VMA starts next week!

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

 

It is all over now and we are still looking down the barrel of four more weeks of school holidays ... so...

Training starts again next week on Tuesday the 7th.

Here are some important notes:

• Tues 7th - Training resumes.
• 14th - Water fight day. This is an all in class where we all train from 4 to 4.30 (all ranks), then the water fight starts on the oval at 4.35.

Please wear your bathers under your Gi and bring a towel. At the end of the water fight, I am doing a crumbed sausage photo. If you have no idea what this is, I will explain on the day ... but make sure you bring your camera for the finish at 5pm. Remember, come equipped with your own water gun, as you see I will.

This day is an open invite to all your friends for the fun. I will be charging only $10 for non-members to train and spray this day with all proceeds raised going to The WA Heart Foundation (I wonder why Kyoshi Sean picked that charity?)

• Training fees should have been stopped for one fortnightly deduction so please make sure you restart it again as promised.

Looking forward to seeing you all back again.

 

 

End of 2014 wrap up.

It has been a great year.

Hard training.
Fun training.
Gradings.
Heart operation.

Hey? How is a heart operation part of a good year? Well, it has provided a better perspective. Something only trauma can give us. And it is with this in mind that martial arts training for our kids should be approached. The best lessons are often the painful ones.
Unsuccessful attempts and frustration have given me a platform to explain how to attack the difficulties in life.
I am sure you have enjoyed seeing your son or daughter rise to the occasion.

Now - important messages for 2014:

1. We start again on Tuesday the 7th of January.
2. It is a two week break so make sure you stop ONE payment on your direct debits.
3. Our water day is on Tuesday the 21st of January. The class will go for one hour - from 4 to 5pm. I will need all students there at 4pm with bathers on underneath their training suits. (Plus a towel.) More details about this later.

Oh, and for those of you who have been asking ... here is a pic of our new house. 

As a person who preaches goal setting and living in line with my principles, I am happy that this step towards a more sustainable lifestyle is materialising. Life is too LONG to wait.

Finally, I wish you all a merry Christmas. Enjoy your family time.

Sean

Oh... one more thing I wish to share. Zen Ing recently won a poetry competition. Great effort Zen.
Here is his poem -

MY ODD SOCKS

BY ZEN ING

My Mum is always yelling
I don’t know what to do .
So many odd socks
One red, one green, one blue.
But if she achelly asked me
Do you know where they are .
I would say Yes.
My wardrobe, the lounge and the car.
But my sister and my brother
Are just as bad.
My Dad told me
He was worse before he was a dad.
But I will soon be seven
So I will try my best.
To help mum find them all.
And put them in my chest.

This Won't Last

The more I think about the stages of life, the more I realise no stage lasts forever. Change is constant … as they say. And that is good.

Here is a conversation that demonstrates the point. It was supposed to be about martial arts but it ended up being about life. In martial arts a student is confronted with highs and lows. At times the feeling is that they are actually getting worse. But each low creates the platform for the next level. Once the student realises that, he or she relaxes and understands it is a necessary stage of development. That is why the martial arts is split up into three stages – physical, mental and then spiritual. You work through the physical stage to become mentally stronger and finally spiritually calmer.

Trauma tends to have that effect on us.

“Surely this patch will finish soon”

It will. They always do.

“That’s a bit negative.”

It’s not meant to be negative, or positive. The truth is just meant to be the truth. It just enables you to breathe and be calm at this stage.

“But you don’t know what stage I’m in. And how long it will last for!”

I don’t need to. It’s a stage. It’s not meant to be permanent. That’s the definition of a stage. It’s transitional.

The funny thing is that each stage is meant to teach a lesson. If you don’t learn the lesson you will find yourself visiting the stage again later.

“So I have to beat it. Like in a game?”

It’s not about defeating something or being defeated. There is not you and the game. There is not you and the enemy. There is just you. You are the game. You are the situation. If you fight it, you are fighting yourself.
The idea is to step back from your emotions and see it for what it is. If you get angry, you block the message.

“Oh. Sort of being my own worst enemy.”

Not really. If you think ‘enemy’ you set up two sides within yourself. Think of the word ‘understanding.’ It’s about gaining an understanding of things.

“But if I think of all things and me as being two separate ideas isn't that the wrong outlook? Shouldn't I think of all things – the world – being a part of me? Sort of… the inner world and the outer world is still my world. If I think of it this way, if I think of controlling my inner world, I can change my outer world.

You will make a great teacher.

“No. I struggle too much.”

That’s what makes a great teacher. The struggle is a necessary stage.


As I said earlier, "Trauma tends to have that effect on us."
Therefore it is good for you. It just doesn't feel like it at the time. 

 

  

Martial Arts and Letting Go

The better the feeling 
the harder it is to let go.

Many years ago I saw a boxer have a go at kickboxing.
He had 22 knockouts to his unbeaten record. His opponent was a kickboxer with two fights for two wins.
I knew I was about to see something interesting but wasn't sure what.
In the opening seconds the boxer danced around and flicked a jab out. The Kickboxer watched.
The boxer danced and I remember thinking, "This guy can move".
Then it happened. The boxer faked a shot to the stomach then delivered the cleanest right hand I've ever seen.
I don't think I've ever seen such a knock out.

The blow was so effective they called all the judges in so that we could carry him out without damaging his spinal vertebrae.
The crowd was shocked ... as were the judges, referee and opposition cornermen.

Three months later the boxer stepped into the ring for the second time against another Kickboxer.
Same start to the fight.
Different finish.
The boxer on his toes. The Kickboxer watching. The boxer looking to deliver the crushing blow again.
The Kickboxer was ready this time. (He had obviously watched the first fight)
The kickboxer moved forward and established a "top lock" position. Two hands around the neck. The boxer must have thought all his Christmases had come at once. He could clearly see the unguarded ribs and stomach of his opponent. As he attempted to damage unguarded ribs, the knee of his opponent would crash home into his sternum. Over and over again this played out.
The rest of the fight continued with the boxer preparing to throw body shots but the Kickboxer slamming powerful knees home.

End result? Boxer disappointed in himself. And lost.
I don't blame him. The knock out he achieved in his first fight was something I will never forget.

The problem is sometimes old methods don't work in a new situation. The trick is to know when to let things go.
You see, some rules don't work forever. They have a use by date.
RIng rules and life rules.
So a question begs to be asked.
What are we holding on to that worked years ago but is now past its use by date?

I hope it doesn't take a knockout for me to see what needs dropping and what needs keeping.

Bad Training Sessions

 

"Had a bad night tonight.
Still made progress though."


"How does that work? If you have a bad night surely you go backwards?"

"That's because you don't understand the concept of long-term progress.
The idea comes from my days as a salesman. The concept is thanks to Tom Hopkins, the real estate agent come motivational speaker from the United States.
He talks about averaging the income over all his sales presentations. He realised that for every two presentations, one would say no and one would say yes. The yes is worth $100 and the no is worth nothing."
He averaged it out in his mind so when someone would say no, he would say, "Thanks for the 50 bucks."

The law of averages at play.

Optimism at work also.

And it saves your sanity.

Knowing this, your training can benefit from the same attitude. You see, improvements never seem to be linear. There are days when everything goes right and you get it. Other days you have two left feet and seem to be practicing bad skills.
By the law of averages all these sessions are important. If you don't persevere through the bad session, you will never get to the good session.

"Excellent! Now I don't need to be frustrated when I have a bad day."

"Yes you do."

"Hey?"

"The frustration is necessary as it creates the platform for you to adapt and improve."

"I get it. That's a bit like my first girlfriend. I had to go through the frustration of a bad relationship to create a good one."

"Well done grasshopper."

 

 

 

 

  

This is what I learnt in the last decade.

A solder in Woolwich hacked to death.

A father kills his wife in an argument.

A boy is imprisoned for life because he kills with one punch.

What we need, the world, your customers, your students, is another solution.
To defeat the enemy without anyone being hurt.
So does this mean the karate block and counter punch doesn't work? There is no doubt that it works. As a student progresses, the ability to defend himself increases to the point where incredible power is wielded.
But the result is what is questionable. Combating violence with violence.
It means we have to think of something better.

                                             Non-Violence.
Aikido is a good for example. Cat like movement, reliable defence skills, an ability to control an attacker.

Only problem is that it takes many many years to become proficient.

We haven't got many years.

We need an answer now.

As a martial arts instructor, you are needed to think of ways to empower your students to defeat the bully with out anyone getting hurt. Hurting others is easy. To hurt no-one, to be completely calm amidst violence and not respond is the step out of the neanderthal reaction.

As an instructor, your challenge is to step up and use every bit of intelligence you have.

Every bit of enthusiasm you possess.

To put all of your life experiences together and create something that will change those who are listening.

Change.

It has to start somewhere.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

The Martial Arts Marathon

Joe Hyams personally helped me get through my second dan.

And we have never met.

But he talked me through each round.
I remember after the 2nd round of sparring, there was a call, “That’s round two, new opponent!” I remember thinking, “Round TWO! I am tired now and there are twenty eight rounds to go!”
The second dan is 30 rounds of sparring, each opponent fresh.

I am here typing this now, so I got through. Mostly due to the strong voice in my head. I would like to claim ownership of the advice but it wasn’t mine. It was Joe Hyams from the book, ‘Zen In The Martial Arts’. It was his words in my head.

When I was tiring in the seventh round, he said, “Nothing is impossible to a willing mind“ (page 21).

In a round in the early teens I was up against an opponent who was scoring easily with the same technique, Mr Hyams whispered, “Although most expert martial artists have spent years mastering hundreds of techniques and movements, in a bout, or kumite, a champion may actually use only four or five techniques over and over again. These are the techniques which he has perfected and which he knows he can depend on.” 
 
There was a point in the last ten rounds that I stopped blocking, not with any force anyway. I was just too tired. I found it easier to use the advice of Bruce Lee as told to Mr Hyams on Page 59, “You and your opponent are one. There is a coexisting relationship between you. You coexist with your opponent and become his complement, absorbing his attack and using his force to overcome him.”

In the last few rounds, I reached a point where I wasn’t mentally struggling any more. “One learns to go with the flow”, Mr Hyams said between my ears.

Then came the last round, or so I thought it was. I gave my all and really excelled but found it was the 29th round. Because of my flurry of activity, a higher grade and full contact fighter was sent in for my 30th and final round. I swallowed. “The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be”, was the advice (page 109).

Acceptance of a difficult situation is the first step towards dealing with it. The advice of teachers that have come before you, like Joe Hyams, will give you the edge.

Click the link below to get the book.