The following information was copied from a news letter from Tozando , the martial arts equipment supplier in Japan. The Face of the Japanese Sword was sent in an email to me on August 23, 2024. I was unable to find a direct link to the article, so others could find it for themselves. The […]
The Face of the Japanese Sword Read More »
As the hot summer days are upon us, we stress even more than normal about the importance of “drinking water”. As I tell people to “drink more water”, what is enough? I know I wonder about this. The old wisdom was to drink eight glasses of water per day. That is 64 ounces or about
Hydration: how to and how much water to drink Read More »
What does Kime mean? To decide. A difficulty we all face on a day to day basis. Some days worse than others. The questions that occurs most often in our minds are: Can I do it? Or, should I do it? (Check out Sensei’s blog Can I, Will I, Do I want to) Usually the
While doing my 30 minute swim before karate this morning, I suddenly realized just how many crossover movements there are in swimming and karate. There are some general benefits that can help with karate like improved lung capacity from the breathing done while swimming, the practice of keeping your hands cupped so that your thumb
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My original thought/title for this blog was “Discipline Requires Sacrifice”. This thought caused me wonder if this is why people don’t have or exhibit discipline. In general, people don’t want to give up anything. We have been told we can have/do anything we want. Sacrifice isn’t mentioned. We aren’t always told we have to work
Discipline – A”D” word Read More »
I had an enlightening conversation about how the Kiai was embarrassing last week. Karate has been an interesting ride because I never expected this level of introspection. Sure, I started out wanting to be a stronger and better person, but I never quite realized how hard it would be. Looking at myself in the mirror,
Kiai is Embarrassing Read More »
Being social makes me nervous. I never quite know what’s going on because I can’t really ‘see’facial expressions or subtle body language. It’s a weird feeling, being there and not having all theclues I need to interpret social cues accurately. There is always uncertainty for me in every interaction I make with people. I make
To Be Here and Now Read More »
I’ve heard it time and time again, the “s”word. Should is the “s” word that keeps us in perpetual failing because it is not based on reality. It often originates from expectations of ourselves that come from belief and not facts. Definition: (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/should ) In martial arts many of us say the “s” word a
Find a way could just as easily be said as “ No excuses “. The idea is to begin to think in a more positive way, versus the negative. Find a way is one of those 3 o clock in the morning thoughts that came from no where. One is fully conscious and yet “sleep”
LET’S HAVE SOME FUN! FIND THE JOY! There must be a way to have fun and still be focused and train every day. Human nature makes us want to avoid the hard things, and those are usually the things we need to pay the most attention to. For me that is Kata. So I came
90 days to my first Black Belt test Read More »