Dear Students, Teachers and Friends,

We are only a couple of weeks from our Black Belt Weekend. Black Belt
testing will be on Friday the 10th of May at 6 pm at Air Academy High
School. The test is open to the public and admission is free. The
following day we will be having our seminars at the same location,
which will taught by our guest master instructors from 9 am till 1
pm. That evening at 6 pm we will be having our awards dinner at the
Air Force Academy football stadium. If you are planning on attending
the dinner, we need to know right away to take care of catering. You
can contact Mary at brittonme@... to ensure your place at the
awards dinner.



Lesson Of The Week

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle,
stand like a rock." — Thomas Jefferson


The early Chinese philosophers created the 5-element theory to try
and help them understand how the universe worked. They saw the entire
universe was based on the inter-workings of 5 major elements – fire,
wood, water, earth and metal. Other educators added more ideas, which
included animals and their attributes to better understand the key
principles of success and to create the foundation of their style of
martial arts training. Today Kojosho Kempo uses 18 such ideas or
postures, which are made up of 9 elements and 9 animals. The above
statement by Thomas Jefferson describes clearly the relationship
between two of these elements – water and mountain.

Water simply flows – if there is an object in front of its path, it
goes around it. If there is a hole in front of its path, it simply
fills it and then continues on its journey. It does not have any
regret or animosity for challenges that show themselves, it simply
accepts them and goes with the flow. Each of us must follow our own
paths, progressively realizing our internal goals, flowing through
life much as water flows down stream. We have much to learn from the
simplicity and naturalness of water seeking the lowest position.

The mountain, on the other hand, is rock solid. From the mountain we
learn the importance of a strong foundation and that there are times
we want to adapt the attitude of the immoveable object. In the
martial arts the front stance or the horse stance are the physical
expressions of this posture, which demonstrate sinking or rooting
oneself to the earth. For the mind and the spirit, integrity is the
foundation from which all positive characteristics come from.

In the pursuit of black belt excellence, we recognize that there are
times to go with the flow like water and that there are times to
stand solid like a mountain. This concept seems pretty easy to
understand, but most civilians don't recognize which is the best
strategy for the current situation. Martial artists on the other
hand, know which strategy will work best based on the principles of
the combat experience from their art. Understanding these key
postures and the strategy of how they work together is the key to
black belt excellence. Is it any wonder, that most high-level martial
artists that understand this are successful in all areas of their
life?

Respectfully,

Terry Bryan