Ideas that I've found Useful

Sitting by the Bezaitendo shrine at Shuri-jo earlier this year

The first time I sat on this wall, I was 28 years old, these days I'm 56. In the intervening years I've sat on this same wall many times, spent countless hours training in the physical techniques of karate, and plenty more than that, thinking about what I'm doing. Nothing too revolutionary in that I guess...except to say that my thoughts seem to have lead me to places a great number of karate-ka never seem to visit.

I'm the first to admit I get hopelessly lost (in my thoughts) from time to time, but then, isn't the essence of exploration to be found in the effort you make to cover new ground; when you make like the Enterprise and boldly go where you have never been before? How can you expect to discover anything about yourself if you're not prepared to get lost along the way? Although much is made of being successful these days, we do well to remember that it's often our failures that provide the most valuable lessons.

I'm discussing a few of the concepts I have stumbled upon in karate, in a new article on my publishers website. The piece has been taken from my new book, Shin Gi Tai, and modified slightly to fit this new slot on the YMAA web page. If you are interested in some of the thinking that goes on behind the action of karate, then you may find something in this brief article. Of course, authentic karate requires that you to make your own discoveries, and having done so, act upon them. So......get thinking!!!