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Spirit-Mind-Body by Prof. Dan Anderson
One of the biggest concerns in my community regarding martial
arts training is the spiritual aspect of them. Many parents have
been raised on seeing the television show Kung Fu, in which the
traveling ex-Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine, is shown being
philosophical or meditating in between fights and crisis scenes. I
thought I’d address this at this now.
The three areas of development in many martial arts are: mind,
body, spirit. It is the same in my school. Mind and body are easy to figure out. With the mind you are receiving an education not only in the technical aspects but also in the ethical use/non-use of the martial arts techniques. Quite often how to use the various aspects of martial arts training in everyday life is also taught. The body training is a no-brainer. You work out and your body gains the benefits. Okay, what about spiritual training? What does this encompass?
First of all, spiritual training (in my school as well as many others) has nothing to do with religious beliefs or religious training. This is in the realm of one’s personal choice of religion. Note – there are some schools which might include meditation and there is even one that I know of, Shorinji Kempo, which is based on a type of Zen. In the west martial arts training has nothing to do with that. So, how does martial arts training improve the spirit?
I look at spirit in two different ways. First is in energy level. It is a well known fact that if you are active, your energy level improves. We live in a video screen culture. This is unfortunate as when you are in front of a video screen for long periods of time, obviously your body does not move. Have you ever sat for a long time in one place and then found it difficult to get up? As we get older it happens all the time. You experience “lack of energy”. Now think about someone who is active. Quite often a phrase that is used to describe a kid with lots of energy is “They’ve got a lot of spirit.” Spirit = energy. This is one way martial arts helps spirit. With the training you become more active, more used to moving the body. You have more energy and more spirit.
The second way I look at spirit is looking at the person himself/herself. Let me make the analogy of a car. A car has a computer system or internal system that regulates gas flow, turn signals, what have you. This is the mind of the car. There is the construct of the car itself; the tires, the fender, the engine, windshield, etc. This is the body. Then there is the driver. This is you. In my view you are the spirit. You use your mind to process information and use your body to move. Martial arts training is about setting goals and achieving them. It is about improving yourself. When you achieve a goal, how do you feel? After a good work out how do you feel? When you become more confident, who is becoming more confident? You are. All of the training benefits you. You are the spirit of the mind-body-spirit equation. Martial arts are a personal adventure in which one benefits in all three aspects of the human experience.
Prof. Dan Anderson
Adult Bullying by Tom Corsin
Ever experience this scene? You are sitting with a group of peers. The person leading the meeting asks for opinions and ideas regarding the discussion. Every time you try to say something, this person cuts you off or dismisses your input. This is a scene that can play out anywhere, except this is your work and you are an adult. Most people assume bullying ends when we graduate from high school, but the sad fact is, bullying continues into adulthood and statistics show it is on the rise.
Remember that bullying is repeated, unwanted, aggressive behavior towards someone with the intent to cause physical and/or mental harm. Adult bullying can take on many forms and may be hard to distinguish from harassment. According to bullyingstatistics.org, the adult bully can be categorized in one of five groups; the Narcissistic Bully, the Impulsive Bully, the Physical Bully, the Verbal Adult Bully and the Secondary Adult Bully. Each of these five groups are unique and have different modes of operation for the adult bully.
If the pattern of abuse is not stopped at a young age, bullies who grow to adulthood continue to find victims to abuse. What makes adult bullying tough to handle, however, is now you have a bully with ten, fifteen, twenty or more years experience as a bully and they have gotten good at what they do. For these bullies, verbal bullying is the abuse of choice. Some bullies continue the physical bullying, but most have figured out that the mere threat of physical harm and not the actual act of harm will be enough to accomplish their goals.
What is an adult bully looking for? They seek domination and power over others they perceive to be of lesser stature than themselves. They use bullying as a means to gain power over or humiliate those around them. Some bullies are self-centered and exhibit little or no empathy towards their victim. They have no fear or worry about the consequences of their actions. Others may be more spontaneous with their bullying, allowing stressful situations to initiate the bullying behavior. No matter the method of bullying, the behavior is wrong and causes physical and/or emotional damage to their victims.
Where does adulthood bullying take place at? According to studies, 41% of adult victims are bullied on the job. Bullying can also come from an abusive neighbor, parents or adults at sporting events, on public transportation or other activities where groups of people have gathered.
Since bullying can have serious effects on a victim’s mental and physical health, it is important to stand up and fight this abusive behavior. For employee’s who experience on-the-job bullying, 21 states have introduced legislation titled “The Healthy Workplace Bill”. Unfortunately, at this time none of these 21 states have passed this bill into law. The positive side of this is the states are recognizing the fact that workplace bullying has negative effects on production and health of employees.
No matter where adulthood bullying takes place at, it is wrong and harmful. Dealing with an adult bullying isn’t easy. If this activity is taking place at work, seek help from the Human Resources department. Some companies may foster bullying by creating a workplace culture that focuses on outcomes without considering what the consequences are or “the good ‘ol boy’s club” atmosphere where things have been what they are since time began. If your company is like this and does not have a supporting HR department, there are excellent online resources to guide you to the help you need to solve your bullying problems. You can become an advocate for workplace bullying by supporting your states effort to enact the ” The Healthy Workplace Bill” at www.healthyworkplacebill.org/takeaction/citizenlobby.php. Other forms of adulthood bullying may not be easy to deal with. There are few laws to keep abusive neighbors in check and you may find yourself avoiding sporting/public events to reduce incidents of bullying. No matter the type of bullying, you are not to blame and more help is available as more people become aware of the effects of bullying.
For more information, watch for future posts on specific bullying subjects or contact us at school.danandersonkarate.com/.
50+ and Heading For Black Belt by Marie Anderson
I am a mother of 6, grandmother to 8, 54 years old and I am heading for my Black Belt. 8 years ago I was not so optimistic. I was 35 lbs overweight, couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without being incredibly out of breath and upset about the lost opportunities of my youth. I still had goals I wanted to achieve but the physical aspects of the goals seemed beyond my capabilities.
What’s even worse is that I used to be an athlete. I skied back in high school. I trained on my own every summer to get in shape for the ski team. I loved downhill racing. The thought of going down a hill 60 mph and over moguls excited me. I trained hard and my final year I was in a winner in ski meets. I was rock hard and definitely in shape.
35 years later I didn’t look so good. I decided to attack this situation in several ways. I found several good diets and over the years have permanently lost 20 lbs. I now take walks regularly. But one of the most important goals from my childhood was to become a black belt. I began taking taekwondo but had to quit when I found out I was pregnant with my 3rd child. Three of my kids ended up attaining Black Belt but I didn’t. I was too busy raising them.
Two and a half years ago I asked my husband to develop a karate/self-defense class for the ”old and out of shape” – me. I wanted a class where I could go at my own pace, gain strength, learn something useful and not get hurt by either something someone else would do or by something I would do by myself. This became particularly challenging when I developed fibro myalgia. My joints hurt constantly, I was tired all the time, any jerky motions or body contact created intense pain that would last for weeks at a time. Kata practice became perfect for me. This helped strengthen my body to a point where I could participate in class regularly.
Another important aspect is the spiritual/mental side of it. A constant, persistent drive to keep a positive attitude played a large factor in it. This is very important. It is too easy to let the body get the best of us. I look at it this way: a body is a body but who runs the body? I do! I run it. It doesn’t run me. I found inner power in the combination of my spiritual and mental strength.
The fibro sure worked hard against me but I applied another point of self-defense, dietary self-defense. If you look up on the internet how to handle fibro myalgia you will find more drugs than you can shake a stick at. No, not for me. I reworked my diet to eliminate all sugar and wheat. This helped my fibro myalgia symptoms. Exercise is also an important tool to combat fibro. This seemed contradictory when everything hurts. I dove into it anyway and decided to conquer it…which I did.
My husband has a saying about karate training. “If I can do it, anyone can.” Well, this applies not only to men but to any woman as well. I am going to make it to Black Belt! This is my goal. I have worked it out how to do this. If I can do it, any woman can!
Marie Anderson
Trust Your Hunches by Prof. Dan Anderson
Women’s Self Defense Class 2012 – Demonstrating a kicking tactic on my student, Jenn Muller.
This coming Saturday is our next installment of the Women’s Self Defense Course. I am excited! Our last class was well attended and well received by everyone. One thing I am going to go over in this class is to trust your hunches.
A father of one of my students in the children’s classes is a police officer. My wife asked him what he would say to the participants of the class. In essence what he told her was to trust your hunches.
He told her that in every case, one for one, the women who had been attacked had some sort of bad feeling about the situation, environment, etc., prior to the actual assault. Every case, one for one. Not nearly every case. Not 99.5%. EVERY CASE, ONE FOR ONE.
We live in such a materialistic culture that the concept of “women’s intuition” has been looked down upon or made fun of so much that trusting your feelings often gets lumped into the same category. This is a huge mistake. Huge! Feelings can be transmitted. All too often children get scared because of one child being scared to begin with. What makes an angry mob? An angry person.
What makes a creepy person a creep? A creepy vibe. When you look at a person, you don’t immediately know their past history. You get a vibe. That’s what you get. A vibe.
Guys, don’t ever believe you don’t pick up “vibes over the airwaves.” If you’re a husband or boyfriend, you know what I mean. We all have walked into a room and immediately known we were in trouble. We didn’t know what for but we knew that the wife/girlfriend was mad about something.
The point I’m making is whether you are a guy or gal, trust your hunches. If something doesn’t feel right. Act on it. If a place doesn’t feel safe to go into, don’t go into it. If an acquaintance starts acting odd, be on your guard. Let your feelings be your alarm system. Don’t be paranoid and decide that this is an unsafe culture because of the media reports nothing but bad news but at the same time, don’t discard your feelings about a situation. If it feels funky, be on your guard.
Yours,
Prof. Dan Anderson
We Make A Difference (part 4) by Prof. Dan Anderson
In the first blog of this series, I went over the subject of teaching virtues side by side with the techniques of martial arts. Why do I bring this up? Because our aim at Dan Anderson Karate School is to make a difference in each student’s lives. Anybody can kick and punch. Anybody can grapple. Anybody can do weapons work. There is nothing wrong with that. The lessons learned from martial arts training can spill over into one’s life and make that person’s quality of life better. This is what I am aiming for. I am going to veer off the subject of virtues for this next blog entry. Martial Arts promote the concept of self-confidence.
There is a lot of talk about self-confidence. What is that, anyway? Confidence in one’s self. It is the knowledge that you can do what you set out to do. Well, that is simple enough. Everybody has self-confidence in different areas. Everyone has something that they can do well. It doesn’t matter if it is working on a car, being able to draw, how to read a map, great handwriting or spelling abilities, whatever. Anything you can do with competence you have self-confidence in. In fact, I’ll bet you really never think whether you are confident in it or not.
So, where does self-confidence come in? It comes in developing confidence in something you’re not sure if you can do or not. Lack of confidence is the bug. This crops up in the area of self-defense all the time. “What will I do if I am attacked? How will I defend myself?”
As you train you gain more and more skills in how to protect yourself and the answers to your questions become apparent. How does this spill over into self-confidence in life? That answer is very simple. It’s right in front of your eyes if you think of it in this way. Self-defense has to do with survival. Lack of self-confidence also concerns itself with survival. Survival in this way can mean anything from making more friends, performing your job better, etc. Anything that enhances your life, makes a better quality of life will make a better quality of daily survival. A good example is the guy who doesn’t like his job. Life sucks, or at least the job sucks. Well, this is 8 hours out of his day where life is not so good. Compare that to the guy who loves his job. That is, at least, 8 hours in his life that life is pretty good. Who is surviving better? The guy who loves his job.
Learning how to protect yourself = learning how to survive better. This confidence spills over into making a better quality of life as your confidence in surviving in one manner increases your ability to survive in additional ways.
Martial arts are about survival, but not only about fighting. Martial arts are about living. I liken it to the exchange between Tom Cruise’s character, Capt. Algren, and the emperor Meiji in the move, The Last Samurai:
Meiji – “You were with Katsumoto at the end?”
Algren – “Yes.”
Meiji – “Tell me how he died.”
Algren – “No. I will tell you how he lived.”
That is the benefit of Martial Arts to me – how you live and how to better your life.
Prof. Dan Anderson
Shaming, A New Cyber Bully Threat by Tom Corsin
There are very few of us who have not heard of the Internet, Email and Social Media. In fact, I would venture to say that someone who has not experienced these things here in the United States has probably been living in a cave for the last couple of decades. The Internet has been such an integral part of our lives long enough that kids today have always been influenced by it.
As computers, smart phones, texting, email, tablets and social media sites have given us new avenues of communication, a new phenomenon has started in the last few years; Cyber Bullying. Bullying has been around as long as there have been people, but Cyber Bullying is a fairly recent development, gaining in popularity among bullies as our connectivity increases. Cyber Bullying is an especially nasty form of bullying because it follows the victim everywhere. Physical or verbal bullying requires the bully to be physically present with the victim. Cyber bullying, on the other hand, will show up anywhere someone has access to a phone, tablet or computer. In fact, the victim does not even have to be aware of the bullying. Cyber bullying can be vicious emails, texts or social media postings calling the victim ugly or worthless or, worse yet, suggest they kill themselves because everyone hates them. A particularly nasty aspect to Cyber bullying is the ability of the bully to remain anonymous by creating a fake identity on a media site, logging in under another person’s account or creating a “bashing” website where others can go on and vote for the “ugliest, fattest or most hated” victim.
Although there are many versions of Cyber Bullying, I want to focus this week on a new trend called “Shaming”. “Shaming” or “Teen Shaming” starts out with innocently posted, often silly, pictures of teens. The bully then goes online and reposts the picture with insulting or mocking statements, meant to demean the victim. Shaming started in 2012 when a girl reposted several pictures criticizing other girls for their silly online pictures. Others saw the pictures and it soon spawned several Facebook and Tumblr sites dedicated to shaming. Shaming originally was very popular with girls and is now starting to gain in popularity with boys. Posting pictures online of ourselves has become something we do second naturedly. We often do not think about what we are posting or what a bully will use in their attacks. We all like to have fun, but there are times when we need to stop and ask ourselves if that picture is really appropriate to post online where everyone can see it.
As stated earlier, Cyber Bullying and Teen Shaming are especially vicious forms of bullying due to the widespread availability of the internet, cell phones and computers. This form of bullying can occur 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Posting online is instantaneous and can spread to many people very quickly. Several pictures on the Facebook and Tumblr have gone viral, meaning a lot of people have seen and responded to the posting in a short amount of time.
If you suspect your child may be a victim of cyber bullying or shaming, get help right away. One important aspect of helping a victim is to let them know that you care for them and that it is not their fault. They need someone to talk to and support them not blame them or ignore them. Find out what happened, be their biggest friend and supporter and seek out help. There are many online websites that offer support and help. I have listed a couple below as an example.
Stopbullying.gov
Bullying.org
Pacer.org/bullying/resources/
We Make A Difference (part 3) by Prof. Dan Anderson
We Make A Difference (part 3)
In the first blog of this series, I went over the subject of teaching virtues side by side with the techniques of martial arts. Why do I bring this up? Because our aim at Dan Anderson Karate School is to make a difference in each student’s lives. Anybody can kick and punch. Anybody can grapple. Anybody can do weapons work. There is nothing wrong with that. The lessons learned from martial arts training can spill over into one’s life and make that person’s quality of life better. This is what I am aiming for. To raise the quality of life for each student I teach. Among other things I try to get across the teaching of virtues.
What is a virtue? A virtue is “an ideal quality in human conduct”. I teach virtues to balance the violent qualities of martial arts techniques. If you look at any depiction of martial arts in the media, it is always about fighting. Even the television show Kung Fu, where the hero desperately tried to be a pacifist, he always ended up in a fight. Martial arts are so much more than fighting. Martial arts are about changing lives for the better. Although the popular concept of virtues in martial arts is “This is the Japanese way” or some such, every great culture in any era was marked by the teaching of virtues in their societies. In this blog entry I will go over another virtue taught at the Dan Anderson Karate School.
There is a word we use that I don’t think you will find in any dictionary. “Stick-to-it-ive-ness”. Stick to it. Continue. Carry on. How many times do we find that something is hard to do or doesn’t seem as easy as it once was? All the time. The only problem, these days, is that often the solution is to quit and do something else. The lesson one learns from this is “If you are presented with an obstacle, quit.” This is the philosophy of run away. While running away during a self-defense situation is a smart thing to do, you can’t run away from life. Life is everywhere. On top of that, life presents obstacles for you to overcome. A better job, better grades, losing that last 10 lbs, keeping the marriage alive – these are parts of life that you can either run away from or face head on and overcome.
Attitude plays a huge part in this. If you take the victim viewpoint life can be “a serious proposition, not to be trifled with by amateurs.” This is all too often the case with many people. “ Life is too tough. I just can’t seem to get ahead. If I just get a break.” This is a tough way to view life and not a very enjoyable one.
If you take the Martial Culture viewpoint, then life becomes a game to be played, and a game is to be won. How do you win the game? Besides going for the gusto to win, sticking to it when presented with an obstacle or a series of obstacles is the way to win it. This is the Martial Culture attitude. Go at it, attack, stick to it, overcome the obstacle despite whatever opposition you encounter. If you read the story of any successful person whether in business, politics, sports, or in personal relationships, you will find that one aspect stands out like a big neon sign: “Stick to it and don’t give up.”
Just as you work on a technique or confront your fears in martial arts by sticking to it until you’ve got that handled, you can use this same approach to anything you encounter in life. This is a terrific life lesson derived from martial arts training.
Prof. Dan Anderson
Happy New Year!!! by Prof. Dan Anderson
Happy New Year!
Well, 2012 is behind us and 2013 is no longer on our door step but is staring us in the face. Every new year there is the tradition of making “New Year’s Resolutions.” This is a series of goals one wants to accomplish or things you want to change about yourself for the better and so on.
Quite often the New Year’s Resolutions drift by the wayside by the time of the Super Bowl. Too bad. Why might that happen? Well, there are all sorts of reasons but I think the biggest reason is a hidden one. To me it’s the fact that the end goal ends up being too far off in the future. “I want to lose 30 lbs.” “I want to buy that new Jaguar I’ve had my eye on.” “I want to afford to go to Italy for my dream vacation this year.” “I want to have 150 students actively training by the end of 6 months.” Then two weeks, two months down the road it doesn’t seem like you’re any closer to your goal so your intention fades and soon enough, your New Year’s Resolution is something you either laugh or cry about.
Well, if that is the hidden reason, then the hidden solution is right in front of our eyes. Set up a series of attainable sub-goals that in the end, add up to the main goal. You want to lose 30 lbs? Your first sub-goal might be to go get a book on weight loss. Then the next goal would be to enroll in a martial arts school (preferably mine) to get exercise. And so on. A series of step-by-step sub goals that add up to the achievement of the main goal is a logical progression. After that is it a patient daily work towards that goal.
Black Belt is one of those goals that seem to be at the end of the rainbow, off in never, never land. No, it is but one of many goals you can attain in martial arts. The belt colors are your sub-goals towards the achievement of Black Belt. And here is something many people don’t think about – 1st Degree Black Belt is but one of a number of degrees of Black Belt. Even Black Belt is somewhat of a sub-goal. Interesting, eh?
I wish everyone who reads this (and those of you who don’t) a Happy New Year. I wish everyone achieves their New Year’s Resolutions this year. I hope this blog helps you to do so.
Prof. Dan Anderson
We Make A Difference (part 2) by Prof. Dan Anderson
In the first blog of this series, I went over the subject of teaching virtues side by side with the techniques of martial arts. Why do I bring this up? Because our aim at Dan Anderson Karate School is to make a difference in each student’s lives. Anybody can kick and punch. Anybody can grapple. Anybody can do weapons work. There is nothing wrong with that. The lessons learned from martial arts training can spill over into one’s life and make that person’s quality of life better. This is what I am aiming for. To raise the quality of life for each student I teach. Among other things I try to get across the teaching of virtues.
What is a virtue? A virtue is “an ideal quality in human conduct”. I teach virtues to balance the violent qualities of martial arts techniques. If you look at any depiction of martial arts in the media, it is always about fighting. Even the television show Kung Fu, where the hero desperately tried to be a pacifist, he always ended up in a fight. Martial arts are so much more than fighting. Martial arts are about changing lives for the better. Although the popular concept of virtues in martial arts is “This is the Japanese way” or some such, every great culture in any era was marked by the teaching of virtues in their societies. In this blog entry I will go over some more of the virtues taught at the Dan Anderson Karate School.
A virtue that goes hand-in-hand with Good Sportsmanship is the virtue of Fairness. When you are being fair in your dealings with other karate students, you will be known as a partner you can trust to work with. This is an ideal position to be in. Others will trust you (which is another virtue, buy the way). You ever have somebody that you were unsure of? You didn’t know how they were going to treat you? On the other side of the coin have you ever known somebody who would treat you fairly despite whatever mistake you made? The second person is safer to be around. To learn to treat another fairly is a virtue that will help you in so many areas outside of the school in life.
Prof. Dan Anderson
We Make A Difference by Prof. Dan Anderson
We had a situation at the school recently whereby a student had made a bad decision and got into some trouble. Instead of penalizing this student, we went over the tenets of Martial Culture and had this student submit an amends project in order to be accepted back into the group.
Why do I bring this up? Because our aim at Dan Anderson Karate School is to make a difference in each student’s lives. Anybody can kick and punch. Anybody can grapple. Anybody can do weapons work. There is nothing wrong with that. The lessons learned from martial arts training can spill over into one’s life and make that person’s quality of life better. This is what I am aiming for. To raise the quality of life for each student I teach. Among other things I try to get across the teaching of virtues.
What is a virtue? A virtue is an ideal quality in human conduct. To balance the violent qualities of martial arts techniques, I teach virtues as well. Although the popular concept of virtues in martial arts is “This is the Japanese way” or some such, every great culture in any era was marked by the teaching of virtues in their societies. In succeeding blog entries I will go over some of the virtues taught at the Dan Anderson Karate School.
I’ll start with the virtue of Good Sportsmanship. Our school does a lot of partner training. Some of it is cooperative drills and some of it is free-sparring. In both of these types it is easy to get competitive. Unfortunately, free-sparring (training) sometimes turns into free-fighting (win-lose goals). Teaching the virtue of Good Sportsmanship brings about more of a working together attitude. This is far more positive than a working against attitude.
When you exemplify Good Sportsmanship, you become, in the eyes of others, a safe person to train with. This, in turn, creates a safe school to train in.
Prof. Dan Anderson