Guro in Edinburgh

Guro Dan Inosanto comes to Edinburgh this weekend for maybe the 18th visit. I never miss it and only once i had to watch with a fever that i later found out came from a tooth abscess. This year i will watch thanks to the courtesy of Rick Young.

Guro, as we refer to him, was a student of the later Bruce Lee, probably the reason i first went to a seminar with Dod Copland in 1986. I recall being in the car afterwards and we were talking about the event and Dod had said that he couldn't ever commit himself to that extent, but i thought about it and differred.

22 years later i will see him again as a representative of his International Instructors Programme. Through my school i have others - Leigh and Peter - starting on their road with him and i hope a few others will join us in the future.

Guro is an inspiration that many who do not have the fortune to be around him misinterpret and dismiss. They forget that every weekend he travels all over the place, he was in Tulsa last weekend, Uk this, somewhere else the next, Spain the one after that, Australia etc. The jet lag alone would condemn the ordinary man to a drivelling idiot but Guro stand up at the age of 72 and teaches to numbers around 200. Then he will patiently have his picture taken with students and sign pictures and yet someone will still crticise him or claim that he doesnt know how to fight etc. Sometimes the loudest are the most stupid!

I was going to say that today i am struggling, that i feel a chill, dizzy. But then i thought about Guro and what he does and the fact that he doesnt complain, he doesnt duck, and i was able to put my self importance in check. I still have no call from the Doctors and i dont want them to call as i want to go and see Guro. I'll be gutted i cant participate in an active way but i am chuffed i can participate in another way. Its not failure, Robbins says that there is no such thing as failure - only a different set of results.

I'll also take my rug that Rob sent me, as i'll hopefully see him in the evening.