Dear Students, Teachers and Parents,

I wanted to remind everyone about our Halloween party next Saturday
evening at the dojo. It will from 6-9 pm and a costume would be
appropriate to wear. Everyone is encouraged to bring guests.

Next belt test is the first Saturday in November. See you there.


Lesson of the Week



Zanshin – The Perfect Awareness

In Japanese the word zanshin is made up of two separate kanji meaning
remainder, heart. This has taken the connotation for modern martial
artists of maintaining perfect awareness and presence with all your
heart, or the ever-remaining mind. Zanshin contains mental, physical
and even spiritual elements the warrior develops to maintain proper
vision and awareness, while at the same time maintaining an
indomitable presence and posture in the eyes of others. Zanshin
allows a person to implement and flow from one action plan right into
another, based on feedback almost invisible to the untrained eye.

One of the cardinal rules in combat is to never turn your back to
your opponent. This physical posture of zanshin is demonstrated
during self-defense when the warrior maintains a fighting posture and
attention directly towards the threat until absolutely sure it has
been neutralized. At a higher level, one learns to maintain this
presence in all 360 degrees by developing a heightened sense of
awareness and through the knowledge of understanding probable
reactions in all situations. This same process is used when dealing
with any problem we encounter in life. If one faces their problems
and deals with them early, while staying aware of other potential
threats, success is easier attained.

The true warrior uses a wide-screen view that takes in every detail
of information. He develops the uncanny ability to understand all
motives and tactics of all stakeholders, and eventually learns to
predict the future before it happens. He learns to understand subtle
nuances, which can indicate motivations and strategically maneuvers
the situation to the desired outcome, based on the reality of the
situation that many people never even see.

In business it has been stated to understand the truth, all one
needs to do is follow the money trail to understand the motivation,
and most of the time this is indeed a fact. Many times, what most
people recognize as a problem is not the real problem at all. The
solution to challenges many times come from a completely different
direction than we first thought. In addition, many times what is
presented to you as an opportunity, is in reality just busy work that
actually slows you down from reaching you goals. In any business
understanding what the real problems are, and offering solutions to
these problems through win-win strategies, is where the mission of
creating and maintaining a strong customer base is achieved.

The warrior's ability to see all the systems and the effects of his
actions on each one of them allows him to see the big picture.
Warriors have long known that the best way to observe the actions of
the hands and feet of his opponent is by watching the center and
seeing them with his peripheral vision. This same tactic is used when
observing, and seeing physical, mental and spiritual capabilities in
yourself and others.

When practicing kata, we constantly are reminded about the importance
of zanshin in our training. Every time you look before you turn it is
a simple reminder to not take your eyes off your goals and to always
truly look before you take action. Upon the last move of a kata, we
hold that posture for a couple of seconds before we return to ready
position, demonstrating the ever-remaining mind element to zanshin.
By developing zanshin, you will be able to accomplish more in a
shorter period, than many people do during their entire lifetime.
Zanshin is indeed a crucial principle of black belt excellence.


Respectfully,

Terry Bryan