Dear Students, Teachers and Parents,

Congratulations to everyone that were promoted this weekend at the
belt test. We are pleased to announce that my son Jeremy Bryan will
be teaching more at the north school. Jeremy has been training for
over 25 years and is the former #1 heavyweight in America through the
USANKF and will add a tremendous value to training at the north
school.
A few future events we have coming up include:
Next Saturday we will be having a Black Belt Club seminar on the 9
elements from 9:00 –10:30. Seminar is free to BBC members, $20 for
everyone else.
We will be closed on the 17th for Presidents Day.
Shihan Johnson will be teaching a Jujitsu seminar on the 22nd from
9:00-10:30. Cost of training with this 2 time world champion is only
$25.
My instructor Dan Smith is coming to town and will be teaching
seminars at Timberveiw Middle School on Thursday the 27th and Friday
the 28th of February. Thursday night is open to all students and
Friday is for brown and black belts only. Cost for the seminar is $30
and I encourage everyone to support this event. After training over
40 years, I pick my teachers very carefully and Kyoshi Smith is one
of the best around. For more info go to our web site:
www.americanblackbeltacademy.com


Lesson of the week:

The Empty Mind

The term of karate-do is most commonly translated as "the way of the
empty hand". While many people think this means a form of self-
defense that specializes in not using weapons, the real meaning of
the words is much deeper than that. The kanji of karate-do actually
is three separate and distinct concepts when put together create the
over all meaning behind the term karate-do.
The "do", pronounce "dough", stands for a method, style or path. Most
martial artists see the "do" in karate-do as meaning that it is a
total system impacting the mind, body and spirit of the practitioner.
Not just physical techniques, karate-do includes development of
character, integrity, and a sense of duty to the ultimate goals of
the student.
The "te" element represents the physical aspect of the training. The
ancient art as it was practiced in Okinawa was simply called Te and
stood for the martial arts that were practiced during those times.
Although it translates as hand, in reality it is understood that it
also includes knees, elbows, kicks and anything else you can get your
hands on in a crisis situation.
The "kara", translated as empty, is better explained through the term
mushin or empty mind. At the lowest level, this simply means that a
cluttered mind is not conducive to responding to any problem in a
timely and effective manner. In the beginning, the karate student
learns to train the body to react to specific attacks in
predetermined ways. To make this strategy effective, one needs to be
able to flip a mental switch when engaged in a physical encounter,
letting the body react reflexively to the stimulus without thought.
Like a computer that has too many programs running at once, the body
reacts quicker when the mind is not concentrating on a variety of
things in the heat of battle.
The problem with this strategy, however, is if you train your body to
react predictably, then it allows for an opponent to set you up
easier. Therefore, the next step of mushin is simply to become
nonattached to your thoughts, and learn to flow from one tactic to
another without any preconceived thoughts or biases. To be able to
approach a situation without previous biases allows a martial artist
to come to the table with an open mind and have a greater range of
resources at his disposal. This mind set also allows the warrior to
not become attached to one method or style beyond the life of its
use, necessary in a rapidly changing process like self-defense. On
the physical level, having the ability to go with the flow, yield to
the strong and attack when opportunities present themselves is easy
to see. Having the same flexible and pliable mind is equally as
important. This is the real meaning behind the "kara" in karate-do.
One of the best explanations of this concept was a short story I read
many years ago about two Shaolin monks who were on a journey to a
distant temple. As they came across a small river, they notice a
young lady standing by the edge. When they addressed the young lady,
she informed them that although the stream was not deep she was
afraid to cross the stream. At this point, the senior monk picked up
the young lady and carried her across the stream. At this point the
two monks continued on their journey. After some time, the younger
monk, not able to contain himself anymore, spoke up to the senior
monk asking him why he had picked up the lady when they were
forbidden to touch a woman. After a brief pause, the senior monk
responded to his junior that indeed he had picked up the young lady
and put had put her down on the other side, but pointed out that he,
the junior monk, was, however, still carrying her.
Like the senior monk, it is important for us all to learn how to put
things down when we reach the other side.

Respectfully,

Terry Bryan