In Canada

I'm up in Canada this week, taking my annual "vacation:" A weeklong, intensive martial arts seminar at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Three workouts a day, plus lectures at night. Our training is covering tai chi, chi kung, weapons, sparring, kata, jujitsu, and more. We're three days in, and I'm sore, but enjoying the immersion!

One of the benefits of a week away is that I'm able to eat much healthier: I've found that when I don't need to work all day, shop for food, plan and cook meals, or do dishes after eating, it's much easier to make better food choices. Eating mindfully and mostly vegetarian this week. I need to incorporate some of these eating habits into my everyday life.

I'm also doing little to no teaching this week – I'm very much a student here, and that feels great!

Just Another Day in the UBBT Life

Tonight, our dojo is sponsoring a free workshop on negotiation and conflict management skills. I've turned the training floor into a classroom, complete with chairs, handouts, a flip chart, and a table for the projector. It's a very different feel for the room, considering just last night we were on the floor sweating and pounding away on the focus mitts!

I'm expecting about 10 or 15 participants – a mix of my students and members of the community who heard about the class from my postings on local blogs. Should be a good class – and one I hope to offer on a regular basis. I want our dojo to be known as a center of learning, personal development and peace education, and not just a place where you learn to hit things!

I ratcheted up my training a bit this week, carrying my clubbells into the park and swinging them around between sets of pushups and crunches. And while in the park, I noticed that someone or some group did something wonderful – a small wooden obelisk inscribed with "May Peace Prevail On Earth" has been installed in the park by the tennis courts. I couldn't resist a few minutes of tai chi near the newfound inspiration!

Ubuntu

Spent some time this week assisting UBBT team member Debby Young by getting the "Peace is More Important than Punches" cards translated into Swahili so that they can be sent to Ms. Joyce Oneko, a Kenyan woman who founded "Mama na Dada"

This is organization's mission is to help Kenyan women "gain financial and mental independence by facilitating education, training, income generation activities and research and by advocating for women's rights." She is a well-known and highly respected peace activist world wide.

I was able to enlist the aid of a translation and localization company that I've worked with in my day job for several years — they agreed to take on the translation of the peace cards as a pro-bono project. (Thanks, Nabil!)

A great demonstration of the potential we all have to make an impact way, waaayyy out there with very little effort: Simply by lifting a finger (or in my case, making a phone call) we can make things happen together. Small actions really can make a difference.

I listened to an NPR segment on the concept of "Ubuntu" this week. As I understand the concept, in short, it means something along the lines of, "I want you to be all that you can be, because I am what I am because of you."

So, Deb — and all of us in the UBBT — Ubuntu!

Who can YOU inspire this week by being all that you can be?

Seeking Balance

On my way in to work this morning, I found myself listening to a BBC News report about the current famine in Ethiopia, which has been caused by drought-induced crop failure. The report went into great length about the starving, malnourished children, the lack of adequate medical care, and the inability/failure of the Ethiopian government to properly respond to the growing crisis.

Not wanting to totally ruin my day with negative energy, I changed the channel.

An instant later, "Love Shack" by the B-52's poured out of my car's stereo speakers. You know the tune: "The loooove shack is the little old place where we can get togetherrr-rrrr... Love shack babyyyyyyy..."

And then, I thought to myself, "How callous and insensitive of me. Thousands of people are dying of starvation, and my first response is to change the channel and enjoy some music in my air conditioned car." Ashamed, I switched back to the BBC report, finished listening, turned off the radio, and then spent the rest of my commute in silence.

I can't allow myself to be constantly bombarded by sadness. That's not healthy. But I won't allow myself to remain in ignorant bliss, either. I can't do nothing, but I can't fix everything... And Heaven knows I've got enough challenges of my own... How to find balance?

Bad News and Good News

My Sensei, Brian Ricci, always told me, "You can't want more for the students than they want for themselves." That phrase really helps keeps me grounded. People never fail to disappoint me. This morning, for example, I walked my dog behind a guy who pitched his used paper coffee cup onto the grass in the park. The nearest public trash can was in plain view — SIX PACES AWAY. (Yep. Six. I counted them.)

Now, I'm not sure if this guy was my student or my teacher this morning, but there was no point yelling at him, or confronting him. After all, you can't fix stupid, and who wants to disturb a nice quiet walk on a beautiful morning?

So instead, I swallowed my disgust and disappointment. I just quietly picked up the cup and threw it away. Of course I picked it up. And then I spent the next 10 minutes picking up every other piece of trash I could find in the park. And then I did a few extra sets of pushups and crunches (I really had to burn off my anger). And then?

I finished my walk.

Yeah, people never fail to disappoint me.... The good news is that people never fail to surprise me, either. So there's hope.

Reflections on June 7

Ten years ago today — On June 7, 1998 — I was a Marine Captain serving aboard the U.S.S. Wasp as part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, conducting exercises and combat operations in the Mediterranean Sea. On that day, I made the following entry in my journal:

"I want to open a martial arts school that focuses on character and community. I want to create an organization that can spread budo, assist the community, and provide role models. I also want to leave a mark that shows that I sought to be a part of something greater than myself, that I strove to achieve something worthwhile and inherently good. I'd like to touch lives and share the martial experience with other people."

That was a decade ago… Want to know the rest of the story? Well, it’s a work in progress.

Literally.

I’ve recently signed on to participate in “Wisdom of the Martial Arts.” It’s a collaboration in which I’ll be co-authoring a book along with notable martial arts greats Fumio Demura, Jhoon Rhee, Ernie Reyes Sr., Stpehen Hayes, and others. I’m excited and honored to be a part of this project. The printed book is due out this fall — which will, oddly enough coincide with the grand opening for Emerald Necklace Martial Arts in its new location.

I’ll be writing about how the martial arts have shaped my life, about how dedication to a vision can make amazing things happen, and about the potential power that martial arts and martial artists have to make a real and positive difference in the world.

I told my students today that my story has become OUR story. We're writing it together, and even I don't know the ending yet!

Standing Out in Our Community

We are taking positive and significant steps toward becoming a worthy institution in our community. This morning, I sent the following letter out to our local papers and community news blogs:

Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, June 17, Allston's Emerald Necklace Martial Arts will be hosting a special workshop offered by Vantage Partners on building negotiation and conflict resolution skills. The event will take place in our dojo at 129 Braintree Street from 6:30-8:30 PM.

At our karate dojo, we have a strong belief that this kind of training is directly linked to our martial arts practice, and that developing specific skills for peacefully resolving our interpersonal conflicts is far more important than improving our punches and kicks! We are proud to offer this workshop to the community, and we hope you'll decide to join us.

This event is free, but space is limited. To reserve a spot or for more information, please contact me at 617-230-1973 or jason.gold@karateinboston.com.

Best regards,

Jason
Sensei Jason Gould
Emerald Necklace Martial Arts
129 Braintree Street, Suite 213 Allston, MA
www.karateinboston.com
617-230-1973

The best part is that I can give all of the credit for putting this program together to one of my Yellow Belt students, who has only been training at the dojo for about six months. Just imagine what she'll be doing for the community a few years down the road as a Black Belt!

A Week Of Simple Living

Just finished up some long-overdue vacation time with my family, reconnecting with my wife and daughter. We spent an entire week in the mountains of New Hampshire – a week with no phone calls, no emails, no work, no training, no teaching, and no television. Just precious quality time! I even had a few minutes to catch up on reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s, “The Art of Power.”

We spent most of our week surrounded by the splendor and magnificence of mountain scenery, lakes, and streams. And in the midst of it all, I found myself most awed by my daughter, who, instead of taking in the awesome panoramic views, bent down again and again to gleefully observe an ant or ladybug crawling on her shoe. Her raw curiosity, and her ability to find pleasure in the most mundane things was more amazing and humbling than anything nature could put before me. Now that really put things in perspective. Miracles and teachers come in all sizes, I guess!

And now I’m back in the swing of things. It’s interesting to observe how quickly the training wears off – Getting back up to speed with the push-ups and crunches, I’m feeling the difference of the layoff.