Dear Students, Teachers and Friends,

Congratulations to everyone that tested and earned their new belt at
the annual training and testing in Kansas this weekend. Kyoshi
Kennedy had a great event and it was great spending time with his
people, and other martial artists from around the country.

There is a tournament in Denver next weekend, please see you Sensei
for more information.

Advance Black Belt Training at the Bijou school from 10 am to noon
on the 22nd of May. This class is open to all black belts and they
are all are encouraged to come. I will also have a session on Wu
Style Tai Chi Chuan for those interested from 8:30 – 10:00. The cost
for non-students is $50, but it is free to black belts. We will also
have a special meeting with 2nd degrees and above after the workout
to discuss new clubs, the organizations, curriculum, our
association, etc. If you are unable to attend please let your Sensei
know.

Up for a road trip? Over Memorial Day Weekend Fred Absher has his
weekend training camp in New Mexico. He will be working on the 18
postures, two man and three man sets. If you are interested in
going, please contact Terry Bryan at kyoshibryan@.... We are
also going to Oklahoma June 25-27th and also heading to Grand
Junction for Bob Davis's regional event on July 16th, 17th, and
18th. Please let us know if you would like to attend so we can make
plans.

Quotes of the Week

LOUIS PASTEUR:
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength
lies solely in my tenacity.
Morihei Ueshiba:

"… the way of a warrior is to manifest divine love, a spirit that
embraces and nurtures all things."



Lesson of the Week

18 Postures – The Leopard

The leopard is a special animal in Chinese martial arts and is known
for its climbing abilities, its speed, and its strength. Pound for
pound, the leopard is as strong or even stronger than the tiger, but
its smaller size gifts him with incredible speed to use as well. One
of the most underrated qualities of the leopard however, is its
deceptiveness.
Legend has it that if you were to walk up on a leopard in the
jungle, he would run away only to circle and come up behind you to
attack at a later time. Have you ever seen other animals use this
tactic? How about a bird that pretends to have a broken wing to pull
a predicator away from its nest only to fly away later? How about a
fighter that fakes an injury only to pull his opponent into an
attack? I have also seen this tactic used in sales where a person
doesn't come off that smart early on in the conversation, but ends
up getting everything he wanted in the negotiations. In karate kata,
the kamae or fighting posture is used to deceive the opponent over
and over again.

Mathematics teaches us that the shortest distance between two points
is a straight line and yet in nature this is not always true. Many
times when walking in the woods or in the mountains the shortest and
easiest path is not a straight line but a wiggle. This is the way of
the leopard, knowing which direction to wiggle, in order to get to
where his goals are in a more efficient manner. Unlike the tiger who
always goes forward, the leopard knows that sometime you need to be
prepared to go around, over or even under in order to achieve ones
objective. The master of deceptive strategy, the leopard's tactics
should be a part of every warrior's knowledge base. This is
definitely one of the paths towards black belt excellence.

Respectfully,

Terry Bryan