2007 Newsletter Archive

Sensei Michael Ahearn, pictured here kicking up a storm with Shihan Mason, had an awesome record as a Martial Arts competitor. In 1991 Ahearn simultaneously won the Weapons, Forms and Fighting divisions at the Battle of Atlanta, the US Open and the Diamond Nationals, widely recognized as the three biggest events in the Martial Arts world. This was an unsurpassed achievement. During that same year, in addition to being the National Champion, Ahearn won all three Florida State Titles, a Triple Crown, in the Black Belt competition divisions. Ahearn had previously won the Triple Crown in Florida as an Intermediate competitor in 1989. He is now working as a Deputy Sheriff in Pompano.

This month the Shiaii, in-school tournament is the highlighted event for the Dojo. Competition can be a great motivator for students of all ages. It is a specific arena in which the student can test his or her skills while performing, with their peers in front of an interested audience. The controlled conditions are governed by the rules of tournament competition to ensure safety and fair play. Even if a student is not especially interested in entering major competitions, attending a special tournament like the Shiaii can be fun, while providing useful Martial Arts experience It is a setting a little different from the usual class environment. Thus, all students from white belt to brown belt are encouraged to attend the Shiaii tournament seminar on March 17th.

I used to have a student that called Mushin – “Mushy Mind” but in reality it is all about being able to block out distractions and let your trained reflexes take over. The word breaks down into two words – “Mu” which means void and “Shin” means heart, mind and feeling. The “No Mind” translation stands for the altered state of consciousness that senior martial artist are able to achieve through proper training. It is in this state of mind that the senses become more aware and seem to work at an intuitive level. No longer slowed down by the thought process, incredible speed and reaction time occurs and is amazing to the average civilian.

By not being fixed to anything, then the mind becomes aware of everything. It is kind of like using peripheral vision at night. In the night sky, if you look to the side of a distant star you can see it, but if you look at it directly, it is hard to see. This works the same with the mind. By detaching yourself from conscious thought, you become more aware of everything around you.

Like the Tai Chi master who moves very slowly in practice but explodes with amazing speed in self defense, the warrior who has mastered the concept of ‘Mushin” will gain further clarity and intuition in things around them. This is important for the modern warrior in their quest for black belt excellence.

© 2007 Sensei Terry Bryan

The true foundation of Kaizen or constant and never-ending improvement begins with precise and specific target selection. The successful warrior is very precise in words, action and deeds. Although success begins with precise and specific goal setting and action plans, that is just the beginning and it is the daily ability to implement specific actions that truly separates the successful person from the others.

As a beginner, it looks like an impossible task to master the skills that are required to earn the rank of black belt and yet it is achieved one step at a time as the students tries to learn and improve a few things at a time. There, under the watchful eyes of his Sensei, he slowly forms into a person deserving of a black belt ranking.

The modern warrior always knows where he is and where he is going at all times. Since we live in a rapidly changing world, our targets are constantly moving. A wise objective today may be a fool’s goal tomorrow so it is imperative that one re-evaluates on an ongoing basis. While a martial artist works on being able to generate extreme force on specific targets for maximum effect, it is the target selection process that is constantly changing as openings and opportunities present themselves and disappear on an ongoing and fluid basis. We quickly learn that perfect accuracy on the wrong target is a waste of skill and resources. The warrior constantly updates objectives and targets based on constantly changing information.

By being innovative and creative while seeing every challenge as an opportunity for achievement and a path for future growth the modern warrior is future thinking and never looks back. Living on the cutting edge of creativity, and using positive, active growth tactics bring his future to him as he has already determined it should be through proactive strategic planning and implementation.

© 2007 Sensei Terry Bryan

Committing to Growth

In choosing to study the Martial Arts, you have clearly set a goal for yourself; every time you go to class, practice your kicks, or read something new about the Martial Arts, you move toward your goal, form by form, belt by belt. The time that you devote to Martial Arts practice and study along with your interest in making Martial Arts principles a part of your lifestyle demonstrate the power of your Black Belt goals to set a proactive tone in your life. While setting goals can seem easy enough, achieving them can be tough. With a little vision; however, you can achieve any goal.

Be realistic. Lofty goals may or may not get you anywhere. Focus on what truly interests and inspires you. Focus on those areas that are within your control; think positively.

Break big goals down into manageable, measurable pieces. Once you decide on a goal, take a bird’s eye view of it. How are you going to get from here to the finish line? What needs to happen first? Second? Third? Write these steps down. These are your “short-term goals.”

Review goals regularly. Your attention and focus is called upon by so many things each day that it’s not hard to lose track of the essence of what you are trying to accomplish. Writing your goals gives you the option of reviewing and renewing your commitment as often as you need to. It also allows you to modify them as the need arises. Be flexible in your thinking. This doesn’t mean being wishy-washy. It does mean being tuned in to your own body, your sentiments, and your circumstances. Do you need to make changes in the way you are approaching your goal? In extreme cases, you may need to rethink your goal completely. Be honest with yourself.

Value the roots of your achievements. Even while you aspire to something greater, or simply different, recognize the special meaning of who you are and what you are doing right now. Even when you have earned your Black Belt, you won’t leave the person you were as a yellow belt behind; without the “Yellow Belt you”, the “Black Belt you” couldn’t have happened. While working toward your goals, take care of yourself. Take time to rest. Listen to your body. Spend time with people who support and love you.

Karate means the “art of empty hand”, and describes the technique of fighting with the body’s natural weapons. The ultimate aim of the art of Karate lies neither in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants. The three main reasons why people train in Karate are for Self-Defense, Sport and Personal Growth. Over the course of the last twenty-seven years that Shihan Mason has been teaching in Plantation the Dojo has seen some students excel in tournaments. Several others have become experts at Self-Defense and gone on to train government agents and police officers. The majority, however, have been able to train for personal growth, improving their balance, coordination, flexibility and agility to stay in good physical shape, while simultaneously learning to balance their emotions, increase their awareness and challenge their perceptual and cognitive abilities.

In a dangerous world, increased awareness and self-defense skills are more important than ever. At the same time, martial arts offers many opportunities to positively impact our lives.

• I intend to develop myself in a positive manner and avoid anything that could reduce my mental growth or my physical health.

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• I intend to use what I learn in class constructively and defensively, to help myself and others, and to avoid all behavior, verbal and physical, that is abusive or offensive.

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• I intend to develop self discipline in order to bring out the best in myself and others.

Sometimes adults (especially well-meaning parents) think it is fun to “play karate” with their children; however, the children do not understand what this means and they can not necessarily differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate karate behavior. All students are encouraged to practice at home, but it is important to observe our rules so that karate remains safe for everyone. Karate should be fun, but not silly. That is why at the karate school it is proper to practice techniques in the dojo but not in the reception area, which is for receiving people who are waiting to watch or take class. Practice is not play. Karate is not something that everyone has grown up with, so sometimes parents are not sure how to fit it into their family. If you want to structure your practice at home you can buy a DVD or video to help you train correctly.

Some children and adults are spontaneously helpful. When we help others we benefit ourselves by deepening our own understanding. Sometimes we might selfishly think that being helpful is somehow costing us something; to the contrary, a helpful attitude is a powerful mechanism for our own personal growth.

The Dalai Lama has instituted a program to teach compassion to children by giving them the opportunity to help others. It is from this kind of practice that we can all continue to develop our own values, based upon experience rather than just on theory.

“Teaching young people about compassion is one of the most important things we can do for them, says the Dalai Lama, and for the future of humanity……educating the heart as well as the mind…”

In general there have been three goals (different models) of education: The Good Citizen, The Good Worker, or The Good Person.

The ideal of the good citizen goes back to the ancient Greeks, and it is the educational mode of many contemporary liberals, and also true conservatives. The goal is to form students into responsible, empowered, thoughtful citizens whose well-rounded education and good judgment will benefit society.

The good worker is the goal of the mass education of the industrial revolution, standardized schooling to create punctual, hard-working, obedient workers for capitalism’s factories, mines, and industry. A lot of public schooling today is still like this.

And finally, the good person, the student who is caring, compassionate, peaceful and tolerant. The student who sees all humanity as brothers and sisters. The student whose heart is as well-educated as their mind. This is the educational ideal of the Dalai Lama, as well as of Western educators pioneering the new field of social and emotional learning (SEL).

Here at the karate school I have set up the training to include personal growth and development, as I have observed that training only the body will simply produce physical ability, but will not address the emotional and intellectual aspects of an individual.

Karate is, in the best schools, an educational experience that will stay with the student for a lifetime. Many Black Belts believe that it is their most valuable, practical resource.

With that in mind, I have decided to make the Sempai Program voluntary, and leave it to the students to decide to make the commitment in order to realize its value (see side column). Students can benefit themselves by helping others learn how to practice and progress.

“Real change is in the heart, but in modern education there is not sufficient talk about compassion. Through education, through training the mind and using intelligence, we can see the value of compassion and the harmfulness of anger and hatred.” says the Dalai Lama.

“There is substantial evidence that this is doable,” said Mark Greenberg, an SEL pioneer at Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development. “Research has shown that we can successfully teach children how to overcome and manage emotions such as fear, hatred, anger and anxiety. SEL programs have proven that children can develop lifelong abilities such as self-awareness, anger management, and impulse control, and positive qualities such as empathy and compassion.”

The approach of the Dalai Lama reflects the Buddhist view that the “true nature” of all beings is basically good, including an inherent capacity for compassion. These good qualities are seeds we all possess, and these seeds need only be cultivated to bloom into the unbiased and universal compassion that heals the world. We can educate people in order to sustain and nurture compassion. Proper education is very important. His faith is in human intelligence reason, and self-interest, albeit a higher self-interest. We can learn to be more compassionate because it makes sense.

Children understand this intuitively; I was told recently by a parent that when they were summoned into the school for a Parent-Teacher Conference the teacher stressed the importance of the helpfulness that their child spontaneously exhibited in the classroom toward fellow students who were not as accomplished academically as this student.

We seek to foster this attitude of cooperation here at the karate school through the Sempai Program, which is a natural complement to the sometimes competitive nature of the Curriculum Program. To thrive in our modern world it is necessary to know how to successfully cooperate as well as compete. We seek to teach both.

Shihan Robert Heale Mason © 2006

Most likely you have heard it stressed that the Martial Arts is more than just a physical discipline; that it is a discipline that develops both the mind and body. The presence of mind that the Martial Arts demand helps us to make wise and thoughtful decisions. Often these decisions involve choosing others as friends—and all of us would like to choose friends well.

I heard a new item this week on TV where they reported some young men were shot by police during the commission of a crime. The grandmother of one of the youngsters who was killed commented that “he was not a bad boy, but he got in with a bad crowd”. We obviously want to make friends who are “good guys”.

It is sometimes very mysterious why we choose who we do as friends. Often we like a person right off the bat based on some intuitive thought or feeling. Other times we observe someone for a while with admiration, and build up to a formal introduction. Friendship is a wonderful thing, often beyond words, and is sometimes sparked by an almost electric power of attraction. This is what gives friendship such a strong and almost magical power to tie people together so closely. All the same, our first impressions can be mistaken. There is no way to be certain that everybody you choose as a friend will turn out to be a “good buddy”, but Martial Arts schools are a terrific place to meet new people. Many life-long friendships have begun in the Dojo. Here are some tips on how to choose friends that might be right for you:

Being humbled, or some would say humiliated, is an experience that most people would avoid at all costs, or at least shy away from. However, in the training that is required of a martial artist humiliation, or public embarrassment, may be an occasional occurrence. How the student responds to this essential aspect of training will determine the quality of their martial arts experience.

The capacity to learn requires that the individual have an open attitude about what happens to them in class. If they are predisposed to judging incidents from a “civilian” point of view they will miss the “lesson” inherent in many martial arts interactions, whether inside or outside of the dojo. In order for martial arts training to have a “life changing” impact on the student, they must allow it to change their perspective as they progress with their training, which can be tough at times.

These challenges are most evident in sparring (strategy) class where the difference between ego and confidence is often blurred in the intensity of the moment. Nonetheless, it is very important for students to trust the process and to “...strive to concentrate only on the martial arts...and to leave behind any problems or animosities which could be counterproductive”. Sometimes students hit too hard and the natural reaction to that would be to hit back harder; yet, Mudokai students are expected to show self -control: the response required is different from their natural tendency to strike back.

Years ago I promoted a kickboxing match between Dennis “Mad Dog” Downey and Paul Ellis, in which Downey picked Ellis up and threw him over the ropes and out of the ring. Ellis calmly picked himself up, stepped carefully back into the ring, took a stance and proceeded to skillfully counter Downey’s next move, winning the match with his focused determination and superior skill. While Downey’s purpose may have been to intimidate Ellis through publicly humiliating him, Ellis chose instead to respond with integrity and technique, which won the match.

Shihan Robert H. Mason c2001

Shihan Mason spars with one of his Sensei, George Sfetas, in 1981.

Shihan Mason receives a throw during a demonstration with Kaison.

In Martial Arts it is important to acknowledge where we came from. Having the humility to go with the flow of movement is an important skill in Martial Arts and life.

seeing the bigger picture

During my recent trip to England I trained very little in Martial Arts. In fact, I only trained a few hours towards the end of my visit, yet it struck me that, in many ways, traveling and training are similar. They both have the capacity to open up a person’s mind to the bigger picture, to something that is interesting and challenging, both engaging and stimulating.

Part of the reason why “travel broadens the mind” has to do with the novel situations that we experience as a part of being in new places and unfamiliar surroundings. The journey through the Martial Arts is similar. A student moves from rank to rank, achieving higher belts and being exposed, as a result, to new and more sophisticated concepts and principles. Just as traveling can make us feel uneasy and even fearful, so the challenge of learning new moves following a rank promotion can fill us with doubts and trepidation. To enjoy either kind of journey we need to put our fears aside and allow our excitement and eager anticipation of enjoyment carry us forward.

Just as a place we visit can become jaded and ordinary if we stay there for a long time, so the techniques we are seeking to master can become boring and tedious if we get stuck in a rank and lose our momentum and our aspiration to achieve the next level. This happens sometimes because we become comfortable at a particular rank or in a particular place, a bit like settling down somewhere we were only supposed to be visiting. As you journey through the Martial Arts ranks, don’t even think about settling down until you have achieved Black Belt. Even then it is helpful to engage a new level of excitement by taking advantage of the opportunities offered at the Black Belt level. Our path continues in new directions from the base we have established, perhaps through teaching or weapons training, and progresses to new levels of understanding through the Black Belt curriculum.

During October Sensei Alex Ramos became the youngest student ever to achieve the rank of Sandan (3rd Degree Black Belt). He had the advantage of beginning his training very young (actually before his third birthday), though it is true to say that the best time for anyone to begin Martial Arts training is the day a person takes their first lesson, be that at five or fifty-five years old. Sensei Ramos is so used to training now that his journey through the Martial Arts just keeps rolling along. It is a law of physics that “a body in motion tends to stay in motion”. Let’s keep our momentum going as we travel through our Martial Arts training over time. Achieving new heights, we come to see the bigger picture.

Shihan Robert H. Mason © 2006

Since we teach the Mugendo system at University Karate Center, we can consider that there are several schools within the school. Mugendo means ”unlimited way”, so that all martial arts principals are included in our training.

Mudokai Karate basics are taught daily and form the basis of our martial arts study. For adult students we offer “Funkicks” kickboxing classes three days a week. These classes are a useful introduction to martial arts for adults (14 and older) looking for a fun and intense workout, but who do not necessarily feel ready to begin martial arts training. They are also a great training tool for adult martial arts students looking to build up their cardio conditioning and hone their skills in the circuit training portion of the workout. The Friday morning Karate class is similar to the circuit training portion of the Funkicks class, except that the dress code is Karate pants with belt and a school tee shirt.

The Thursday night Adult Karate class has a focus on self defense applications, and allow more development of the students’ knowledge of Jiu Jutsu. Our Mudokai style draws on techniques from the Shindo Yoshin Ryu Aikijujutsu system. My Sensei’s Sensei, Professor Hironori Ohtsuka was the Grandmaster of this style, before he founded the Wado Ryu Karate style which combined Karate and Jiu Jutsu.

On Monday nights we offer Kobudo, practice in the art of Okinawan weapons for Adult Black Belt Club and Charter Members. Junior students who are members of the Black Belt Club have their own Kobudo classes on Thursdays.

For the more advanced Karate students, classes are offered weekly in Kata (Forms) and Strategy (Sparring). These classes allow junior and adult students to meet the criteria for promotion through the Karate ranks to Black Belt and beyond. They also offer a training regimen to prepare for martial arts tournaments, should that be within the student’s realm of interest.

Tai Chi Chuan is available on Sundays to adult students and children 10 and older training with a parent. Sensei Stamp teaches the Wu style of Tai Chi for students at the beginning and advanced levels.

Our goal at the Karate Institute is to train martial artists who can cope with attacks utilizing all three major martial arts principals:

We have it all available for you, your friends and family. As you train and benefit from our program we hope you will take the opportunity to recommend University Karate Center to those who might be interested in our broad and thorough curriculum.

Shihan Robert H Mason, Chief Instructor (c) 2006

A Word from the Wise

The best athlete wants his opponent at his best.

The best general enters the mind of his enemy.

The best businessman serves the communal good.

The best leader follows the will of the people.

All of them embody the virtue of non-competition.

Not that they don’t love to compete,

but they do it in the spirit of play.

In this they are like children and in harmony with the Way.