The Fox Within

Some Native American tribes consider the appearance of wilderness creatures at certain points in one’s life a ‘spiritual event,’ portending something of the immediate future of the observer(s). So it was a curious moment when on the eve of a promotional ceremony, a...

THE ROLE OF A SPIRITUAL GUIDE IN THE MARTIAL ARTS

The material world that we are all so familiar seeing and touching is not all that comprises our reality. We know this to be true if we just think of the inner world of our own minds; our thoughts, desires, imaginations, memories, and intentions. We can’t ‘see’ our...

PAYING IT FORWARD

CHRONICLES OF THE DOKA #37 in a continuing series (84 days in the teaching life of an American sensei in 1999)   Sunday, January 16, (continued)   Sunday, January 16 I drill the two teenage boys, Frankie and Chris, on slip-stepping and diagonal evasions. I tell...

MOVING MARTIALLY

As a career kata practitioner and teacher, I can tell you there is a certain developmental arc to learning any new martial pattern. The first challenge is to simply memorize the sequence taught to you. Don’t worry about any kata nuances until you’ve gotten the...

S7: Three Battles—Seven Powers

Martial Arts for the Spiritually Aspiring StudentAn important distinction can be made in marital arts between those who only desire physical skills for combating their opponents and those who wish to take their study into the interior or hidden realms of the psychic,...