Better Storytelling Through Martial Arts

The opening scene of Outlaws of the Marsh (Shuihu Zhuan); 108 Demons being released from a well. Through the practice of Kung Fu they become righteous heroes and eventually they found a new country.

I've been thinking about a powerful idea; marketing has become storytelling with images.  When I started to think about explicitly telling stories with images using webpages and videos I realized that storytelling is at the very heart of what I do.  

This brings to mind a conversation I had with Rory Miller.  We were sitting on his deck drinking whiskey and talking as fast as we could.  Rory is one of the only people in the world I have met with whom I can shuffle through ideas as fast as they can be spoken.  He was saying that he dislikes zombies because they allow people to kill without contemplating or feeling the consequences.  I commented that for someone who teaches "real" martial arts, he sure does have strong opinions about fiction.  Why? Because fiction is a key access point for understanding how people see, think and feel about the world.  What happens in our fiction has a huge effect on how we decide what is real.

Here is Rory talking about words (and ultimately metaphors) and how they effect our perceptions of violence.

Here is an interview I just did for a blogger in Germany!  Better storytelling.

This is a must read account of the Paris massacre, Surrendering to Death.  Make sure you read both pages, this story needs to get out.

On a lighter note.  If you don't have the Rock Clock App yet, you are going to want to hook this up.  

I teach people to use their bodies to tell stories, to access their emotions authentically, to think through consequences, to adapt spontaneously, to dance, to look and feel beautiful, to be stronger, smarter, and wealthier.  In the end it may be that simple.