Student breaks with her back kick

Student breaks board with front kick

So you just started taking karate...

Now what?  Your classes consist of hand techniques, blocks, and kicks.  Throw in a dash of self defense, play a skills game, and maybe have a life lesson delivered to you in a brief lecture.  What can you do to improve your training outside of the dojo?
Like anything in life practice makes perfect.  There are no short cuts or abbreviated versions of karate.  Everyone must put in the same amount of time to reach the same points as others have before them.  Some take longer to get there and that's okay, the only person you are racing against is yourself.  I had one student say that another student was 'lucky' for receiving their yellow belt.  'Luck' has nothing to do with it; time, demonstration of skills, and working on self-improvement is how this student achieved yellow belt.
What you practice is up to you.  You make the choices everyday to be better than you were yesterday.  If your punch is not as powerful as the black belt in front of you, practice it.  If your roundhouse kick isn't as high as the student next to you, practice.  If your focus is a little fuzzy and your confidence is wavering, practice.  No one can give you the skills you need to improve, only you can push yourself beyond.
The first step is self-awareness.  When you become more aware of yourself and your abilities, the better you come into focus.  By admitting where you need work, you just gave yourself a starting line.  People who fail at something are people who tried.  If you never try something then you will never risk failure, but on the other hand, you will never taste success.
Karate is an excellent method in which to learn more about how you can improve.  With each belt and each added layer of material increasing in difficulty, you can see where you started, how far you have come, and how much further you have to go.  BE PATIENT with yourself!  This is what OSU means.  Remember each time you fail, you tried and each time you progress you succeed. Draw from the energy in the dojo and carry it with you when you are outside of it.

Osu!

Martial arts 101: Karate

Lesson #1: Karate is one of many styles of martial arts, but not all martial arts are karate.
Lesson #2: The word 'karate' is used today by many different styles of martial arts as a general term to describe the art; usually because it is easier to pronounce then the names of what is being taught, for example: taekwondo, ninjitsu, Kajukenbo, Danzan-Ryu, Naginatajutsu, or American Kenpo.
Lesson #3: The correct pronounciation of karate is 'kara-tay'.  Karate is a distinctly Japanese form of unarmed fighting and the word karate translates to 'empty hand'. The word karate is recognized around the world as a superior form of martial art and as a result is used by many other forms of martial arts as a generalization. Those of us who do practice Japanese karate recognize this word is overused in the general sense and not being applied to the art that is actually being taught.
Lesson #4: We teach traditional Japanese-style karate at Shihan Marc's Karate Academy. What does that mean?  If you are searching for a mixed martial arts program that teaches cage fighting; if you are looking to become the next Ultimate Fighter, you are looking at the wrong 'karate' school. If you are looking for a belt factory where you can buy your belt/rank and be on the 'fast track to black', this is the wrong school. If you want to learn the Japanese art of traditional Karate, delivered in English to an American audience, in a positive supportive merit-based atmosphere, search no more.
Lesson #5: Karate is built on a system of hierarchy.  How can a hierarchy survive in a world where everyone wants to be the same or equal?  By having a hierarchy,  your commitment, your longevity, your hard work is rewarded with holding a higher rank.  In a hierarchy you are required to respect those who have been training longer than you. But more importantly, this reminds you to respect yourself so you can truly respect the contributions of others.

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.