Archive for March 2021

Shu ha ri roughly translates as to “to keep, to fall, to break away”. shu (守) “protect”, “obey”—traditional wisdom—learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs ha (破) “detach”, “digress”—breaking with tradition—detachment from the illusions of self ri (離) “leave”, “separate”—transcendence—there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural, becoming one with spirit alone without clinging to…

Hei Jo Shin 平常心 (Ordinary, Common, Everyday Mind or Presence of mind) Heijoshin is a term that is not commonly used in Karate but is an important part of Iaijutsu. Despite its rarity in karate-do it is a term and concept that applies and is of value to understand. Heijoshin (or peace of mind) is…

I think Charles Dickens described it best in A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times…It was the worst of times….” As we continue to work through a year of a life ending and life changing pandemic, we can reflect on what we’ve lost and what we’ve gained. We’ve learned a lot…

Sun Tzu, in his classic work, “The Art of War” stated that to be guaranteed victory that you had to know yourself and your opponent. If you only knew yourself, then you might be victorious half the time or if you only knew your opponent then your success rate may only be 50%. We all…