I train incessantly and unceasingly. Sometimes it drives my wife crazy how much I train. Yeah I know I’m not a 20 year old spring chicken. In fact I’m only a little over a year away from 60. I know I’m not in my twenties and not likely to compete anymore. So why do I do it? For me it’s like painting or sculpturing. An art that you can always improve and perfect. I think of it as a development tool tool that gives me poise, balance, speed, power and beauty that is worth my best effort.
I hope during the remaining years of my life that I will teach many people the art of #Shotokan. Yet, it is not a teaching that I can do by lecture only. I’ve always taught karate; monkey see, monkey do. Meaning: That I want my students to see the best example from me. But honestly, I had allowed myself to get in an overweight condition, that made it impossible for me to fulfill my karate goals.
So training did what it always does and pointed me in the right direction. Last year, I had an honest soul-searching season, in which I came to grips with doing, what my martial arts training was telling me I needed to do. So in fact, karate was one of the chief catalysts in the tremendous physical change I experienced last year.
This powerful life changing dimension of karate’s potential was In fact, one of the most important things that attracted me to karate in the beginning, many years ago. That I could do it through the whole course of my life. That I could do it, With or without equipment. That I could do it, With or without clubs. That I could do it, With or without training partners. That I could do it, With or without recognition.
I knew it was an art that I could always work on refining and improving, through all the seasons of my life. I knew it would be something that would call for the best from me. I also knew it was something that would help me contribute to the best, I could encourage in others. And from the very start, I was looking for a skill that once learned; I could share with other people to make a beneficial difference in their lives also.
#Shotokan karate has done a miracle transformation in my life and help me achieve things that I could not have any other way. I feel I have learned a treasure chest of good. I see my instruction of others, as teaching and sharing with them, a gift that is precious and priceless. I think my instruction is worth hundreds of dollars an hour literally. But yet I charge my students nothing! It is free to them! But it is not cheap. It cost me a great deal of literal Blood Sweat and Tears, to learn the art that I teach.
And even though I do not charge monetarily. Any student that gains rank from me will earn it. That’s one of the biggest reasons I don’t charge. I don’t want anyone to feel like I owe them anything. If they get rank from me, they will learn it and earn it. It will be theirs completely. Something that they know they have legitimately won. And something that cannot be taken away. It will become a part of them. A definite part of their lives, that they can be proud of and gain satisfaction in.
I tell my students that Shotokan is both thermometer and prescription. It will show you what’s wrong in your life. And give you an effective tool to do something about it. Most of you know, I lost 93 pounds this past year. And certainly displacing the food God. And allowing my Divine Master to also have first place in that part of my life was a primary means of achieving this.
But just as importantly was putting a gym in my own home, so I could train everyday rain or shine, without going anywhere. This was one of the best decisions in my recent life history. I guess there are some things that I could do when I was 20 that I can’t do now athletically. But candidly and frankly there are things that I can do now that I never dreamed about being able to do then. Things that in fact, very few humans on the planet can do.
There are definitely secrets to the traditional martial arts. It’s not so much really that they are secret but just that it takes years of serious study, for them to appear and become known.
I think most people know that I desire for my life to be completely invested in my Savior’s service. And I have found that one of the chief tools that He uses in my life, is my karate training. As a matter of fact when I am alone training, I usually consider my workouts to be worship. ( Colossians 3:17 KJV And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. )
Most, also know that I think of myself as a positive thinker. I wrote a book in 2014 called Positive x Positive = Unlimited. And so, I have discovered that karate is definitely a positive power. I have come to understand that healthy pursuits in our life are synergistic components, that support and strengthen each other. Karate is certainly a dynamic good that God uses to strengthen other areas of my life. It makes me better in business. It makes me better in personal relationships. It makes me better in mental attitude and focus. It makes me better in Outlook, personality and behavior. And it certainly improves my health and physical well-being.
I guess, that’s the bottom line. Karate makes me better! The style I teach is difficult and takes longer to learn. But I have found that it also pays bigger dividends in the long run, than things that are easier to gain. So I will continue with my incessant and unceasing training. And I hope that along the way I will get to be a positive factor and enrich even more of my friends lives. By sharing and teaching them this wonderful art of #Shotokan.
