Bullying happens to adults too...

Bullying is when an aggressor uses power to intimidate, surpress, control, manipulate or harm someone for the benefit of the aggressor. Bullying can be done verbally, physically, or socially in person, through the internet/technology or through a proxy that delivers the bullies intent. 

 To differentiate bullying from a single act of harassment,  bullying is often described as chronic, meaning that it happens more than one over a period of time.  Four conditions must exist for bullying to occur, there must be an aggressor, a target, an environment of opportunity where the bully feels safe to harass, and bystanders must tacitly "allow" the bullying to occur.  

Our greatest leverage against this blight is education, teach people to not be bullies, teach victims how to respond and the greatest of the three, teach bystanders what to do.  As all self-defense awareness and avoidance are the keys to successful self-protection strategy. Workplace policies must be written, distributed and enforced the same way they are in schools. We are all on patrol....

Martial Arts Discipline

The practice of Martial Arts as a Way of Life

                The discipline of Martial arts have persisted for over a thousand years.   Through the discipline of regular practice, week after week, year after year our training is built on a culture and a tradition that has embedded a process of self-discovery. Martial Arts practice is used to produce a more fit and healthy body;  increase muscle tone, fat reduction, improve endurance,  increase flexibility, coordination, and agility.  The discipline of years of practice is an investment in your future.  It's not an easy path, but it's one worth taking. The discipline of self-defense; whether by the use of realistic fighting tools, learning to handle verbal assault, or coping with the adrenal stress response.  For most however, it becomes a training tool that seems to bring out the best in us by providing us with a multitude of benefits that can only be fully attained in such a discipline. 

The warrior/scholar philosophy challenges us to be more disciplined with our practice, mentally and physically while facing  our fears, stressors, and anger.  We not only learn how to lower stress but to keep a positive attitude in our daily lives.  In addition we learn to be self-disciplined and to concentrate on tasks that are worthy of great efforts.  Often times it is not the physical techniques we practice that provide us with the greatest personal growth, but the focus that we put into the practice. It boils down to the simple act of showing up to class and putting forth the effort on a day, or even during a season that we don't feel like it week after week, year after year.