It was the spirituality of martial arts that always attracted me- not the kitsch of “Ah, grasshopper” stuff- but the spirit that lay behindthe various martial arts themselves.

Same. Even though I would compete in tournaments, I found by far the most enjoyment in executing all the various forms for each level. At one point I knew ~20 of them.

My teacher, Professor Gary Jones, studied under Professor Don Beech who studied under Professor [memory fails me at this point], who studied under Professor Seishiro “Henry” Okazaki, the founder of Danzan ryu jujitsu.

Cool! My Tae Kwon Do instructors all knew General Choi from South Korea and my Kali/Silat instructor was a Dan Inosanto student. (Dan I was one of Bruce Lee's first students). I always though the martial arts family tree concept was neat.

I've taught self defense also (informally), and my rules are similar to yours:
1. Your brain is the most powerful weapon you have
2. Avoid physical conflict if you can, because once it's on there are many outcomes and a lot of them are really bad
3. If it's Game On and there's no avoiding it, then fight to win.

My streak of not hitting anyone in anger goes all the way back to 10th grade and it's something I'm proud of. The first and most real lesson of martial arts is to be ready at all times...but ideally you never have to do anything.

Like you I don't have the flexibility I used to, but I've recently set a goal to be able to do front splits again. I've never heard of anyone who could do front splits ever having back pain, so I figured that was a good thing to shoot for...