Imagine a life sized stone statue of a man with one arm extended in front of him and his hand balled into a fist. Although the statue is standing still, his punch still retains more power than that of a living being. How? Continue reading
Category Archives: Philosophy
Perseverence
Chris Caswell
Take a second to think about the first time you stepped on the mat of your first martial arts lesson. Remember how it felt learning new moves. Now fast forward and think about your skill now and how much you have progressed.
I don’t remember my first class, but I have some fond memories of my first days in tae kwon do. Continue reading
Again, with more flow
Shidoshi Darin Wong
Do it again, faster, and with more flow
This is the words of my Shidoshi during my most recent test for belt promotion. With great pause I humbly complied and lashed out every strike of my targeting set as cleanly as I could faster than any of the students that had tested before me. At the end of my belt test I felt as though I have ascended to a higher level beyond just the next belt. I have ascended to the higher expectation of my Shidoshi.
After I bowed out I understood that my training is more important than just the moves I perform.
I perform to the expectations of my Shidoshi even if those expectations exceed that of a beginner student. This is how I know that I have progressed.
Discipline
Kiyoshi Dave Kovar
(After telling his dad he doesn’t want to mow the lawn anymore as a young child)
“Son, you don’t have to ‘want to’ mow the lawn. You just have to do it.”
Sometimes we just have to get out the door and into the dojo to train whether we feel up to it or not. Most of the time, I feel glad that I did. Some days I skip either because I’m tired or sick and my wife tells me, “You are at the dojo training 5 days out of the week. You can miss a day”.
Could you believe that its easier for me to go into the Kovar’s Satori Academy and train hard than staying in and watch T.V.? I become anxious, restless, and I end up going anyway because I enjoy it too much to miss a day.
Jacob Ross
Pick a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life
For me, its the martial arts.
Fight for a purpose, train for a purpose
Acting is an awesome skill. If you have ever known an actor or if you have acted a part in a play, then you know that “becoming” the role makes all the difference. But what if your part in the script calls for a crying scene? How do you cry? Maybe you might cover your face and make sobbing sounds with your voice? Or maybe you keep some onion on hand to create the water works?
Both methods might be effective enough to show a “crying action” but the audience might not be convinced that you are truly sad or truly happy. Continue reading
I Like to Help Teach the Martial Arts
I like to help teach the martial arts. Something about holding the attention of my peers, their eyes on me, and receiving my knowledge to make themselves better martial artists is inspiring me to become better so they will always look up to me. This gives my training a selfless purpose. When asks me, “Why do you train to fight?” I can answer, “I train to teach”
Jacob Ross
I don’t train in the martial arts to fight, I train to teach martial arts