Friends and acquaintances often ask me, “How do I choose a martial arts school?” I’m not surprised that this is a frequent question. Most people’s experience and understanding of the martial arts are limited to what they have seen in television and movies. Here are some very basic factors to consider when choosing a place to train for you or …
Week 5 and a Status Check
Week 5: Brought in the new year (woo!) Ended the first month and started the second Achieved the rank of Shichi Kyu Broke the 5000 mark on push-ups and sit-ups Started learning my first kata! That’s one busy week. Feeling pretty good about things but thankful that I spent some time on my tracking spreadsheet. Staring at that thing and …
A Tofu Smoothie… Mmmm
Tofu Goodness Just For You Just wanted to offer up another tofu recipe. This one will likely be more appealing… I mean, who doesn’t love smoothies?!?!?! The thing with this recipe is that it hides the tofu really well because it calls for silken tofu. Silken tofu basically has the consistency of yogurt so it’s a perfect swap. Ingredients: 6 …
An Invitation to RUN RUN RUN! … or WALK WALK WALK!
The Relay CA, 2011 I’m trying to get a team together for The Relay. Date: April 3oth – May 1st Registration Deadline: March 1st NOT competitive, just for FUN! Here are the options: Run: 199 mile relay from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. 12 team members, each person runs 3 legs that are from 3 – 9 miles with about 50 miles …
The Ins and Outs of Breathing
I received an e-mail from a student today asking about breathing. Why do we breathe in through the nose and out the mouth? I’ve been puzzling and haven’t yet discovered a benefit other than the sound. First we have to understand that both inhaling and exhaling are very important to the breathing process. It’s the job of our lungs to …
A little bit of tofu in your life…
A couple weeks ago Mr. Oliver asked me to share some tofu recipes with the class. So, here comes recipe number 1. nLet me just say… A lot of people I talk to who dislike tofu say it’s “a texture thing.” Now, you can sneak the silken tofu into a smoothie and *poof* … You just protein’d up your frozen …
The Fitness “First Step”, and Finding a Baseline
Regular fitness efforts have been particularly challenging for me,nmost especially as an adult and parent with a lot of responsibilitiesnas well as a history of sedentary ways. The recent classes and Mr.nOliver’s black-belt test journey have given me inspiration to get back in gearnonce again (the week of “squats of doom” was the first signal). Sincenstarting at the dojo in …
Kicking Butt
Lately, I’ve been meeting a lot of new people at work. Word got out that I ‘do karate’ so people have been asking about it. They start with 1 of 2 questions: What belt are you? Or You could probably kick my butt huh? These 2 questions have made me appreciate our dojo so very much. Mr. Oliver doesn’t focus …
Okinawa – The Real Fountain of Youth?
“At seventy you are but a child, at eighty you are merely a youth, and at ninety if the ancestors invite you into heaven, ask them to wait until you are one hundred… and then you might consider it.” This ancient Okinawan proverb rests on a stone marker in Ogimi, a small village typical of Northern Okinawa. This phrase could …
Something New
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” ~ Ronald Ostrom The quote above reflect my current sentiments. For too long, I was in a rut and didn’t even know it! Life’s patterns started to become stale, routine, boring… I lost a few very important things because I took them for granted. …