I practiced a mixture of Aikidō, Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu and Nippon Shorinji Kempō in Jackson Heights and Woodside, NY between 1989 to 2005, that was strongly influenced by our teacher's interest in Haguro Shugendō.
In 2004, I began learning Gao lineage Baguazhang in Silver Spring, MD. That process transformed my view of close range combatives. Subsequently, I worked with my friend and student Benjamin Lawner in Baltimore on refining our NYC goshin-jutsu practice into something new based on the tactics and approaches of bagua — we called the result Gassankan jujutsu.
Since that time, I have learned substantially more about classical martial arts from China and Japan — most of my close-range grappling is now derived from those sources. However, much of the earlier writing on Inner Dharma was centered around that process of learning and discovery, so I wanted to preserve some content here in case it is of use to others.