A new book with a practical look at Aikido and its history. The Co-authors are direct students of the legendary master Kenshiro Abbe Sensei from 1957. the following is an indepth look at how the book came into being.

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Derek Eastman - Aikido instructor helps write book

Bracknell Standard newspaper visits local dojo

To Order this book from within the UK and EU countries:

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This book, an in-depth look at Ellis Schools of Tradtional Aikido’s special brand of technique, strategy, philosophy as well as unique history, has taken about 15 years to compile, but will soon be offered in print by the world’s leading publisher of martial arts material.

Trafford Holdings Ltd; is a privately-held corporation, registered in British Columbia, Canada. There are over 120 shareholders, including many authors and all the permanent employees. It was incorporated in 1991. In late 1995, Trafford opened it’s doors and website. They are the first company in the world to offer an "on-demand publishing service," and they are the best.

The production of Positive Aikido has gone through numerous stages. The hand-drawings describing each of the positive techniques in traditional Aikido were begun in 1987 with the intention of providing new students with a reference guide - at the time to be photocopied for students in the USA and later possibly for the UK students as well. That plan however, never took hold as more and more drawings were produced. The drawings of the first four groupings were finished in 1991 and in 1993, the second four groupings were added, along with some transcripts from a recorded conversation between Sensei Ellis and Rogers on a long roadtrip between Dallas, Texas and Alamogordo, New Mexico. Rogers made his 1st Dan during that trip, and Positive Aikido picked up a lot of its histories and background information. Still, it was no more than a bunch of papers cobbled together from various sources.

In 1999 however, with the advent of digital photography, Sensei Rogers decided to augment the drawings with some digital photos and possibly put together a proper booklet for students in all the Ellis Schools. The photos however, required some supporting text - and there was a lot of other material which needed to be conveyed as well. The transcripts were re-written and cleaned up and the photos were digitally processed for the first four forms. During another visit to New Mexico, Sensei and his assistant Anita Wilson along with Sensei’s son performed the demonstrations needed for the last four forms. Later, the first four forms were re-shot with Sensei Rogers and one of his first USA students, Jeff Glaze of New Mexico. By this time, Positive Aikido was being developed as a book.

The agent and publishers we first contacted agreed, but the material was still fairly rough. More photos were shot and extensive digital work was done on them to clarify technique. Additional sections were added to describe combat strategy and the philosophy behind "Positive Aikido". Sections on ethics and morals within the arts were developed along with material dealing with the selection of a martial art for beginners, and of course, the history section was strengthened and sharpened.

Lastly, a complete re-organisation of the material was accomplished with an addition of a section on pins and control and weapons (jo and sword). The finished work is comprised of more than 1000 photos, 600 hand-drawings and complex explanations and tips to make the techniques of Aikido work properly. It includes detailed writing on the "Positive" mindset as well as complete sections geared to beginners, intermediate students and advanced practitioners.

Although several traditional publishers expressed interest in printing the book, and initial negotiations were entered into with one California-based company, the advent of "print-on-demand" technology and the resulting new publishing market, made for a better alternative.

Of this book as it stands now, the authors say this - "There are a lot of books on Martial Arts out there, and this one fits into the crowd well - but it also stands alone in the sheer comprehensiveness of the work. It is a nearly complete representation of a single school’s technique - it is a historical marker - a book of strategy - an ethical guide - a technical manual - and it is a chart, graph and manifest of all the things which make martial artists as a whole stand together as sisters and brothers with the same warrior spirit."

This letter of recommendation is from William (Bill) Woods Sensei. Sensei Woods was in the 1950’s and 60’s Aide and personal secretary to Kenshiro Abbe Sensei. At that time Sensei Woods was considered the most influential and powerful figure in British Martial Arts. In 1955 he was the British Judo Champion. He was the first person to be graded by Abbe Sensei to 1st dan in Kendo, holding certificate No 1, he was a key figure in the creation of the British Judo Council ( BJC ) and the International Budo Council ( IBC ). There are too many credits to the name of Sensei Woods to be listed here. I am very proud to have known Sensei Woods for almost 50 years. signed: Henry Ellis.

The new book is published by Trafford Publishing and avaIlable from all good book shops and online with Amazon, priced around $18.95 or £10.00. 156 pages : ISBN number 1-4120-4668-8.

The Positive Aikido book can be ordered in the UK through Trafford Publishing www.Trafford.com. Phone your order to Trafford UK Tel: 01270 251396

http://www.EllisAikido.org

http://www.geocities.com.britishaikido

Henry Ellis a direct student of the legendary master Kenshiro Abbe Sensei from 1957 a student of the old traditional style of Aikido.

If you seriously want to learn kendo, go to a dojo, do NOT try to learn using kendo videos. In order to properly learn kendo, you need to have someone correct you when you are doing something wrong, that is what the sensei does. Aside from the video not pointing out your errors, the are usually made by people who do not know kendo well enought to teach it and are only in it for the money.

You may think that spending 20 dollars for a kendo video is a great way to learn to sport, but it isn’t. Do not fall into the trap the Kendo video makers have set for you! Kendo is a very complicated sport, and if you try to learn from a video, your form will be flawed; and it will be extremely hard, if not impossible, to fix it. However, a sensei can provide one on one support and explain what is wrong with your kendo.

To find a dojo near you, go to the official american kendo website at www.kendo-usa.org and click on "find kendo near you". Then click on your state and go through the list, picking a few that are close to you so you can keep your options open.

For more information about picking a dojo, look for the article written by the I.K. team.

http://www.international-kendo.com is an up and coming kendo site with a wealth of information.

There has been much outcry over the recent popularity of so called "reality fighting" such as UFC (the Ultimate fighting Championship), KOTC (Kings of the Cage), Extreme Fighting, Shoot, Pride and Pancrase.

Typical comments from a perspective of ignorance include;

"bloodletting for our amusement"
"brutal and bloodthirsty streetfighting with no rules"
"legalised brawling encouraging violence"

The reality is that modern "extreme" or "reality" fighting is a contact sport with rules to protect competitors and is basically a blend of boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, judo and other martial arts which have been around for a long time, so why the outcry all of a sudden?

Many cynics believe that, as usual, it all comes down to money! In recent years boxing, once one of the most lucrative and popular spectator sports, has been suffering dwindling audiences and poor pay-for-view results. The last thing boxing needed was a serious competitor like the UFC for instance. In fact many boxing pundits lambasted the UFC in the early days convincing many that it was too dangerous and brutal to be licensed - they succeeded in having UFC competitions banned in many US states on this premise.

The reality however is somewhat different, when UFC and other "reality" fighting events are compared to boxing (or any other contact or physical sport like rugby, American Football, horseriding, skiing etc) the results speak for themselves.

Not only has there NEVER been a fatality associated with "reality fighting" there has also never even been a serious crippling or permanent injury to the fighters. It was a serious travesty when the boxing community succeeded originally in having UFC banned on the gounds of safety when you look at the number of deaths and permanent injury to many boxers!

It has been said recently that the reason there has not been a fatal injury (yet) in "reality fighting" competitions, is because of the relatively few competitors when compared to boxers, however this was recently tragically disproved with the first death of a female boxer with a total only 2,200 female boxers registered.

The cumulative blunt trauma injuries caused by repeated punching to the head with competitors wearing heavily padded gloves is without doubt the biggest cause of fatal and permanent injuries to boxers - this simply does not happen in "reality" events as competitors wear either no gloves or very lightly padded gloves which will not allow fighters to punch to the head round after round without hand injury.

To find out more about modern reality fighting fighting news to discover self defense secrets the special forces dont want you to know check out real self defence here win any fight fast using simple special forces techniques

If you’re a martial artist and you haven’t seen the movie, “A History of Violence,” you should.

In fact, I’m surprised it didn’t get more recognition at the Academy Awards.

There are lots of movies that have been commended to me to demonstrate various aspects of courage and positive values. Included are “Braveheart,” “The Last Samurai,” “Rob Roy,” and “Gladiator.”

But none of these really delves into the NECESSITY and INTIMACY of violence the way “History” does.

Tom Stall, the main character, owns a small café in an out of the way Indiana town. This is the type of place where you have to say “Hi” or “Hey” to people who pass by. I’ve lived in a very similar Hoosier haunt, and this film captures the ambiance very well.

One evening, two certified bad guys enter the café at closing time, and Stall tries to discourage them, but he relents and pours them coffee. The situation rapidly deteriorates, and Stall is the last man standing, having shown killing moves of which he wasn’t thought capable.

His response puts him on the evening news, seemingly everywhere. More bad guys descend on his café, intimidate his family, and put him in a “flight or fight” situation.

There is a central mystery in the film that I won’t discuss, because that would give away essentials of the plot.

But here are some of the key points I derive from this film that I believe are applicable to all martial artists:

(1) Some fights can’t be avoided. Be prepared for them, always, and do what you must, without hesitation or remorse. It’s “right to fight” more often than you might have been taught.

(2) A famous philosopher said, “Strength is the ultimate virtue.” Is it more important than love? Can love find a home without the strength needed to protect and to shelter it?

(3) Battles are often not between good and evil, but between extreme and lesser evils. They aren’t the same. A trace of virtue is better than none at all, and may be completely defensible.

(4) Personal transformation is possible and desirable, but the dead hand of the past will still reach out for us, so beware. Your past will find you, and no matter how you interpret it, today, others will have a competing vision that they’ll refuse to let go. We’ll always be confronted with who we were, or at least with whom others think we were.

I’ve seen this movie twice, and I’ll probably watch it another dozen times, getting more nuances with each viewing.

I believe it will be worth your time to watch it with some fellow martial artists. The physicality of it will get your attention, but long after, the issues it raises will truly impress you, and possibly change you.

And you’ll probably come away asking, “How much am I like Tom Stall?”

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. Headquartered in Glendale, California, he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For more information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to: http://www.customersatisfaction.com

“Fight Club” is the kind of film that can make you squirm, belly laugh, and think, “That’s profound!” in the space of a few minutes.

Starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, this is, on a superficial level, a flick about underground boxing, or if you prefer, brawling clubs.

No money changes hands, no betting occurs, and the pugilists’ only compensation is the thrill they get from kicking butts.

A cult develops that externalizes violence to the surrounding society, targeting various “establishment” symbols, such as TV and electronics stores, public officials, and office buildings.

Just when you think, “Now, they’ve gone too far,” the plot twists to make you question nearly everything you’ve seen to that point. The real and unreal start to unravel, and you wonder if you’ve been played for a chump.

Here are a few of the points that I draw from this movie that are of special interest to the martial artist:

(1) You can prevail if you decide to take a battle, a disagreement, or a cause to the extreme. Even certified tough guys, including the mobsters you see in the film, can be intimidated and will back down if they believe their adversaries are crazy enough to do anything.

(2) Men are seeking gender clarity and reaffirmation of their core instincts. The forced feminization of males during the past several decades has created role confusion and dissatisfaction among males as well as females. “Fighting,” however you construe this term, provides a forum for men to be tested and to learn who they are on a deep, primitive level.

(3) Men were not minted for the purpose of wearing neckties and performing nerdy roles inside of sterile office buildings. Our most natural inclination is to be hunters, not custodians.

(4) Women will tolerate a great deal from men who are in touch with their basic instincts, and they’ll relentlessly toy with or destroy those who aren’t.

(5) To borrow a phase from General Stonewall Jackson: “One courageous man makes a majority.”

You might like this movie simply because of its unpredictability.

I like it because its characters are onto something.

Take the exchange between Pitt and Norton on the plane, where Norton hands Pitt an obscure compliment that Pitt decodes on the spot, and then Pitt incisively asks:

“How’s that working out for you?”

“What?” Norton responds, puzzled.

“Cleverness. Is that working for you?”

With this brief exchange, Pitt implies, “You’re a wimp.”

Cleverness, indirection, and cute word play don’t make you a man, so cut the crap and don’t fool yourself.

Men, whether they realize it or not, are attracted to the martial arts partly because modern society provides few opportunities to be completely nonverbal, to escape the endless symbolism and etiquette that informs professional and personal lives.

With a fist headed toward your teeth, there’s no time to talk; only to act.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to: http://www.customersatisfaction.com

When you study the martial arts, delving into philosophy and spirituality, you find that one of your main purposes is to reformulate yourself.

What you are, what your family, society, bosses, teachers, and government have made you, just cannot stand.

Something specific may have alerted you to this need.

Perhaps it was a slight, received from someone disrespectful, that made you feel weak.

Or, one evening, you were walking with your friend and you felt afraid of that group of shadowy figures who were loitering at the next corner.

And after the exigency passed, you were ashamed of yourself that you were so fearful, so intimidated, and upon reflection you came to see that you were afraid most of the time, and maybe one day, you’d be petrified but still have to defend yourself from a real attack.

So, your path in the martial arts begins by transporting you from weakness to strength, from timidity to self-confidence.

Jason Bourne’s journey is different. He has amazing gifts and abilities, especially in defending himself and disabling others. Suffering from amnesia, he’s trying to learn whom he is, all the while being hunted by lethal adversaries who want to destroy him.

Suffering from a vague sense of guilt about his past misdeeds, and seeking relief from haunting, short-circuited memories, he tries to survive long enough to unravel the mystery of his identity.

He is a martial artist, and a stunningly capable one, but he is trying to reformulate himself, as well.

A masterful physical specimen, he is nonetheless, spiritually weak, because his brawn has been used for questionable purposes. “Being tough,” isn’t his goal, as it is for some novice pugilists.

“Being human,” is closer to his mission, so undoing his twisted mental wiring is his task, becoming less of a cyborg, connecting more with his vulnerabilities, in the process.

Informing this fast-paced and action packed thriller is the archetypal story of the “Ronin,” the master-less samurai.

These tales ask: What becomes of us when we have no one, no cause for which we can serve; only polished killing skills that have marginal civilian value?

It’s a query that’s relevant to all soldiers, for whom the next battle is coming to terms with who they are and how and what they served.

Is Bourne a hero?

I leave that to you to decide.

Along the way, I’m sure you’re going to find this an exciting movie, technically competent, and fun to watch.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to: http://www.customersatisfaction.com

“Gladiator,” unlike many films that pit men against men in individual combat, is entertaining to watch because it has, what Aristotle was one of the first to call, “spectacle.”

Spectacle is grandeur, a large story set on a worldly stage, with dazzling scenery, and breathtaking moments.

“Gladiator” has all of these things, and through special effects, it shows us what Imperial Rome may have looked like.

The Coliseum is, well, spectacular.

When the script says it seated 50,000 blood-lusting locals, the moving pictures in front of you prove it.

You believe that Russell Crowe and company are doing battle in the best arena in the world.

So, from an architectural standpoint, this movie is a great travelogue.

Moreover, the scenes depicting gladiators fighting each other to the death are well done.

But where it leaves me feeling vacant is in the arena of individual motivation.

A martial artist must ask himself: When is it right to fight?

When you have right, and might, you’re invincible.

Might alone, without the proper motivation, can let you down and you can fall to someone less physically impressive, who is fueled by virtue.

Why does Russell Crowe’s “Gladiator” fight? Largely, it boils down to a single word: Revenge.

He lost his family and his promotion to the throne because of one man’s avarice and cruelty, and he wants payback.

Revenge is a great theme in the movies, but is it something around which you should construct a life?

Who is the stronger martial artist: One who can overcome loss, or one who must avenge it, at the price of his own life?

I leave it to you to consider this and other questions raised by this film.

In the meantime, it’s definitely worth your attention, and it’s entertaining, especially if you forget that pesky fact that you’re a martial artist, and it is your job to align right with might.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to: http://www.customersatisfaction.com

Jet Li isn’t Bruce Lee.

And it’s a good thing if you’re a movie fan.

Jet Li is much more interesting to watch. Instead of seeing a permanent scowl, like the one attached to Bruce’s face, Jet Li’s countenance is super subtle, mobile, and complex.

You can see him trying to restrain himself, waging inner battles that call for tremendous restraint. Staring forward, trying to appear impassive and inscrutable, Jet Li speaks volumes about his characters.

By comparison, Bruce Lee’s characters are open books with far too little written inside.

“Kiss of the Dragon” is a Jet Li story. He created the plot, the concept, and he has a good grasp of what it means to develop a hero.

Generally, heroes are RELUCTANT. They’re not looking for a fight. In this sense, they’re connected to the ideal martial artist, a person who only fights when there is no alternative.

With Bruce Lee’s characters, you can hear the chained tiger roaring inside of him; he always has to prove himself.

Of course, there is Bruce Lee, the legend, and that is a different matter, as is the Bruce Lee who wrote a book on a martial art that he developed, or assembled, if you will: Jeet Kune Do.

And there is Bruce Lee, the first Chinese American to breakthrough to the big time, to become a heroic film icon in the United States.

Arguably, if there hadn’t been a Bruce Lee, there wouldn’t be a Jet Li.

I haven’t told you much about “Kiss of the Dragon,” have I?

It’s a good film with a lot of fun fight scenes, including a semi-comedic encounter between Jet Li and a room filled with Black Belts at a Parisian police station.

Speaking of Paris, it’s beautiful, and you’ll definitely get a “Kiss” of it, in this movie.

Acupuncture and acupressure will also catch your attention by being used in ways that you’ve never imagined.

With all due respect to Bruce, this is Jet Li, at his best.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com. For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com

Forest Whittaker is an enigmatic actor.

When you think you have him figured out, he does something to surprise you.

But of course, this shouldn’t be unexpected.

Like a Las Vegas Blackjack dealer who tosses all of the cards face-up, there isn’t much mystery left. Yet, how that same gamesman reaches for the deck to tender the next “hit” always seems to have a lot of suspense.

We know in this movie that Whittaker’s character is a professional hit man whose own life was spared by a gangster, for whom he has plied his deadly trade ever since. They communicate by carrier pigeons, inscribing tiny notes that detail the next target to be whacked.

Whittaker is an unconventional hit man because he openly subscribes to the Samurai code. Periodically, we’re reminded of this because cryptic passages appear on the screen from time to time, telling us how appropriate it is to live each moment as if it is your last, and how things are never quite as they seem.

This movie raises the classical question: How can you be honorable in an inherently dishonorable walk of life?

Is there such a thing as a “good” hit man?

Indeed, when most of us consider Samurai folklore, are we mindlessly glorifying violence, while sanctifying it with a code of conduct that is merely for show?

I’ve often wondered why prize fights feature announcers who are dapperly decked out in tuxedos. Unless I’ve missed something, they’re not doubling as musicians at the chamber orchestra after the bouts, are they?

There is much decorum associated with violence, at least of the positively sanctioned sort.

Duelists, in the European tradition, went out of their way to be fastidious as they tried to blow holes in each other or skewer their counterparts with rapiers.

Why do we need our violence “prettied-up?”

Director Jim Jarmusch shows Whittaker, the Ghost Dog in the title, as an efficient killer who reads books. But the character isn’t deep; just deadly.

I suspect he is closer to today’s generation of martial artists than to those who lived in Samurai times, but then, we’ll never really know, will we?

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com

Director Ang Lee is the only person to win Best Director Oscars for a foreign and domestic film.

Winning for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and more recently for “Brokeback Mountain,” you might think that these two films are, literally and figuratively, worlds apart.

But they have some profound similarities. Specifically, they’re love stories set against a backdrop of individual and social angst.

The first time you see Crouching Tiger you may overlook the love themes, because the swordplay is something special, and filmed beautifully.

My breath was taken away when, suddenly, the adversaries carried on their fight without the interference of gravity. Exchanging lunges and parries while in flight, they defy conventional physics and enter a world of aerial ballet.

If you’re a literalist, and you want your martial arts sequences to appear realistic, you’ll probably be left behind and let down as the characters set themselves free of all earthly restraints.

Ang Lee is known for delivering beautiful cinematography, and Crouching Tiger’s is nothing less than poetic. Two martial arts masters, a man and woman, are doing everything they can do to check their burgeoning love for each other while pursuing evildoers.

But Lee places them, in one memorable scene, in a quiet retreat, where their chat is set against a backdrop of concrete that has a rectangular opening in it, through which one can see the verdant forest, nearly next to them, yet still at a safe, neatly determined distance.

As a visual metaphor for repressed love, the scene needs no words, and Lee is wise enough to know this, so there are few.

All we have to do, to enter the hearts of these masters is to see their open air prison, to follow their eyes and detect the creasing of their lips, to appreciate their discipline and foremost commitments to duty.

But because all of this is portrayed so beautifully, so lushly, they’re not to be pitied, but rather, to be admired.

Aristotle said pity is the emotion we feel when we witness a tragedy that we think cannot happen to us.

These martial arts masters remind us that for all of our purported strength as warriors, we are helpless under the spell of love, and hopeless without it.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com