We talk a lot about having ‘natural movement’ in our martial art. As important as it is, it can be just as hard to describe what that means. Sure, we want natural speed, relying less on fast ‘muscle’ speed. We want to use gravity and not rely solely on strength. We want to take away […]
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Mindful Action and Self-Defense
The To-Shin Do Mindful Action Code is a powerful self-defense tool and one I’ve grown to appreciate more and more over the years. I’ve seen as a teacher how many youth and adults find it such a meaningful part of their lives. That, by itself, is enough for me to make sure it is a […]
Mindful Training
One thing to watch out for in your training is repetition without awareness. The more mindful you can make each movement of your training the better. Mindful in this case doesn’t mean up in your word brain. But rather, avoid doing lots of repetitions of something just for the sake of doing repetitions. Years ago […]
A Strange and Surprising Opportunity to Learn and Grow
On our final Saturday of our Vajrakilaya retreat at Pema Ts’al Monastery in the Nepalese Himalayas, Eric Gadol, Lauren Garst, and Geoff Garst went with Rigzin Wangdu and me into Pokhara city to do a guest teaching for my friend Fatta Gurung. Fatta is a karate teacher who teaches Nepalese police officers hand-to-hand survival, so […]
Eyes Of Wonder
Watching my almost two-year-old these past several months, I’ve enjoyed seeing him interact with the world more and more. Some of my favorite moments is when he sees something in the world that is, to most adults, something mundane, but to him is a thing new and full of wonder. Often he’ll point, and say […]
Appreciate Each Moment
In the days leading up to the annual Fall Festival, I enjoy seeing all the social media posts of people from all over the world beginning their travels to Dayton, Ohio for a special weekend of training. I enjoying seeing everyone’s excitement because it reminds me of all the wonderful training to come in a […]
Remembering To Be A Student
With Festival approaching I thought I’d write a quick note about remembering to be a student. Being a student isn’t just a relationship, it is a mindset. Some years ago two students came into the dojo within a few weeks of each another, and both had solid backgrounds in previous martial arts. Since they started […]
Respecting Space
One of the things we emphasize a lot for young students in our dojo is finding a safe place. We ask where a safe place might be, or who they could go to in order to avoid a dangerous situation. Sometimes we have them defend against an instructor then run to their parents. With adults, […]
Knowing The Problem
A couple months ago I wrote about the role of the attacker in To-Shin Do. Specifically, I talked about advanced ways we can make sure our training partner (and ourselves) are getting the most out of each training exchange. Left out of those tips was the obvious beginning lesson: know what the attack is. But […]
In Gravity
At this past Black Belt Training in Dayton I was asked to teach a short session. My goal was to show people how to get into fighting focus, what athletes call the zone. This is done with a particular breathing pattern, spinal alignment, hand alignments and…getting into gravity. The combination of these things help move […]
Calm In A Storm
What are you doing in your training to practice staying calm under pressure? I don’t just mean, ‘how are you practicing staying calm at the dojo’ either. I mean, how do you find opportunities in every day life to practice staying cool? As martial artists we want to know we can handle a dangerous situation. […]
Role of Attacker
Improving physical skills in To-Shin Do often requires someone to play the role of ‘attacker’. We all take turns doing it, but it is easy to forget what exactly that role entails, and why it is so important for our own training, not just that of our partner. Here are a few tips: Slow, Safe, […]
Are You Breathing?
When you are training, are you breathing? Seems like a silly question, you may think of course I am, but are you? If you tense up doing a kata or technique If you lose your focus during training If you start thinking about what you should do If you feel yourself rushing ahead to the […]
Grand Opening, Grand Year
A few days ago my wife and I held our Grand Opening for our new dojo in Cincinnati. An-Shu Stephen and Rumiko Hayes provided a wonderful opening ceremony for us, and during the ceremony Mr. Hayes reminded me of what my original plan had been when I moved to Ohio years ago. I was more […]
REPRINT: To-Shin Do Club and School Requirements
In case you missed this important information from last month it is being reprinted again. Licensed Instructors, we have very few requirements governing your participation as head of a To-Shin Do club or school. The following are not new points. Most people have been observing these for years. But it might be good to state […]