Norwich Yes Group Talk on 25th August 2011

On Thursday last week I gave my story as a quiet and shy young lad and how I have changed into the 4th Degree Black Belt leader and role model I am today. The trials and tribulations of SBN Jon and his quest to gain more confidence.

A good start and strong welcome 

 Maintaining prescence on the stage and making sure I make eye contact with everyone in the audience by moving about to keep presence up on both sides of the stage

Perhaps I should have been an air steward?  And the exits are here... here... and here.  

The audience seem to be enjoying my story, its always good to make people laugh at your own expense!

Here you get a better feel for how many people were in the audience, and how well lit it all is. There is no hiding from this lot!

 As part of my journey to gain more confidence this event is definitely a tick in the box.

You can come up with your own caption for this pic.

Big finish

And everyone really seemed to enjoy it. Job done. Everyone is happy.

These are the other speakers at Norwich Yes Group Left to Right

Monica, Me, Kay, Mark and Tosin the organiser is on the far right)

Karen Asempur - Dancer, Actress, Inspirational Speaker



Last night at the Norwich Yes Group I had the fortune to meet Karen Asemper - Inspirational Speaker. I have to admit I didn't know what to expect as I was not familiar with Karen's previous work as a dancer or actress. Karen has been in Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Doctors. I don't watch those sort of TV shows so I had no idea about Karen's background.

None of that mattered anyway as I was blown away by her talk. It has completely changed the way I was going to give my talk at the Members Night at the Yes Group in Norwich August event if I was picked. The feelings, the emotional roller coaster of her talk was breath taking. I was literally on the edge of my seat.

There have been very few speakers I have seen over the years that have me on the edge of my seat as many offer a similar message, but with Karen I feel like I connected on another level. Her story is so close to that of my own, the things she said and spoke of with such honesty, openness and passion I haven't been able to do about my own life.

I feel truly inspired and I wanted to thank you Karen for truly changing my outlook on life for the better.

For more information about Karen and her work please visit her website at http://www.karenasemper.com/

New Kuk Sool-ers

I love reading blogs from students who start kuk sool won and write about their journey to black belt and beyond. Its something I wished was available when I first started training 18 years ago.

A good friend of mine started kuk sool won in January and has decided to blog about his experiences in the process. To read his entertaining reports check out http://lleksu.blogspot.com/

Lleksu isn't his real name in case you were wondering where it originates, but to maintain his hidden identity like the superhero he is I wont say any more!

Lleksu didn't do much in the way of exercise prior to Kuk Sool and it was his wife that encouraged him to come along because she knows my wife and they go dancing together. SBN Helen invited them as part of our "KICK START" programme (see post back in January) and there has been no stopping either of them since.

In fact Lleksu is now training 3+ times per week and really giving it his all in the process. His progress reminds me so much of myself when I first started.

I look forward to keeping up with his blog. If you like reading about kuk sool won blogs then check out the links on my "Places to go people to see" list on the left.

Training Update

I went over to Halesworth dojang to train with the black belts and I took a good friend a kuk sool won yellow belt so he could train in a proper dojang rather than the large sports hall to see and feel the difference.

What a great night! We both came away sweating buckets and I ended up teaching the black belt class. I put them through their paces and they really rose to the occasion so well done Halesworth Black Belts!! We managed to steam up the windows and the mirrors - even with the windows open - thats a great work out for you.

I look forward to returning again very soon.

Baby Powder Boy the Superhero

A good friend of mine designed these super heroes for a laugh but I like it. Helen is at the top as Veggie Girl with her carrot firing guns and carrot ammo attached to her arms.

My baldy hero is in the middle and the creamer ballerina is at the bottom

which is our illustrators good lady wife.