Remember the Brightness

Why do we so often overlook what is good and life-enhancing, and continue to get captured by the negative? That habit comes from ancient biological survival mechanisms. Scouting for the bad takes top brain priority because survival is a primary need. We have to scan constantly for what could snuff out life in a heartbeat. Goodness is nice, but badness is important. And if we find no threat, then we become suspicious. What is hiding out there to overtake us by surprise? So, how do we keep the alertness without it overwhelming us? How can we loosen the tightness of focus on the negative to permit more appreciation of the bright and beautiful? We can only do that through reprogramming training. You are very busy, so here is a short but powerful routine I do each morning and whenever I find myself dulling out or hardening up too much during the day. It only takes a couple of seconds. Slowly take in a very deep breath and hold it for just a second or two. Reflect on how fortunate you are to be aware of your potential as a bright light bringing goodness, peace, sanity, and stability to the world. “I am alive with significance” Slowly breathe out. Slowly take in a very deep breath and hold it for just a second or two. Reflect on how amazing it is that you are tuned in to the truth that every moment of every experience brings you closer to fuller realization of your potential. “I follow my path with purpose” Slowly breathe out. Slowly take in a very deep breath and hold it for just a second or two. Reflect on how blessed you are to attract into your life just the right friends, guides, and mentors who share what you need and encourage you on with their example. “I am tuned in to finding living examples of what I seek” Slowly breathe out. Finally, remind yourself that when you get off track, you will remember to do this exercise. Posted on "An-Shu Densho" on 04/08/2011

One woman's Progress on The Pass

Here is some important insight from the heart as to what it feels like to challenge yourself mentally and physically in the martial arts training hall. Man or woman, we can all have these periods of doubt and then make breakthroughs if we are brave enough to ask the disturbing questions.

At one point in the seminar I was working with my sister, Melissa, who I kept over powering when I was her uke. So she hunted down Mrs. Hayes to ask her why this was occurring… what was she doing wrong. We were doing some technique that required the uke to throw a MMA style cross punch.

Mrs. Hayes kindly came over, watched us do the technique, then had me be her uke. At this point all I could think of was “oh man I actually have to try to hit her. I CAN NOT be a bad uke for Mrs Hayes…. this is going to hurt, a lot.”

So I focused on Mrs. Hayes center and threw that punch. And for a brief moment, nothing…. she disappeared. Seconds later, she reappeared and hit me multiple times with some part of her body… not sure what… all I know was it was powerful and if I was a real bad guy it would have really really hurt. It was the most amazing thing of the seminar for me.

My sister’s issue ended up being her alignment. In addition, Mrs. Hayes explained to us about having a triangular base. This base makes you strong by grounding you.

Read the full post by Jess Burleigh and great comments in response here on the New Hampshire blog site.

Posted by Stephen Hayes on 02 Feb 2011 08:07 on An-SHu's Densho

Miracle Learning in Impossible Classrooms

I opened my seminar in Tournai, Belgium, this morning with the observation that there are 3 key aspects present when any lesson, class, or seminar is truly to be of value to the learners. There needs to be:

• Caring teacher who loves seeing learners advance, knowledgeable and tuned in to the importance of providing a good example and presenting a meaningful lesson
• Significant material content to the lesson – things and skills to be learned that really matter and really work in the world
• Enthusiastic student who is open, disciplined, and ready to learn and advance

That third aspect might actually be the most important element for determining the value of any lesson. When a student is loaded with questions and hungry for knowledge leading to skill and wisdom, even a poor teacher and a mediocre lesson cannot hold such a learner back.

Maybe this was how it was for me back in the 1960s in my first formal martial arts training sessions. Truth told, my initial martial art’s technology was pretty primitive and did not really relate well to the way real fights, muggings, kidnaps, rapes, and hostage-takings took place, and my teachers were of the old school of militaristic hazing as instructional method and appeared to be quite aloof when it came to inspiring student advancement. But I was determined to get the most I could from those lessons, and I believe that my determination was the most important key to my becoming the martial artist I am today 40-plus years later.

Such determination to learn is one of the 37 Parts of the Path of Awakening – the San-ju-shichi Do-Bon – that is in the foundational teachings of the spiritual system I explored with Japanese and Tibetan teachers. Within the 37 Parts of the Path is a section called the Shi Nyo-I Soku – the “Four Miraculous Legs” – four ways of pursuing personal advancement so radical as to be beyond rational comprehension or logical description. Miracles happen. In one of these four astonishing possibilities, we can study so hard that literally miraculous learning occurs. Beyond rational explanation, we are so determined that we end up learning far more than what the lesson itself ostensibly offers or the teacher is capable of delivering.

How about you? Can you identify at all with the possibility of miraculous learning? Have you ever had an experience where strong and insistent wanting to know something led you beyond what would have been reasonable learning under the circumstances? Write your experience on here below as a comment, or even better, add your story to the discussion on the SKHQuest.com On-Line Community Forum where you can read even more details from me on this Shi Nyo-I Soku miracle super learning.

"as posted on 23rd July 2010 in An-Shu Densho"

Find Your Gift, Live Your Purpose

It is always depressing to see leftover evergreen trees leaning unpicked and neglected in sales lots after Christmas. Each in its own way is a beautiful manifestation of nature that with the right attention and decoration could brighten some family celebration in the cold grayness of year end. But those leftover trees never get to find their glory. They grew for years in sunshine and snow, waiting for this one final moment of purpose, and now it is too late. All was for naught. Yes, I realize those trees are just crops and they do not have conscious feelings, but I am still sad seeing them bound up and ready for the landfill along with our coffee grounds and soiled diapers and used-up appliances. They were there in the lot for a purpose at that special moment in their lives, and life ignored them. What a heart wilting waste, it seems.

I sometimes see people that remind me of those overlooked trees so full of potential. I see a young person with an unimpaired body ready to become vibrantly healthy. I see a person aching with quiet discontent ready to pursue a childhood dream. I see a person bored and lonely ready to serve a great cause and help others. I see them ready to transform. And I see them fail to take action needed to realize their potential because nobody with the capability of guiding them steps in and shows them where to find their power. Nobody picks them.

I was once just like those bare tree people myself, lost and overlooked and so far away from realizing my gift. I was fortunate to find the guides I needed at the right points in my life. I found a martial master willing to show me the secrets of the shadow warriors. I found an Asian spiritual king willing to show me the technology for accessing truest human brightness. I found a resplendent spirit willing to share my battles and breakthroughs as my life partner. I was fortunate to find them as guides in my life, and I take credit for being honest enough to know what I was lacking and brave enough to put myself in position to receive their blessings.

I made a vow 15 years ago to set up a dojo to be there for anyone who saw in my life story a hint of what could be in theirs. Whenever anyone tells me of a difficult road in their life, I say, “Come to Ohio to live and train with me.” My staff and I will demonstrate for you how to find your gift and bring it to blossom in the world. We did it in our lives, and you can do it in yours.

I want to see each and every one of the world’s neglected bare tree people come home to where they shine in a breath-taking radiance of sparkling joy and meaning. Know anyone full of potential but not yet roaring with activated purpose? Push them towards my dojo in Ohio. We are ready to help everyone shine.

"as in An-Shu Densho"

"NINJA SWORD" NON-CONTROVERSY

My friend Scott found a 20-year old issue of a ninja magazine with a quote from Masaaki Hatsumi that supports what I have said about ninja swords for decades. I do not own a copy of the magazine, and I had long ago forgotten about the article.

A few silly people envious of the attention my work has gotten over the past 30 years have tried to use a debate over ninja swords to discredit my authority. “If you can’t beat him, at least cheat him,” might be their battle cry.

One of the “reputation-killer arguments” put out by those critics has been an attack on my reference to choku-to straight-blade shinobi-gatana ninja swords as part of the stereotypical ninja image. “No such thing existed,” some like to insist in dismissal of me.

Do I believe that all ninja of feudal Japan carried straight-blade short swords as some sort of badge of official ninja-ness? No, of course not, and I never said anything like that.

Many ninja may not have even thought of themselves as ninja. They called themselves Iga no Mono “men of Iga” and rappa “grass-roots” and the like. Many or most carried standard curved-edge swords of the times.

Nonetheless, in Iga Castle and Odawara Castle and even the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, you can see straight-blade Japanese swords on display.

My teacher used to do public demonstrations with such straight-blade swords back in the 1970s and early 1980s (before my most severe critics were even around to see such things).

My first books in the early 1980s were an introduction to the ninja tradition of Japan. I chose not to conflict with stereotype at that stage. Later, once the practice was established, I mentioned on page 22 of my 1988 book Ninja Vol 5; Lore of the Shinobi Warrior that the straight sword was a stereotype, and that indeed many ninja did not carry such a weapon.

My original ninjutsu teacher Masaaki Hatsumi had this to say on the subject:

“The shinobi-gatana was little more than a straight slab of heavy steel with a single ground edge; the tsuba was a hammered thick steel square barren of ornamentation, but it could also be used as a prying device or by leaning the sword against a wall or tree as a booster step for climbing; the saya was usually longer than the short blade.”
by Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi
Ninja Magazine – Winter 1987
Translated by Masaru Hirai

That’s what Scott found, and here’s a comment of his own:

“I thought this was interesting. I know some people try to say that because Mr. Hayes was a ghost writer translator on the book Ninja History and Tradition by Mr. Hatsumi, that some of the stuff about swords in the book is not correct. But this article was not translated by Mr. and Mrs. Hayes. I wonder what reason Mr. Hayes’ critics would come up with to explain away this one.”

A friend asked me why this was important enough to put on my web site. He was concerned that it made me look defensive arguing back against my inferiors. Why would a master need to justify what he teaches?

I post it because the “no straight blade ninja sword” argument makes me look wrong. If you just follow the foolishness on those critical internet sites, you could assume that others who know more than I do proved me wrong. And if I were wrong, I would expect my best students to be alarmed over what else I might be teaching wrong.

This kind of educational integrity has nothing to do with loyalty. It is intelligence. If I am wrong, I expect my students to be concerned. I expect to be held accountable for the veracity of what I teach. I would certainly be the first to hold my own teacher to the same standards.

But I am not wrong, and my teacher quoted above is not wrong, and you need to be very confident in that.

You are therefore right to take strong faith in what you study in our SKH Quest Center dojos.

"as in An-Shu's blog"

NO SUCH THING AS UNFAIR

“It’s just not fair!” How many times have we said these words? If we think back to childhood, some simplistic form of this sentiment might have been among our earliest memories. It follows us throughout our lives as we progress from the sand box through high school and into our professional lives. It pops up when we lose in love, luck, ventures, and law suits. The more we feed it, the more it consumes our mind, frequently shutting down our lives in the process. Imagine a miserable little kid hiding inside each of us squeezing his hands and protruding his lips, holding back the tears of frustration, screaming “it’s not fair!” While it produces no constructive result nor tangible solution, blurting out this primal phrase speaks to the core of our frustration.
Our thoughts and our words have great power. When we use them to reinforce the concept of unfairness and injustice we dig ourselves deeper into a pit of self pity. We are in essence bemoaning the fact that life is the way it is, and there can be no relief or happiness in that activity. The longer we perpetuate this perspective with our thoughts and our words, the longer we will suffer.
Fairness is a matter of perception. It is not fixed nor absolute. Neither our conviction nor our righteousness will make it so. The more adamant we are in our rightness the more difficult this becomes to accept.
For every incident of unfairness there is an individual or an entity on the other side that believes the outcome to be fair and just. Clearly we do not agree with that other individual or entity but that does not change the fact that their perception exists. Furthermore, they are probably as convinced about their perspective as we are about ours. Does that make us wrong? No. Nor does it make us right. It does, however, make the concept of fairness subjective. In the case of natural disasters, there is an impersonal perspective of the magnitude of nature. While we may feel the unfairness of the situation, it does not change the reality of what is and what cannot be undone.
Every now and again I will catch myself thinking, but this situation really is unfair. I love those moments because they illuminate exactly what I need to address. It is during those emotionally charged situations when we are absolutely locked into our righteous perspective that we do ourselves the most damage. When we feel the most wronged, we inadvertently fuel the fires of helplessness and self pity when what we need the most is to feel empowered.
Life is not fair, but more than that… fairness does not exist. So let’s turn our minds to more empowering thoughts and have a care with the words we speak. It is our choice to perpetuate a cycle of unhappiness or to break free to new possibilities. Let us choose well.

"As in THE MINDFUL DRAGON -Issue 8 - by Tori Eldridge"

Pericing Through Obstacles to fulfillment

Friends have asked me about some of the techniques that keep me intrigued with my Tibetan teachers who share with me their ageless lore of the Dorje Phurba “demon-defeating dagger”. Are you up for trying out an exercise?

The phurba dagger is a very real tool – a 3-edged blade like the famous commando daggers once used in western warfare but now banned in warfare for being just too fiercely deadly. Hand-held phurba spike daggers can be made of silver, gold, copper, or iron, or carved from wood of white, yellow, red, or black colors. However, the phurba is most important as a symbol of focused intention even more powerful than the hand-held blade.

What would you do with a weapon that could pierce through conditions in your life that stood in opposition to your fulfillment? What would you change right away if you had a tool that could nail into powerless paralysis any situations that caused lack or frustration in your life?

So here’s exercise one: Find one small condition that nags your life right now. Find something that you want but cannot seem to get, or something you dislike but cannot seem to dump. For this exercise, start with something relatively small, some little thing easy to identify, something that you will clearly recognize as being cured if or when a positive change comes about. We will save the big things for later.

Maybe you find some toxic condition you want to relieve – too much debt, excess body weight, unsafe car, co-workers or friends who bring you down, poor health, too much stress, overworked, etc. – something to purge in order to purify your life.

Maybe you will find some acceptable condition you want to expand – Mildly “OK” home or career or health or relationships or financial security or knowledge or appearance, etc. – but it could be and should be more satisfying and enriching.

Maybe you find your life missing key people, or positioning, or access to the kind of influence that would allow you to advance and accomplish – you lack the right allies, lovers, mentors, opportunities, titles, or outright patron sponsors – people or conditions toattract and bind to you in order to give your life the boost in momentum it needs.

Maybe you find your life invaded by people or groups or situations or conditions that seem to target you specifically and hold you back from what is rightfully yours – rivals, competitors, jailers, saboteurs, or outright enemies – some identifiable force to conquer and nail down out of the way in order for your life to be free to blossom.

Exercise One, part Two is to sit and take a deep breath and very clearly and explicitly identify with a vision in your mind’s inner eye and in as few strong words as possible just what you want to change. Stay with that for a few moments and repeat this step over and over to be sure you are focused. If you are comfortable with spiritual adventure, you could even press your palms together with the fingers of each hand gripping like claws the knuckles of the other hand as illustrated as Kuji no In Ge-baku-ken mudra in Chapter 5 of the book Ninja Vol 2, Warrior Ways of Enlightenment. I will show you a minor adjustment of that sometime when we are together personally.

Exercise One, part Three is then to watch very carefully over the next week for any and all signs, coincidences, omens, hints, whispers, or offers that could indicate a possible solution to your challenge. Just remember to pay attention and look for even the most subtle of communications as to an answer. See what catches your awareness directly, obliquely, or in moments of distraction or even dreaming.

"as in An-Shu Densho"

III To-Shin Do Workshop

Knife, Pistol and Taijutsu workshop with Ni-Dan Dale Hesketh

It is a 2 day workshop over friday 1st and Saturday 2nd October 2010
and instruction/tuition will be through To-Shin Do 'Ni-dan' Mr Dale Hesketh of Quest Dojo Liverpool/Wirral, that will teach Level 1, 2 and 3 technics of To-Shin Do manual and knife and pistol technics.


Workshop price:

- 1 day: 35€
- 2 days: 50€

Register early and grab an extra 5€ discount, valid till 12th September 2010


Lunch price:

5€/day


Training place: Escola INDANCE - Rua da Alegria 2º - Porto Portugal


Acomodation:

Hotel (Hotel Tryp Centro):

Rua da Alegria, 685
4000-046 Porto
http://www.trypportocentro.com/en

Double room (to share): 25€/day with breakfast included

Single room: 40€/day with breakfast included



It's possible to fly to the venue from several parts of Europe via very cheap and low cost airlines!!

Transport from airport to the Hotel:

You can travel by surface subway until the Marquês Station and walk for 5 minutes in Rua das 12 casas until the hotel. Buy an ANDANTE 3 ticket for 11€ (full zones and ilimited trips during three days) in the Airport turism point.

You can also grab a taxi and devide buy everyone the costs (best choice).

Payments:

You can pay by paypal to hrguedes@gmail.com

or by transfer bank account:

Account Name Holder: Hugo Guedes
Bank Name: Caixa Geral de Depósitos
Country: Portugal
IBAN: PT50 0035 0215 00011678600 23
BIC SWIFT: CGDIPTPL

In the payment mention please your name, country, if you want lunch for the 2 days, the number of nights for the hotel and type of room (single or double) - this will help to confirm the payment.

If you have any doubt please write to geral@toshindopt.com or leave a message on facebook.

I hope to have you training with us.

To-Shin Do Classes in USTREAM

You can now follow some To-Shin Do classes in USTEAM. Here are the first ones:

Level 1 Class

Level 2 Class

Level 3 Class

Black Belt class