Core philosophies... Livin the life...

[Chrissy Scott]

In reading the post about core philosophies I found myself drawn to this sentence: "often, the best teaching that we do is by simply working on ourselves. As an instructor you are obligated to continue to create a martial arts lifestyle for yourself." And immediately my mind goes to the question Mr. Oliver asked me at my green belt test about what my favorite part of karate is. I answered that kata is my favorite. I wasn't thinking far enough. My favorite part is how little of my karate actually happens in the dojo and how much of it happens ALL THE TIME.

So, as an assistant/aspiring instructor, I am am obligated to create a martial arts lifestyle for myself and to work on myself. From the decisions I make grocery shopping to the decisions I make at work, I want to be a martial artist. I want to eat healthfully like a martial artist, I want to be an asset to my employers, I want to do random kind things as often as possible without even thinking about it. Basically, I want to be a real, WHOLE martial artist. I realize this and am committing to this. And so are the people around me. There have been several instances at work where a discussion with my boss ends with her asking me if she's going to have to call my sensei about this. True story.

And the work I'm doing to improve myself is good stuff to share. Recently, I had a great conversation with a friend about my passion for the lifestyle of a martial artist. The next day she told me how that talk encouraged her to sign up for Thai Chi, because she wants to feel the things she hears when I talk about BEING a martial artist. Friends who know me well have started asking what my race is for this year is, what's my challenge, what am I training for. I tell them I'm not really approaching things like that anymore and they look at me funny. My challenge, my commitment, my training.... Is to be a martial artist. The races I choose are just reflections of my bigger picture. The lifestyle choice serves me better and deeper than achieving a goal. My choice to be a martial artist is this all-encompassing PURPOSE. And that just feels good. I havent quite figured out how to turn personal lessons into everyone lessons, but I will. I hope to pass it all on...

[Mike Oliver]

It makes me very happy to see our assistants engaged in a way that wasn't available to me when I was assisting in classes.

BTW, invite your boss to class and she can tell us all about it! :)