PTSDA Karate

When starting something new, it’s easy to be excited. After the newness has worn off, most people struggle with being consistent.  So how do you stay consistent? Great question. In my humble opinion, there’s more than one thing that we need to do. Here are a few tips to help you stay consistent.PURPOSE When we know our why, it’s easier to be consistent. I want be healthier, so going for this walk will be enjoyable. If you’re a visual person, try writing down your purpose and post it in a visible place Read it daily. START WITH THE END IN  [ Read More ]

One of the many things that I thoroughly enjoy about my Instructor, Choong Jae Nim C. S. Kim, is his desire for quality. On many occasions, I’ve been in his class with Masters and Black Belts and we didn’t get past choon bee (ready stance) for about ten minutes. His desire for excellence comes out in his teaching and through his personal demonstration of how to preform Tang Soo Do. Many of you have not had the privilege training with him yet, so here are a few tips I have learned under his direction. SLOW DOWN He constantly reminds us  [ Read More ]

What makes you…you? It’s not your job title, income bracket, style of clothing, the music you listen to or even the martial art you study. Those are all things that we do and enjoy.  Again, what makes you..you? To get to the bottom of this question, we have to peel away all these layers that society has put on us. Often times, we are guilty of putting ourselves into this box of who we think we are. Here are a few tips to help us discover more about ourselves. Quality Time with YOU Make time for yourself. If you want  [ Read More ]

We have all experienced the sting of defeat in our life. Perhaps it was a relationship, competition or career.  After we experience failure, what’s next? We can choose to wallow in our failure and loathe in self pity. There’s also the blame game. These traps are easy to fall into after we fail. The challenge with these solutions is that we don’t learn and grow from the experience.  Here are a few tips to help us deal with failures. Use Your Energy to Improve When you fail, focus on the truth of why you actually failed. Focus your energy on  [ Read More ]

We’ve all heard the saying, Practice makes Perfect. I really don’t agree 100% with that statement. Let me explain.When a person practices something incorrectly, they are not making progress. If they practice it incorrectly one hundred times, they will have to work really hard to undo all the work they had done. I like the idea of Quality Practice makes us better. So what is Quality Practice? Let me give you a couple of tips to help you have more quality in your practice sessions. Remove Distractions This is a challenging one. Find a place and time that you are  [ Read More ]

Have you ever felt like you were running in circles? We all have experienced it. We feel like we are going through the motions in our relationships, careers or even training. We’ve identified our challenge, so what do we do about it? Try asking yourself what and where. What was the reason I started this relationship, career, etc? It’s easy for us to lose our way and get off course. Perhaps, your purpose has changed and you haven’t worked it out in your mind yet. Next, you may want to ask Where am I wanting to go? Once you’ve discovered the direction, you  [ Read More ]

When most people think of the martial arts, they think of fighting. It’s very natural due to societies exposure to MMA and action movies. Yes, we do spend a lot of time on developing our fighting skills.However, it’s not our only focus. We strive to follow the traditional path of disciplining our minds and bodies. This process assists us in forging ourselves to have a strong character. Gichin Funakoshi once said, “The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of character of its participants.” My encouragement for all of us this week is  [ Read More ]

How many of you can recall being told to focus? Me too. How many of you were shown how to actually focus? Exactly. Not many of us were formally shown how to focus our mind and body on what we are doing. The martial arts is a wonderful tool to help a person improve their focus. The disciplined environment encourages individuals to be present minded with the task at hand. Here’s a simple method that can help each of us improve our focus. Visualize a spot light on a stage beaming down on an object. The light is our focus  [ Read More ]

Our next belt exam cycle starts August 8. That testing date will creep up on us, and I don’t want anyone to be scrambling at the last minute to be ready. Make the time to practice.  Remember that prior planning prevents poor performance. You’ve got this! Tang Soo!

As a parent, we often times put our needs and wants on the back burner. Some of you are so busy that you don’t even know when you last showered. Just kidding. But seriously, I would like to encourage everyone to flip it around this week. Here’s what I mean.When we properly take care of ourselves, we can properly take care of others. When you fly, what do they instruct you to do first in an emergency? That’s right, put your oxygen mask on first. It’s not being selfish, it’s simply being smart. Start with being kind to yourself with  [ Read More ]