Didn't he do some kind of push hands thing?

yeah 2 time pushhands champion, it probably took more effort to find out that this obscure competition actually existed in the first place than to win it...its one of those events where everyone gets a shiny medal and certificate even if you come last

doesn't take a bruce lee to realise being the "pushhand champ"  is on a par with having the guinness world record for sitting in a bathtub of bakedbeans the longest

I'll admit I had never heard of it til he won it.

He studies Tai Chi...

T'ai chi ch'uan

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%27ai_chi_ch%27uan

Push hands is part of a training regiment for it. I think it might not be so far fetched to believe that in his personal search for the purpose and fulfillment in life, religion and philosophy became ideas to explore. I think that the meditations used in Tai Chi appealed to Josh, to not only get rid of stress in general, but to help him focus on chess moves and positions.

I believe he decided to take a step back from chess, to take advantage of his physical abilities, while he can. I have a feeling he may be still studying chess, in a less stressful way than he had previously been thrown into it and when the time is right, he will return better than he was before, once has "patiently" worked out his style problems.

for self defence i wouldn't bother with the chokes, i'd just use it to create space and get the hell out of the situation

1) pummeling to control space so you can shuck the other person off and away ..not looking for control just creating space
2) the sprawls
3) mount and side mount escapes upa and shrimp
4) one guard break so you can escape a closed guard and get up
5) from the guard learn to place both feet in the hips and push like hell to throw them off of you
6) standing up in base if i was on my back and the badman were standing

I think it was some shoulder injury that laid him up for a year or so.

Josh is so really great ..i learned a lot from him..

I see nothing wrong with people praising Mr. Waitzkin. Sure there are people better, but how many others know who they are, and have their face in a popular chess program? Mr. Waitzkin has reached more people than those players, is therefore more well-known than them, and deserves any praise he gets.

Sure, he will also get hate from others, but those people have the problem, especially since i can see no wrong done by Mr. Waitzkin. Maybe he has been fortunate to have all those opportunities, but what business is it for other people? Live and let live. The hatred and jealousy only makes you worse. 

I'm not jealous of him, nor do I hate him. I'll I have ever said is, if he could have gone all the way to the top, he would have. That is true. As for hatred, I save it for people who have actually done something to me.

Did anyone ever speculate that maybe a young man with a lot of energy and a desire to do fun stuff just got tired of staring at greasy nerds all weekend for just about zero reward and wanted to do something interesting for a change.

Yeah, the real story is probably pretty mundane.  His Dad pushed him too much / he simply wasn't interested.  So he did other stuff.  No space invaders, no cross dressing alter ego, yawn.

No doubt.

I wish him luck in his endeavours!

In his book "Attacking Chess" He went on about how much he LOVED chess, and didn't give the impression that his father had pushed him too hard, at all. In fact he described him as his best friend. He also didn't spend all his time playing chess. He did other things as well. Wasn't made miserable by staring at greasy nerds across a chessboard all the time, etc.  :)

I can talk about how I love chess and my Dad all day long, but if I never go to tournaments and never talk to my Dad... lol.  No, I know nothing about their father son relationship, just sayin'

Josh has debunked most of that himself. Only idiots believe movies, anyway.

He knows a lot about their father son relationship, so I'll take his word before anybody on here.

he is in his house taking a cup of coffee

Put down the pipe, and back away slowly.

Can't blame you for that.