August 14th, 2016

This week's thought is from Sensei Bob Dobrow Yon-Dan

Ueshiro Northfield Shorin-Ryu Karate Dojo

Ueshiro Shorin-Ryu Karate USA

Like Boiling Water

In our dojo, summer is the slowest season of the year. College students have left campus, and with younger children at home, many deshi have family responsibilities which pull on their time. Regular dojo classes are smaller, with special challenges – and opportunities.

For those deshi who find it difficult to get to dojo classes during periods like this, it is important to carve out time at home and on your own to train, even for just short periods of time. Just taking five or ten minutes in a busy day to work a kata helps to keep your karate alive and present at a time when many other pressures may make it difficult to work out. Many karateka have found creative ways to train at times when they can’t easily get in to the dojo. Even spending some extra time to visualize doing kata is enormously beneficial. What is most important is that we always stay engaged with our practice, through the peaks and through the valleys.

In his famous Twenty Precepts of Karate-Do, Master Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern karate, wrote: “Karate is like boiling water: without constant heat it will soon cool.” (Precept #11.)

Master Funakoshi’s Twenty Precepts can be found, beautifully designed and displayed, in the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Journal. If you haven’t done so for a while, reread these inspiring and educational maxims. I also recommend Funakoshi’s excellent autobiography ``Karate-Do: My Way of Life.”

Keep Training!

Respectfully submitted,

Sensei Bob Dobrow. Yon-Dan

Ueshiro Northfield Shorin-Ryu Karate Dojo

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