A Very Welcome Hello!

“Martial arts is not about fighting; it’s about building character.”

-Bo Bennett

I am happy to begin writing my first blog on this subject, and would like to thank you for taking the time to read it. That being said, let’s jump into the meat of what I intend this blog to be about.

It will focus on insights I have found through my experiences with the martial arts, and what I have been taught concerning it. I have spent 22 years practicing the arts, and have had the divine providence to be allowed to experience multiple different arts.

I began first with Tae Kwon Do for my first twelve years of practicing, learning five of its diverse styles, and then branching off into kendo, Shotokan, Okinawa-te karate, Muai Thai, Hapkido, Krav Maga, Aikido and Baguazhang. I received my first dan when I was 7 (though I would argue I did not deserve it then) and would receive many more as time went on in differing degrees of rank and style. I am currently at my highest rank a 3rd dan, and strongly believe I have earned that rank. That being said I am always happy to put on the white belt and start again, and by no means consider myself a belt collector. I believe as Bruce Lee taught to always be a student, and if ever a master, than one at having learned the humility necessary to learn other arts, as well as keep an open mind.

I have trained at Mcdojos, as well as schools that were quite the opposite. I began Kendo at the very first club in the D.C. area; I have seen masters retire, I have seen teachers pass away. I have run schools, been a head instructor and assistant instructor at the same time. I have taught in after school programs as a W-35 contractor making an actual living off the arts, and am currently pursuing an opportunity in Israel to teach with the non-profit organization Kids Kicking Cancer, which teaches martial arts to terminally ill cancer patients… for free.

I come from a strong Jewish background, but am myself a practicing Chan Buddhist, and Taoist. And these beliefs guide me quite strongly in my martial experience.

I love the arts, seeing them as a way for one to express themselves while improving themselves constantly. It is a spiritual journey, as well as a lifelong one. A martial artist in my eyes is one who does more than techniques and meditation; we turn living into an art itself.

But to kick this off, I will do so with a simple question; What is a martial artist?

In my eyes,

We are warriors and writers, builders, explorers, cooks and dancers. Life itself is our poetry.

We are those humble enough to remain open minded. We can be afraid, but have the strength to swallow that fear. We fight like fire, move like water, react as the wind. We keep form as though wood, with strength like metal, and think as the void. We express and are the Dao, now.

We are teachers and students, dilligent and steadfast, and do not shy from the hard work which must be done.

But we also each define ourself as a martial artist in our own mind’s eye. And no man’s view of what that consists of is less than any other.

It is a question you have to find an answer to, and simply responding a martial artist is one who practices martial arts is a simple tautology that only touches the depths of the deep as algae floating on an endless ocean does.

With that said, I hope anyone who reads this blog enjoys the experience. After all, we all are walking the same path; the difference is simply one may walk it differently than another, and through sharing, everyone has an opportunity to grow.

Namaste.

“If early you are on time. If on time you are late, and if you are late you are forgotten.”