"The greatest weapon in martial arts is not the fist or the foot, but the mind."
Martial arts will help reduce stress and anxiety. This is accomplished by encouraging you to practice deep breathing, meditation, and mindfulness. Martial arts helps train your mind to keep your attention focused while remaining calm and alert. When you train, you are training the body, mind and spirit.
What is Leadership?
Leadership entails a mindset as well as behaviors that help align people to work or go in the same direction. Leadership will help a group to work together and accomplish shared goals. Leadership can help us adjust to changes.
Learning to be a Leader is an important task for everyone. If your parents assign you certain chores at home, doing those chores without your parents having to ask you is a good start. Being self directed and self motivated is important.
There are different styles of Leadership and knowing which style works with which personality is also important. Leadership training can help you determine the styles of Leadership.
One way of beginning to train yourself in Leadership skills is to take Martial Arts classes. At some point in your training you will be allowed to mentor another student or to teach some classes. Showing Leadership to your fellow students is a tremendous opportunity for self evaluation and growth.
Come to Guerrero's Shotokan Karate and begin not only your journey in Martial Arts, but learn Leadership skills at the same time. These skills will become life skills that will help you in school and in your chosen career.
We are located at: 1607 S. 7 Highway
Blue Springs, MO 64015
816-224-4447
www.guerrerosshotokankarate.com
The term Bushido originated from Japanese roots and means "the way of the Warrior." The Bushido Code is a set of rules that Samurai Warriors followed from the eight Century. The Bushido Code allowed the warriors to balance their lives through the various concepts.
The Eight Virtues of Bushido
1. Justice: A course of conduct taken with consideration/thought/reason without wavering, "to strike when to strike is right. To die, when to die is right."
2. Courage: A virtue only if practiced in the path of righteousness. Confucius said, " Perceiving what is right and doing it not, reveals a lack of Courage." In Martial Arts today, it means to face challeges and adversity.
3. Mercy: This is one of the highest Bushido tenets. Even though the warrior may possess physical and legal power, they may show mercy. In modern times this can be shown by supporting community service or helping organizations that assist the needy.
4. Politeness: Respect in its highest form symbolizes love. Make the effort to display concern for others. We show this today by bowing to others in the Dojo and showing respect to our Instructors.
5. Honesty: This means trust and sincerity. The Samurai were very honest in their dealings and did not sign written contracts. They remained true to their word. Today, if we give our word, we should remain true to that word.
6. Honor: This was characterized by personal dignity and worth. We can show this by doing our best in class and showing up on time in a clean and ironed Gi.
7. Loyalty: This was of great importance to the Samurai. They were dutiful and loyal to their superiors, ready to die for them if needed or requested. We can show this to our Instructors today, by doing as they ask and by assisting them when possible.
8. Self Control: The Samurai had strong control over their emotions and they lived according to moral standards. We must do the same. We must not disrespect anyone in the Dojo and if we lose our temper, for example, we should remove ourself from the training area.
I think everyone will agree, if our society lived by the above 8 codes, we would have a very different experience in the current era. There would be very little crime and very little need to lock our homes and cars. The criminals would be dealt with swiftly and decisively, so everyone else could live peacefully.
There are many reasons that training in Martial Arts is important. I will discuss four major points to consider.
1. Self Defense: This is the main reason many people sign up for Martial Arts training. Violence is a reality and is prevalent in our society. Training in Martial Arts improves your chance of survival, if attacked. A good program also teaches risk recognition and risk avoidance. In other words, you will learn to avoid bad locations and bad situations.
2. Self Confidence: Training helps people realize their own capabilities and strengths. We are stronger than we realize and we can do more than we think we can. Both of these realities increase Self Confidence and reduce fear. Our drive to train to survive increases with our Self Confidence. Our feeling of self preservation strengthens, thus our confidence increases. Being confident helps you avoid an attack. Confident people just look like they will be too much trouble for an attacker. Human predators want someone who is passive and easy to subdue.
3. Health Benefits: We can reduce stress and release pent up energy during training. We can release negative emotions during our training. If you have a bad day, take it out on a Wave Master before class! The exercise of training along with a healthy diet can help in weight loss and help to build muscle mass. There are health benefits to training for all ages.
4. Sense of Belonging: In a good Martial Arts School you will develop a feeling of family or Community. You will meet people of all ages and in all walks of life. These people become your friends many times and people in a Martial Arts School may find themselves socializing with other people and their families as well as training together. Having this type of support during good times and times of loss is extremely beneficial. The people in your Martial Arts School become a group of people you know you can trust and you can count on.
Call Guerrero's Shotokan Karate and start your Martial Arts journey. We teach Shotokan, Aikido and Okinawan Weapons. We can be reached at: 816-224-4447 or on the internet at: www.guerrerosshotokankarate.com. We would love for you to become part of our family!
