After 50+ years of teaching martial arts, some things stand out. Let’s take a look at 12 bare-bones gotta-do-it To-Shin Do skills as minimal requirements. In To-Shin Do Level 1 classes (White and Yellow Belts) as you practice the 12 fight scenarios and basic striking and ground-hitting skills, you have to constantly remember 3 things: […]
Archive | Teacher Insights
Relative Reality
“I’m no Einstein,” I said, “but I do know it’s all relative.” Someone had just asked me what my views on karma are. “Well, what does that mean?”, they replied. “Can you elaborate?” First we have to acknowledge that there are two views of so-called reality, I said. OK, now you’re starting to blow my […]
Focus Tug-Of-War
You’re focussed on your training partner and suddenly they throw a jab at your head, your eyes follow the punch in, your hands come up and make contact with the striking arm and for a moment your brain celebrates. Then you feel their other hand bash into you, you never saw it coming. What just […]
C.S.S.
New year, new beginnings. This is always a good time to apply one of my favorite life management models – Continue, Stop, Start. Perhaps especially so as the year of the rat suggests, the time is right for turning pages and embarking on new journeys. So the model is quite simple, that’s why it works […]
Consistent Tiny Steps Win the Day
“An ant on the move is more powerful than a dozing ox.” – Lao Tzu Even though we start from humble beginnings, we can rise to lead a extraordinary life. If little practices are repeated consistently over time, we can improve ourselves and advance in capabilities. We come to the dojo two or three times […]
Concepts, Principles, and Techniques
Something I will be emphasizing in seminars this year is the differentiation between concepts, principles, and technique instructions. If our students know the concept of good taijutsu and know the principle being taught, it may help them do their techniques more correctly. A CONCEPT is an overarching description that applies to everything we do. “Rely […]
Taijutsu Has No Gender
By Dennis Fuutoshi Mahoney on November 22, 2019 in Teacher Insights, Uncategorized, Warrior Philosophy
I have been quietly watching from the sidelines the much needed discussion about gender in the martial arts and in particular our martial art. Which is why I deferred to my friends Theresa Murphy and Amy Tiemann last month for their well written article. Up to this point I haven’t said much publicly about the […]
Why the 3-Part Student Creed?
When people come into our schools as white belts, they learn a three-part Student Code, or student creed, and promise to abide by it. We tell them right up front: “These are the three things you must remember whenever you’re doing anything dangerous, whether it’s a surf board, or a bungee jump, or martial arts […]
Verbal Taijutsu – Wind
Recently I have had a number of students ask me how we apply our martial art outside the dojo to everyday life. Well, that is a huge question that could be answered by way of a book. This is, in fact, a life art. The training, given time and proper guidance, will work its way […]
Focus
The ability to stay focussed in a violent situation on the presesent moment is often the determining factor in surviving. The development of this focus is the main point of all of our training. The problem is that we have three attention/focus systems in us that are constantly vying for control of our focus. The […]
Verbal Taijutsu – Fire
In this third article on verbal taijutsu I will focus on the energy of the fire element. First let’s start with energy itself. The fire element is about connection, but also energy. An intense level of positive energy is always contagious. Enthusiasm is inspiring. This is what a lot of motivational speakers survive on. By […]
Exploring Kuji No Ho
A few advanced black belts are taking private Skype lessons with me, studying aspects of kuji no ho “nine syllables of aspects of power”. I warned them that we can explore kuji, but it will feel different from studying taijutsu together. With taijutsu instruction, I tell you what to change, you do it, and you […]
May I Have Your Attention Please?
Have you noticed how difficult it can be at times to maintain your focus and attention while training? Your thoughts wander and you seem to have no control over them. Well it turns out there is an actual battle going on in your head for your attention. The primary criterion our minds use to decide […]
Above the Fray
I am 70, and have seen so many cultural fads come and go over the decades. WWII vets got parades; Viet Nam vets got spat on; Iraq vets got applauded in airports. Black and white were segregated in the 1930s; black and white were integrated in the 1970s; blacks demanded black-only spaces on college campuses […]
Verbal Taijutsu – Water
As I mentioned last month a number of people have asked me to cite applications of our martial arts system to activities in daily life. I very much enjoy these questions. Our art is so rich. For example, I know of a currently popular martial art that stresses the strategy – dominate, dominate, dominate; it […]