Ninjutsu Training Online

Hello Ninjutsu Practitioners!

Alright, I have had a few emails about my Facebook post regarding my edible plant training a few weeks back, but what most started asking was in regards to what common plants can be poisonous. So on that note here are three commonly found plants that are dual purpose – Beware!

Elderberries

 Elderberries are a no-go when it comes to eating raw in the  woods. Consuming the stems or leaves will leave you with a  severely upset stomach, and a report from the Centers for  Disease Control and Prevention found juice made from the raw  berries is poisonous as well. Elderberries contact glycosides t  that turn to cyanide once digested. The good news is that cooking breaks down these harmful compounds, so any jams, wines, or foods made with processed elderberry are safe to eat. Just save the bush-rummaging for the animals.

Cherries

Cherries seem harmless enough, but these little guys—their pits, actually—are seriously dangerous. Aside from being nearly impossible to chew, or crack with your teeth, the stones of fruits like cherries, apricots, plums, and peaches contain cyanogenic compounds that turns to cyanide when crushed. If you accidentally swallow a cherry pit, don’t sweat it; they’re rarely poisonous when eaten whole, according to the British Columbia Drug and Poison Information Centre. Just be sure to avoid the broken pits. Just one or two of these seeds can do you in.

Rhubarb

 One of my favorite guilty pleasures!  The key is only to eat the  stalks. The plant’s leaves contain a chemical called oxalic acid,  which is used in bleach and rust removal, according to the U.S.  National Library of Medicine. Eating rhubarb leaves induces a  slew of bad side effects like burning in your mouth and throat,  nausea, vomiting, convulsions—even death. Cooking doesn’t  break down these harmful compounds, either. Talk about a two-faced vegetable: Rhubarb stalks can be turned into pudding, and a naturally-occurring compound in its leaves can be turned into corrosive acid.

Beware of these common plants and this post is for information purposes only! Remember a ninjutsu practitioner is always aware of the legality, and dangerousness of his or her actions.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – “Living the Ninja Lifestyle”

 Good Morning Ninja!

Your lesson today is something so simple that everyone  believes(especially men) that they can do it without thinking, yes that is  building a fire!! Now the catch is, you are going to do it with 1 match. So,  what is one of the best methods in a survival situation to build a fire? Well  the photo here kind of outlines the whole process for you but here are the  basic steps:

1) Gather everything you need prior to lighting anything! (tinder, kindling, fuel)

2) Select a dry spot, you may need to use a piece of wood or bark to start your tinder on, to keep it off a wet surface.

3)I utilize either a teepee or log cabin structure to start the fire off. Use plenty of tinder that will ignite easily (birch bark, pine cones, small shaved dry wood, fuzz stick, pine needles etc)

4) Allow enough air flow to start the fire.

5) Add kindling and fuel slowly as the blaze gets moving.

I have built fires in all types of weather, while camping or for practice. A fire will keep you warm, allows you to cook food and or purify water, adds light and a sense of security to your camp. So my lesson here to you is learn this basic skill, with several types of ignition sources – blast match, old fashion flint and steel, steel wool and battery, bow drill etc. lots of improvised ways to start a fire and they are all handy to know and be able to utilize.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – “Living the Ninja lifestyle”

I was doing some article reading this past weekend and I came across this short piece below, it really hit home as I have been traveling quite a bit and trying to maintain healthy eating and regular physical and mental training is a challenge. So read on and get ready to train again!!

“Maybe it’s all the weekends away or the hot sticky weather, but there’s something about summer that makes it tough to stick to a consistent workout schedule.

Though skipping a few gym sessions won’t totally derail your weight efforts, going just two weeks without breaking a sweat can, recent Danish research indicates. It gets worse: In addition to taking a toll on your physique, physical fitness and strength, the findings suggest that it will take you triple the amount of time you were inactive to regain the muscle mass that you lose after a two-week fitness hiatus. (Are you running to the gym yet?)

To come to this finding, researchers gathered 17 active men in their twenties and 15 active men in their sixties. Each participant had one of their legs immobilized for two weeks. After two weeks of inactivity, all the participants lost physical fitness and muscle mass—no shocker there. However, the younger set lost about 17 ounces of muscle and 30 percent of their muscle strength (which is the equivalent of aging about 45 years, according to the study), while the older men only lost about nine ounces of muscle mass and 20 percent of their strength. Simply stated, the fitter and more muscular you are, the more you stand to lose if you slack off.

After the immobilization period, the men trained up to four times a week to regain their lost muscle mass, strength and fitness—and it ultimately took them six weeks to get back to their original shape. Apparently the old adage “use it or lose it” really does hold true.

If these findings don’t inspire you to squeeze in a few weekly workouts, we’re not sure what will. Remember, even if you can only make time to hit the gym for a half hour a few times a week, that’s better than nothing at all.”