Lost Generation

This one's circulated around the net a few times, but I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

A Different Brand of Self-Defense

Yesterday, volunteers from LPS San Jose were out in full force contributing to the International Coastal Cleanup Day efforts! Several others also assisted with local cleanups in their area - thank you everyone for helping to protect our neighborhoods!

This article may be of interest to you. It contains a few familiar faces and some kind words of praise from a world-class teacher:

http://ubbt.squarespace.com/our-blog-read-it/2009/9/20/international-coastal-clean-up-day-ultimate-black-belt-test.html

And here's our video!

One Hundred Sixty-Eight...

...is the number of hours in one week. After you take away sleeping, eating, personal hygiene, home stuff, training, daily commutes, and work/school, however you choose to use the remaining time will play a critical role in your success.

As I speak to people, one common thread in our conversations is always how busy we are. I wonder: how effective is our usage of time? If we're all at our best at work, play, and rest, wouldn't we be much closer to being stress-free, happier, and in line with our goals?

I'm not perfect at this myself. In fact, part of why I'm writing this is because I'm still optimizing my use of time, and I think it'd be a healthy exercise for all of us to do. Can I save an extra half hour by hitting the gym on my way home, instead of going home and leaving again? Did I waste too much time on Facebook and not enough time grading? How can I best organize my time so that I'm not obsessed with 'things to do' when I go out with my beautiful, brilliant, caring girlfriend? (Yep, she's reading this. See what I did there? That's called multitasking. lol)

Let's talk in "karate language" for a sec: to win a sparring match, you can't just throw a bunch of techniques randomly and pray....at least not if you want to win consistently. Every strike and move is deliberately set up to capitalize on the previous one, and when a good combo lands, the effects sometimes last for many rounds...sometimes into the next few days!

With that in mind, we all get the same 168 hours each week, but are the moves of your life deliberately designed to help you, or is your routine only hurting you more?

G Begins to Answer "The Question"

When I first began this e-column, I opened with an article called "The Question". If you missed it, the full text is available here.

I'd like to offer the beginnings of my answer today.

In his article, Forgetting the 'Martial' in 'Martial Artist', Phil Elmore, editor of The Martialist, once wrote that "...for a martial art to be a martial art, its focus must remain on fighting. A true master may renounce violence, but only his mastery of violence makes this possible."

Elmore's article was a call to the martial arts world: stick to your roots. Defend yourselves and defend yourselves well. It was the launching point of his writings on assertive living, the right to bear arms, and the self-defense industry....along with lots of knife and gun product reviews.

I hold the belief that Elmore is pretty much right on....with regard to less than 1% of what self-defense and martial arts is.

My focus IS on fighting, but what matters most is what I fight, when I fight, why I fight, and how I fight it.

I would suggest that for a martial art to be a martial art, its focus must also remain on art.

What we practice is the art of protecting ourselves from ANY harm in our lives, extending to those in our care and the world around us. This involves FAR more than just practicing for demonstrations, board breaking, and point fighting...and it's far more artful and beautiful in practice.

I can side kick diabetes all I want, but it can't break its hold if it grabs me.
I can punch racists all I want and they will still hate me...more.
I can't make global climate change tap out.
However, our oil-driven world may someday tap out.
Negative feelings cannot be cut away.
Cruel thoughts cannot be shot.
Suffering cannot be ended with weapons, only transferred.

I am not training you for the proverbial "fight of your life".

I am training you for all of the fights of your life.

If you're reading this, you are (or can be) part of a revolution in the martial arts: a time where martial artists saying "Respect, Discipline, Honor - this stuff is useful in real life" is insufficient against the challenges of a 21st century world. I'm not saying that we stop practicing martial techniques or studying martial ways - they are the root of our practice, but it's time for that proverbial tree to grow and bear fruit. It's time for our training to transform our lifestyles in a manner which is consistent with our goals, beliefs, and practice...so that we produce good fighters (trained to handle every fight which matters, or at least as many as possible), and even better people.

Train hard. Train always. Life awaits you.

When September Ends

Sorry, I'm not going to talk about the Green Day song. I'm just looking forward to September.

Why? Well, because we miss you. Many of you have been gone for the summer, and for whatever reason, we've been apart. Whatever you've been up to, I hope it's been fun and interesting!

It's just that, for many of us, September is a month when our habits get a tune-up. We're returning to school, or maybe our kids are, or perhaps our clients are....whatever that is for you, this time of year is when virtually everyone is reorganizing themselves.

Perfect time for a reunion!

Our program will be back in full swing in early September. We'll be enrolling new members, welcoming returning ones, and expanding our program! It doesn't matter how long you've been gone, whether you forgot some moves, if you're nursing an injury, or if you've picked up a few pounds. We're just darn happy to see you when you come in - especially me. I'm just darn happy to see you when you're here. :)

I know that life pulls us in many directions, and training is a commitment of your time - which really means you're entrusting me with a piece of your life, a part which could have been set aside for something else. Your choice to share that time is an honor that I don't take for granted.

I hope that, as part of your new fall routines, you’ve saved at least 2 hours each week to invest in yourself and share some time with our martial arts family. If not, don't worry. We'll be here when you're ready. Drop by anytime and say hi!