Thought. How many people in your martial arts school have ever had to use their skills in real life, other than in the performance of their job, such as a police officer or a bouncer? If there are more than a few, or if a few have had to use their skills more than once, then you are probably in the wrong school, unless you are one of the few yourself, then you probably don't care. In in today's supposed violent society, most people will never have to defend themselves or others from an unsolicited attack. If you are the type of person that seems to always have a reason to defend him or herself, then you have a problem. There have been numerous masters of traditional martial arts who died of old age never having had to defend themselves. Does this mean their life in the martial arts was a waste of time?

Comments. None.

Thought. Ask women what type of men they want and they will say they a man who is caring, kind, and has a good sense of humor, and who would make a good father. Then look around. What type men do you see women gravitate to? It is the rough, tough, crude men. Why is this?

Like it or not, women are the nurturers; they are the mothers who raise children to further the species. They are smaller and less strong than men and, at various times, such as while pregnant or with small children, they need protection. This means that women are instinctively drawn toward men who appear to offer the most protection, the warriors. Instinctively, they feel this type of men will make the best fathers.

This paradox is why men stay confused. Women say they want good guys, so men try to be good; then the women are attracted to the bad guys. Even when women do choose the good guys, when the good guys are not tough enough when the trouble arises, the women leave in search of tougher men.

Western society views warriors in much the same way. People say they want peace, and they criticize and look down upon warriors as a type of low-class throw back to uncivilized times. However, as long as there are humans on the planet, there will never be peace, so there will always be a need for warriors. And when that need arises, the peace lovers look to the warriors to protect them, for, in their quest for peace, they have lost the ability to protect themselves.

To be effective, warriors must kill, sometimes ruthlessly. Nice people can become warriors, but nice people do not usually train to be warriors, so even in times of desperation, they will not be able to do what is necessary effectively. Warriors are not nice people. They can pretend to be nice and may outwardly appear to be nice, but when the time comes they can be ruthless killers. Warriors can pretend to be nice and fit into a peaceful society, however, even when nice people try to be warriors, they can never fit into a warrior society.

Peace lovers hate warriors, but warriors do not hate peace. Warriors do not seek wars, but they realize that war is inevitable and are prepared for it. Peace lovers have been preaching their beliefs for thousands of years and mankind is no closer to peace than it was in the beginning. Peace is not a natural state, so it always tenuous. Warriors realize this and so they stay prepared. They know that any peace is short-lived so they cannot become complacent. 

Humans act civilized by choice, sometimes personal, sometimes forced upon them, and by exercising self-control. When a group of sports fans erupts into violence, it is not because they were there to cause trouble. When a group of shoppers fights to be first at grand opening sale, it is not because they came with the intention of fighting. When people do not behave badly, it is not because they are “good” people, and that the people who behave badly are “bad” people; it is because they have better self-control than the bad people. When their self-control relaxes, their bad side emerges. Good people are better at controlling their bad side.

No matter how intellectual humans may think they are, they still are instinctual animals. We may try to suppress our instincts and pretend they do not exist, but the instincts are still there and they govern our day-to-day interactions. If someone tells you not think about pink elephants, you will think about pink elephants no matter how hard you try not to think about them. During the process of trying not think about them, you will have to think about them. Instincts behave in much the same manner. They will rise to the surface no matter how much you try to suppress them.

If you are a warrior, you will be criticized, ridiculed, and looked down upon as being crude and uncivilized, but do not be discouraged. Know that when things go bad, you will be in demand and sought out by all the “civilized” intellectuals who will demand that you protect them. Maybe the best thing to do is let them fend for themselves. Then their breed will die out and warriors will again have their place in society.

Comments. None.

Thought. People make decisions based upon the information they have at the moment. Sometimes these decisions are instantaneous life or death decisions.

If you pretend to be a “gangsta” by acting and dressing as a tough guy, you will be assumed to be one and will be treated as one. If you confront me while dressed as a thug and presenting the mannerisms of a thug, I will assume you are a thug and will take action as appropriate for dealing with a thug. If you want to pretend to be something you are not to gain some perceived benefit, then you must also be prepared to deal with the negative consequences of your posing.

As related to posing, you may:

• Be tough, and act and dress tough. You will probably be able to handle of most confrontations, but you will attract many of them and chances are you will lose some of them and may even lose your life.

• Not be tough, but act and dress tough. You will attract many confrontations, but not be able to handle them and you will lose most of then them and may even lose your life. 

• Be tough, but not act and dress tough. You will not attract confrontations, but when they rarely occur you should be able to handle them. Since there are so few confrontations, you will rarely lose and there is little chance that you will loose your life.

If you present a threat to people, they will eliminate the threat. If you were only posing—too bad.

Comments. None.

Thought. 2006 has been a World Cup Soccer year, so soccer has dominated the world’s news for the last few months. However, most people in the United States could care less about World Cup events.

Despite the efforts of soccer supporters for over 40 years, soccer has not become a major sport in the United States. It was pushed as a children’s sport in an effort to build a base of what would hopefully become adult players and supporters, but it has not worked. “Politically correct” mothers see soccer as a no-violent, competitive alternative sport to football; players struggle for the ball but they only make minimal contact with each other.

Both Taekwondo and soccer stress kicking and footwork and both require precise control and a high level of fitness, so it would seem they would complement each other. However, there is at least one major difference between the two, and I think it is a glaring difference.

In soccer, when hit by opponents, players fall to ground and behave as if they were in excruciating pain and were about to die. Once an opponent draws a red card, suddenly the downed player is miraculously healed and able to play again with no apparent problem. Players are taught that when faced with a problem, it is best to whine and complain and blame others until they get what they want. Apparently, this is acceptable behavior to many parents who believe that when faced with violence, you are supposed to whine, cry, and hope someone else will step in and protect you. Then, while others are fighting to protect you, you can continue your life as if nothing has happened.

In Taekwondo, and in all other martial arts and most other American sports, when confronted with a problem such as a hard hit, we are taught to “suck it up” and get on with the game. Therefore, the basic philosophies of Taekwondo and soccer are not compatible.

For example, as an instructor, I am constantly dealing with children and teens, and sometimes even adults, who have been conditioned to whine and complain when faced with adversity. For example, this week I had students play a reaction game in class where one student holds a hand target in front of his or her body at waist height. The other student stands in front of the student with his or her arms down the sides. This student then “fast draws” and tries to clap his or her hands to either side of the target before the other student can react and jerk the target up or down before it is trapped by the clap. If the clapper succeeds, the target is trapped. If the clapper fails, his or hands clap together with great force, causing a stinging sensation in the palms. There is no injury, just short term pain. Most students, celebrate their successes, and suck up their pain of the failures and keep trying. However, many whine and cry over the pain, blame the target holder, get angry and clap harder that causes even more pain upon a miss, quit trying, and then look to the instructor to make it better.

Taekwondo teaches students to face adversity with courage and conviction and to either overcome the adversity or accept it and make the best of the situation; not to whine and hope someone else will take care of things. For this reason, Taekwondo and soccer are not compatible.

Comments. (12/10/06) Steve says: I'm based in Scotland, my 12 year old son has been following ITF TKD for 5 years and also plays Soccer at the highest level for his age group. He plays as a goalkeeper; a specialist, sometimes lonely, and frequently physically challenging role in a team.

Your point in interesting, but appears to hinge on a local interpretations of the laws of an international sport. Perhaps this is a deliberate decision to popularize the game.

I hope you'll welcome a tale of how things work in a different land. Football (soccer) is played here according to the same rules as the adult game. It is a team ball sport so has obvious differences to TKD an individual martial art.

The laws of the game do not prevent, nor do they penalize injury. If players are injured in a "fair tackle", the first one to regain his feet will usually win the ball. When a goalkeeper is involved, the race to recover will usually determine whether a goal is scored. The laws of soccer do penalize certain types of attacks, kicking or tripping an opponent without playing the ball, obstruction, punching ...

Let's consider the similarities between soccer and TKD.

Both demand a level of fitness, reward leg speed, strength, and coordination. I see many instances where my son's goalkeeping shows direct influence from his TKD techniques. Hands move to fend off a hard close shot in the same way a block would meet a punch or kick. Fingertips reach out to deflect a ball at the edge of his arms reach using the technique from a finger strike. The dropkick which converts a save into a counter-attack shares movements from the front snap kick, speed and timing being critical to both.

Are there really incompatible philosophies.

I have already stated that injury caused in a fair challenge is not an offence in football. If this is being interpreted differently in youth soccer in the USA, then I worry that you are evolving an offshoot from the international game. That would be a shame, and represent a regression. The professional players from the USA who are active in Britain seem to be capable and tough players, it would be a shame if a soft generation prevented more of their type from emerging.

Are the 2 pastimes so different though?

If taught correctly, both provide some useful life lessons regarding commitment, pursuit of excellence through training, respect for coaches. Both provide a framework of rules which attempt to limit physical damage in competition. Just like soccer, TKD sparring will penalize infringements by warnings, loss of points or loss of match. Events in either discipline will be halted if the referee suspects a serious injury requiring immediate attention.

My son's experience is that both activities are extremely rewarding. He has found mutual crossover benefits of practicing both, and has not found
one conflicts with excellence in the other.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to contribute.

Additional Comments. (03/15/07) Steve says: In December 2006, I wrote the opposing view to your Soccer TKD Compatibility thought. At the time, my main theme was based on 2 main threads:

1. Common development in skill and coordination through training.
2. Benefits of the martial arts discipline (concentration, focus) on the soccer field.

I left one open area—that of physical courage. It seemed that interpretations on the "contact" rules vary internationally for youth soccer. It is played with a relatively "tough" interpretation here in Scotland; perhaps it is played "softer" in the USA.

My main thoughts were based on training, as I felt there was little direct crossover on the field of play. Since then I have observed 2 examples where TKD technique has transferred directly to the soccer field, and one example where soccer skill and training has helped with TKD.

My son is a soccer goalkeeper who plays for his county in the “under 13” age group, and he is also a black belt in TaeKwon-Do. Here are 2 examples where his TKD skills transferred to the soccer field, one positive example and one less so.

While the strength, flexibility, and coordination of martial arts training are a great asset to a soccer goalkeeper, I did not expect to see a direct application of martial arts technique on the soccer field. My son was keeping goal for his county this week. The opposition was playing a counter-attacking style, defending deep on the field, and sending long balls forward so their speedy forwards could chase into the spaces behind his defenders. In such a situation, the goalkeeper tends to play on the edge of his box. He will pick up the over-hit long balls, and will run out of the box to kick away those where the opportunity allows.

My son misjudged one particular bouncing ball. Having rushed out and placed himself to kick it away at its next bounce, he found the ball had hit a damper patch of ground, and bounced high, but short. An opposing striker was approaching and would probably be first to the point where the ball would bounce next. The orthodox responses would be to either play the ball with his head (very unreliable and unlikely to stop an attack) or to surrender possession, fall back into the box, and hope to save the following shot (poor odds for a 12-year-old boy guarding an adult size goal).

Instead, my son drew something from his TaeKwon-Do skills, which surprised most of the spectators and all his teammates. He carried on toward the ball and executed a jumping turning kick to meet the ball at the top of its bounce. The ball flew forward and sideways, away from the chasing striker, and the attack was broken.

All the elements of this unorthodox defense could be traced directly to his TKD classes.
Focus, accuracy, power (with relatively little back lift), flexibility, and, perhaps most importantly, the confidence to know that he had repeated a similar move hundreds of times in class with a pad or board as the target.

A great soccer player once coined the phrase, “every disadvantage has an advantage.” The opposite also applies, so I'll next outline a fault in my son's goalkeeping that may also traced back to his martial arts.

He trains in the ITF style, where light contact sparring is the rule. He has worked hard to take the power out of his kicks during sparring.

One critical skill for a goalkeeper is the goal kick (restarting play by kicking a stationary ball from 6 yards in front of goal). Despite good leg speed and strength, my son regularly under achieves in the speed and distance he can hit these kicks. I now believe he is "pulling" the kick just before contact with the ball.

He plans to focus on training his kicking (striking with the instep or toe, also being a "weak" portion of the foot in TaeKwon-Do terms). We hope that regular practice will improve his kicking in the same way that a golfer "remodels" his swing.

The question remains as to whether soccer skills can ever feed into TaeKwon-Do.

I think there is less potential for skills to transfer in this direction. However, top grade soccer seems to demand incredible stamina. My "evidence" for this is that most of the endurance sport events between schools resemble a reunion of the county soccer squad. A recent example was at a cross-country run, where most of the soccer squad was present representing their schools.

My son attended his first tournament as a black belt recently. Color belt sparring had always been a single round of 2 minutes, but, as a black belt, he had to fight 2 rounds of 2 minutes each. The greater intensity and longer duration found the weakness of some of the big strong boys. Size and strength alone are not always enough when the engine can only run for the first 2 minutes. On several occasions, competitors with better stamina were able to recover from a poor first round and win during the second round.

Soccer does not have a monopoly on stamina; athletics, swimming, cycling, and Nordic skiing are all rated higher as stamina builders. Dedicated martial artists will also work on all aspects of their fitness. However, central Scotland is something of a sporting monoculture, and leisure time for teen and pre-teen boys tends to revolve around soccer or Xbox. When a soccer player meets and Xbox player in the TaeKwon-Do ring, I'd always bet on the soccer player to last into the second round.

Thought. When it pertains to cars, people have their preferences. Some like cars from certain counties, such as Germany, Sweden, Japan, or the United States. Some like certain manufacturers, such as Ford, VW, BMW, or Mazda. Some cars have extras, such as GPS, leather seats, wood trim, etc., all of which add noting to the performance of the vehicle. Some cars are made for specialized purposes, such as the SUV, van, or wagon. However, all cars are basically the same, four wheels, a steering wheel, brakes, windshield, headlights, taillights, etc. The ‘in” cars, the one everyone want to have, changes periodically. The current “in” vehicle is the Cadillac Escalade. However, like it or not, the number one selling car is the Toyota Camry. It got to be the number one best selling car by providing a quality vehicle that the public wants, and by making a car that is reliable and does what the public wants it to do, and do well.

When it pertains to the martial arts, people have their preferences. Some like martial arts from certain counties, such as Japan, Okinawa, or the United States. Some like certain systems, such as Karate, Judo, or Wrestling. Some martial arts have extras, such as weapons, fancy uniforms, elaborate techniques, etc. Some martial arts are indented for specialized purposes, such as only punching, only kicking, or ground fighting. However, all martial arts are basically the same, armed or unarmed combat against another human. The current “in” martial art system is “ground fighting.” However, like it or not, the number one best selling martial art is Taekwondo. It got to be the number one best selling martial art by providing a product that the public wants, and by providing a quality martial art that is reliable and does what the public wants it to do, and do well. 

If you want to study another martial art that has limited scope and limited availability, that is your prerogative. If you want to pursue the latest “in” martial art, then go for it. However, if you want to study an all around, effective martial art that may be used for defense and sport, and is available in every city in the world, then study Taekwondo.  Like it or not, Taekwondo offers what the public wants.

Comments. None.

Thought. As described on the previous post, I recently attended a Shito-ryu black belt testing. This is my evaluation of Shito-ryu and the differences I saw between Shito-ryu and Taekwondo. Granted I only saw a portion of the students from just one school, but the school was taught by a master of the art and the testing had senior color belts and other senior black belts participating.

Hand Techniques

Of course, the most obvious difference between Taekwondo and any style of karate is karate’s emphasis on hand techniques. Shito-ryu is no exception. Shito-ryu teaches and uses kicks but stress hand attacks; just as traditional Taekwondo teaches and uses hand techniques but stresses kicks. There is nothing wrong with either method; it is simply a matter of style preference. However, as I have stated in TKDTutor.com, while kicks are deadly, hands can kill you in numerous ways. Therefore, the most effective fighter is one who defends well against kicks, uses kicks when opportunities present themselves, but primarily uses hand blocks and attacks.

Kicks

That said, the Shito-ryu kicks I saw used by all the fighters, regardless of age or rank, were weak when compared to Taekwondo kicks. The karate side snap kick is an annoyance, similar to a jab. It keeps the opponent at bay and too busy to set up an attack, but it is not a threat to an opponent unless you get in a lucky shot or you hand a lot of them in the same location. A sliding side kick performed by stepping the trailing foot across in front of the leading foot is a useless movement, and yet, from what I saw, this is the preferred way to perform a sliding side snap kick in Shito-ryu. This movement is similar to executing a reverse punch behind your lead arm guard instead of in front; it ties up body movement and slows and weakens the technique. A sliding side snap kick would much more power by stepping behind the leading leg instead of in front.

Fist Chamber

As I have stated in TKDTutor.com, patterns are an expression of the art part of a martial art and have little relevance to the martial part of a martial art. Shito-ryu, as has Taekwondo, has its share of techniques used in patterns that are aesthetically pleasing but practically useless in applications. However, even though most of the techniques used in a pattern are not used in sparring or self-defense, the techniques should still be natural. When chambering the non attacking hand, it should pull back naturally to the waist or hip just under the rib cage, depending on a person’s body structure. It appears that Shito-ryu uses the high chamber, where the fist is chambered high next to the upper ribs. It takes a conscious effort to pull the fist up to this location and keep it there. Teaching a student to chamber naturally at the waist is much easier than teaching them to chamber high, and the high chamber has no significant advantage over a low chamber.

Patterns

Shito-ryu students kiai when executing each techniques in their patterns. I love this! It shows determination and focus. They use breathing sounds and facial expressions to acknowledge the imaginary opponents they are fighting. Pattern performance gets high marks in my evaluation of Shito-ryu. However, I do not remember a single kiai used by anyone while sparring. Hey guys, there is a reason the Indians yelled while attacking the quiet cowboys.

Hip Action

As stated above, Shito-ryu emphasizes hand techniques; however, I saw no hip movement in their techniques. Hand speed was quick, but there was no power behind the punches, it was all arm action, with no body rotation, hip snap, or even body dropping. The kicks did not use hip thrust, hip roll over, or high tight chambers so the only power generated was from the leg itself. All the kicks I saw from all ranks were unimpressive.

Weapons

Shito-ryu teaches traditional weapons. This is a matter of style and taste. If you want to learn a weapon, that is fine, it is a part of the art of a martial art. My only problem with learning impractical weapons is that they use up a lot of your valuable training time that could better be used in perfecting the practical aspects of your martial art.

Sparring

Shitoryu sparring is similar to traditional Taekwondo sparring. As usual, no matter the style, when it comes to sparring, people revert to what works, basic kicking and punching, Shito-ryu is no exception.

This was a black belt testing I was watching, so the testee had to spar all ranks and exhibit appropriate control for the rank and ability of each person being fought. Since it was a testing, opponents were supposed to challenge the testee’s ability, but they were also to remember it was the testee’s day to shine, not theirs. Students who spar a testee at a testing are there to bring out the best, or expose the worst, in the testee’s sparring abilities, not to show off their own abilities All the color belts and lower black belts at this testing did this. They made their matches tough on the testee but they did not try to show off and one-up the testee. When the testee sparred his sensei, the sensei was relentless, but his techniques were well focused and he did not try to take advantage of or embarrass a tired student who had been testing for two hours.

However, there was one exception. As a spectator at a testing, I saw the usual group of dedicated black belts who were at the testing to participate in the testing process and to welcome another student into the black belt ranks. However, amongst all the black belts, a sixth degree black belt stood out because of his size.

After the testee had tested for two hours and sparred ten different people, he sparred this sixth degree, who was a foot taller, 70 pounds heavier, and had a much longer arm and leg reach than the testee who was obviously at the limits of his energy reserves. One would expect the sixth degree to spar appropriately to the circumstance, and I expected to see Shito-ryu techniques performed at their best. However, this was not the case.

Instead of exhibiting humility, the sixth degree strutted around as if he were the king of the mat. On the command to fight, he attacked with a frenzy of swinging punches and kicks reminiscent of a wild kid in a playground fight. There was no control, no focus, and no precision of technique; just a big man trying to whip up on a much smaller, tired opponent. The out of shape sixth degree burned out very quickly and was gasping for air, so the frenzy of attacks stopped. Then he just strutted around, posturing as if he was the biggest and baddest kid on the playground, while using his extreme reach advantage to stay away from any attacks from the testee, which, even though weak and slow due to fatigue, were still getting in.

I did not see a sixth degree sparring a student to test the student’s abilities; I saw an egotistical jerk out to impress the spectators for his own glorification. I not only was unimpressed with his techniques; I was ashamed, not just for his behavior but also ashamed for the testee, for the school, and for the art of Shito-ryu.

Lower belts look up to senior belts for guidance and inspiration. They want to be black belts, so they think that if they emulate a black belt, it will aid them in their quest. God help any student who emulates this black belt. He exemplifies all that we teach students not to be: arrogate, egotistical, and a bully.

Conclusion

Shito-ryu is one of the many styles of karate and, overall, does not appear to be unique; it is just another version of karate. This particular school has very good students, probably attributable to having an outstanding sensei, Bill Daniels. If I were seeking a karate school in the Forsyth County/Davidson County area of North Carolina, I would probably choose—Bill Daniels Karate.

Comments. None.

Thought.  I first trained in traditional Shorei-ryu Karate before switching to traditional Taekwondo where I stayed for 25 years except for some short excursions into other traditional martial art styles. For the last few years I have been involved with the commercial side Taekwondo where the traditional curriculum has been weakened by the need for schools to survive as businesses. As a result, I have neglected my traditional roots. I have not forgotten my traditional roots, but I had forgotten the position of honor the black belt holds within the traditional martial arts community.

Commercial martial arts strive to please the masses and not offend anyone in anyway, so parents will keep bringing their children to classes. Whereas, the traditional martial arts tell the masses, “This is the way it is! Take it or leave it!” Instead of weakening their standards to accommodate the weak, they strengthen their standards to weed out the weak.

Commercial martial arts strive to test large numbers of students. To accomplish this in a reasonable amount of time, the time to complete individual student tests must be short. This means the rank testing requirements must be few and able to be completed quickly. Technique demonstrations, pattern performance, step-sparring, and free-sparring are performed in groups. Breaking is not required or requirements are few. Individual students are only on the mat for a few minutes. Students, including black belt testees, tend to view their rank tests as just another rank test.

Commercial martial art testings spectators tend to be mostly family members of testees. Non testing students rarely attend testings or award ceremonies. The whole testing process is a business, similar to that of an academic school. You attend class, behave properly, listen to the teacher, barely pass the test, and you are promoted to the next grade.

Today, November 19, 2005, I attended a black belt testing conducted by Bill Daniels Karate where my cousin, Chris Wilson, was testing for his first degree black belt in Shito-ryu. I was expecting a standard commercial style testing—I was wrong—this was a traditional testing!

The testing was conducted just for Chris. Each student testing for black belt has his or her own testing day. There was large group of spectators, less than ten were relatives; the rest were there to support the school and to show their respect for the testing process. There was a large group of students there to watch, participate, and help in the testing. There were numerous senior black belts there to judge, participate, and to honor the testing process. All this for just one student!

Chris was on the floor constantly testing for over two hours with only short breaks for water. He had to perform every stance, every hand technique, and every kick required of each color belt, occasionally being required to explain the technique and it usage. He had to perform all one-step sequences and all kata required of each color belt. He had to perform bo and sai kata. He had to perform all the board breaks required of each color belt.

He had to spar a round with one student of each color belt rank and display an appropriative level of force for the rank, age, and sex of each student. Then he had to spar a round against two simultaneous brown belt attackers and another round against three simultaneous brown belt attackers. Then he had to spar rounds against three individual black belt students. He then had to spar a round against a sixth degree black belt who was a foot taller and sixty pounds heavier. Then, finally, he had to spar a round with his sixth degree instructor (video clip [26MB], this was Chris’ last round of sparring after two hours of testing so he was tired, but then Sensei Daniels is 70 years old, so it seemed a fair match up). Then, as a surprise, Chris had to perform a palm break of five cement blocks (video clip [4MB]).

After he finished the test, Chris was covered in scratches and cuts, had two black eyes, a swollen cheek, a swollen ear, cut knuckles, and a dislocated nose. It was a tough two hours, with no pity shown, and not expected.

For Chris, to receive a black belt from his mentor would be the greatest honor, so he had trained very hard and was committed to doing his absolute best at the testing. When he bowed in at the beginning of the test, he appeared to be an intense, determined man who was ready to take on anything, and, when he bowed out at the end of the ordeal, he still appeared to be an intense, determined man who was ready to take on anything. From his behavior, you would never know he was tired or injured. As a warrior, during the testing, he never acknowledged his injuries or the hits that caused the injuries. Every technique he performed was crisp and powerful and performed with a spirited kiai, showing no sign of weakness. After the testing came the time to rest and lick his wounds.

This was a tough, serious, well-constructed, and well-run black belt testing that showed proper respect for the black belt and what an honor it is to be awarded one by a master who cherishes awarding it as much as the awardee cherishes earning it. Surprisingly, even with its tough, demanding, non compromising curriculum, the school is a financial success; probably because of Master Daniels’ dedication, not just to his students, but also to his art.

As a finishing touch to the testing, one of the master’s own black belts was ceremonially passed from student to senior student until the master received it and presented it to Chris. It was an emotional moment for Chris, Sensei Daniels, and the spectators. It was a moment Chris will always remember, and it was a moment I will always remember, not just because I got to see Chris earn his first black belt, but also because I got to see a real black belt testing again. I remember my roots again, and I miss them. A black belt is not just another belt!

Comments. None.

Thought. When driving on the freeway, you never notice the number of PT Cruisers on the road until you buy one, then you notice one everywhere you look. You have never paid any attention to the mole on your arm until you see a television show about moles that are precursors to cancer, now you look at the mole on your arm many times every day. There is so much information around us that we tend to ignore all of it except that in which we have a piqued interest.

While in training, students of the martial arts are hammered with the same phrases, theories, claims, etc. repeatedly. Their minds tend to gloss over and they perform as zombies, regurgitating the standard gibberish as if it were the truth. To help them break out of this cycle, students need to have a seed doubt planted in their minds so they may begin looking around and seeing new things or seeing the routine things in a new light. As the students begin to question the status quo of their teachings, the seed of doubt may grow into a total rejection of the status quo or into a rejection of just a part of the status quo or it may grow into more support for the status quo. TKDTutor tries to implant these seeds of doubt.

Status quo is insidious; it infects your mind through constant exposure. Think about some of the names of popular locations or businesses in your city or town. You have heard the names all your life, but if you are similar to most people, you do not think about the actual names, where they came from, or what they mean; you just repeat the names without conscious thought. If you ever have cause to consider the names, many times they do not make sense.

After each class, martial arts students should stop and consider what they just learned, not just blindly accept it because the “master” said it. During their consideration, they should:

• Consider the source. Look at the credentials of the source; for more information on this, read this link. Even if the information is coming from a credible source, do not blindly accept it. Many famous, important, and highly educated people have far-fetched ideas and beliefs that are so far out of the mainstream that they are borderline psychotic..

• Question the source to see if the information may be stated clearer or more proof offered.

• Consider what other credible people have said about the same subject.

• Consider whether the information is logical, reasonable, and makes common sense.

• Consider the science surrounding the subject.

TKDTutor encourages students of any martial art who are told something that does not make common sense to stop and say “Huh!” and then research the subject.

Comments. None.

Thought. Everyone has seen Einstein’s famous formula, E=MC². One aspect of the formula is that as an object approaches the speed of light, its mass increases enormously. A corollary of this increase in mass is that time slows as the object approaches the speed of light. Even at the relatively slow speed of the space station in relation to the speed of light, when astronauts return to earth from a long mission, they have aged a few milliseconds less than their counterparts on earth have aged.

So, how does this relate to Taekwondo, it means that if you punch and kick very fast, your hands and feet will have greater mass and thus hit harder—and you will have younger hands and feet.

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Thought. Meditation involves sitting quietly and focusing upon breathing or an image, sometimes while thinking or saying an innocuous word such as "om." Sara Lazar of the Harvard Medical school used MRI to study the effects meditating may have upon the brain. She found a thickening of the pars of the brain involved with memory and attention, areas that shrink with age.

In another study, Bruce O’Hara of the University of Kentucky found that 40 minutes of meditation did better on attention tests compared with their own performance after reading for 40 minutes. In another study, Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin found meditation produced a jump in brain waves associated with vigilance and attention.

Research has show that meditation works, but it also shows that it works irrespective of any religious connections. All you have to do sit quietly, empty the mind, and focus on something meaningless so the mind does not begin thinking about the thing. All the religious beliefs are superfluous. As usual, people exploit a natural phenomenon and confuse the issue. Use your brain; do not let others use it.

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