I would like to thank friends and students of New England Ninpo Society and Boston Martial Arts Center for your for supporting the 4th Annual Boston Martial Arts Center Winter Bootcamp weekend. Everyone did a great job! Students travel from as far away as Germany and...
Dojo Blog
Essays on Martial Arts4th Annual Winter Boot camp (Ninpo Taijutsu and Self-Defense Training)
Boston Martial Arts Center 4th Annual Winter Boot camp Three Day intensive workshop (Ninpo Taijutsu and Self-Defense Training)Three Day Ninpo Taijutsu Intensive: From Basics to Advanced Training (OPEN FOR ALL LEVELS OF SKILL AND MARTIAL ARTS Styles) Day 1: Ninpo...
Empty your Cup
A Cup of Tea Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer...
Ninjutsu: we seek not to hurt or harm
In ninjutsu, we seek not to hurt or harm. We seek only balance and a return to a natural order. I feel it is very important as ninjutsu students that we learn to shift our paradigm about martial arts. This martial art is not about winning or losing; it is not about...
First Part of Awareness in Self Defense
The first part of awareness in self defense is stopping for a moment and seeing what is going on around and within yourself. Don't ignore your environment: take your time and take it in. Try to understand the flow of nature. When something unnatural happens, you will...
Transitional Awareness in Self Defense
When we train in self defense, we often think of responding to a single event--for example, needing to block a punch or evade a kick or a grab. We assume that we must match action with (re)action or develop a 1:1 response. However, the study of self-defense, whether...
On jutaijutsu
I was teaching a seminar at a friend's dojo on jutaijutsu (grappling for self defense). One of the students asked me what jutaijutsu meant on a deeper level. My understanding at this point in my life is the ability to adapt and change based on changing conditions....
Notes from training in Japan
I was looking over my martial arts notes from the last time I was in Japan. Dr. Hatsumi said that it was very important to think about winning and losing. It's important to be okay with understanding and experiencing losing in life, but over time you can give up the...