How to Find Time for Budo

Do you feel like you’re working all the time?

Are you making room in your schedule for martial arts?

Many martial artists struggle to find time to train. However, it’s important to keep your family and work duties in line first.

No income, no budo

Without a stable job and income, you really will have a hard time paying to train. You need to pay dues, room rent, buy new training gear when the old ones wear out, be able to pay for travel expenses to attend seminars and workshops, and pay for medical bills if you fall the wrong way or get hit in the head by a wayward stick. So you have to do your best at your job and secure a decent wage for a decent days’ work.

If you have enough extra time between your family and job responsibilities, you can enjoy budo as a pastime. With a supportive family and good job, doing budo is a plus, a way to keep yourself mentally and physically healthy, a way to engage in an activity that you enjoy with others who enjoy it with you, a way to develop bonds and friendships outside of family and work.

Read more about budo and family responsibilities.

Join an international martial arts association

Are you having trouble integrating your love for budo into your schedule?

Join a community of international martial artists who feel the same as you. SMAA offers separate divisions for karate, aikido, judo, traditional jujutsu, and iaido. As an associate member, you’ll receive a quarterly journal full of martial arts news and articles that may satisfy your budo desires.

Apply today! Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us to learn more about our international martial arts association.

Why Family Time is More Important than Training

 Are you a martial artist?

Are you struggling to find balance between family and budo?

Finding the time to train is a problem many martial artists have felt and will continue to feel. Even the samurai had to become bureaucrats, administrators, teachers and lawmakers, and they too struggled with balancing work, family and budo training.

Family responsibilities

If you can’t commit a reasonable amount of time to your training, then perhaps your life is full as it can be already, and you may have to forego it, at least for the time being. There is a hierarchy of values, and never let your love of martial arts eclipse the other responsibilities you have, or in the end you will be left with nothing. You have to put in adequate time for family, first, because without the support of your family, your life is meaningless. Whether family is just a spouse or significant partner, or ten kids, a wife and three ex-spouses who receive alimony, you have to shoulder the responsibility you took on, and spend the time and effort with family, and extended family, to make sure the family endures, and you as an individual in that family contributes your fair share. That is what being an adult is about. You no longer take everything. Now you have to give.

Read the full article here.

Join an international martial arts association

Are you having trouble integrating your love for budo into your schedule?

Join a community of international martial artists who feel the same as you. SMAA offers separate divisions for karate, aikido, judo, traditional jujutsu, and iaido. As an associate member, you’ll receive a quarterly journal full of martial arts news and articles that may satisfy your budo desires.

Apply today! Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us to learn more about our international martial arts association.

Ease Tournament Anxiety with Positivity

 Do you get nervous before tournaments?

Want to overcome those nerves?

Prepare with positivity! Positive thinking can increase your confidence and improve your performance.

PREPARING FOR DEMONSTRATIONS OR TOURNAMENTS

Adrenaline is one of the biggest obstacles to success in demonstrations, tournaments, or tests. Overcome by nerves, many of us begin to focus more on what not to do than on what we should do. Once the mind starts repeating "don't screw up, don't screw up," the most prominent mental image we end up with is one of screwing up. 

A better approach is to mentally rehearse the performance, visualizing ourselves executing each technique correctly, and imagining the satisfied feeling we will have once the routine is completed. Having mentally rehearsed our performance successfully many times before actually stepping onto the mat, we are much more likely to do well.

Another tip is to watch others. "Kengaku" means "visual study" in Japanese. It has two aspects: (1) to spot mistakes made by others in order to avoid them; and (2) to spot the areas where others excel, and to try to emulate them. The second aspect has unlimited potential to make us better!

See other ways positivity can help you in martial arts!

To read more martial arts related content, visit our website! SMAA Library (smaa-hq.com)

Grow with the Shudokan Martial Arts Association

You may become a better student, teacher, and performer with support from the SMAA. You’ll gain insight from our prestigious members in multiple countries and can earn reputable certificates of rank. We can answer your questions with credible historic Japanese martial arts knowledge and experience.

Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us via our website to join a positive martial arts association.

Teaching Martial Arts with Positivity

Are you a martial arts instructor?

Want to create a comfortable environment for your students?

Incorporate positivity into your dojo! Positivity can be one of the greatest encouragement tools in teaching.

TEACHING

Studies of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) have shown that the subconscious mind absorbs information however it is presented. Thus, if a teacher says "don't do it this way," the student may remember the error better than the correct method. However, if a teacher says "do it this way," and demonstrates the correct method, chances are good that the student will remember the proper way to do the technique, whether the technique is found in jujutsu (jujitsu), judo, or iaido. 

This doesn't mean that a teacher should never point out student errors. It does suggest, however, that advice should be presented in positive terms whenever possible. This approach will help to maximize the student's exposure to correct examples, and make the whole experience of learning martial arts more enjoyable.

Learn more ways to make your dojo a positive place!

Grow with the Shudokan Martial Arts Association

You may become a better student, teacher, and performer with support from the SMAA. You’ll gain insight from our prestigious members in multiple countries and can earn reputable certificates of rank. We can answer your questions with credible historic Japanese martial arts knowledge and experience.

Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us via our website to join a positive martial arts association.

To read more martial arts articles, visit our website! SMAA Library (smaa-hq.com)