A personal account of the Tai Chi, Qi Gung, & Taoist Meditation Workshop held at the Omega Institute with David Carradine from October 6-8, 2000

David then broke in. "Yeah, early in my career, let's say when I was twelve-thirteen years old, I was going to high school, public school in New York. I used to get beat up all the time. And the first thing that you learn is to avoid it. I mean you do dream about it, I really would like to get these guys, but . . . I mean if you study this stuff and if you practice it a little, and you don't think about anything, people just can't seem to grab ahold of you. It's just like, the guy reaches and he grabs and he punches and he tries to throw in everything else, they just can't get ahold of you. And the other thing is, you see it coming long before that. You see it coming when it's way down the street and you don't even know that you're seeing it coming, but for some reason, you just leave. You go across . . ."

" . . . Across the street to the other side." (Robe finishing David's words).

"Yeah," David continues. "It was happening without you even knowing that it was happening. I am asked constantly, well not constantly, over a period of all these years, that adds up to a constant, but uh . . . do you ever have to use this stuff. And the thing is that, one of the things is that you DON'T basically ever have to use this stuff, because there is an aura, you know, that . . . uh . . . The thing is it's not just that people don't want to mess with you, because you look tough or something. Actually, people sort of more like they want to feel that vibe of yours because it's a good vibe. They don't want to confront you they want to get some. And a few times that I can remember some punk, and that's the other thing, it's always some kind of punk. If you have some kind of knowledge of the universe unfolding, and you really position it and everything, then what happens is some drunk in a bar, some punk, they're not really going to be able to get past that or around that or through that. And it's not really so much necessarily a question of fighting, but the few times that I can remember . . . I remember this one time I was doing this sword fighting picture in Argentina and people in Argentina are a little feisty, the Latino thing and all that, the macho goucho. There was this day where we had these two armies of sword fighters, about 50 or 75, people that they hired from all over the place. They hired boxers and wrestlers, martial artists and actual sword fighters and gymnasts and everyone was very athletic, a whole bunch of these people. And this one guy came up to me and challenged me, right there on the set, you know we're all in costume and everything. And I said, 'What are you doing? You don't challenge me.' And he wanted to fight me. And I said, "No, nobody wants to fight me. You gotta be crazy to want to fight me, because I'm not really a fighter. It's not my rep. I'm trying to keep peace.' And finally he just got frustrated and he threw a punch at me. I just, and I wasn't going, okay I'm ready for this. I just, ‘ooo what was that?’ I just went by, and he threw another at me and I went, 'Hey!' And stopped him like this (demonstrating the move), and I was never thinking I'm going to take care of this guy or anything. And he threw a third one, and I guess I'd gotten tired of it because I just took it like that and it was just kind of automatic. I just went like that (making the arm gesture). The result was is that, now he is throwing a punch at me like this and I'm taking it just like this and it kind of automatically made him go like that (demonstrating how the other man had reacted). And I'm looking at the guy and he's got his back to me. This happened kind of . . . this guy . . . in other words has gone by like this and I wasn't even going like *ugh* or anything like that. There he is, he's got his back to me and I just kind of went like that. (David gets a big laugh.) And he sat down on the ground. And I leaned down and kissed him all over the head and shoulders. (He was laughing too with a big broad grin (and he then got applause for the story.) And I hadn't really done anything and I certainly had not been aggressive at any moment. The whole thing was defused. And he felt a little silly but at the same time he sort of felt low. I mean I . . . it's just that . . . and I didn't do any of this on purpose. Then he came back and a few minutes later he said, 'You tore my T-shirt,' okay. And I said, 'Tore your T-shirt?' and I wanted to go HEY YOU STARTED IT but all I said was, 'It's probably worth $100 bucks now,' (more applause) and then he came back again 20 minutes later and asked me to autograph it. (more laughs) What the hell."

Then Rob broke in and reminded David of a similar story. When they were in a bar together. Rob stated, "Another time and it was really funny. It was similar to this one. When he's in a bar and somebody's going to kick his butt. Hey, Carradine, you know. So they have to prove themselves and to everybody else that they're whatever their ego is. They were going to fight David Carradine, right. That's a big deal. So he's siked up, 'I want to kick Carradine's butt.' right, in they're thinking. So David's like, 'Well I don't want to mess with you, leave me alone.' And the guy's, ‘No, I want to do this,' he's making a big production of it. So, everybody can hear what's going on and people are, 'Wow what's going to happen, man,' and the guy just runs at him to get him and David just turns and the guy hits his foot. And that man falls down and they said, "David, what did you do to that guy?" and he goes, "I just didn't want to spill my drink." Everyone of course responded with laughter and applause (The stories are in David’s book “Endless Highway.”)

And Rob replied with, "And so this guy topples and breaks furniture and everything."

Then David shared a story from the series. He stated, "We had this guy up there on the series, we were talking about him last night. Mike Dawson who was . . . uh . . . he was a double. He would do some of the fighting, somersaults and stuff like that. He wasn't a double that would get in the way of cars or jump off buildings or anything. But, we all get together, you know we'd be screwing around with each other. And Mike, just everything he did was like, uh, what was the example. Everything that he did would go wrong."

Rob stated, "He was like the coyote. The example I said was that he was like Wild E. Coyote."

"Yeah, that's it, Wild E. Coyote. He's trying to blow up, and bam, and it always happened to him. Just uh, and because we would, we'd sneak up behind each other and try and . . . like I remember one time him thinking that he was going to get me and we were standing in the temple set. It was kind of early in the morning and he did this lunge at me. It was the same kind of thing, I was sort of not paying attention and I was, 'Huh? What?' He went flying by and hit a bunch of pots you know, plastic is breaking and the temple is falling down and everything. And I was just going, 'What was that?' you know. And then I remember this one wonderful time when I came in the morning and he went like this and he reached out like that and there was a pebble in his hand. Right? You know. And I just went (slapping the bottom of his own open hand to demonstrate) and caught it like that (big laugh). All of this is . . . these are just fun little moments in our lives. But it's all really demonstrative of how easy it is to avoid unpleasant confrontations, certainly on a physical level. But you take this on an emotional level, on a level of . . . you know . . . the way that the flow of the universe is going around, in business, in traffic, in the stuff that we in society and this zoo that we live in, what we have to live with that really, all of those unpleasant moments or those, you know, those things that feel dangerous emotionally to you. I don't mean that you're going to die from it or something. It's very seldom actually that, unless you live in New York City, you're actually going to . . . somebody's going to walk down the street with an instrument of mayhem, and strike at you with it. But moment to moment, day by day, you are dealing with an unfriendly universe. And it's just so easy with your mind or with your hand or with your, you know, protecting your drink can get you out of a lot of trouble. And just washing away, you know these exercises that we do. There is so much of it, the pushing, getting rid of that stuff and then trying to bring the good stuff in. And it's symbolic; it's also real. And the more of that you do, the more it will just sort of happen in your daily life, even next to the water cooler. Or when you're walking down the street. And you don't seem to bump into anybody any more. Nobody seems to bump into you. More and more of that will happen. Because uh . . . and I tell you, Rob teaches martial arts, real honest to god martial arts. And even when he's just talking to you in a very holistic and soft and sweet way, every once in a while he's going to say, 'You're not punching,' you know. And in spite of that fact that most of the people who came here, came here to learn something that will make things softer for them. But everybody is still interested in that. Well, you can see why I hang around him."

Someone from the group said, "He's got the moves."

And David agreed, "He's got the moves, he's also got the philosophy. And the fact that, you know, I'm hanging around with Master Kahn, you know. I can sit around and have a cup of coffee with him. I mean he's a real guy. And it's not like this . . . uh . . . some of these people can be a little stiff. I don't think any of us really are. You don't seem like a real stiff guy to me (talking to Rob). I mean that's the guy who tells me to go hug trees, for christsake. But anyway, I just wanted to get that in. It's just so easy to step more lightly. And it's so easy for people around you, even the unpleasant people and if they’re really unpleasant, you're going to see them coming from a mile off. And if their not that unpleasant, they might change their minds by the time they get to you. I mean, if your vibe is sweet enough that people want to get some of it rather than get some of YOU, you know what I mean. It tends to work that way. At least I've seen that it works that way. That people, people are hungry for love more than their hungry for confrontation. Even people who seem to be confrontational. And if you can find that, than you can, find that way to stroke them."

Robe then spoke up. "Yeah, when you care about your own senses, these are exercises to apply that. You need to care about how this feels. You need to care about where you're taking it to. You make with as much care as you put into it. Through your own senses you will care more about somebody else’s senses and hopefully, that will make you a better listener, a better friend. And they won't say, 'HE"S A KUNG FU MASTER. WE BETTER STAY AWAY FROM THIS PERSON, RIGHT. BECAUSE THEY'LL CLOBBER US.' It's rather that person is comfortable and we can rely on them. They can help us. It's a monk art. People forget that. Television and others accept for David's character, doesn't really afford that type of thinking. Most always its justified homicide when they bring out the kung fu guys. It's never for consolation or warmth or for the need for a gentler side of life, which is really what kung fu should be. And you don't have to big deal it. You don't have to go study it for 20 years. It can be for everybody."

End of Day 3 - Morning Session - Part 6

Alisa Joaquin Copyright@2002.
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