KUNG FU & FITNESS / Sifu Mimi Chan

67. Delaine Ross on kettlebells, alcoholism, and The Phoenix

Hi Everyone, today I chat with Delaine Ross, who is a Senior Instructor with StrongFirst. I was intrigued when I heard about her recent work The Phoenix, which hosts daily FREE classes and events for those in recovery. The goal of The Phoenix is to help as many people as possible find a clear path to recovery, so they make every effort to remove any barriers to getting involved with the community. We also talk about her struggle with alcoholism and how The Phoenix has helped with her personal recovery.

64. Brett Jones on cultivating simplicity in strength training

53. Chinese New Year Wrap Up

Happy New Year! After a week of celebrations, I am exhausted and happy to be finished with most of our shows. This year, we welcomed the Year of the Dog. While most of Asia takes a week long vacation for the Lunar New Year, Wah Lum works over time. Oscar and I sit down to discuss the ins and outs of Chinese New Year celebrations, Wah Lum Style. We recorded this episode on Facebook LIVE, so we apologize if we are jumping around a bit in this episode. We enjoyed interacting with our audience as we answered listener questions and reacted to comments that were being posted throughout the podcast.

52. Happy Birthday-Anniversary to me

Hi Everyone! It’s my 52nd episode of Culture Chat! I can’t believe it has been a year of podcasts. Today, I am answering listener questions and will be joined with my occasional co-host Oscar Agramonte. I am so grateful to all of you who have been tuning in each week THANK YOU so much. I have enjoyed learning from all of my guests, but have also learned a lot about myself. Although I still have a long way to go, I know that I am trying to become a much better listener. Thank you to all of my guests who graciously shared their stories with me, and thanks again to all of you for listening. Special gratitude love to those who have supported this podcast through Patreon and donations. Thanks to all of you, I hope to bring you more interesting podcasts in 2018. If anyone else is interested in donating please visit my website www.culturechatpodcast.com

51. Dr. Chad Eldridge, on moving to be pain free and love for the 80s

If you were to ask chiropractor Dr. Chad Eldridge about his practice, he would simply state his philosophy: Getting the masses off their asses. As you can tell, Chad, is not your ordinary chiropractor. He calls himself rather, the Movement Mechanic. And rightly so. His goals are to get people moving towards being pain free pain free. The key word here being moving! Chad does not just lay you on a table and give you a conventional adjustment, nope, at his practice you will often leave feeling as if you’ve had a 1 hour work out! I chat with him on his methods and philosophies and how we can incorporate them in our everyday lives. If you still haven’t kicked started your new years resolutions, listen on for some valuable information on why movement is just what the doctor ordered.

48. Oscar Agramonte on health and fitness

How can you stick to your New Year resolutions? Should we make resolutions, or are we just setting ourselves up for failure? Oscar Agramonte of Control Your Health discusses the common pitfalls of setting resolutions and how we can avoid them. We talk nutrition, exercise, and mindset to start you off in the right physical and mental state for 2018.

32. Kevin Carr on strength training, coaching, and ice cream

What comes to mind when you hear the words strength and conditioning? Does it leave you wanting to run in the other direction? Sometimes I admit I want to run the other way, but today I sit down with Coach Kevin Carr of Mike Boyle’s Strength and Conditioning and Movement as Medicine to dispel myths and go over the reasons of why we all need both strength and conditioning.

24. Adisa Banjoko on blending hip hop, chess, and martial arts

Adisa Banjoko, founder of the Hip Hop Chess Federation, developed a unique approach to helping youth embrace and apply alternative strategies to obstacles in life by providing an engaging, interactive program that helps youth cultivate the necessary life skills for success. At his center, they teach a blend of chess, hip hop performing arts, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The center is open to all youths, but is especially programmed for those in violent neighborhoods. I had a fascinating conversation with Adisa about the intersection of hip hop, martial arts, and chess, and found the work he is doing to bring non-violence through these mediums remarkable.

22. Gene Ching on Weapons, Drug Intervention, and Fencing

Gene Ching keeps busy. He is the publisher of Kung Fu Magazine, a martial artist, a fencing expert, and is the Psychiatric Crisis Intervention Supervisor in which he volunteers his time in drug and psychiatric crisis intervention at music events. I had the pleasure of talking with him about all of these areas of expertise. I also learned more about ancient weapons, making weapons, and his new show Man at Arms: Art of War on the El Ray Network.

17.Pedro Cepero Yee on tradition & culture

Pedro is the owner of Yee’s Hung Ga Kung Fu in Clifton, NJ. I’ve known Pedro through the martial arts community for several years. He has studied with Master Frank Yee for the past 30 years and is an adopted son of Master Yee. He shares his story of childhood adversity that sparked his decision to become a kung fu teacher.

16. Robin Leong, a kung fu kid

Meet my friend Robin Leong and discover how he went from a kung fu kid in Seattle to a Singapore movie star. We discuss whitewashing in Hollywood, kung fu, and keeping traditions alive. Robin shares some of his philosophy on respect and the wisdom of Confucius.