fbpx

Our Defining Moments

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 [...]

By |2024-03-07T14:44:32-08:00March 6th, 2024|Master the Moment|5 Comments

The Art of Difficult Conversations

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 [...]

By |2024-02-08T19:09:47-08:00February 6th, 2024|Master the Moment|0 Comments

Areté, Goals and Zen

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 [...]

By |2024-01-03T17:36:10-08:00January 3rd, 2024|Master the Moment|2 Comments

Finding Purpose and Meaning

The question of the week is: Do I search for purpose and meaning, or does it find me? This hints at our experience of finding purpose and meaning in life. For many of us it seems like a long journey, perhaps even one without an end. It may feel like we will search for a [...]

By |2023-12-20T14:19:00-08:00December 6th, 2023|Master the Moment|0 Comments

Emotional Content and the Breath

The question of the week in the dojo is, “What is the secret to inner strength?” This got me thinking about a few things. For one, the breath. Whether you’re doing specific energy work like Qigong and Tai Chi, breathing exercises to relax or feel energized, trying to get more power in your strikes in [...]

By |2023-12-20T14:07:58-08:00November 3rd, 2023|Master the Moment|0 Comments

Partners Under Pressure

Pressure often shows up at tournaments. This weekend in the dojo we had our first kids grappling tournament since Covid. It was a great afternoon with lots of close matches. In the end, each division could only have one winner. As we entered the final rounds to see who would get the gold medal, the [...]

By |2023-10-04T13:57:56-07:00October 4th, 2023|Master the Moment|0 Comments

Getting Overwhelmed

The question of the week is How do you react when you’re overwhelmed?   Let’s dissect the question a bit. First, the word react assumes a more or less automatic action, as opposed to a deliberate response. Most of us go through life reacting rather than responding; being forced into action by something that happens [...]

By |2023-12-20T14:03:31-08:00September 6th, 2023|Master the Moment|2 Comments

Taking off your Shoes

We take off our shoes before entering the mats in the dojo for a few reasons. One, we practice barefoot for safety (some kicks and brazilian jiu jitsu techniques are more difficult or dangerous with shoes). Two, it is cleaner as we don’t track dirt from the outside world onto the mats. Three, we remove [...]

By |2023-12-20T13:58:48-08:00August 2nd, 2023|Master the Moment|1 Comment

Mind Rut

Sometimes a mind rut can sneak up on us. While we were stretching at the beginning of the kids Wushu class yesterday, I mentioned the test coming up. One of the kids in the front row said, “I don’t think I’m going to be very good in the test.” This seemed like a great opportunity [...]

By |2023-07-06T16:55:37-07:00July 6th, 2023|Master the Moment|0 Comments

Intentions and our Highest Self

In an Aikido class I took many years ago at Sifu Brown’s dojo, I heard a wonderful way of conceptualizing the different levels of self. If I remember correctly, the teacher’s name was Sensei Bob Nadou. He said that when he thinks of himself as Bobby, he isn’t capable of much. As Bob, he can [...]

By |2023-12-20T13:56:10-08:00June 7th, 2023|Master the Moment|0 Comments
Go to Top