Too much chocolate, as good as it can taste, will make you sick.

Too much training, as much as people say “more is better,” can cause you some serious joint damage, like it did me. The picture above is one of my two artificial hip joints, now more than a decade old.

Many of my peers are enjoying their new hips too, although let me tell you, there’s NO PLEASURE in what leads up to a hip replacement. It’s all discomfort and pain, back, leg, and hip pain, loss of movement, and a slow and agonizing realization that you’re dreading the walk to the car, to the store, through the airport, and/or anywhere (forget running to catch a ball, backpacking, or performing martial arts at a high level).

But the great news about hip pain is it’s your hips! It’s not your neck! Or lower back. This is a joint that can be replaced and, literally, give you your life back. 

Now let me ask you, what’s the equivalent of the worn out hip joint to too much focus on “business?” What wears out when you do things, over and over, that have the potential to wear out parts of you that are both hard to find and costly to repair? I see it all the time in martial arts school owners. 

They wear out their passion. When school owners get caught up in the trap of sales, sales, sales —they wear out their sense of mission and intent and purpose. So my organization, The 100. —is fast becoming the repair shop for career-inspiration-replacements. The work can’t be seen in an x-ray, but it can be found in the bounce of the step in people formally hobbled by a focus on endless sales and membership campaigns, giving pizza parties and ice cream socials, looking at every student as just another pay-day, and losing their focus on the here and now. 

Running a martial arts school business is both simple and painfully complex. Raising children is both simple and painfully complex. Maintaining healthy relationships is both simple and painfully complex. Living is both simple and painfully complex.
 
Simple
I rise every morning (so far), I show love and respect to everyone around me, I eat sparsely, simply, and for health, I practice good hygiene, I exercise my body with physical work and with the practice of the martial arts, I exercise my mind through reading, listening, discussing, and contemplating that which inspires me to think/learn, I exercise my spirit by turning what I consider to be spiritual practice into tangible action (compassionate thinking, words, and acts), I seek to do good for others; SIMPLE.
 
Complex
What am I here to do? Who can I help? What is the greatest thing (or things) I can tackle and/or engage in? How can I contribute to the work of others in a way that is the perfect use of whatever it is that I have inside of me —and/or within my reach —that could connect with the Divine?

What do I need to learn, do, and put into action that will cause me to transcend the limitations I carry in my own mind? How do I become a Master in the true sense of the word —and what is that supposed to mean for the people in my sphere of influence —and for the world? Am I living in the moment? Complex.

What I Think this Means for the Martial Arts Teacher (as I Exercise / Practice my self-appointed role as Teacher)

Understand that your school’s success (how that is measured is contingent upon your maturity / ambitions / experience / consciousness) is built upon very simple practices —and at exactly the same time, matching perfectly each simple issue —is a vastly (and perhaps “painfully”) complex counter-issue. This isn’t, in my opinion, a “problem,” but a wonderful crayon-box of potential for mental / spiritual / emotional growth and play-time.

And depending on where you choose (and ideally, we “choose” instead of being hooked into) to put your focus, “things” can look and be as simple as Steps 1, 2, and 3, and/or so beautifully complex, rich, and deep that you have to stop and stand still, while the tears roll down your face, in awe, in wonder, and connected to something that you just can’t find the words to express.

Martial arts school management is what it is. It is what you want to make it. It’s a “business” separate from “the martial arts,” or it isn’t. It is a place you make money or magic or both or none-of-the-above. It is your school (as in where YOU learn) —or it isn’t.

In my work, my only real job is to stay awake and aware of the simplicity and complexity of what I am doing and the potential of what I might/can do —AND, my intent is to cultivate the same kind of awareness / action in my students (my teachers).

I confess: I’m a reader. But I’m a very picky reader —and one of my favorite reading choices comes to me digitally — FEAR.LESS. See the latest edition here: http://fearlessstories.com/.

In the e-mail I received this morning, reminding me a new edition of Fear.Less has arrived, writer Matt Atkinson talks about the little mundane things, DAILY things —and their value —and that’s what The Ultimate Black Belt Test is about. Celebrating the day, using the day, being IN the day, as a way to be a better black belt (a better human being). 

Check out Fear.Less this month, there’s also a fantastic interview with Adam Baker —about, well…go read it!

On the cover of Black Belt Magazine —and on so many MMA mags, at the seminars and conventions, and in print and image and video, we see the modern “warriors” of the international martial arts community. They grimace; they hold knives; they take stances; they pose for the cameras, cutting the throat, kicking the groin, punching the face, and choking the bad guy; they wear camo and army boots; and their t-shirts sport skulls, tigers, and often violent iconography. 

These are “our” warriors —in our profession.

But not a one of them is a warrior for anything that comes close to anything that matters, anything that actually makes positive change in the world, anything worth ANYTHING in today’s complex, violent, unjust world. Not one of them —or one of us —holds a candle to the likes of Mother Jones. 

Mother Jones was a warrior, fearless, determined, and she stood up for the rights of others —-and against a world that held women in very low regard —against a world dominated by opportunists —and against a political system that fought her just about every step of the way. 

Worker’s rights? Labor laws? The minimum working age? Mother Jones.

I urge you to read about her —and people like her —and start to rethink what a warrior is, what role a warrior in today’s world might/should play. Laugh at the posing, the militarism, and the hyper-masculinity of today’s martial arts warriors ——-and don’t catch yourself playing that game or role. Stand up for the stuff that really matters. Define the ultimate warrior by his or her compassion, her mission, his purpose. 

Do this and you will be a founding member of a new, enlightened, progressive, relevant kind of martial arts instruction. With one small “turn of your wheel” you could be a part of a new kind of leadership delivered thru the things/education martial arts teachers study —and impart to their students (and live). 

This is the kind of warrior-education that I want the 100. identified with. This is what I’m about. How about you?

The ninth version of The Ultimate Black Belt Test, called the UBBT 2012, will be officially beginning January 1, 2012. The project will be limited to 40 participants, each training and testing for new black belt rank from second-degree to seventh-degree black belt over a minimum time period of 16 months. 

Each member of the UBBT 2012 will plan and execute a custom designed training program meant to produce extraordinary fitness, cultivate a career breakthrough in education and curriculum design, and initiate an aggressive community involvement program in each of their own communities. Martial arts business and curriculum consultant Tom Callos will acts as the team’s coordinator and coach. 

“The new black belt test isn’t one of individual physical or technical skill only,” says Callos, “it’s a test of how much one can positively affect the people in his or her sphere of influence. Can a high ranking black belt, through the process she goes through during black belt test training, dramatically affect the quality of life of her family, coworkers, and classmates? Can a tester affect his community through his personal journey? The UBBT 2012 is an experiment in how —and how much —a tester can take his or her martial arts out of the dojo and put it to work in the world.” 

UBBT 2012 members will, as a part of their training, complete 50,000 push-ups, 50,000 crunches, 1000 repetitions of a single martial arts kata, 1000 rounds of sparring, and walk, run, swim, and/or bike 1000 miles during the duration of the test. Participants will carry a personal video camera for the year and will record every meal they eat as a part of the UBBT’s Mindful Eating Self-Defense Project. 

Returning UBBT member Gary Engels of Woodruff, WI, who will be using the UBBT 2012 to test for his fourth degree black belt, says the testing process has, literally, changed his life. “The UBBT has, experientially, taught me how to practice my martial arts in a way that has strengthened my relationship, made me a better father, teacher, leader, and citizen. It takes a lot of self-discipline to do the program right, but like most things, you get back what you put in.”

For more information on the UBBT 2012, visit www.UltimateBlackBeltTest.com. The UBBT 2012 is a project of www.The100.us.

In the picture above the fellow standing to my right is S. Kai Li of Hawaii. Kai is a lifelong martial artist, a military man, and a member of the Ultimate Black Belt Test who’s helping to keep the whole program going while I labor with the project that is The 100. (www.the100.us, a new martial arts association / college). 

Here’s a link to a video of Kai and I in Alabama doing work with Pam Dorr and HERO Housing (we’re in Alabama every year renovating / building houses and buildings for the community in Greensboro, the home of one of my heroes, Samuel Mockbee).

This morning Kai sent out a very fine essay on “The 4 Corners,” which he wrote as a tribute to a sister who passed on recently. I pass it on to you here (Thank you Kai):

Saturday, December 4th, FOUR CORNERS

The Present of Space

As a boy leaning Judo and Jujitsu one of my favorite memories involved the four corners of the Dojo.

Professor Henry S. Okazaki taught that each corner of the Dojo held a certain significance and was there as a reminder to teach us something special. He had combined Japanese Judo & Jujitsu, Hawaiian Lua, and Chinese martial arts to create arguably the first truly culturally “Mixed Martial Art.”

He also broke ground by teaching people of good character regardless of their ethnic, cultural, religious, or social differences. Amongst his students were pioneers like Sig Kufferath, Bing Fai Lau, Raymond Law, Wally Jay, Charles Kenn, my maternal grandfather and his two brothers, and my father’s teachers Sam Luke Sr and David Nuuhiwa Sr.

He carried on techniques and cultural traditions from various influences and integrated them in his own unique fashion. One of these unique contributions was the assignment of an important Hawaiian principle to each corner of the Dojo.

1. LOVE & HARMONY: Only the first corner carries more then one word. This is because in Hawaiian culture the two concepts are so closely inter-twined as to be inseparable. Taken together in Hawaiian they are expressed as Pono A Me Ke Aloha. By freely sharing Aloha (love) with others and our environment we will almost magically find ourselves in Pono (harmony) with humanity and nature. When we feel this relaxed state of harmony, we find ourselves better able to love and be loved.

2. RESPECT: The second corner represents Hō‘ihi (respect). As children we are taught to respect the rights and opinions of others and follow the guidance of our parents and teachers. As adults we tend to feel respect has to be earned. With maturity I have found that the child like view is healthier. By definition respect entails both the holding of others in “high regard” as well as “to refrain from interfering with.” Inherent to true respect is a depth of humility; so to be true to our best selves we should uphold both definitions.

3. GENTLENESS: The third corner of the Dojo represents Mālie (gentleness). Gentleness is not just a compassionate virtue; it is a sound tactical strategy. If we are kind and gentle to all we meet then our chances of getting into an unwanted confrontation or physical altercation go way down. To “take the high road” as my grandfather liked to say is just plain common sense! In the gym it makes perfect sense to exhibit gentleness and self-control. Otherwise you will soon find yourself with no one to assist you in learning the martial arts! This is also true in life off the mat. If we are abusive to others, who will assist us in learning the art of living?

4. AWARENESS: The fourth, and final corner represents ‘Ike (awareness). My senior student Pat Campbell has always been fond of saying “awareness is survival.” To the real dangers of serious threats in the streets and war zones of the world this is certainly true. It is also true in subtle ways such as listening to your body to maintain your health, keeping your mind sharp and active, knowing your heart so as not to allow anger or fear to destroy you from within, or molding your spirit to build your awareness of your relationship to your creator and all life around you. There is a saying in Hawaiian Lua: “Maka’ala No Ka ‘Ike Papa Lua”, which translates roughly into “Be aware of the second sight.” We can have a 360 degree awareness of all the hidden knowledge of life if we are open to it.

Having awareness can also take you full circle through the four corners to ensure you are living in the moment with Love, Harmony, Respect, Gentleness, …and Awareness. =)

What is perhaps most fascinating about the “Four Corners” is that few seem to remember them. There is nothing that pops up on a Google search and I have never seen them in any book. They are one of those special gems that is passed on quietly from teacher to student.

Professor Okazaki’s concept dates back to the early twentieth century Hawaii. There were no computers or televisions and most teaching were passed personally. This was not only the Hawaiian way, it was also an integral part of how secret truths were communicated in Asian culture. What few teachings were written down were done in Kanji on scrolls. Without the legacy of people who went forth and continued to teach them, these words of wisdom might have been lost forever.

Uncle David Nuuhiwa certainly taught them to both my father and later to me. Professor Wally Jay passed them on to Sensei David Fairfield and Sensei Ron Beatty, who taught them to their students at Alameda High School. Olohe Charles Kenn and Professor Solomon Eli taught this to my Hawaiian Lua teacher Dr Dennis Eli.

My maternal grandfather knew them in a way that is somewhat humorous. If one of his grandchildren was bad, he wouldn’t just send you to a corner for a time out… He would send you to a SPECIFIC corner to learn the appropriate lesson!!!

Thanks to my grandfather, the lesson of the Four Corners of a room transformed my life. I was never able to look at ANY room the same way ever again. Every room became suddenly more interesting and I made it a habit to take notice of what occupied the space not just in martial arts schools, but in every room I visited. I came to realize that to have a space to make your own is a valued gift in the human experience.

As an alter boy, I remember noticing how well they applied to the church I grew up in. The first corner of Love & Harmony was occupied by the choir. The second corner of Respect was occupied by the meditation chapel and the confessional. The third corner of Gentleness was reserved for the elderly and handicapped. The final fourth corner of Awareness was where we, the alter servers, had our station. We had to be consistently aware so as not to err in performing our duties for the mass. This may have all been a mere coincidence…but it didn’t feel like it when I was ten. It felt meant to be.

On Friday I went to visit Senior Grandmaster Rick Alemany’s home. He has a Dojo in his garage that inspired me to build my own home Dojo two years ago. His gym is a testament to the journey of his life. Photos of trusted friends and students, faded certificates from his teachers, gifts he has received over the years, and the list goes on and on…there isn’t a blank space to be found anywhere.

My Jeet Kune Do teacher Sifu Richard Bustillo said something similar when he came to visit my gym. “Good job Li, you have a living museum here!” Though the place is only two years old, it looks like it has been there since World War One. I have the Army helmets of my great-grandfather, grandfather, and father up above bookshelves laden with a library of material on every art I’ve studied all over the world and symbolic childrens toys my nieces and nephews have felt were somehow relevant to have a presence in Uncle Kai’s “Dragon’s Lair”.

By stark contrast I taught most of my life in parks or sparse military gyms with zero decorations. In the park we didn’t have actual corners…and yet the space was somehow still defined in an emotional and spiritual way by the arrangement of trees and the way the sun would set over the mountains.

Not far from SGM Alemany’s is the largest population of homeless on the island. As part of my service this year I have spent a fair amount of time there this year. One of my childhood friends lives in a tent and I often visit to share a meal and help him out in small ways. Though a tent may seem a temporary environment, he has taken care to define the space as uniquely his own. He even has a framed photograph of his late father in the first corner.

On the streets of large cities, any corner can be someone’s home. To live in harmony with nature and share space in this world with each other is truly a gift, and one that always deserves our deepest appreciation.

There is a Native American saying that we as human beings can never own land; we can only take care of it for the next generation. We should treat every space, indoors or out, as if we are preparing it to care for many generations to come. 

It is my humble prayer for this day that we can all grow in our capability to show Love, Harmony, Respect, Gentleness, and Awareness everywhere we go.

Malama pono,

Bruddah Kai

Today.

Tomorrow.

Next week.

Two weeks out.

Next month.

90 Days from now.

6 months from now.

Next year.

Two years from now.

5 years from today.

Your career.

7 generations.

This is how I’d like to get you to think about your marketing, curriculum, staff training, money management, education, and contribution to your community and beyond.

I don’t think any one of the 12 viewpoints above are any more —or less —important that another. These viewpoints should / could guide your thinking and actions about everything that makes your school, your career, and your life successful (fun) and, more importantly, meaningful.

Today.

Tomorrow.

Next week.

Two weeks out.

Next month.

Too many instructors —and, far too often, the martial arts industry —live in the awareness of the immediate. “How fast can we do this?” “What are we going to do this month?” and “Who do we have scheduled for next week?” are all important aspects of school management, but they can cripple you in the long run, as they don’t promote the cultivation of plants with deep roots.

Short term thinking can (especially with marketing) sometimes, end up being flashy, focuses on immediate gratification, and often relies on gimmick, hyperbole, and a sense that “this had better work fast, as we NEED the business now!”

90 Days from now.

6 months from now.

Next year.

Immediate and “now” focus is very important, but not any more important that planning 90 days to a year in advance. In a year one can make a huge impression on a school system, become a force in a PTA group or in the Chamber of Commerce. A year-long promotion campaign stands a good chance of getting paid attention to, rather than ignored.

Note: VERY few [ if any ] of your competitors / peers have the patience, intelligence, vision, self-discipline, and foresight to think about a marketing / promotion plan that takes a year to cultivate and execute.

In my own schools, I held the belief that the business we were enjoying today came from things we had done 90 days earlier. Likewise, if prospective member inquiries and sales were off, I’d blame it on the fact that 90 days earlier we hadn’t been aggressive or smart enough with the advertising “seeds” we had planted.

Two years from now.

5 years from today.

Your career.

7 generations.

Here resides a rare wisdom. A mature wisdom. To think ahead —and to plant and nurture crops today that won’t fruit until long into the future…well, doing this puts you in a very rare and select group of people with vision and wisdom. None of it is more or less important than today, but future-thinking requires a lot more self-discipline, courage, and vision.

Where do you spend the majority of your thought and action energy?

In my martial arts consulting firm / association for martial arts school owners, and teachers, where martial arts business blends with master teacher training, I work to focus both on the immediate —and the future. For a week-long pass to our on-line campus, click this link (school owners or future school owners only): http://thenewwaynetwork.ning.com/?xgi=1NL7sCCyS8aka0

I’m Tom Callos.

In 1969 I lived on a decommissioned military base located just outside of Reno, Nevada. My father worked in a plant there that refined titanium, mostly for NASA and Lear Jet. There was an old gym there, like something out of the 1950’s, and a judo class met in the gym three times a week. I liked to watch the practice (adults only) —and it was there that I had my first lesson in martial arts; when I was 9-years-old The Sensei motioned for me to come on the mat after the adults had finished and he taught me to roll and how to break a backwards fall. 

In 1971, my family moved into Sparks, Reno’s sister city. One summer day as we drove past a park on the way home from grocery shopping I saw a group of people in white uniforms practicing martial arts. I joined that school shortly thereafter, paying for lessons and a uniform with money I’d earned mowing lawns. Somehow I knew, and remember telling myself, from the first day I walked into that school, that I was going to be a teacher. 

Eight years later I tested for my 1st dan. The next summer I moved to San Jose, CA to become a student of Master Ernie Reyes, Sr., whose reputation for developing martial arts champions was unmatched by anyone else on the west coast. Two years later I tested for my 2nd dan —and I am currently, 31 years later, a 6th dan under Master Ernie. 

Between where I began and where I am today, I have owned a number of schools, two of which were, at their peak, two of the largest in the US at the time. Their success and my relationship with Master Reyes caused Educational Funding Company (EFC) to ask me to join their Board of Directors, which a few years later caused The National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA) to ask me to contribute content to their effort. Following NAPMA I worked on behalf of Century’s Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA), designing a good deal of their content for a period of several years. 

Like, I assume, most everyone reading this, I have done some fine things, a large number of OK things, and more stupid things than I care to remember. Over the years I have met and studied with some fine teachers; some of them I treated very well, while some of them probably thought I was a self-centered, impulsive young man, struggling with low self-esteem and on a constant mission to stand out from the crowd (as I was all that and more). 

The work I do today has been shaped by many factors. I have always been a reader —and reading has lead me to being a better (than some) communicator. Communicating the benefits of martial arts training is something I might do as good —or better —than anyone in the world today (so I think). I have always been aware of spirituality, although not always sure what exactly that meant. Today, at age 51, spirituality seems about as important and relevant as anything else —and maybe the force behind my parenting, my relationship, my continued practice of the martial arts, and most certainly my current work and search for clarity. 

Thanks to my first teacher, Mr. Lou Grasso, to Master Ernie Reyes, to my classmates on the West Coast Demo Team, to Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Jeff Smith, Chuck Norris and a hundred other champions that graced the covers and inside features of Black Belt Magazine, to my training partners, to my students, and to the people I’ve been fortunate to work with. I owe them all a huge debt of gratitude. 

I also owe thanks to Lao Tzu, Confucius, Kano, Ueshiba, Musashi, Funakoshi, Tom Edison, Ray Bradbury, Rachel Carson, Anthony Robbins, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, and a countless number of  other philosophers, writers, inventors, scientists, thinkers, and activists, people who have moved me with their ideas and actions. 

Today, I am a man on a mission to improve the overall quality of the contribution that the martial arts world brings to the world. I’m still learning how to do that and actually see some improvement from my efforts. I use words and images and a near-relentless stream of communication to “the industry” and the general public to try and inspire martial arts school owners, teachers, and practitioners to embrace ideas and practices that brings the best-of-the-best of what we can be, to be. 

I make my living coaching teachers on how to go about being extraordinary teachers. I coach school owners to adopt a kind of practice that is holistic, as genuine as they can muster, and deep to the point of spiritual practice. What I have learned in the 40 years I’ve dedicated myself to the martial arts, is that the deeper the practice is, the closer we are to finding peace within ourselves, satisfaction in our work, results in our endeavors, and meaning in our lives. 

In my work, I simply refuse to embrace anything that smells of artifice. I endorse spiritual and social justice pursuits over consumerism and the feathering of one’s nest. I advocate simple living, non-violence, and community activism; and when I am thinking clearly, after taxes, after cleaning up breakfast, after two Advil, and after having my wife tell me I shouldn’t eat that dessert as I’m “looking a little plump,” I am seeking to live as a Bodhisattva —or someone who works to reduce suffering for others. 

I am pretty certain that I am one of just a handful (if that) of people in the martial arts world who sees his/her “job” as the general, over-all improvement of all aspects of the international martial arts community. I don’t know exactly how I came to this place, except to say that, to me, it seems as though every teacher I have had, every athlete, writer, and thinker I have admired, and every experience I have lived through —was pointing me to this place. It seems to me that there was no other place for me to go. 

If I do my job well, I hope to be lucky enough to have almost everyone I come in contact with, everyone who might, for any period of time see me as a credible source of information, to find a sense of their own “mission” in the world, by watching me live mine. I offer help to anyone who asks for it (and a lot of people who don’t) —and I am not afraid to try new things or to fail miserably, which I do often. 

While I certainly strike out, often, I also occasionally hit home runs. I’ve played a part in bettering communication and teaching skills in many teachers, thanks to the press and exposure the associations and magazines have given me over the years. I have brought and/or contributed to dialogue in the martial arts world around environmentalism, health education, peace, non-violence, and anger management, kindness and compassion, black belt testing reform, community activism, voluntary simplicity, anti-consumerism, philosophy, and education. I’ve had some fine martial artists, some champions even, and a long list of great souls come through my classes. 

Today, I plan on beginning again, like a white belt. I plan to look deeply at what I think I know —and what I still have to learn. It’s my goal to, every day, bring my best game to the field. I see every day as a chance to produce something beautiful and extraordinary. That’s my practice. 

My life is my dojo. My business is making a difference for others. 

Alabama Project Update / Wrap Up
 
In 2002 I read about a teacher, Samuel Mockbee, who was doing extraordinary things with —and through —his students. This interested me, as I too wanted to be a teacher who could do extraordinary things with —and through —his students.
 
It came to be that I felt I had to study under the man, so I tried to reach Mockbee, as I imagined dropping what I was doing to go be a part of what he was doing.
Unfortunately, Samuel Mockbee had died, a victim of cancer, a few months before I started trying to reach him. Fortunately, in the process of trying to find him and then mourning his passing, I met someone else who heard the same call to action and had acted upon it, Pamela Dorr.
 

Pam had applied as an intern to Mockbee’s Rural Studio, was accepted, and then arrived only to find that her mentor-to-be had passed on. At first she wasn’t sure she would stay, but it didn’t take long for her to realize the work Mockbee was doing was going to continue. I persistently checked-in with Pam to see if there was some way I might be a part of the work —and then, in 2004 I conceived and launched The Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT).
 
The UBBT was/is a program designed to teach martial arts instructors how to use the journey of their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual training to do extraordinary things with —and through —their own work, their schools, and the lives and work of their students.


In the program, which lasts a year, I was to meet all the participants three times in three different events. Pam helped me organize one of those events in Greensboro, Alabama, so that my team and I could work among Mockbee’s students, see what inspired the man, and contribute in some way to the work he left behind.
 
It’s now 2011 and yesterday I returned from my sixth trip to Greensboro with members of The Ultimate Black Belt Test and now its new host, The One Hundred. Hundreds of people have participated in the Alabama Project and so far we’ve raised more than $170,000 and volunteered 7000 man-hours of work to building and/or refurbishing houses and buildings for people in need. Thanks goes to Samuel Mockbee, to Pam Dorr, to the Rural Studio, and to the staff members of HERO Housing. Thanks goes to the many black belts and students who have worked to raise money and than actually showed up to do the work.
 


What I take home from this body of work —and what I hope others get out of it too —is that the work of a martial arts teacher in today’s world (and maybe since the beginning), isn’t about war or competition or commerce or fighting or anything it obviously can be about, it’s about coming together as a community —to solve problems. It is in the solving of these problems that we profit as individuals, as we are never so alive, so vital, so fulfilled or beautiful or perfect as when we are acting in service to others; when we contribute with an open mind and a compassionate heart, we make real the promises of martial arts training.
 
In Alabama we met to help build and refurbish a structure. This time is was a schoolhouse, next time it might be a house for an elderly man or woman living in less-than-healthy conditions. Whatever it is we’re there for, the real lessons, the best work, comes in what happens when we simply come together to attempt the extraordinary. When we come together and do something for others; it’s the best work we can do for ourselves and for the international martial arts community.
 


With the millions of people who love, respect, and practice the martial arts worldwide, a thousand “Alabama Projects” a year could, essentially, refurbish the martial arts. We could collectively come together to redefine the role of the martial arts teacher —and the martial arts school —in today’s world. With this in mind, I believe that the Alabama project is a model for what the martial arts could be about —and how we should go about preparing the next generation of Sensei and Master Teachers to take what we practice so diligently in our schools, into the world.



Thank you again to everyone involved. Mark your calenders, as every April we will be meeting in Alabama to study and practice the art of doing extraordinary things with —and through —our work and our students. We are changing the way the world understands the deep and authentic practice of the martial arts, beyond the obvious.
(Thank you to Bob Laramie for the wonderful photos).

www.MyLifeisMyDojo.com

Low Waste Lifestyle. A form of Self-Defense.