Dear Students, Teachers, Parents and Friends,

I want to start this letter with a big thank you for all the
volunteers that helped make the State Games a success. (Especially V
and Dawn) Although our numbers were down a bit from last year, the
event ran really smooth and with no injuries. With help and
efficiency like this I look forward to seeing an even better event
next year.

Belt test is this coming weekend and we will also be having a black
belt pretest at 10:00 for those wishing to test for black belt
within the next year. This is your chance to see what you really
need to work on and get feedback from the other black belts.

I have been asked to start sharing some of the more advanced forms
of our system to the general student base and am planning on doing
that through some up coming seminars. Some of our best information
is currently being taught after 2nd degree black belt and in order
to make that information available we will plan on sharing that info
for serious students in the seminar setting. This will be especially
beneficial for those that want to compete at the national or
international level.

The Lesson of the Week

The Competition between the Birds and the Animals

Many of you know that most modern martial arts were developed from
the 18 postures created by Ta Mo at the Shaolin Temple. Our version
of Shaolin Kempo is based upon the original 18 postures and is
broken down as 9 animals and 9 elements, each containing different
concepts and principles for self reflection. It has always amazed me
the similarities between ancient Chinese thought and those of the
early American Indians. Of course the animals were different, but
the principles are much the same. The nine animals of Chinese Kempo
are the tiger, crane, snake, hawk, dragon, deer, leopard, monkey and
bear. Each animal was seen as having special virtues that we can
learn from and were used to teach fighting concepts and general
principles of life. I recently was reminded of an old Cherokee story
that was also used as a teaching aid about the battle between the
animals and the birds.

As it was told to me, there was at one time a disagreement between
the animals and the birds of the forest. After a debate they decided
to have a competition to decide the winner. At first the birds were
very scared to agree to the competition because of the size
difference between the larger animals and the smaller birds, but the
hawk reminded them that even though they were smaller, they were
much faster and could fly high until it was time to compete.

As game time grew near, the animals elected the bear as their team
captain and they approached the field of play with a show of force
actually knocking down trees as they came through the forest. The
birds had elected the eagle as their captain and the hawk as their
assistant captain. Although the smaller birds were scared, a pep
talk by the eagle kept them in place.

Just before the game was to begin, two field mice climbed the tree
and sat beside the eagle. The eagle asked why they were there when
it was obvious that they had four legs and should be on the animal
team. They explained that the animals had made fun of them and had
kicked them off the team because they were so small. The eagle
explained that in order for them to be on the team he would have to
make some changes and proceeded to cut some leather and tied them
between their legs to make some wings for them.

As the bear threw the ball, the eagle grabbed it and flew high in
the air, but instead of flying in to score he dropped the ball to
the first mouse that flew over half way to the goal before passing
it to the second mouse. From this day forward he would be named as
the bat. The second mouse went on to score and was known from that
day forward as the flying squirrel.

The bird team went on to win the game and the animals, although much
bigger and stronger, went home very disappointed. This story was
told by the Cherokee elders to show why each warrior should always
be humble and to never underestimate any opponent. These words of
wisdom are as true today as they were in ancient times.

I have always been told that there are two ways to learn things, one
from personal experiences and the other from the teachings of their
elders who have gone before. Stories are an excellent method of
passing wisdom to the next generation but only if a student is
willing to reflect upon these teachings and implement them into
their own lives. On your path towards black belt excellence, you
need to decide whether you want to try and learn things the hard way
by all personal experiences or from the wisdom of others. Using a
wise teacher or mentor will allow you to achieve more in a short
period of time than many people achieve during their entire life.
The key principles of success are surrounding us everywhere, we just
need to look and listen and then apply those natural principles in
our own lives. This is the path of black belt excellence.

Respectfully,
Terry Bryan, Kyoshi