TESTIMONIALS
"Hello All,
The Winter Gathering is many things at once:
Adventure
Homecoming
Celebration
Mystery
Discovery
Opportunity
Blessing
At base, it is an opportunity for a diverse family to celebrate their uniqueness and similarities within the context of a safe and empowering athmosphere. As such it leads to the discovery of sacred mysteries and provides persons with a spirit of adventure a place to participate in creating something that is always familiar, yet always different each and every year.
Ultimately the winter Gathering is about co-creating an annual miracle where the ideals of the martial arts are manifest: respect, patience, tolerance, humility and self restraint. At the time of Holiday Greetings, it is the present we each give to ourselves and each other year after year in the spirit of Mahalo and Aloha. As such, it is truly a blessing."
Always,
Grandmaster Carl Totton
Core System
The gathering is a coming together of some of Martial Artists great minds; who may differ in style or system, but are like-minded in philosphy and practice. All instructor collectively create an atmosphere of comfort and kindness and an overall sense that all who try will succeed. The instructors share openly their techniques and concepts, but most importantly, they share themselves as people with all who participate. Watching each master preform their craft it's easy to see the Warrior spirit and skill they all pocess. However, what truly stands out most is their humble demeanors and their graciousness of soul.
I would highly recommend participating in this event in the future.
With Much Respect and Admiration
Master Doreen DiRienzo
Revere Karate
"It was indeed a time of lessons, memories and friendships. The 10th Winter Gathering established a precedent unmatched in martial art communities. A gathering of diverse martial art talent and mastery under a badge of camaraderie, to share, give, and receive information but most importantly to honor and treasure the spirit of those whose physical presence are no longer with us. What a very special event with a group of extraordinary individuals"
Sifu Robert Terrance
Blossom Fist
"One of the best sources of knowledge in a friendly environment. Every year I get to share my knowledge and learn some new techniques from many of the highly talented martial artists willing to share their experience."
Grandmaster Douglas Wong
White Lotus Kung Fu
“The Whipping Willow Association's "Winter Gathering" is a favorite martial arts event for me. The "Winter Gathering" is a place where people of many backgrounds, systems and styles can come together and share their knowledge. This is a place where the celebration is about similarities not differences, it is about the bigger picture and our connection to those that came before us and our impact on the future of martial arts. The Winter Gathering is a breath of fresh air.”
Mataas Na Guro Zach Whitson
Counterpoint Tactical System
“The leadership and vision of Sijo Alferos and the Whipping Willow Association board of director's commitment to the mission of respecting our teachers, heritage, other styles and maintaining humility while learning and sharing information promotes excellent values for present and future generations.”
Respectfully,
Sifu Michael Tom
White Lotus System
“The Winter Gathering is an event that Martial Arts enthusiasts, students, instructors alike will enjoy. The spirit of learning and the passion to share information is priceless. It is so impressive to take a class taught by a living legend of martial arts then in the next session, that same person is your partner learning with you! At the Gathering, you can be exposed to healing, Internal, External, Soft, Hard, Filipino, Capoeria, empty hand and a multitude of weapons .... it's awesome! New networking and long lasting friendships are made at the Gathering. The positive energy is contagious!
Respectfully,
Sifu Michael Tom
White Lotus System
“Thank you for an exciting, edifying, and thought-provoking weekend. We appreciated how you devoted your time with us, especially since on Father's Day weekend.
We enjoyed learning and training in the full spectrum of components in the martial arts at the 2010 Summer Gathering, from healing-strengthening arts through Nei Gung, weapons with a variety of Filipino knives, bare-handed techniques applying the knives techniques into hand techniques, self-defense through gun disarms, to the competitive side with blade sparring. Not only did we learn about techniques, we also learned about martial arts traditions/culture/etiquette, particularly with the Pai Shih and student/disciple-teacher relationship.
Sijo Alferos is a masterful teacher, emphasizing application and simplicity--conveying these concepts with what he teaches through his techniques and the wisdom he imparts on the students, including those who assisted him during his workshop as well as Sifu Pat Salantri, a student of his who taught gun disarms. What we found specially beneficial was how applicable each of the techniques was, not only in the practicality of the topics at hand, but also how a given sequence of movements can be applied to many different scenarios.
Sijo ensured a positive learning environment by bringing together like-minded individuals who are open-minded and ready to learn as well as overflowing with a passion for the martial arts. With such a diversity of students' backgrounds providing numerous points-of-reverences, everyone benefited from the different angles from which questions were asked and answered. To further the positive development was the mix of novices as well as those more experienced, who follow Sijo's lead in unobtrusively and constructively helping out newbies like us. Sifu Pat Salantri's workshop on gun disarming was easy to follow, logical, and applicable from one sequence to another.
Thank you so much for organizing and teaching such a practical, applicable, and edifying weekend of martial arts!”
In Truth, Beauty, and Love,
Mickey & Melody Lee
“Good morning Sijo,
Compliments and thank you so much for another great "Gathering " and for sharing. We all had a great time interacting @ your "Summer Gathering" as usual, great material, learning, energy and great people. Thank you all.
We had our "Follow up / review Gathering last Thurs. evening to brainstorm and go over as much of the material we all remembered. Compliments to Sifu Pat for his Gun disarm presentation, it was very informative and insightful.”
Much appreciation, respectfully,
Michael, Joel and Brian
