Poetry/Martial Arts combined bio:
It is impossible to lead a life without poetry.
To believe one could do so is to misunderstand poetry.
-ShhDragon
Essentiality Invites Education
The Taoist is one whose view, whose perspective, whose lens, is clearly seeking to apprehend the inapprehendable.
Who seeks to see the seen, the see-able, the un-seen, and the unseeable.
Who looks to the infinite finities within the Tao's infinite infinities.
Stephen Watson has immersed himself in Eastern philosophy for over 35 years. Stephen's martial training (the how) began in concert with his interest in philosophy (the why). His motto is: When you have enough Why's you have Wise. He specializes in transmitting a profound understanding of why. Ask a question and he will show you that you already know why. There are no hidden treasures only closed eyes.
As a student of the Tao for some thirty-five years, Stephen Watson has sought the heart all over the world; appearing as a movement and meditation teacher in traditional studios, corporate offices, and pleasant meadows. Tai Chi is a physical poetry of substance, ethereality, and discovery. Stephen is highly sought after instructor of this art, also called Taijiquan, which offers a path to health, humor, and humanity. Tai Chi is an art in which anyone can taste the ancient wisdom of Taoism as a present-day and fresh experience; one which, through rhythmic breath, lyric insight, and melodious movement seeks to articulate the Tao, that encompassing Weltanschauung, which sees the entirety of the universe as being a dancehall of paired partners whether him and her, sun and moon, up and down, peak and valley, or peanut butter and jelly.
Taoism is a proto-scientific worldview first outlined by shamans who knew that to see with the eyes is to not see it all. The heart must fly forth and the body must dance with sensation in order that the spirit might unfold, might animate our relationships. The classics of the Tao are poetry not textbook. Stephen, shortened at Stephe and often writing as ShhDragon, believes that the practice of poetry is the practice of the heart's relation to Other. It is only by more sincerely, more deeply relating to Other that we might draw close enough, Self and Other, to remember that otherness is itself the illusion. Poetry is the language of love's re-union.
Stephen Watson is the only person to compete in, referee at, and teach at martial arts tournaments for every umbrella organization at their national level. He is an International, 18-time US, and now World Champion in Taiji Push Hands. Stephen Watson is the founder and former director of Silent Dragon Schools. He now operates a small martial arts school in the quiet woods of Connecticut. His teachers include every person he has ever met. Come be his next teacher
Stephen can be found on
www.Facebook.com/ShhDragon where he regularly posts musings designed to prick the life free of our societal stucknesses. A more traditional route would be to seek him out at his Killingworth, CT studio:
www.SomedayFarm.net or simply listen keenly beneath a tree or beside a brook, he'll be there seeking wit and wisdom from those same teachers.
Someday Farm
The small studio at Someday Farm has long been a retreat for those close to the earth and longing to become closer to themselves. Aside from the wide-ranging grounds we enjoy a private practice hall in our bucolic setting...horses, beaver, fox, eagles, rabbits (aka bunnies), and coyotes. We often commence class under the Great Birch tree, by a riverside, at the pond's edge, at the entrance to our labyrinth, upon the woodside stones, in the barn's hayloft, by the Medicine Wheel or on one of the expansive lawns. We are a center for nonviolence and classical studies of meditation, healing and martial endeavors based upon love, oneness, service, and release.
Our ongoing and fixed-run courses are held as group classes as well as offered as private and semi-private instruction. Think small. Think personal. Our courses include Aikido (the only nonviolent martial art), Tai Chi Chuan, Eastern philosophy and healing, Self Defense, Yoga, Taoist Contemplation, Samadhi, breath training, mudras for health and insight, I Chuan, Nei Gong, Qi Gong, Push Hands, and sweat lodges. More to come. We welcome anyone to the only Farm where we plant and tend the seeds of Someday.
Shorter version of my bio for publicity purposes/needs/requirements:
Beauty is the Least Amount of Whole
Stephen Watson is an un-teacher who travels the world teaching the poetic process of wisdom-seeking that is Tai Chi.
He can be found at his home studio, Someday Farm in Connecticut or, let's be honest, more often on
www.Facebook.com/ShhDragon. His work, which looks like movement, meditation, and massage, involves uncovering the Self so well-hid beneath our customs, structures, languages, and beliefs. His true poetry remains stuck between his heart and spirit and he apologizes for what trickles or ruptures out and comes to be called his poetry. He, like this lyric world, is a work/play in progress.