Do they have the whole system? Who cares.

It doesn’t matter if they have the whole system. They just need to make you better than you were When searching for a teacher of a specific art, prospective students have an image in their head, and a natural question is, “does this person have the whole system?” They are thinking tiger-emblazoned sleeveless gis, catching[…]

Don’t worry about level

Today doesn’t matter in the long run. Be a good person. I was at the MKG Instructor Conference this week, which dovetailed into a Dan Inosanto seminar, so naturally I stayed over for some of it and was really looking forward to working with a variety of very skilled people; the level in that room[…]

kung fu sifu guru voice

The guru voice

Do you, your teachers, or students suffer from sifu or guru voice? As we ease into the holiday weekend, now may be the perfect time to meet your martial arts community in a more social setting: watching fireworks, or eating chicken wings or quinoa salad. And in this setting, do people still talk like Kwai[…]

cult leader

The teacher’s influence

A martial arts teacher’s influence is often as great as a priest over his congregation or a captain over her crew. With a US election coming up and a state of extreme divisiveness and intolerance for the other side, this seems like a good time to write about the teacher’s influence. Many who come to[…]