dance....mostly sequence and review. This material is so difficult to acquire because it demands a highly trained practice partner...Thus making the practice of it difficult....at best!

While I worked T'ai Chi solo form and dance with Scott, Mike, Jeff and Max, Sensei worked on Sunsu with Lily, Thomas, Jack and Teryn......Let's just say it was perfect!

At this point I started to run out of time.....That dang clock on the wall!

We finished up with Tapi Tapi basics and one tech off the #1 attack tapi tapi position with a slap off set up.

Before Sensei had to leave (prepare to go to work) he and I promoted Lily to Shodan and handed out certs to Teryn for his Nidan (2nd degree BB), Thomas to Shodan and Sensei Chaisson to Yodan (4th degree).
Congrats to all of you.
You can quote me on this:

"It's one thing to be promoted to Black Belt, it's another to be one!"

Then lunch @ China Gourmet.....A few folks had obligations and were not able to join us but Scott (who organized the lunch), Jack, Thomas, Teryn and Lily had great time at lunch. Nothing like sharing a meal with your classmates and teacher....Some of the finer meals of my life have been with my martial arts family. Thanks for taking the lead on this Scott.....I'll remember this one for a long time to come. Let's do it again .....soon!

Happy training......Sifu

Bagua Zhang application 1

Last Week Review Monday 1/30 - Saturday 2/4/2012 - Sifu

Morning all,

I hope this email finds you all happy and healthy. Here's the news:

The Training Theme for the February is: Stance Work

On vacation:

Sensei Kratz - back this week

Read - away until the end of the month

Phil - away for another week

Still getting a fair amount of sick calls last week but down from the last few weeks. There's some nasty stuff going 'round. Keep washing your hands!

Tai Chi folks: Keep the help coming on Wed evening....remember that there is a class on Thursday from 5:30-6:30 for all the 2 person work, especially the Dance. Read and James are the only students currently coming regularly...and Read's away this month....James doesn't come every week and Dale comes occasionally. Colleen has been the most regular student (no surprise there) and Scott's been coming lately. Making the class a SBHQ for sure;.)

Last week in review:

- Monday night classes posted on the Staff Blog http://jrroymartialartsstaff.blogspot.com/ 

- Tuesday morning 7-8 Sandy and I worked the Dance on both sides, reviewed the single and double broadsword

- Tuesday morning tai chi - the regular crew - great class

- Tuesday youth karate class - Colleen led the class

- Wed. youth karate - med size class - great help from Thomas - worked weight distribution in all the stances in The 10 - and then in seisan stances - good class

- Wed. tai chi - good size class with some great help from Marcia, Jeff, Dale and James - I led the 30 Qigong warm ups, standing meditation and a short qigong - went on to 90 degree empty stepping and then to the solo form in groups - great class 


- Wed arnis - SBHQ Marcia and Jeff assisting - two brand new students - Jeff worked with Thomas and Marcia and I introduced the two new students to arnis, warm ups, 12 angles of attack, forward triangle stance work, reinforced blocks, posted blocks with stance work for strikes 1 and 2 - good class

- Thursday morning Bagua SBHQ group with Lenny, Bob, Sandy, Janee - detail in the 80/20 step during the Mud Treading Step - reviewed the Cheng T'ing Hwa set - great class!

- Tai Chi - med size class with the regulars plus Lenny (always a treat) - talked about weight distribution - 

- Little Dragons - SBHQ with Colleen assisting - new student Zack did great!

- Youth karate class - med size class with great help from Colleen, Scott and Thomas - lot's of work on stances both classical and modern

- 2 person class - SBHQ - James, Colleen and Scott - did a 'round' of tai chi - I worked the dance with James and Colleen and Scott worked together

- Adult karate class - SBHQ - with great help from Colleen - lot's of line work to pads - talked about refining the starting speed of the tech and the delivery of the kicks - worked on hook kick/round house combo

- Saturday morning tai chi - Sandy led class - I came in at 9 for the 'round'

- First youth karate class - Colleen, Thomas, Scott and Simon assisting - I led the 10 with lot's of basics emphasizing stance work, then line work and finished with kata

- Second youth/adult karate - good size group - Colleen, Thomas, Scott, Simon assisting - classical stance work and modern stance work - both classes were good.

That's it for this morning...please stay in touch and keep checking the Staff Blog. Hope to see you in classes this coming week.

--
Breathing in peace,
Sifu/Richard

www.JRRoy.com - Studio's Web Site
JRRoyMartialArts.blogspot.com - Sifu's Studio Blog

J. R. Roy Martial Arts Studio
1 Osgood St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
413-774-2888

Week in Review - Monday Jan 16 - Sat Jan 21 - Sifu

Hi all,

Sorry this is late but I had a very busy beginning of the week skiing with the Grandkids on Monday and another busy day yesterday.

Here goes the week in review:

Happy Chinese New Year to you all - Wishing you all the best health and prosperity in the Year of the Water Dragon

- Good classes Monday night - notes at the Staff Blog

- Tuesday morning I came in really late for the 7-8 class, but still meet briefly with Bob, Read, Sandy and Marty - Had a nice Tai Chi class with the regulars

- Wed. afternoon was good size youth Karate class with Thomas assisting

- Great Tai Chi class with good assistance, was nice to see Jeff C. in class 

- Very small Arnis class, but high quality! Worked various Tapi Tapi techniques  I worked with Thomas all night and Justin worked with Phil, we all had some great stuff going and a nice visit by officer 'Sensei' Kratz;.)

- Thursday morning had a nice Bagua class with Bob, Sandy and Read worked some detail on the Cheng Ting Hwa set, changes one and two 

- Good T'ai chi class with the regulars and a special surprise when Nancy Lamore returned to the training after a knee replacement (saw her again this morning too!)

- Thursday afternoon started out rough for me with a dental emergency - at 3:55 I was sitting in the dentists chair, the Little Dragons class starts at 4:00!!! Yikes! Ended up ok! Good LD class with Colleen assisting and three students - they did well

- Regular Youth Karate class was well attended with good help from Thomas, Scott, Teryn and Colleen. 

- 2 person class was Read working with James on the dance and I worked on the tai chi solo form with Teryn, Thomas, Colleen and Sensei.....great stuff!

- Had a nice evening Karate class with Teryn and Colleen assiting

- I missed classes on Saturday - Sensei led the youth karate classes - he wrote some notes that I've posted to the blog - Chelsea was promoted to 7th Kyu - Yellow belt - Nice job with her everyone! It's great to see her excelling in our Karate world.

That's it from here....keep checking the Staff Blog .....it's being updated very regularly! 

Interesting story about a 74 year old Wing Chung practitioner (old school) and serious shoulder injuries

http://email.blackbeltmag.com/t?r=11&c=20542&l=11&ctl=AB78E:A598569BD4975C49DDF1807C99E41A47&

Week in Review - Monday Jan. 9, 2012 - Sifu

Last week in review - 

Again a week of ups and downs in regards to class attendance and staff participation. 

- Great classes on Monday from Angus and Phil - I encourage all Karate and Arnis black belts to participate in the Monday night rotation. Angus is the only Black belt on the schedule this month for Monday's? Keep me posted please!

- I had only two for the 7am Tuesday Staff training, but I did get two heads up calls - Thanks for those!

- I'll be late for the 7am Tuesday Staff training tomorrow morning.....but I should be there before the Tai Chi class starts....if not please start the warm ups without me.

- Another great Youth Karate class on Tuesday with Colleen.....please post some notes if/when you can remember....Ok??

- Good youth Karate class on Wed. - But NO student leaders in sight for the entire week.

- Good turn out for the Wed. Tai Chi class - my current favorite class of the week - I love teaching beginners this stuff!! - NOTE: Calling all senior Tai Chi students!

- Very small Wed. Arnis class ....again! Three Black belts (including myself) and one student (Dennis) - Marcia proctored the class - I worked all the Arnis Anyo's for detail, finished with joint locks with a stick in hand from the tapi tapi

- Good Bagua class on Thursday - last one for Max and Becca until the spring, I love having those two in classes!! 

- Good Tai Chi class with the morning regulars

- Another teeny tiny Little Dragons class;^(   This week Teryn worked with Sailor and Colleen with Willow - Sailors doing great ....Willow has all she can do to stay on her feet and give it a 30% effort! She did get a few moments of mental focus by the end of class;^) Great job by Teryn and Colleen

- Good turn out for the Youth Karate class - Thanks to Colleen and Teryn for their leadership

- The 5:30pm 2 person training class was small again. Read and I worked the tai chi dance and Colleen and Teryn worked on joint locks - except for Read, no participation from the Tai Chi group

- Medium turn out for the 6:30 adult Karate class - mostly an advanced class - a new student, Simon Armen the brother of Max and the youngest son of Ted started Karate classes - He did great and Jack Fox did a really good job integrating him into the class.

- NOTE to the Adult Karate and the Arnis group's: What has happened over the past couple of years is the intermediate group of Green and Brown belts has had a very high rate of attrition and periods of inactivity...consequently there is a huge gaping hole in the ranks in most classes with poor attendance from the Purple, Green and Brown belt students - while this is sort of regular, this particular generation of intermediate students is the most inactive in memory. Don't know what can be done about it, except to encourage folks to stay active and to realize how important those itermediate students are to future of the System. I DO think that the current Black belts are doing a magnificent job of setting the correct example. 


- I hope you all realize that your presence in class is THE most important 'teaching' that you can give!! 

- Rule #1 in life: Show up

- Saturday tai chi class was lead by Bob attending were the 'regulars' with beginners Mike and Gretchen (they are doing great!) 

- Saturday Youth Karate classes were well attended - great help from Sensei and Colleen congrat's to Sailor on her first 'regular' Youth Karate class - again not a student leader in sight? Sensei posted notes on this class

Week in Review - starting Monday 1.2.12 - Sifu

Lot's of up's and down's this past week. Here are some of the highlights....
- Angus posted a video to the staff blog that he took and edited along with notes on class about Monday nights adult Karate class - really excellent!! I so appreciated the help and support with the blog posts and especially the video...so cool! Please take a look at it.... some really good kicking practices....especially the flying front kicks!

- I only had two students, Read and Marty on Tuesday morning at 7am - I did get a couple of calls but too late to cancel - we worked on the dance and double broadsword

- Colleen had 6 students show up for the Tuesday afternoon youth karate class.....she is proving to be a great leader...keep up the good work Colleen;^)

- I had a med size youth karate class with good help on Wed.

- The Tai Chi class on Wed. was very well attended by students and very weakly attended by staff...again! Thanks to Read for his continued support and help with this class....don't know exactly what I'd do without him? This class is the most demanding class in the schedule these day's, and it's currently my favorite class all at the same time. I'm working on changing how I approach the class. I'm just going to assume that I'll have little to no help and proceed accordingly...I have some ideas on how to go about it and will start implementing them next week.

- The Wed. night Arnis class was also very weak with two students and one staff (Phil) showing up - I did get several calls, but still ended up teaching a semi-private class again. I took the opportunity to work with Scott and Thomas on Arnis Anyo, joint lock skill drills, disarms and block, check, counter distancing and stance work. I sure hope the Arnis group can get a bit more consistent on Wed. night....it's certainly testing my resolve to continue the class;^(

- Two great classes on Th morning starting with a great review of the 1st Yin Fu set in the Bagua class and a bunch of detail and corrections in the Tai Chi solo form in the Tai Chi class - great help and support in both of those classes.

- Very small class for the Little Dragon's class again this week - Two students and two black belts - Teryn worked with Grace and Colleen worked with Sailor - I'm thinking of closing this class to new students and working with the existing students until they graduate to the regular Youth Karate program. Although the way it's going with the staff to student ratio (1to1) has been wonderful for everyone involved. So I think I will probably continue the class until the spring??

- Good turn out for the 5:30 2 person work class - Colleen, Teryn, Dale and Angus - we worked on joint locks - detail in stance work on the X block to arm bar with spinning throw

- Good turn out and help for the Adult Karate class - 8 students including staff

- Great classes on Saturday with good turn out and help - Sensei Kratz led a really good work out for the second class;.) Really great stuff!

-

Theme of the Month - Jan. 2012 - Joint Locks - Sifu's notes

Sifu's note on Joint Locking:

- Joint locking is one of the most advanced practices in martial arts training. It demands incredible accuracy and feeling to apply effectively. The original design was to hurt the attackers joints in order to incapacitate them. In real life S.D., joint locks can also be used to (forcefully) throw them to the ground. Caution: Throws can cause lasting injury and IF they head their head, that could be REALLY bad, so use control whenever using a lock to throw them to the ground in practices. Join locks are also used to put them in a disadvantaged position in order to strike them more effectively.

- You must be in good balance to apply locks effectively - So pay attention to your body's alignment and  position relative to them! If it feels like it's to close or too far away....it is!! Adjust with stance work...

- A good place to start students (especially new ones) is with either arm bar, single finger lock (index) or backward throw.

- Explain the concept of fulcrum, lever, base and the energy of 'split' (two energies going in opposite directions)

- Always keep a bit of peng energy in the elbow when on the receiving end while practicing arm bars

- Go slowly and evenly once their joint get's near the end range

- Always go to a slap

- Speak to your partner if you are afraid are practicing in a way that will eventually induce injury. If that doesn't work, stop training and speak to Sifu....I'll help.

- Know the single locks that you are going to put into a flowing series BEFORE you flow them

MORE ON THIS TO COME......

January 2012 - Theme of the Month - Joint Locks

Joint Lock training includes single joint locks that progress into combinations of joint locks for flow and mobility, counters to joint locks, two person joint lock series, disarms for stick and knife with and without weapons, take downs and ground work.
Forward and backward break/falls are important if the student is healthy enough. Not good for those with neck and/or shoulder issues. Always start from a kneeling position and progress to standing only when the forward roll is smooth (without 'flat' spots)

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best health, happiness and prosperity in 2012!!

Sifu

This week in review - Sifu

The youth Karate classes were a bit light this week, which is usual for the week between Christmas and New Year with folks traveling, school on vacation and family and friends visiting. The morning Bagua and Tai Chi classes along with the advanced Karate students morning practice's led by Sensei Kratz were all very well attended.
I reviewed a bunch of joint locks and take downs (some unusual ones too) on Wed. nights Arnis class and a bunch of applications and some joint locks and counters with the Bagua group along with a series of two person exercises and applications with the morning tai chi group.
I had great help with the little dragons class with Colleen and Teryn working one on one with the Sailor and Grace. I also had great help with the youth karate class; Colleen, Teryn, Thomas and Scott working either one on one or one to two. I saw some really great instruction going on during that class with Colleen getting Gianna to kick as good as I have ever seen her kick!! Scott inspired Skyler to kick and punch the pads as good as I've ever seen...especially lately....really outstanding modeling and focus coming from the student leaders....makes my heart soar;^)
The last class of the year was filled with Black, Brown and Green belts....excellent warm up with Angus, a set of Baji, a set of Kata's followed by the 'Mimic' line work drill, ending with work (lot's of instruction needed on this) on the Bridge take down, the mobililty throw and backward throw along with some advanced tech's once we've got 'em on the ground. Really great group to work with.
It's been really nice to have Lily and Teryn back in the room....I really miss those two!!
Many thanks to Read for repairing the lock on the bathroom door!!
Hope you all have a wonderful New Year holiday.........Hoping that 2012 brings health, happiness and prosperity to you and your families!

Sifu

If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up!

Norman Vincent Peale

Martial Arts conditioning should include training for:

Flexibility

Strength

Power 

Speed

Muscular endurance 

Balance 

Cardiovascular fitness

Class notes from last week - Sifu

The afternoon youth Karate classes last week were very poorly attendend but I had GREAT help - Colleen, Angus, Dennis, Marcia, Thomas and Scott all turned out at various times to help out. We had a one to one ratio of Black Belt to Student!! We did have a much better showing on Saturday...Whew! I did an informal survey and it looks like we well have a better showing this week....I hope so! On Saturday I worked on free sparring basics with a drill where A feed first a forward leg roundhouse and then a forward arm jab or backfist while B worked on blocking, covering, checking, stance work and body angling. Really good job all around...and FUN!!
The evening (Wed.) T'ai Chi class was well attended with students but once again I had NO Staff present - Not sure how to have at least one Staff member present for those Wed. evening classes....any suggestions? The Saturday Tai Chi class attendance has been very, very low....this past Saturday there was only 1 student (Pat) and Marty leading class (she's a trooper!). Should we keep that class on the books?? Speak up if you want to keep ...better yet, show up.
The Adult Karate class was an advanced group of 7-8, plenty of Black and Brown belts...good energy all around.
The Wed. evening Arnis class was also a group of 7 with Justin present to assist....good energy and work on the basics.

Reality continues whether you're participating or not - Sifu

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Aldous Huxley