Want some hormonal help for training? You won’t be taking any steroids for class … this is the free version (and it works better, too). The following is a lesson from learning and sports psychology, merged into our Budo, and applied directly and relevantly to our preparation for violence. Cortisol A release of Cortisol in your blood helps you think better and faster. It signals glucose release, giving your body AND brain the ability to adapt fast to challenging situations. There is lots more to say about this, including the relationship between adrenaline and cortisol (not obvious), and gender differences, too. For our purposes, let’s look at how our Dojo training is best improved by understanding this basic key part: Cortisol spikes under stress. The trouble is that training/practice is usually unlikely to recreate that hormonal change. You can exert yourself physically, have the experience of pushing yourself to exhaustion, but “fight or flight” type stress doesn’t come from that kind of training. Even “pressure testing” by going harder and faster and less predictably isn’t the same. But be careful: intensity like that feels so strong that it’s easy to convince ourselves that it feels like real-life stress. The truth is, your training partners (hopefully) care about you enough...
Learn MoreThe samurai days of Japan are gone. So, why are martial arts so popular, still? Is it some inexplicable desire to better understand the past? or a foreign lifestyle? Or is it a combination of factors that offer broad and deep improvements to our lives? Here are some clear ideas that might explain our long held interest in Japanese martial arts in our modern American lives. Health About 50% of the people that have walked in the door to discuss martial arts training with me have mentioned explicitly that they have an interest in working out, and that “the gym is so boring” that they want a more interesting option, “and it would be good to get some skills at the same time” while getting their exercise. Physical Health You are certainly more likely to be attacked by coronary artery disease than a sword-wielding ninja … so sweat a little. Do some strength training, and work on your flexibility. All of this is found in good martial arts training. Of course, we can also look at the health benefits of potentially preventing or overcoming violence as a health issue. The Center for Disease Control actually takes exactly that position and calls violence “a serious public health problem in the...
Learn MoreNote: The following is a guest post by a dedicated student of Japanese history, who knew it would benefit our training to have ready access to this information. Enjoy! What is the History of the Hontai Takagi Yoshin Ryu? The roots of the Takagi Yoshin Ryu trace back to the thirteenth year of the Eiroku Period (1570) at the foot of Mount Futagata in the ancient province of Rikuzen (now Miyagi Prefecture) where a monk named Unryu lived. He devised methods for shurikenjutsu, bojutsu and taijutsu, which he referred to as “Sessho Hiden”. Among his disciples was a samurai named Ito Kii no Kami Sukesada, who combined the Sessho Hiden with his own knowledge of bojutsu to create methods of sojutsu, naginatajutsu, san shaku bojutsu, kenjutsu and kodachijutsu and founded his own bujutsu lineage, the Ito Ryu. In the second year of Shoho (1645), Takagi Oriemon Shigetoshi received menkyo kaiden in this lineage and incorporated techniques influenced by sumo to create his own Jujutsu lineage, the Takagi Ryu, containing 12 techniques Omote, 24 techniques Ura and 12 techniques Sabaki. During the Tenpo Era, at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, three top students of the thirteenth soke of the Takagi Yoshin Ryu (Yagi Ikugoro Hisayoshi) branched off to create...
Learn MoreMartial Arts Helps Develop Leadership? That’s What We’re Told … The martial arts “industry” of professional instructors (of which I guess I’m a part by default) has been trying its hardest to convince moms and dads around the world that their kids will benefit from martial arts in ways other than fighting and self defense. At my Dojo, we have a “Leadership Program” that actually takes time to talk about important personal and moral issues, and how our inherently violent training can be put to acceptable use. We ask some deep questions about why we train, to help counterbalance and better understand how we train. However, there is still plenty of doubt: punching and kicking certainly doesn’t seem like a very good way to learn about leadership skills in the modern day, in which (I hope) we’re moving away from violence and towards a harmonious future as a species on the planet. This has become one of those things that just seems so disingenuous to most people, so used-car-salesman type of thing to say. Imagine: “Mrs Jones, little Bobby will learn to be a caring leader among his peers … Now punch that pad harder, Bobby! An enemy deserves no mercy!” etc. That’s how most of the world MUST...
Learn MoreWe’ve all heard that “Success leaves clues” and we know that finding those clues will give us better chances of finding our own successes. Now, what if there were a road-map, easy to follow, with guides along the way who all wanted you to succeed? Wouldn’t that be even better? Luckily, that’s exactly what you have available, if you know where to look. The overwhelming majority of scientific evidence shows that being born into a successful family (or even an impoverished one) is not a complete indicator; it’s up to you to shape your own future. “Experts are always made, not born.” We must intentionally guide our activities to produce the results that we want. And, some things are more important than others. The major factors include: Intense Deliberate Practice Study with Devoted Teachers Enthusiastic Support from Friends and...
Learn MoreThe first time I ever used the martial arts skills I had learned from the initial approach to kobudo that I started studying in high school, an interesting thing happened. Of course, over the years there are details I don’t remember – this was high school. And, now that I’ve learned enough about the likely results of what must have included some adrenaline in my blood at the time, I recognize that it’s entirely likely that most of the “actual” details that I might remember would be at least partially wrong. With that in mind, I’m not so interested in recounting what skills got used or what worked and what didn’t work – I only remember a very little bit. What would be useful, though, is to discuss an odd thing that happened, that I actually DO remember … one that I have recently learned happens a lot to people doing something stressful and “new”. I say it was something “new” because it was the first time I had found myself in a position where I had a whole set of fighting skills that I had been practicing, and this was where they were supposed to work. In years prior growing up, I had found some use for the...
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