All Journal Entries (393)

Our collective work on the book Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life starts today. (It's not too late to start btw, the ebook version is only $1.99) This week, read Chapter One: Ending Your Struggle with Weight. This is a substantial chapter that introduces some of the core concepts that will be expanded upon by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung as we progress.

No more…

This is our outline for eight weeks of reading and practice of the book Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life. We will be reading one chapter per week. I've also broken up segments of dietary advice as well the moving and meditation practices into the 8-weeks. The goal being that by the end of that 8-weeks we will have made considerable inroads into being more mindful with our diet, and…

Getting kids and families having fun outside is important for many reasons. To name a few, exploring the outdoors leads to a greater appreciation for nature and natural beauty, enhances observation skills, increases environmental awareness, provides a venue for exploration, and teaches hands-on ecology and biology.

In order to help kids and families make the most of the outdoors, I am collecting fun and safe places to explore as part of my green belt project.  I am posting…

A handful of my adult students and a few parents of our little ones were intrigued when I mentioned a book on diet and mindfulness recently. Some of you even liked the idea of reading it together and sharing our notes and thoughts online--a good old fashioned book club. So here is our official announcement for the…

One of the key principles of effective self-defense is to learn awareness. In our classes I have recently been talking about the color code system that we use to denote where we are in our internal and external awareness.

The bottom level of this color code is CODE WHITE.   This signifies someone who is completely unaware of what’s going on around them.  They are switched off and distracted.  This is exactly what a potential predator is looking for when they are looking for a…

These are some random acts of kindness I documented as part of a homework assignment.

1. I helped a copier technician load a machine into his truck when I saw he did not have a hand truck.
2. I brought paperwork down to our office secretary so that she did not have to walk the production floor.
3. I discussed classwork and gave study advice to a university student that was struggling with a class.
4. I opened a security gate for a co-worker when I saw that he…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:         

Mike Oliver, Lead Instructor/Owner

moliver@zenmartial.com

Zen Martial Arts (ZenMartial.com)

916-678-0565

Zen Martial Arts Kids Ask for Treats and Canned Food on Halloween

Local martial artists and the…

“WE’RE MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT”

R-WORD

SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD

AWARENESS…

THE FIRST STEP TO CHANGE

Tuesday, Oct 4^th starting with the Little Dragons class we will meet the Sanchez family.

"Living life one day at a time as a family of…

September is right around the corner and for some reason that feels like "almost there" is getting really close. The end of August makes 9 months of 150 push ups a day, 150 crunches a day, 3 katas a day, logging stuff, thinking about projects and doing some projects... etc. 9 months worth of daily repetitions, daily consciousness. I feel like I should wear a bracelet that says WWBBD (What Would a Black Belt Do). Ha. So, basically, a lot has gone into the last 9 months. A whole lot. Last…

1. 07/26 Offered to change five gallon water jug for co-worker with a bad back.
2. 07/27 Opened door for stranger at bank; his belt matched his shoes (more clay-brown than dark-brown).
3. 07/27 Friend asked about singing lessons, so I directed her to vocal training DVD that I had found very helpful. I tracked down the first DVD of the series and lent it to her, encouraged her give it a try. She noted that the instructor on the DVD is easy on the eyes; I was glad she found it…

Deirdre Fitzpatrick from KCRA 3 had the courage to step out onto the dojo floor with us recently. Read about her experience below.

Zen. So relaxing.

So not what I expected when I ended our 26 part Workouts A-Z series with a workout called Zen Martial Arts.

Zen Martial Arts is the cardiovascular…

Much the same to report. Keeping up with everything. Lately the efforts have come in ebbs and flows rather than consistency and routine. I'll take it for now. I need to grant myself that. We're going on 8 months now, and that's usually a long training season for me. Usually after 8 months (wish is usually September-ish) I've done all the events I chose for the year. I've talked about this before, how keeping something going for 12 months was going to be a challenge. I was right, but I'm good…

This is why compassion, kindness, and anger management are such important and oft discussed topics at our karate school.

SAN JOSE -- San Jose police say a 16-year-old Florida boy is facing charges for assaulting an opponent after losing a martial arts tournament.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that the Miami Lakes black belt was booked on a felony assault charge after he bowed to his opponent, shook his hand and then kicked him in the…

It's been a while since I posted anything, and also a challenge to maintain UBBT requirements lately.  June was an incredibly busy work month, and the fallout continues into July.  As a ripple effect, daily requirements fell by the wayside, or were spottily done, and I'm not happy about that.  I need to get back to that consistency that I had in December and January, and remind myself that I know how to do that (it *was* all working, then, yeah?).

Nevertheless, there have…