Hi everyone! What keeps you motivated in training? We all have busy lives. Sometimes illness, injury, being tired or a feeling of a lack of progress makes it tough to train. What motivates you to keep going? Do you change how you are training or maybe take a little downtime and then get back at it? Really curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

"Failure is delay, not defeat." Denis Waitley. I really like this one. It gives us permission to accept and learn from our mistakes and failures. Not getting something on the first, second or hundredth time is ok. It is just a delay in our succes. Next time I struggle with something in class, or things in life really, I will remind myself it is not defeat, it is delay. 🙂

"It doesn't matter how slowly you go as long as you don't stop" Confucius. This is a good one because it is easy for us to fall into being frustrated or disappointed believing we are not progressing as quickly as we think we should or we see someone who is progressing faster than we are. We need to remember slow progress is progress. Everything we do in class we start by going slowly so we can learn it properly and really feel what is going on. Don't rush. Enjoy the process. 🙂

We're excited to be a few days away from welcoming Kuroda Yasumasa Sensei of the Shinbukan Kuroda Ryugi to Fresno for a 5-day seminar and Saturday evening demonstration. This has been in the works for a year, and it's hard to believe it's finally here. We have been associated with Kuroda Tetsuzan O-Sensei (late father of Kuroda Yasumasa Sensei) for nearly 30 years. We believe this will be the largest North American Shinbukan seminar, with over 40 Shinbukan members and new koryu members coming from Europe and all over the U.S. It will likely be another two years before this seminar returns to the U.S. It's not too late to plan ahead and start training in anticipation of the next seminar. If you know anyone within a few hours of Fresno, CA, please encourage them to come to the demonstration on Saturday, 10/24 at 5pm.