Newsletter 951
Angry Martial Arts
Had a kid in class yesterday,
he was losing at freestyle,
got upset,
got emotional,
started carrying on and whining
and generally disturbing the class.
We worked with him,
but at the end of class he was still upset.
The next class I gave a lecture
about giving in to emotion.
You have to control yourself
if you are going to control your opponent.
And I addressed this lad
who had been so-o- upset.
You were upset the other day,
it was hard to talk to you,
because you couldn’t listen through your emotions.
You’re calm now,
so now you get the lesson.
If you fall to emotion,
you’ll fail in your art,
and fall to an opponent.
He agreed.
But the day before he didn’t agree.
He couldn’t learn through emotion.
The point here is don’t be so anxious
to give a lesson
when somebody is upset.
Let him calm down.
When the emotion is gone,
and he is able to think,
to actually analyze,
that’s when you give the lesson.
And,
a quick lesson for you
on how to defuse emotion.
Humor.
One day we had a special needs kid in class.
He got upset,
screamed at us,
said a bunch of foul words,
went to the door
and flipped us all off.
The instructor next to me said,
‘Hey! I’m number one!’
Everybody laughed.
Even the special needs kid started to laugh.
So use humor,
if at all possible,
to defuse a situation.
Now,
it is HanaKwanMass!
You only have a couple of days
to get yourself a present,
and I tell ya,
the best present you can get somebody,
and even and especially yourself,
is a complete martial art.
Here’s one…
remember,
my HanaKwanMass poetry is almost here,
so sit by your computer with bated breath.
Here’s a great win…
A WIN!
My journey with Al started about 8 years ago with a book written by Al called Shaolin Butterfly, which I studied and still study on a daily bases. Then Al did something that has changed my martial arts life he started offering all of his courses at a lower price than what he used to charge. I took advantage and started by ordering just a couple. I went through them and found a wealth of information which cleared away the fog that most instructors throw at their students because they themselves don’t understand the whys of their systems.
That was it. I ordered all of Al’s courses. I have taken something from each of the arts that Al has put at my feet and have made it my own, and this has been a real gift.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
