The Sword Guy Podcast

How to Teach Historical Martial Arts, with Guy Windsor

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/how-to-teach-historical-martial-arts-with-guy-windsor/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This episode of the podcast is a little bit different because I'm not interviewing anyone. I'm here to talk to you about how to teach. I believe that teaching historical martial arts or anything else is a skill, and as such it can be studied and taught. In other words, you're not born a good teacher, you become one through mindful practise. So the question, I guess, is how do you set about that in a systematic and useful way that will lead you to your desired result? Well, I have a course. Of course I have a course; I always have a course. I am releasing this week my course on how to teach. Now, before you just dash off and buy it, because you're just that sort of excellently supportive listener to the show, I think it would be a good idea if you listen to some excerpts and get an idea of what the course is all about and then decide whether it's really for you.

Listen to the episode or read the transcript for exclusive extracts from the course. And to buy the course itself, you can find it at guywindsor.net/teach, where there is a 40% discount offer - only valid until Wednesday 5th of October.

 

From Katanas to Creating the Metaverse, with Neal Stephenson

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Neal Stephenson is a best-selling author, futurist, tech geek and swordsman whose works include Cryptonomicron, Seveneves, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash. He has also co-written several other books and graphic novels which we discuss in this episode. His latest book, Termination Shock goes into depth and detail about Sikh martial arts, which he had to research during the Covid lockdowns.

Of course, Neal’s main claim to fame is that he wrote the preface to my own Swordfighting for Writers, Game Designers and Martial Artists.

We cover an enormously wide range of topics in this episode, from fountain pens to working with Jeff Bezos building rockets. If you want to find anything in particular, the timestamps and related links are listed below:

• [03:07] How Neal got into swords. Neal’s club in Seattle is Lonin.
• [08:12] Ellis Amdur and Japanese martial arts.
• [14:31] Bartitsu
• [17:53] Silver and McBane. Note: It was Captain John Godfrey's 1747, A Treatise Upon The Useful Science of Defence, where he said that “The Small-Sword is the Call of Honour, the Back-Sword the Call of Duty.”
• [28:50] Indian Club training
• [37:46] Sword fights in fiction and how to write one
• [43:48] Working with Charles C. Mann on Cimarronin. The Manila Galleons. We mention Da’Mon Stith and episode 23 of this podcast. For the photo of Ellis Amdur sticking an eight foot spear into Neal’s chest, see: https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ 
• [52:40] Fountain pens
• [55:38] How Neal plots, writes and edits his books, and how he co-writes with another author
• [1:01:09] How Neal’s books changed culture – e.g. influenced the development of the Kindle (see Fiona image here: https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ Fiona is a character in The Diamond Age. Amazon used the codename ‘Fiona’ for their Kindle project.)
• [1:03:47] Working with Jeff Bezos at Blue Origin finding better ways to power space rockets
• [1:14:05] Bullwhips
• [1:15:41] LAMINA1 and building a new open platform for metaverses
• [1:28:28] The best idea Neal hasn’t acted on yet
• [1:32:14] What Neal would do with $1 million to improve historical martial arts

 

Elementary, my dear Windsor, with Dr. Ashley Polasek

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/elementary-my-dear-windsor/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Ashley Polasek is a historical martial artist who started with Lichtenauer and now teaches Bolognese swordsmanship. She is based in South Carolina, but spends much of her time travelling for her day job working with one of the world’s most successful playwrights.   

Ashley is an expert in Sherlock Holmes. She was a consultant on the first Enola Holmes movie and is a member of the exclusive ‘Baker Street Irregulars’. Her PhD is in adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, and it is fascinating how the character pops up in so many different versions, and yet they are all recognisably Sherlock Holmes. Even Sherlock Gnomes.

(As she is so keen on adaptation, I’m sure Ashley won’t mind that the misquoted title of this episode, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” was never actually said by Sherlock in any of the books.)

We also talk about how having no vision in one eye affects Ashley’s swordfighting, training to be a Ninja Warrior, women’s hips, and getting swords into schools.

 

Teaching horses martial arts with the Horsemen of Eire

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/teaching-horses-martial-arts-with-the-horsemen-of-eire/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Alessia Pagani and Jack Gassman run Horsemen of Eire, an equestrian training school and medieval combat academy outside Wexford in Ireland. Alessia specialises in natural horsemanship and Jack takes care of the swords.

In this episode we talk about what’s natural about ‘natural horsemanship’, and its origins in American cowboys and medieval training techniques. There is a blog post here with pictures of the single and double pillar training techniques we discuss: https://dariocaballeros.blogspot.com/2013/09/antoine-de-pluvinel-images-from.html 

Alessia spent time living and working as a cowgirl in Arizona and she explains how Rossfechten (swordfighting on horseback) is similar to herding cattle. Teaching horses to fight is not dissimilar to teaching humans to fight, when you understand their motivations and characters. As Jack says, horses intimately understand violence and will beat the shit out of each other over “you looked at me funny”.

We also find out why there is so much unarmoured longsword in Liechtenauer, why it helps to be a dancer, and how many plates you have to spin to run a business involving horses.

Audiobook Bundle Special Offer!

Don’t forget to check out my audiobook bundle for The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts. This includes the ebook and the audiobook version, narrated by Kelley Costigan. You can find it at guywindsor.net/tsg22. That link will get you 20% off the list price until 15^th September 2022.

 

Support Vector Machines are Cool, with Kari Baker

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/support-vector-machines-are-cool-with-kari-baker/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Kari Baker is a data scientist and swordswoman from Arizona who writes appallingly advanced data analysis articles for Sword STEM. In our conversation we discuss how data helped increase women’s participation in events and whether we can predict a double in tournaments.

You can find Kari’s Sword STEM articles here: http://swordstem.com/author/kbaker/

If you have any interesting research questions, or datasets you want to ask questions of, send them to Guy or pop over to the Sword STEM Facebook page.

 

Audiobook Bundle Special Offer!

As mentioned in the introduction to this episode, check out my audiobook bundle for The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts. This includes the ebook and the audiobook version, narrated by Kelley Costigan. You can find it at guywindsor.net/tsg22. That link will get you 20% off the list price until 15^th September 2022.

 

 

Movement Matters with Katy Bowman (Episode 54 repeat)

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/movement-matters-with-katy-bowman-episode-54-repeat/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Bestselling author, speaker, and a leader in the Movement movement, biomechanist Katy Bowman has been changing the way we move and think about our need for movement. Her eight books, including the groundbreaking “Move Your DNA” and “Movement Matters” have been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide. Bowman teaches movement globally and speaks about sedentarism and movement ecology to academic and scientific audiences. Her work has been featured in diverse media such as the Today Show, CBC Radio One, the Seattle Times, and Good Housekeeping. One of Maria Shriver’s “Architects of Change” and an America Walks “Woman of the Walking Movement”, Katy has worked with companies like Patagonia, Nike and Google as well as a wide range of non-profits and other communities, sharing her “move more, move more body parts, move more for what you need” message.  Her movement education company, Nutritious Movement, is based in Washington State, where she lives with her family.

In our conversation we talk about form, feet, injuries, and Jess Finley’s ‘hooky’ acromion process (it’s part of your shoulder). When you use swords, or do any other sport, the movements – or lack of – that you do all of the rest of the time when you are not doing swords create your ability to move freely and effectively with a sword in your hand. What is your body doing when it is not doing swords?

We mention Ruth Goodman’s book, How to be a Tudor. You can find out more here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/287/287072/how-to-be-a-tudor/9780241973714.html and listen to our podcast episode here: https://guywindsor.net/2021/04/fire-and-cauldrons-episode44/

If the section on barefoot shoes inspires you, check out Freet shoes https://freetbarefoot.com Use this code at checkout: THESWORDGUY10 to get 10% off- and if you do, I’ll also get a small commission. Yay!

The author mentioned when we are talking about Finland is Robert Holdstock, the Mythago Wood series.

We also discuss sedentary culture, what it’s doing to us and our kids, and how we might improve our environment to make movement more likely. Human movement is at an all-time low and our children are currently facing both a movement and nature deficiency, with physical, mental and environmental consequences.  The good news is, while the problem feels massive, the solution is quite simple…and fun! Katy’s forthcoming book, “Grow Wild: The Whole-Child, Whole-Family, Nature-Rich Guide to Moving More” is out in the UK on 24^th June, SRP £24.99, published by Propriometrics Press; distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing.

On Bookshop UK: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/grow-wild-the-whole-child-whole-family-nature-rich-guide-to-moving-more/9781943370160

On amazon UK.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grow-Wild-Whole-Child-Whole-Family-Nature-Rich/dp/1943370168/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29X0ZIYTB1DAG&dchild=1&keywords=grow+wild+book+katy+bowman&qid=1615844073&sprefix=grow+wild%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-1

 

Katy’s web/social media links:

https://www.nutritiousmovement.com

https://www.facebook.com/NutritiousMovement/

https://www.instagram.com/nutritiousmovement/

 

 

Fiore and the Dinosaurs with Erin Fitzgerald

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fiore_dinosaurs_erin_fitzgerald/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Erin Fitzgerald is a historical martial arts practitioner at the Chicago Swordplay Guild, but her day job takes us much further back in time: to the time of the dinosaurs. Erin is a Fossil Preparator and in our conversation she explains the painstaking process of safely transporting fossils back to the lab and cleaning them up ready for studying. 

After talking about dinosaurs we skip forward a few tens of millions of years to medieval times and talk about Erin’s love of armoured combat and medieval longsword. 

Erin is also an artist and created a magnificent painting of Fiore’s Segno, to be hung on the wall in the Chicago Swordplay Guild. Here is a blog post from Tasha Kelly about it: https://cottesimple.com/manuscript-interpretation/coloring-segno-della-spada/

Visit the website to see the Segno from the Getty manuscript, Erin’s painting, and the other photos accompanying this episode. https://swordschool.com/podcast/fiore_dinosaurs_erin_fitzgerald/ 

 What’s the book that shall not be named?

Medi*val Sw*rdsmanship by J*hn Cl*m*nts

 

 

Fire and Cauldrons with Ruth Goodman (Episode 44 repeat)

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fire-and-cauldrons-with-ruth-goodman-episode-44-repeat/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ruth Goodman is a social and domestic historian working with museums, theatre, television and educational establishments. She has presented and consulted on several highly successful television series for the BBC. She has also written several excellent books we’ll be talking about today, including The Domestic Revolution, How to be a Tudor and How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England.

In this episode, Ruth and I talk about some of the lesser known, but nonetheless fascinating aspects of life in the Middle Ages, without what we think of “essential” cleaning products, or temperature controlled ovens. Yes, people did get their clothes properly clean, and they were able to bake excellent cakes, pastries and bread. Ruth explains how they did this, and the type of learning that has been largely lost nowadays.

In our wide-ranging conversation, we also cover the importance of sheds, leaving kids in forests, giving knives to toddlers, and understanding fire. Ruth has a special passion for medieval cauldrons.

We also talk about how people would have dressed and moved at this time, all of which is very relevant if you are interested in martial arts from this, or any other period of history. We discuss how to research when there aren’t many sources available – as it turns out, there are many ways to skin a rabbit.

 

Finding your niche, with Mila Jędrzejewska

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/finding-your-niche-with-mila-jedrzejewska/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Mila Jędrzejewska runs Audatia Creative, a professional services company for businesses in the historical martial arts space. In this conversation, we hear what led Mila to start up her own business, why she focuses on our particular niche, and how Guy and Mila are working together.

Mila describes her experiences of sexism in the sword world and racism in the business world and we discuss the privilege of being able to work in a fulfilling job that you love.

For the question, ‘What would you do with £1 million to improve historical martial arts worldwide?’ Guy gives his own idea of what he would like to do with the money. Would you be interested in a dedicated historical martial arts online platform, a “Swordbook”, if you will? Guy’s vision is a not-for-profit online space with zero tolerance for trolling, mansplaining, disrespectful behaviour of any kind, where you can talk about swords (or watch cat videos) with fellow swordy folk. If you follow Guy on social media, look out for a poll in Instagram Stories on the subject.

Also, as you will hear, Mila is looking for someone to join her team, so if you have graphic design and social media experience, and you are mad about swords, get in touch with her: https://audatiacreative.com/contact/

 

Tameshigiri Training with Asante Lawla

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/tameshigiri-training-with-asante-lawla/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Asante Lawla is a London-based inventor, corrective exercise specialist and a martial artist who is currently working on an edge alignment device to help people learn to cut better. He practises an Indian battlefield martial art called Shastar Vidiya, which translates as ‘the science of weapons’. Finding that getting hold of the materials needed for cutting training to be expensive, time-consuming and messy, he developed a prototype for a new type of tameshigiri trainer. It uses lasers attached to your sword which makes marks on a target so you can see your edge alignment – something you cannot do with tatami mats or water bottles. Asante has a crowdfunding campaign that runs until the end of August 2022. See here for all the details of the tameshigiri trainer, how it works and the status of the campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tameshigiri-trainer#/

https://vimeo.com/721797796

The yoga practice Asante refers to early on in the episode is this one: https://www.shastarvidiya.org/teaching/sanjam_kiriya_variyam.html

Asante’s Shastar Vidiya Brixton Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShastarVidiyaBrixton