The theme for this year's Kung Fu retreat was “asking for help”. The idea came to me as we were talking about using the jo (a 4 ft staff) for a few drills. It's basically the same size as a walking stick. Using a walking stick is kind of like asking for help. Really, any time you use a weapon in Martial Arts is like asking for help. It doesn't

Nobody likes being defined in a limiting way by other people. If someone looked at me and says, “that’s a white man”. While of course that’s true it also misses a lot about me. One Saturday morning a Chinese man brought his young boy in for his first class that I was teaching. After I introduced myself as the teacher he looked at me, paused, then said, “I want my

The internal challenge in the dojo this week is to have one difficult conversation that you’ve been putting off. For some of you, you immediately know the conversation you need to have. For others, you may spend a minute thinking. With some light introspection you’ll realize you’ve been avoiding at least one conversation. These conversations are difficult for a reason. As with any challenge, there is wonderful growth that comes

Areté is an ancient Greek word that translates to excellence in effort, or of a thing. It refers to doing one’s best at a chosen activity, which could be a physical action. Importantly, the concept also included excellence of moral character, or virtue. So, to live a life of areté, the mind, body and soul each has to be developed. For anyone interested in exploring the concepts of areté, Brian Johnson