I recently had the chance to read the e-book Small Dojo Big Profits, by Michael Massie.  Before I go any further I’d like to mention that I’m not profiting in any way from mentioning this book.  I’m very much turned off by single page, sales letter type websites like the one I’m about to link to, and if I had come across his site without having corresponded with Michael first I never would have bought or read the book.  BUT, I must say it’s a great book.  I wish I would have read it before I started teaching martial arts, and before I opened my own school.  So here’s the link: Small Dojo Big Profits.

Michael really covers everything you should know and consider before opening a martial arts business.  And if you’ve already got a one, the book is still a great read. I had my own place for many years, and there’s plenty of material in his book that I had never thought about.  At $147 it’s not cheap…as e-books go.  But if you’re serious about running an MA school, the book is well worth it.

Karate at the CCF

My wife and I sponsor a child in Cambodia via the Cambodian Children’s Fund, a terrific organization that I’d highly recommend donating to.  We’ve visited their schools, met the child we sponsor, and learned a lot about their programs, which are outstanding.  Today I was watching a new PBS video on the CCF and saw the kid we sponsor doing a karate reverse punch at the 2:15 mark!

Myself at the CCF

You can make a donation here, or sign up to sponsor a child here.  Again, I’d highly recommend it!

Mekong

Martial arts have always been about much more than fighting to me.  I started seriously training after reading the Tao of Jeet Kune Do.  The ideas expressed there were immensely appealing to me, as a person who never quite fit in the boxes society builds for us.  And, coming from a relatively dangerous city, my interest in what really worked in a no rules environment, where there are no limitations, also helped me avoid getting stuck in the cult like groups that so many styles produce.  Finding the best material for self defense was more important to me than loyalty to any particular instructor or style.

Many martial arts claim to draw from “eastern philosophy”.  They talk about the concepts of Zen, having an empty mind (mushin in Japanese martial arts), etc., etc.  But most of this is just talk.  It’s leaving one box to enter another.  Rather than becoming awake, they end up more like this:

Buddha?

It’s really a shame, because martial arts have so much more to offer than fighting skills…or worse, becoming another box for practitioners.  Matt Thorton says it best in two excellent posts that go into far greater detail than I will here: The Sacred and the Superstitious and Carving Nature at the Joints.  Honest, unlimited martial arts practice breaks down walls.  It puts truth right in your face.  What you’re doing either works or it doesn’t, and it’s plain to see.  Dishonest training and thinking, along stylized lines, doesn’t do this.

And the same is true in life.  You can live within the walls of social expectations, or you can choose not to.  They’re not real.  And even if you do break down the walls, you can still live within their former borders.  But you don’t have to.  Open and honest thinking, never just believing, leads to freedom.

A Path

There’s no single path.  Martial arts will teach you this better than most pursuits, through experience.  And that’s a great lesson to learn.  To be good at martial arts you need to become an explorer.  You need to see through the walls that were never really there in the first place.  When you apply the same free thinking to life, you’ll inevitably find happiness.  As Bruce Lee once said, “ultimately, martial art is self knowledge“.  You can only do what you need to do if you know what you need to do.  You need to know yourself.

Vasco and I

Really, the same can be said for playing the piano, painting, dancing, or even running a business.  Honest thinking and exploring will make you a far better martial artist, a better person, and a lot happier.

I traveled to Cambodia last year and found a number of interesting depictions of Cambodian martial arts on a temple wall in Siem Reap. I just came across the images and realized I had forgotten to post them:

For anyone interested in Southeast Asia, Cambodia is a fantastic destination.  The temples of Angkor were incredible, the food was fantastic, and the people were extraordinarily friendly.  Of course the images above are crude and uninteresting compared to the temples of Angkor…

…but this is a martial arts blog.

This post will stray a bit from martial arts:

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Croatia, where among other things we kayaked along the coast around Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is an incredible city, and if you ever get the chance to go in May or June, do so. We brought our folding kayaks, which I would also highly recommend to anyone who likes to get off the beaten path. Click here to read more »