Keeping Up A Pretty Good Pace

So far this year, I've been keeping up a pretty good pace when it comes to my physical training. I'm feeling good -- and sleeping better, too! Our dojo just completed week four of our annual six-week fitness cycle, wherein we focus on bodyweight exercises, calisthenics, ab work, and aerobics. Each week, we either add exercises, increase repetitions, or lengthen the duration of the training, so that by the time we get through the end of week six, we're all in pretty good shape. The coming week will be a tough jump, but I'm ready: I've been getting in some extra training with weights and extra kata reps here and there.

I'm slowly working through my reading list and taking in all kinds of new and interesting information. One of my students pointed me to the free "peace ambassador certification course" on the Monks Without Borders website, which I completed a week or so ago. The peace education material is so wonderful, that I've decided to make completing the course a requirement for all of my adult students advancing to purple belt. At this stage in their training, I ask my students to complete self-directed work in peace education, nonviolent communication, anger management, and/or conflict resolution. The MWB course adresses all of these subjects and is a great launhing point for more study. And did I mention it's FREE? This course seems like a good warm-up for the more involved Peace Education course offered by Teachers Without Borders, which I'd like to tackle some time soon. One thing at a time!

I've started filming a series of videos for my students that I call "tokonoma-side chats." My original intent was to share these little clips only with my students at the dojo, but since I've not gotten any response or feedback from them, I've decided to share the video posts with anyone who will care to watch. I've had too many wonderful experiences in the martial arts to keep these stories to myself. Enjoy!

Got some motivation this week!

A good friend of mine just sent me a You Tube link to some outtakes and trailers for a new Japanese karate action film called, "Black Belt." Now, I know the stuff in the film is precisely choreographed, but I can't watch it and not marvel at how GOOD these guys really are. The techniques and control the artists demonstrate is AMAZING! Makes me want to go out and train right now. Exactly the motivation I needed today!

See the You Tube film here.

Got some other motivation this week: my yoga instructor told me that she thought I was making progress in improving my flexibility. Now THAT was nice to hear — such a small compliment, and yet it made a HUGE difference in my outlook. I'm really enjoying the yoga class because it provides me with a weekly opportunity to do some "inner" and "outer" work. While holding some of the balance poses, I have no choice but to stay focused on where I am and what I'm doing RIGHT NOW.

It's a nice lesson for the "balance" I'm trying to achieve in the rest of my life.

Anger Management, Meditation Centers, and the Tao

Another busy week. At Coach Tom's suggestion, I've enrolled in an online Anger Management course. It's not that I have an anger problem, but as a self-defense instructor, I have a role to play in helping people recognize when destructive anger is rising in them, and also to give them some tools to manage their anger and express it constructively. This course will help me be a better, more informed, and more empathic teacher. What a great concept! And yes, every once in a while, I get angry. Everyone does. I'm sure that through this course, I'll learn a few new skills myself!

In further exploration of meditation practices, I spent some time at The Center at Westwoods this week. It's an amazingly peaceful place dedicated to individual inner growth and healing. I sat in meditation by the "moss pond," enjoyed the cool silence of the "goddess cistern," walked the grounds and gardens, and spent some time in the library in the main hall. I'm currently reading from Wayne Dyer's new adaptation/interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, titled, "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life." I've read the TTC before — I have several different translations of it in my dojo library — but this annotated version has been extremely interesting and educational. Each of the 81 verses of the TTC is accompanied by an essay for study, contemplation, and meditation.

Next week, I begin teaching karate to 4th and 5th grade children at the Gardner Extended Services School as part of their enrichment curriculum. I'm looking forward to teaching — and learning from — the kids. The classes I'll be teaching will have a particular emphasis on building character, discipline, self-confidence, teamwork, and leadership ability. Each class will include physical instruction in traditional karate — using equipment as appropriate — as well as short, informal discussions ("mat chats") on character, self-defense, and other related subjects. I have some interesting ideas to try out, including seeking teacher and parent involvement to ensure that the behaviors and attitudes that are expected during the karate class are being satisfactorily demonstrated at home and in the classroom. Wish me luck!

Trying to grow the school, too. I've written a short article, "Learning to Punch Like a Girl," about the women who train at my dojo for a local online magazine called Misstropolis. It's already live on my "Martial Musings" blog, but I hope the additional exposure on this new website will result in some new inquiries! I've made up about 1,000 new dojo flyers and will distribute as many as I can over the weekend.

Still pushing hard on the physical side, too. I've got to total all my stats and see where things stand. On an interesting note, I bumped into my neighbor, who read about my participation in the UBBT in the local paper. She mentioned that her kids have seen me in the park in the mornings, doing my push ups, crunches, and kata repetitions in the park. Yikes, I'm being watched...!

Good! PLEASE HELP KEEP ME HONEST, EVERYONE!!!

What A Week This Has Been!

I took an hour out of the office to attend a meditation seminar by Shivabalananda, a meditation master from India. I went in very skeptical, mostly due to my unfamiliarity with the Indian culture, I suppose. The session had a strong spiritual theme, too, which I was a little uncomfortable with, but open minded about. You see, my personal meditation practice has always been very informal and VERY private, so sitting still and silent with my eyes closed in a room full of strangers (most of whom were dressed in traditional Indian garb) was more than just a few paces outside of my comfort zone. (Did I mention the vibhuti (sacred ash) that Shivabalananda's assistant placed on everyone's forehead?) When I meditate, I usually sit for no more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, so a full 45-minute silent meditation was definitely a stretch for me, both physically and mentally. With the longer session, I went through a fairly intense period of "rejection" that must have lasted for about 25 minutes. But after that, my body FINALLY found a comfortable position, and my mind stopped wandering and resisting the silence quite so much. Once I settled down, I felt very peaceful — and free to explore my mind with curiosity. (I'd call it a "mental safari.") I definitely learned "something," but I'm having a hard time articulating exactly WHAT. There's more to explore here, for sure.

I taught a self-defense class for a group of blind young adults at the Carroll Center for the Blind on Wednesday evening. Amazing! This was absolutely one of the most personally rewarding things I've ever done — a personal victory! The students (ages 14-20) were the most energetic, positive, enthusiastic, appreciative, and polite group of young folks I've ever been around. And with a little training, MAN can they hit! It was a challenge to adapt my teaching methods for the audience, but everything fell into place in short order. I know the students left the training with a little more confidence. I left the training on CLOUD NINE. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity, and I hope to do more training at the center in the future. WOW!

My physical training has been going well, although I think I somehow sprained my wrist. I've had to cut out doing push-ups this week to give my injury time to heal. I'm sure there will be other bumps and bruises that I'll have to deal with — this is a pretty minor annoyance that's hardly worth mentioning, except that I've started to see and feel results from my efforts, and I don't want to backslide! I've signed up for noontime yoga classes at work, too. They start next month.

Cleaning Up My Diet

This past week, I sat down with Jill Braverman, an acquaintance of mine who is also a holistic health counselor. As part of my initiative to clean up my diet during my UBBT, I talked with Jill about diet and nutrition and my eating habits. Jill introduced me to the concept of "primary and secondary foods." According to Jill, primary foods include love, hugs, meditation, self-expression, tears, nature, downtime, close friends, and play. These things all feed our souls and our hunger for living.

Primary foods are things that feed us, but they don't come on a plate. Secondary foods, on the other hand, are the things we actually put into our mouths to chew and swallow.

According to this theory, the more primary food we receive, the less we'll depend on secondary food. The opposite is also true: the more we fill ourselves with secondary food, the less we are able to receive the primary foods of life. This certainly puts a new spin on the way I "eat!"

Falling Into a Rhythm

My Stats To Date:
Push ups: 3,000
Crunches: 3,000
Miles: 27.5
Kata Reps: 65

Falling into a rhythm now — I'm really enjoying my morning routine in the park: Every morning at about 7:00am, there's a group of 60-70 year old Chinese women doing chi-kung exercises by the ballfield. There's usually 7 or 8 of them moving and talking togehter, and when I come along, they stop to fawn over my daughter while I do my crunches on the bleachers. I don't speak a word of Chiense, and they don't speak any English, but still communication is easy. (One morning last week, they even presented me with a package of teething buiscits for Ava — how sweet!)

There are other now-familiar faces in the early-morning, too:

I often spy a man and woman doing Yang-style tai chi (long form) together on the tennis courts. Their tai chi is beautiful and graceful (although their tennis is unforgivingly awful!) ; An older gentleman does kung fu by the tot-lot; still another man stands on the park green in silent, standing meditation. It's an interesing gathering of martial artists! Who knew?

There are others whom I see every morning, too: People on their way to work; a handful of dog walkers; A Russian man walking and doing calisthenics; kids enrolled in summer school pass by and wave or pet my dog while I do my push-ups.

I'm reading "Touching Peace" by Thich Nhat Hanh and enjoying it. Also reading "The Book of Tea" by Kakuzo Okakura. Reminds me of the ceremonies I attended with Master Kaji Aso at the House of Flower Wind before he passed away.