Last week, I emailed my students to say that some of them were close to being ready for promotion to the next rank. I said that I was planning to schedule two promotion tests, one very soon and one at the end of the summer, and was trying to figure out who to test when. I asked who felt ready to put in some extra work right now, and who wanted a little more time. One of our newest students replied “I am always ready to put in extra work!” and asked what specifically she should be working on....

As we have just added a few karate classes to our schedule at Eizan Ryu Dojo, I have been thinking about how I have benefitted from training in a full contact Kyokushin-based karate style along with my first martial art, Eizan Ryu Jujitsu. My first instructor, Shihan Felix Berrios, was a very open minded teacher. He not only allowed his students to visit other dojos, go to seminars taught by instructors of other styles, and even train seriously in other martial arts, he actively encouraged us...

A healthy relationship with fear is a very good thing. One does not want to be unreasonably fearful, worrying excessively about things...