Paths of Transformation

As a martial arts instructor, I have a unique perspective of my students’ lives. When I meet them, I am offered a snapshot of who they are. I don’t have a sense of what preceded them entering the Dojang, and I don’t know where we will end up. As I get to know students and their families over time, the depth of my knowledge of their pasts, and my understanding of the potential in their futures grows. I always find the unfolding of who my students are to be an interesting process and one that is often filled with surprises. Some surprises are small, some are stunning. I had one of the later while talking to a parent a couple of weeks ago. continue reading…

The purpose of training is to tighten the slack, toughen the body and polish the spirit. –Morihei Ueshiba, Founder of Aikido

When I walked into a Dojang for the first time to watch a class, it was 1991 and I was in terrible shape.  I never exercised and led a fairly self-destructive lifestyle.  I started training in June of that year in a school that had no air conditioning.  It had a training floor not much bigger than ours, with adult classes often larger than thirty students.  The weather, combined with the collective body heat and heavy Doboks, made for grueling, sweat-drenched classes.  The back door would be opened for airflow, but we were next door to a Vietnamese restaurant that kept its dumpster next to our open back door.  That dumpster was often filled with some of the most spectacularly odoriferous garbage.  If the hard training didn’t make you feel nauseous, that dumpster did.

I loved it! continue reading…

As you know, students earn one belt stripe at each rank level for effort applied in the home, and one for effort applied in the school. I specify effort because our program emphasizes effort over achievement. continue reading…

For this posting, I’d like to discuss the concept of manifestation. This is the process by which the envisioned is made real. The focal point of our efforts in manifestation takes us back to the subject of a recent posting, the obstruction. If we are to truly manifest in our life, we must set ourselves to clearing our obstructions as completely as possible. continue reading…