November 25, 2006:
I've received hundreds of email from people who looked forward every month to the Eastern Arts' "MailBag" feature. Unfortunately, because of an ever increasing work load associated with my importing business, I can spend less and less time on the Uechi-ryu.com website. I do answer all email in a timely manner, but attempting to build a webpage at the end of every month was a task that kept getting more time consuming. I've been feeling a little guilty since April, when my work load prevented me from getting out the MailBag. During the months since April, I've tried to figure out a way to revive the MailBag, while eliminating the work and time usually associated with this feature.
I try to keep on the "cutting edge" of web technology and from a personal necessity, am always looking for ways to provide the most interesting material with minimum programming and editing. My biggest problem is getting the rest of the martial art world (who frequent my sites) to take advantage of all this fancy technology. I still get at least a dozen phone calls a week from my close friends who ask if they can send something to me, that I in turn can publish to one of the self-publising areas of the site! :)
There is also that nagging feeling (I presume) among contributors, that if they first send something to me, I will edit out anything that might be grammatically incorrect or misspelled. (This has never bothered me, as you English majors may have already figured out) . People are funny. They enjoy seeing their articles and letters published, but at the same time, they are concerned that they may be laughed at or embarrassed by publishing something without the intervention of an editor.
So, my new Blog "MailBag" will remain a bit of a mystery for awhile. I'm going to make it as easy as possible to use. . . with a few safeguards in place to minimize the "troll" factor. . . and hope that all you hundreds of MailBag fans will make this feature as popular as the old MailBag.
I'm archiving all the old MailBag letters, as an incredible amount of very interesting material exists for those who wish to forage into the past.
I'll be dropping in every day, reading your posts and will be contributing often.
Best,
George Mattson
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Zanshin – Perfect Awareness
by Terry Bryan
One of the most powerful things I see students learn from their training in classical martial arts is what the Japanese call zanshin or perfect awareness. While performing kata, this attribute is displayed by looking before we turn to do a technique and even holding a posture and looking at something a couple of seconds after a technique is done to insure the threat has been dealt with. But zanshin is much deeper than that.
Zanshin is also a displayed attitude. We know how important first impressions are and how different postures can and do effect the outcome of any situation. The ever penetrating mind and glow of self confidence is evident in everything a successful warrior does. This presence is a very important part of zanshin.
Being able to see the future before it happens is also a trait that young adults learn through their martial arts training. While many teenagers and young adults tend to go through life like a person floating in an inner-tube down a river and constantly running into things, there are a few that learn to look ahead and see the rapids and steer around them. As teenagers become students of conflict resolution, they start seeing how their actions are going to affect others and will start to understand that they are in charge of their lives and even those around them. This ability to predict the behavior of others in the future empowers the students and they begin to develop the ability to “see” the future. This element of zanshin is so important in today’s society.
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