Long Time, No Blog

Hey all!

The Dojo blog is back up and running. The last update we made was the holidays (ouch!), but they will be updated more regularly now.

Congratulations to all the kids that tested last Saturday! We had a rockin' test and now have an influx of new ranks (which means we get the pleasure of passing on new material!) and this weekend (tomorrow) is the adult test. Good luck!

In other news, we have a Weapon's Seminar scheduled for March 13th. Anyone interested in learning how to use a Bo Staff, or increase your repertoire of Bo material? There will be a seminar a couple hours long, and after you will have extra lessons that can be scheduled at your convenience. Talk to Sensei if you are interested!

So - I have decided to play around with a new 'section' of the blog. We shall call it The Way [Beta]. The point of this is going to be to give you a 2000 year old poem that says the same thing that Sensei tells you almost everyday. Maybe it will help. The Way is a series of poems/passages/sayings (no one can really decide what exactly they are) that were written by the eastern philosopher Lao Tzu. The series is known as "The Way" or, more formally, Tao TeChing.

The first of the many - The Way [Beta]

27. Perfection

The perfect traveller leaves no trail to be followed;
The perfect speaker leaves no question to be answered;
The perfect accountant leaves no working to be completed;
The perfect container leaves no lock to be closed;
The perfect knot leaves no end to be ravelled.

So the sage nurtures all men
And abandons no one.
He accepts everything
And rejects nothing.
He attends to the smallest details.


So the strong must guide the weak,
For the weak are raw material to the strong.
If the guide is not respected,
Or the material is not cared for,
Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.


This is the secret of perfection:
When raw wood is carved, it becomes a tool;
When a man is employed, he becomes a tool;
The perfect carpenter leaves no wood to be carved.
            - Lao Tzu


For the most part, these poems/passages/sayings are for your own interpretation. I am here explain how it relates to you and the Dojo! Every person walks into the dojo as a white belt. What we are here for is to show you your abilities and push you to your extremes - all so that you can fully know yourself. At yellow belt, you start to become aware of how your body works. By purple belt, you have an idea of how to make it do what you want and you start to understand how far you can physically go. The higher you get in the ranks, the more you know what you need, and the less you depend on us. Our goal by black belt is for you to understand your movements, understand how they affect yourself and affect others. (It's after black belt that you learn how to use this to your best advantage - yes, that means you are not done at black belt!) The Senior Instructors call black belt the "master of basics." It becomes mental understanding along with physical understanding. You reach a "perfection of self," if you will, that is shown in this poem, without wasting "raw wood" (your raw abilities). We start as your teacher, your instructor, and end as your guide, your friend, and your advisor.

You may be asking yourself - yes, that sounds all special and good. But, how am I supposed to do that...?

You know what's coming: Practice, Practice, Practice!

If you want to feel confident in your training, and retain the information that Sensei teaches you in your lessons, you have to practice by yourself. We can tell you what to do, we can explain to you how it works, we can even have you do it for a whole lesson. But your lesson is, at the very least, a half hour long. The other 23.5 hours are yours. Consider what you do in those hours, can you spare 10 minutes for your training? Even if it's only picturing it in your mind?

Food for thought.




Thanks for reading!

Important Dates to Remember:
- Adult Test (by Instructor invitation only) : Saturday, February 13th
- Weapon Seminar: Saturday, February 20th
- Closed on Monday, February 15th
- Norcal Tournament: Sunday, April 18th