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Lawyers were two of Fairfax, Northern Virginia criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz's early inspirations on the taijiquan / tai ch'i ch'uan path, those being the late Victor Crawford and this episode's guest, Leonard "Len" J. Kennedy. Vic was an energetic and engaging lawyer, who early in Jon Katz's criminal defense career told about his years-long practice of this martial art. Seeking a personal breakthrough, a few years later, Jon asked Vic to recommend a taijiquan teacher. 

Victor mailed Jon pamphlets about several teachers, including Glen Echo taijiquan. There, Jon learned from Ellen and Len Kennedy who met as students of Alice and Robert W. Smith, the first western student of Cheng Man Ch'ing, who was fundamental in bringing taijiquan to the United States and spreading its popularity for serious study and practice. Ellen and Len have also studied with Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo (who has also taught my later taijiquan teachers David Walls Kaufman and Julian Chu), whose local sessions I have attended several times. 

Len Kennedy is a communications lawyer who became general counsel of Nextel and Sprint, and later became the first general counsel of the Consumer Financial Protection Board. In this episode, Len discusses how he has integrated taijiquan into his life and very demanding career, and how criminal defense lawyers and criminal defendants can achieve more by engaging in wise action rather than brute force. 

Here are some great words of wisdom from Len to me and his other students during his teaching sessions: "No hurry, no worry." "When you are fatigued, do t'ai chi." How do you deal with change? Do you resist the change, or work with the change? When you are standing still, what is still moving? (Your blood, breath, heart and cells, for instance.) Separately, Len has said that internally, during one of "those meetings," the t’ai chi practitioner does t’ai chi, through relaxing and sinking into one’s chair or into the ground if standing. 

Len says: "T’ai Chi is a skill, an art and a Way that promotes internal growth, sensitivity through development of the heart, mind and spirit. Practice helps us to 'become what we are' in the words of the Greek poet Pindar and a human being in the fullest sense in the words of Professor Cheng." He sums it up with: "Move daily, Breathe deeply, Live fully." 

This podcast with Fairfax, Virginia criminal / DUI lawyer Jon Katz is playable on all devices at podcast.BeatTheProsecution.com. For more information, visit https://KatzJustice.com or contact us at info@KatzJustice.com, 703-383-1100 (calling), or 571-406-7268 (text).

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