New Years Resolution: Kagami Baraki

What will your 2013 New Years resolution be?  This is the time when gyms see the biggest spike in membership.  Everyone makes their pact to get in shape and be better than they were the year before.  Self-improvement is an eternal journey that requires consistent awareness and unwavering persistence.

In traditional Japanese dojos (or schools), it is a tradition to bring in the new year with a celebration of renewal. Kagami Baraki means 'opening the mirror'-- or looking inside yourself for where you can improve.  In our school we are offering all of our students, family of students, friends of students, and anyone else who wants to try something new, a big group workout (held 1/5/2013 at our school)  The reason we offer this class is to help everyone bring in the new year full of energy and excitement by taking part in an abbreviated class.  The workout is simple enough that everyone can take part.  By packing the school with people, the energy level is unprecedented and, with luck, the message of renewal, hope and encouragement will leave with whomever joins us.

After the workout, I will have a short lecture about goals and then the children are invited to paint a Daruma Doll.  For those who are not familiar with a daruma doll, I encourage you to read this blog: Nana Korobi Ya Oki.  I encourage everyone to set out and make their goals come true.  Please join us for our first Kagami Baraki at our new location. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  Be amazing in 2013, and no less.

Osu!

What the world needs now: Respect

It seems incomprehensible to contemplate the mind of the young man who killed his mother and 27 other innocent people in Connecticut on Friday. What type of tortured spirit must he have been to take such desperate action against other human beings? How can he not value the lives he took? There is no way we will ever know what went wrong for this young man or any of the other young men who have been responsible for the recent wave of attacks in schools, malls and movie theaters around the country.  It seems these attackers do not respect other's lives, but beyond that, they do not value their own.

Rei:  The situation makes me think about a saying we have in the dojo: karate starts and ends with respect. 'Rei' is Japanese for bow, but it also means respect. The real meaning is hidden from outside observers and from beginning martial artists. When we bow to another person, we are displaying an outward sign of respect towards that person.  In reality we can not even begin to respect another human being until we have learned to respect ourself.  Each one of us struggles with our internal conversation about our sense of value and worth. It is so easy to make an empty display of respect towards another but to truly value our own contributions to the world and hold ourself in high esteem is daunting.

In the dojo, we practice Reishiki-or school ettiquette.  Bowing happens frequently in and out of the classroom.  We bow when we enter our class, we bow to our teachers and we bow to eachother.  Each bow is a practice to show our respect for the place we train and the people we train with.  With each bow we are acknowledging this person or place's value in our minds. This acknowledgment circles back to us, and we are made aware of our own value, and our own contribution to the school.

The idea behind the bow or rei in Karate is to first deeply respect oneself to allow the possibility to respect another; to hold ourself in such high esteem and reverence that we have no choice to esteem and revere our fellow students and teachers.  To respect is to value, and to value is to appreciate what and who we are.  Only then can we respect, value and appreciate another person.

Do not be discouraged by a bad day

Nana Korobi Ya Oki--An ancient Japanese proverb that translates to 'fall down seven times, get up on eight'.  The simplest meaning: never give up.  In our dojo we have a Daruma doll (Mr. Daruma to the little ones).  Daruma symbolizes what Nana Korobi Ya Oki means.  Think of him as a Weeble-Wobble doll, every time you try to push him over, he always pops right back up. This too is what is being taught in our dojo--get knocked down, get back up.

When a student comes into class and has a bad day, we don't feel discouraged and think the student isn't cut out for karate or may not be ready to participate in class.  No!  There is no better place for a student to be who is struggling with focus.  Maybe the student is tired, or had a hard day in school, or needs a snack; maybe its something more serious like ADD, ADHD or even mild autism.  This does not mean that the student should not be there.  If the student is a distraction to the other students, we do not think of this student as a 'bad' student' or ever as wasting our time.  This students needs karate more than ever!

My instructors and I all share the same belief: We will never give up on our students even if they give up on us OR themselves.  We will always keep trying each class to instill the important lessons of karate in our students.  We understand that these lessons take time to absorb.  It is  said that it takes 21 days to make something a habit.  Since we don't have our students every day, think of this as 21 classes or about 10-weeks.

Our school is meant to provide students with a safe positive place where they can get back on track and be aware of what needs work--no exceptions.  Sometimes there may be setbacks along the way, but the momentum is always pushing forward with each class.  Like any profession, a karate instructor has bad days too, but it is our way--black belt way--to never give up on ourselves or our students.

Fall sports end: karate begins

Karate tends to draw many kids who struggle with attention issues like ADD or ADHD.  This isn't surprising since what we teach is focus, discipline and respect.  Karate also draws a lot of kids who don't do well in, or just don't like, team sports.  As a more one-on-one type of learning environment in a karate class, kids do their work by the teacher's instruction on their own without the need of their classmates (or teammates).

However, as the fall sports like football and soccer come to a close the big question is what should your children be doing next?  Karate is very attractive to those who want their kids still moving as the months get colder, but feel being inside is better for them.  No parents enjoy standing on the sidelines in the cold, but these are the sacrifices we make for our kids! Karate is indoors and has chairs for the parents (big sales pitch).

In karate we get to kick and punch bags.  We move around on our feet and we exert our energy by kiai-ing.  What is a 'kiai'?  'Ki' means 'energy' in Japanese.  'Ai' means in a positive or harmonious way.  So to ki-ai is to move energy outward in a positive way.  This is why we yell when we hit a punching pad--more energy comes out by doing so.

So what better way is there than to move energy in a positive way?  Take a karate class! Especially as the winter months draw in and the kids get overwhelmed with cabin fever...or more accurately parents!  Keep those kid's bodies moving, don't let TV or Wii become their next activity.  Kiai!

Little Ninjas is a BIG Kick

As a school just starting out we really want to listen to what people are asking for and plan our programs accordingly.  We had already planned to offer karate classes to ages 3 and up, but not until now did we quickly figure out which program would be the big winner.  Well, its   our Little Ninjas!

Little Ninjas is a pre-school program designed specifically for the busy-body 3-6 year olds who aren't quite ready for a full-blown karate class.  Even though the students learn basic techniques like to punch, kick and block, the class is more geared towards having fun and moving at a quick pace.  Three to six year olds tend to flit from idea to idea very quickly and can be easily distracted; just standing still for a few seconds can be asking a lot.  We know this and that's why, as an observer, you will notice we don't spend too much time on any one thing.

It's not just that the kids get to burn off extra energy in these fast-paced half an hour classes, its also the valuable lessons they get to take home.  Every week we work on one skill.  Senpai Erin (Little Ninja Instructor) plays one game that incorporates the skill, then she sits down with them to talk about the skill on their level.  If the lesson is discipline, for example, she explains the word in a way they can understand and then gives examples of how they can demonstrate the skill.  About every week the kids earn a stripe that correlates to the skill (discipline=orange).  This way the kids are constantly being rewarded for their new skill.  Senpai Erin will then revisit the skills in class to try and keep them fresh.  Once all eight skills are taught, the Little Ninjas have a couple weeks of review and then promote to the next belt color.  The process is repeated with a gradual increase in difficulty with all eight skills.

Little Ninjas does not over complicate karate for these little ones.  Essentially the Little Ninjas program is a prequel to a traditional karate system.  We are sparking the interest and laying the ground work so that when the little ones are old enough they will be able to enter the regular program equipped with important, basic life skills.

Shihan Marc's Blog: New Location

Shihan Marc's Blog: New Location: Osu! This is my first attempt at 'blogging'.  Senpai Erin says I should do it as a great way to reach our students.  She swears they will ...

New Location

Osu!

This is my first attempt at 'blogging'.  Senpai Erin says I should do it as a great way to reach our students.  She swears they will read it, so here goes:

As most of you know, I have opened a new location for my dojo (school). This will be the fourth school I have opened in my career. Though its a new location, teaching karate is nothing new to me.  It really is true that I have been teaching for close to 40 years, hard to believe, I know!  I finally decided, after teaching and training in karate for nearly 4 decades, to use my title in the name of my new school.  I did this not because of my enormous ego (those who know me, know this is not the case) but because I felt that in a world with so many martial art instructors calling themselves Master or Shihan and promoting themselves to high rank, I should stand above and show everyone there is a school really run by a rightfully earned Shihan.  I feel my students should know that by coming to my Karate Academy, the are receiving a legitimate karate master.

The title Shihan means 'Master' and is given only to those who have trained for many decades and who have demonstrated the quality of a karateka (one who trains in karate) by devoting his life to his art.  In the eyes of my master, Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, I am considered a Shihan (Japanese for Master).  But let me say this, I will never consider myself one who has mastered karate; there is always more to learn, refine, and improve.  I do consider myself knowledgeable and above proficient and capable of delivering a quality lesson to my students, and just like Black Belt and Beyond, my training is not finished.  'Shihan' is a honorary title, but for me it is a way to show the length of time and commitment I have to my beloved karate-do and I am proud to have it in front of my name.

We hear the word 'karate' thrown around in the generic sense.  Usually 'karate' is used to describe all different types of martial arts.  What I teach is real karate, not taikwondo, not jujitsu, not mixed martial arts, not kung fu.  All these arts are well established and teach a similar message, but what I teach is a traditional japanese-style karate with all the formalities that you would assume go along with it.

I look forward to seeing what lies ahead with this new school.  This will be my first attempt at running a full-time school.  I am excited to be back on the floor teaching what I love.  Our new school, though still under construction, is going to be the most beautiful and best one yet.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading.  Osu!