Dear Students, Teachers and Friends,

Hope everyone had a great time at Dan Smith's seminar this weekend.
As always we learned a lot and were motivated by his tremendous
knowledge and sincere personality.

Our Black Belt testing and training weekend is coming up April 16th,
17th and 18th, and everyone that is planning on being promoted at
the graduation for black belt or any degree of black belt needs to
contact me and let me know so we can order belts in advance. You can
go to the web site for more info and register on-line. If you are
coming in from out of town, please call in your reservations now, as
there are other events going on that weekend and things are filling
up quick. To get your free breakfast and the $69 a night rate call
(719) 598-5770 and tell them you are with the American Black Belt
Academy event. We have limited space available so please go ahead
and register on-line to insure you will have a place, Go to our web
site at www.americanblackbeltacademy.com and look in the special
events section.


Quotes of the Week

ALAN COHEN:
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly
secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is
no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and
exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is
power.
CHARLES DUBOIS:
The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice
what we are for what we could become.
ROBERT FROST:
The best way out is always through.


Lesson of the Week
18 Postures – The Tiger

The Shi Ba Shou or 18 postures have been handed down for a very long
time and base their roots on Shamanism or the process of trying to
understand the world by observing nature. My training and
understanding of the 18 postures comes from a variety of sources,
but in particular Fred Absher and Kojosho Kempo. The next few weeks
I will share my personal opinions on the postures. For more
information on Kojosho, visit www.kojosho.com.

The Tiger
The tiger is the king of the jungle and if there is one attribute
that I associate with the tiger, it is courage. Its ability to
approach everything with a genuine confidence and to never abuse its
power is indeed strength that each of us can emulate. When the time
comes for action, either to attack a prey or in self-defense, the
tiger is ferocious in his devastating power and swift resolution.
This ability to pursue one goal until completion is what separates
successful people from those that simply flow through life without
specific and prioritized goals. The ability to decide what is the
most important thing to do at any given time and then take decisive
action is a trait that each of us should learn from the tiger.
Courage enables us to attack an attacker instead of instinctively
turning away and running, which has been proven not to be the best
solution in a self-defense situation. The simple process of having
the confidence to turn and face a problem head on, many times is all
it takes to resolve the problem completely.
Whether you a small child learning to face your fear of getting up
in front of your classmates when doing a book report, or a teen
trying to come up with the nerve to ask someone out or even an adult
asking their boss for a raise, the philosophy of the tiger can be a
great strength to draw from. The old saying that one should not
sweat the small stuff, and that everything in reality is small
stuff; becomes clear in my mind as I visualize a tiger sitting on a
hill looking over his valley without any concern whatsoever. A
proficient black belt, knowing he can truly defend himself or
herself and their family, displays this same attitude. This self-
confidence and peacefulness, attributed to the courage developed
from the tiger system, is one of those black belt traits developed
on the path towards black belt excellence.

Respectfully,
Terry Bryan