Change Your Kick - Change Your Life

There is a way to succeed in any endeavor in life. If your desire is to be better at kicking, then there is a way. If your desire is to launch a new career or business, there is a way to do that. If your desire is to get better at sparring, there is a way to do that too.

Is it any surprise that there are certain universal principles that can control your success in anything you strive for? Grandmaster Sin told us that learning a Kung Fu system was like digging a well, looking for water. Many of us would dig a foot or two down and then come back to him and ask for a new shovel or a place to dig because the current location was not going to be fruitful. Pretty soon we have 70 or so shallow holes in the ground and no water yet.

The secret, he told us, was to dig deeper until we hit water and then all the holes would fill with water. He said that once a single art became transparent to us, all would become transparent. It is the same with life. In fact, the same methods that we use in Shaolin to reach for greatness will serve us in EVERY activity and goal for which we strive.

I will share my exact plan with you this Sunday that will deliver you to whatever destination you desire. We will first cover these principles applied to something like kicking. You will learn a physical lesson that nothing can keep you from getting what you what, AND your kicks will change for life.

Bring a notebook and pen. I will give you some things to write in that notebook that will change your life. I guarantee you will NEVER regret the time you spent with me this Sunday getting a plan together for greatness.

Register Before Midnight Tonight and Get  Dvd of this clinic FREE

October 28th 3-5:30PM North Austin School

No Sir, But I am working on it.

Elder Master Bill will often ask "do you have that kata?" and those of us who have been around a while know that the only answer to this question is "No Sir, but I'm working on it"


When we come to personal challenge in life there are only two potential responses.
A. We can take the challenge and change some part of our selves to reach the goal
B. Accept the current status Quo and incorporate the limitation into our persona

From day one in Shaolin-Do we start to work on developing the first response (A) to challenge. That response is to change something to get the result we want. It requires three steps to make those changes
1. Accept that we can't do something
2. Create a strategy to learn or change something
3. Execute that strategy

STEP ONE - ACCEPT
Many of the people I have known in my life get stuck right at #1, accept that you CAN'T do something. They feel this is an admission of inferiority and a threat to their ego and feelings of self-worth. I have seen this over and over again in some people's inability to call their teacher by a title of respect. If you can't acknowledge that there is something you CAN'T do then how can you learn something new?

STEP TWO - THE PLAN
Next you need to formulate a plan of how improve that kick, make your crane roll smoother, face the fear of performing in front of others, ....whatever your challenge is. The plan needs to be progressive and smart. It needs to start with what you can do and lead you toward the land of "that scares the crap out of me".

STEP THREE - EXECUTE
This step is made much easier by creating a smart plan, with a realistic first couple steps.


After 10-20 years of pushing through barriers in this way, the Shaolin-Do student starts to apply these principles across the board in their life. They acknowledge deficiency, create the plan and take action. Year after year, hunting their weaknesses mercilessly.

HOW MANY times have you heard people explain away some uncomfortable personal trait by saying "that's just the way I am". Instead we say, "I'm working on it".

THE FORK IN THE ROAD
This is the reason I say that as you grow older you either get wiser or crazier. There is no inbetween. You either work to fix your problems or you bury them deeper under the BS and live in fear of exposure. So Shaolin-Do becomes your ticket to a better life by teaching the principle of progressive change through hard work. You learn the humility to acknowledge your deficiencies and develop the personal courage to face the work and changes needed to fix them.


I will be sharing a tool taken from Shaolin training for your personal transformation in my Kick seminar this month. I have never shared this with another single person before now. Hope to see you there.
October 28th 3-5:30 at North Austin School
Kung Fu Seminar

Why Do We Sweat?

Why We Sweat
Humans sweat more than just about any other animal. Another animal that sweats profusely is a horse. This is perfect for my argument that Humans are meant to stay in motion. Evaporative cooling only works best when air moves against our skins to evaporate the sweat. Hmmm, horses seem to use it the same way since they LOVE TO RUN!

Humans are meant to stay in motion. Our metabolisms work better when we are pushed physically and our minds respond by rewarding us with optimism, enthusiasm and motivation. In terms of evolution, our ability to move, with speed and endurance, was critical for survival. This was only rivaled by our need to out-think our prey. So during exercise, our minds go into over-drive. We fulfill our evolutionary destiny by becoming the perfect hunting/killing machine. A brain with unparalleled ability to make connections, learn and predict, combined with a body that can sweat to cool itself like the perfect long-distance running machine.

Whether or not you subscribe to this line of reasoning is not important. I believe lots of lies that are very useful. For example, everything that happens in my world, is a direct result of something I did or didn't do. Of course this is a ridiculous notion, but it gives me more power over my world. Many folks turn over responsibility for everything in their life, as blame on other people or something like the government. This leaves them powerless to change even the things they can take control of.

By believing it is my evolutionary destiny, my phylogenetic legacy to exercise and think positive thoughts, then so be it. it might be only partially true, but I can turn that little belief into momentum and action.  In sparring, if I BELIEVE that I can step over to your space and knock your head clean off without you being able to stop me, I actually stand a pretty good chance of making it happen, since fear is what stops most of us from getting what we want.


Of course this blog is related to various martial art related themes like
Austin martial arts and austin karate, more classes