sensei8

For me, and imho, this was a complete waste of time for both of them because it didn't provide anything of substance, whatsoever!! Was there suppose to be substance?? I really doubt it, no matter their cooperative and/or individual intents for this exercise. We all can assume all we want; reaching our own conclusions because we're on the outside looking in.

You might not be able to find the likes of those days gone by that are similar to the PKA days with Superfoot and Lewis. I've not seen things like that since the PKA of those days, as well as the days of Theriault, might be difficult to find. Not saying that you'll not find it. But if you do, please let me know so we two can enjoy them together!!

Solid post!! The small stuff?? To me, there's nothing small about Afib whatsoever.

Some take notes of passing text, while others take detailed notes, and others still take no notes at all. After all, the MA journey is YOURS ALONE!! There's no wrong or right when and if, you take notes or not. I'm in my 53 year in Shindokan and I've never ever taken notes at all. Why?? I was under Dai-Soke's tutelage almost daily, except on Sunday's, for 46 years; he passed away in 2010. Do I regret that I never took any notes? No, not really!! That's because what he taught me is etched into my brain for life. Years of drilling and being tortured by this taskmaster is enough to last a lifetime. Now, there's a book out that was written by Paul Walker...Lessons with the Master: 279 Shotokan Karate Lessons with Master Hirokazu Kanazawa A detailed and unique training resource! Paul Walker spent three years studying karate under the direct guidance of Master Kanazawa; this book is his diary entries of those years. Very detailed from cover to cover; a lesson from the Master, to be for sure!! Taking notes of this magnitude does have its advantages; the choice is of the practitioner, of course!!

This subject to me, and to most of everyone else, is a very sensitive subject matter, and in that, I try to be extremely careful, and respectful, as well as serious about this subject; never taking it lightly. It's both sad and confusing to wrap ones head around it, especially if were not somehow personally affected by it's consequences, and it's often times finality. I grew up with a mom that tried to take her own life while I was in Jr. High School. She had made it difficult for me to take things for granted because I never knew from one day or another if she was going to succeed in her suicide attempts. After a while, over about a years time, I started to become numb as well as insensitive towards her plight of depressions. My brother, Donald, and my sister, Ruth, and myself one time finally told her to either stop it or get it over. Yes, that was dumb and uncaring for us, however, imagine what she was putting us through on a daily basis; never knowing if she'll be with us any longer or not. Yes, she was going through something that was way beyond and above what we, as her kids, could solve. Our comforts just bounced off her and came back to us in sour verbal attacks!! We had no idea what to do to help her!! In time, and with the interventions of well caring and well meaningful professions, she received the help that she needed. Up until she passed away on an operating table, at 63 years old, 21 years ago this past June 1996, she was genuinely happy.

Sometimes that's just enough to appreciate the purity of any MA, no matter how different it might seem.

Being honest with oneself isn't an easy thing to do...honestly!! Bruce said it better than me, but you get the gesture.

And much wiser!! Once you get back on the horse, slowly but surely, you'll hit the ground with your feet running, almost as though you never slowed down.

I echo Brian's sentiments wholeheartedly across the board!! Won't know if it's something that fits your expectations until you visit it several times. And yes, welcome to KF, 6 finger fist; glad that you're here!!

Not sure if Alexa does it but I do find it quite cool to wake up in the morning and ask Google about my day. Reads off my calendar, the weather, then a quick run down of the new headlines. I want either bulbs or switches for me table lamps and thermostat. Been debating back and forth all day OK...I just got to get an Amazon Echoes soon!! I like what Danielle says that Alexa, which I think that Alexa is the name of her Amazon Echoes, I think, she reads off her calendar, the weather, then a quick run down of the new headlines. That is cool, and I believe that it could be much more helpful than a notepad.

Thank you, Alan, for your supportive words as well as your advice; they mean the world to me. I've had a few preemptive discussions with those who serve in the SKKA's Higher Hierarchy about what Dr. Childs has recommended. It seems that from what I can discern from these conference calls, that we're on the same page, referring to my roles as the Kaicho of the SKKA/Hombu, and this was quite refreshing because the prior Higher Hierarchy, for the most of them, were quite ambivalent towards a many things...God rest their souls!! I'll run a gambit of classes when I'm In-House at the Hombu, just to see what I do do, and then tweak it properly, with the help of many In-House resident Instructors whose ranks will range from Godan and up. Of course, those of the Higher Hierarchy will make their recommendations as well. I've ran several informal classes at my makeshift dojo, Kyuodan Dojo, and I did experience an episode or five where I was out of breath just after segments of 5-10 minutes in the introductions of my hands-on explanations, and my heart rates were near 193bpm. Good thing that Dr. Childs taught me 7 things to do to lower my heart rate and breathing.

Great replies, everyone!! Thank you for them!! The Pred wrote: I agree. The CI, in this regard, should, and must nip it in the bud immediately. Otherwise, the way back to pure understanding for all concerned might be lost forever. This is where the CI goes back, if not to late, to retraining said instructor(s) on proper teaching. Spartacus Maximus wrote: Solid post!! Not all black belts can teach, nor should they be!! It's a gift to be an effective teacher, and without that gift, there are no students. The ability of the CI, or any instructor, for that fact, weighs heavily on just how simple is simple...K.I.S.S., might be a MA maxim that should be considered across the board!! singularity6 wrote: This, from the aspect of a students point of view is important. Why? The CI/Instructor(s) are responsible to their students across the board, this includes, the teaching of the curriculum in such a way that it can be understood. Why? Student retention...for one!! Lose the students because they don't have a clue what in the world the CI and the like are saying. Trying to impress the student isn't why the CI is there in the first place. MatsuShinshii wrote: That's a fair question...how?? How did that CI/Instructor get in that position/grade in the first place?? Within the SKKA, those CI/Instructors under the constant watchful eyes of Soke and/or Dai-Soke earned both their ranks and their positions honestly. It's when the cat is away, the mice do play. These CI/Instructor opened their dojo's and somehow and sometime and someway, they started wandering away from what they were taught by Soke and/or Dai-Soke in time, and for them, their way served THEM. That new teaching muscle memory became their new teaching method. But CI/Instructor 'B', just wanted to impress everyone, including Soke and/or Dai-Soke so bad, that they forgot not only their place, but their idea of what teaching was. Impressing others is a vain and wasteful time. So they strayed away until Soke and/or Dai-Soke corrected their teaching abilities or they were banned from the SKKA across the board. Soke and Dai-Soke asked themselves that very same question...How in the world did they get like that?? Those CI's duly earned their ranks and positions...from Soke and/or Dai-Soke, nonetheless, but why their changes in their teaching methods?? Fix them or get rid of them!!!!!

Mastery, imho, is an assumption that is fraught with many delusions of grandeur. I will admit, in my tender youth, I was hooked by similar labels of mysticism in such wonderment because I, too, wanted to wear those badges, as a means of authority. It's great to know that those childlike interests waned away in time. By the time I earned my Sandan, I shortly thereafter, came to the epiphany that those unwarranted desires were completely unimportant to my MA betterment. I don't measure myself against other MAists as I use to because another MAist is just that to me...another MAist, and nothing more. I can stand on the floor with the most prominent MAist on the face of earth, and not be overwhelmed in their presence because that MAist that stands before me is just like me...a human being, and no one can convince me any other way. Respect is earned, and respect is a fragile thing, and respect isn't worshiping. In Shindokan, we've those unflattering labels, at the design of our Soke, and nowadays, I'm ashamed of these titles because they are so limited and so ugly. On the floor....I'm Bob...just that simple. During the days of Soke and Dai-Soke, ceremonies were their way of life, and in that, they made it our way of life it we were to be exposed to Shindokan in any shape, way, and/or form. Being introduced in any salutation other than Bob causes me to grimace and blush in embarrassment because it's not flattering whatsoever. Unfortunately, Kaicho is my official title within the SKKA, in which I therefore tolerate in within its official entitlement. But I loath it so!! For me to master anything, I believe that I must be perfect, and seeing that I'm the furthest thing from being perfect, I'm, by no means, not a master of anything. I can hold my own on the floor with anyone inside or outside of Shindokan. Oh yeah, I'm not unbeatable...just like any other MAist walking on the face of Earth, past, present, and future.

Thank you, everyone for your advice and support; neither will be taken lightly at all. I'll strive, this is just built in me, to continue to improve my quality of life across the board for my concerns. I do realize that my health situation ISN'T much more important than others, especially those who suffer from things that are much more terminal. If I seem to sound like my health issues are greater than someone else, please bring that to my attention. The thing that I'm the most vexed over is the much more awareness that I might have to entertain the possibility that my days on the floor might be much more diminished than what I'm so accustomed to. I've been told that I've a spark on the floor that's heightened due to my continued engagements with each and every student, and not a selected few. With the kids, I'm that one big kid!! And with adults, I'm that one big kid, but with much more resolve. I love to teach!! I love my students, internal and external!! The Student Body is what I live for; to improve their MA betterment!! To move their cheese constantly; challenging then to heights that they never thought existed. Yet, nowadays, I must learn to utilize instructors, both internal as well as external, in order to teach...to get my points understood...without me overly exerting myself more than necessary. Excuse me with what I'm about to post...I don't want any student, external and/or internal to express disappointment and/or disgust for the new role that I must take on the floor...the dependence of external as well as internal instructors. In teaching, one truly doesn't always do so much that they find themselves fighting for breath, but with Afib, that's exactly what I'll be experiencing whenever I exert myself more than necessary. With me, and the manner of how Shindokan tenets are taught...to learn Shindokan, one must experience it, and not in a passing notion...Resistant Training to name one!! It's not attractive to see and experience that I'm no longer that whippersnapper, but it is what it is; being totally honest about myself. AMA=Against Medical Advice...that I will not ever do because my wife and our kids are much more important than the MA, than my Student Body, and/or any assumed notion of expectations of any degree.

Study your opponent Study yourself Make a plan Carry the plan out So, yeah, for me, it's a constant evaluation across the board; being totally honest with oneself at all times.

To my dear friends in KarateForums.com from coast to coast and across the seas... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! May your day be filled with thanks for past blessings and prayers for bright hopes for the future!! Have a very safe and enjoyable time this Thanksgiving with family and friends, both near as well as far!!

By all means!!!!!

I wholeheartedly concur!!

I agree with you Brian!! I'm more referring to CI's WHO WERE and ARE exposed to Bunkai and the like on a daily basis, but had no the minimum of an idea what they were taught and what they're teaching whatsoever!! For those who've not the fortunate ability to be exposed to it on a daily basis, and have to depend on chance encounters like you and I had, and through other media's to get that grasp of Bunkai and the like. It's a tough situation, this is for sure!!

I like that Great definition Bob. I love it too. Can I use that? Yes you can use that, MatsuShinshii, and anyone else can too!!

I couldn't agree anymore stronger!!

That's a million dollar question!! Depending on whom one asks, the answer might be as many as there are stars in the sky. Not meaning to beat this horse to death, any misinterpretations about this very topic belongs to the CI!! If the CI misinterpretation about this topic is askew, then guess what, so will be the students as well. Then these students become CI's themselves, teaching what they were taught erroneously beforehand; the vicious cycle continues unchecked!! That's why I feel very fortunate to have had both a Soke and Dai-Soke that were born and raised in Okinawa before settling in the USA. Now, just because they were born and raised in Okinawa, didn't mean that they were correct in their own interpretation, but that's the furthest thing from the truth. They both very well understood this topic through and through!!

The lacking abilities of many MAist lies with the CI; the blame is the CI, and the CI alone. How?? It's true that the CI can't, and shouldn't, hold the hands of their student body to ensure that practicing is done daily, and so on and so forth. The student body must take ownership and accountability of their MA journey. Nonetheless, the CI allows the lackadaisical attitude and efforts on the floor to permeate in and through the dojo as though quality no longer matters across the board. CI's that watch the bottom line of a P&L more that they watch over their student body's progress have no business running a lemonade stand, let alone a school of the MA. The furthest one has to look at the reason why the student body is deplorable is no further than the CI!!

I wholeheartedly concur with MatsuShinshii!!

Happy 16 and a half Birthday, KarateForums.com; may you have many, many more!! Danielle, put in words with such spirit and understanding just how valuable KarateForums.com has been all these many years, and it will continue to fill the needs of KF members for those many years to come. The vision of Patrick is that exclamation point to any sentence that any KF members has ever written about KarateForums.com, as how KF was that light at the end of the tunnel, even when that light was quite dim. Thank you, Patrick for your undeniable vision, as well as the guidance that you share with each and every KF member unselfishly. I could go on and on touting about KF because KF deserves that gratitude!! Happy 16 and a half birthday, KarateForums.com!!