My biggest concern was leaving the dojo and my teachers all those years ago. Would I be able to make progress? Would I be able to grow and continue to learn? The answer is yes.

As technology improved, the miles seemed to disappear. We started by phone and used sentences to propose an experiment. I would then try this with my group and see what we got. From there I would report back what we found from the results. This would lead Dennis to know if I was on the right track by the responses I gave. With an occasional, in person, download and course correction, I did continue to grow and see more and expand my capacities.

Now with the Shinobi Science online classes I have a visual and an auditory understanding of the experiment I have to try and now I can record my own attempts for review. It always helps when we get to get together and I can really feel what the concepts are but even through the pandemic I was making progress.

My favorite part of Shinobi Science is that NOTHING is taken on faith. Of course I trust my teachers and my art but that was built through ME taking the concepts and having them really work for me through trial and error. It's not about getting it right and copying what the teacher did. It's about the results and what that teaches me. I love that through this approach I get visceral real feedback that tells me this is working.

It's a science experiment where we do a series of actions with a goal in mind and we look for the most efficient way to do that with gravity rather than following a recipe and blindly replicating what the teacher showed. It's the results that are emphasized. Did we get the same effect on the attacker that the teacher showed? Did we do it without muscle? And did we use gravity to achieve the same result as the example? The results we get makes us smile and shake our heads at what is possible with this art.

First off. I absolutely would recommend this to my best friends and I have. And I have said that there is no better way to learn how to protect yourself and your family than learning these concepts. The concepts taught in Shinobi Science go far beyond just self defense. They help us live a more connected and safe life to its fullest.

It keeps us strong but also keeps us mindful of not doing habitual actions that could hurt us over time. WE move through the world with a way to observe what's happening around us in real time and being able to choose the most powerful way to interact with the world around us to get the most out of each moment. It's Science that feels like Magic.

As the poster child for long distance training this program has been everything to my continued enthusiasm. I don't stick with it out of some obligation. I truly love the revelations that are around every corner as we see first hand what we are really capable of when we connect to the world around us. We don't hide in fear and we don't fight back against the world. We go WITH the pressure and away from the dangers and find a path through without resistance. Thank you for the years of discovery. I look forward to what we see next.

Derek Lintoshi Thompson