Hi Everyone, Most every Sunday, my wife and I visit her parents and usually play that old word game, Boggle. We all have a lot of fun playing and at the same time, feel like we’re doing our brains a favor. None of us is getting any younger, and we all agree that the mental effort required to find words on each random shake (three minute time limit) helps preserve and keep our minds sharp. With Dementia and Alzheimer’s having become common terms in recent years, exercising the mind as we get older, seems like a good idea. I know I’ve even seen commercials on TV for different products and programs designed to help stimulate one’s mind. I guess that just watching hours of our favorite sitcoms or sports doesn’t require the mind to work very much. We sometimes talk about karate being a way to strengthen one’s mind, especially when dealing with conflict or when under attack. Much of the value from the harsh training sessions back in the “old days” involve learning to deal with pain and fatigue. The benefit of perseverance lies in the ability to overcome obstacles and continue in one’s journey of the study of [...]

Well, we were very fortunate this weekend and escaped the full-force effects of a hurricane here in the islands.  Hurricane watching is one of those activities that really makes one aware of how relatively helpless we are, when pitted against the full force of severe weather.  The hurricane (typhoon, cyclone) pretty much goes wherever it will go, and all we can do is hope and pray.  Last time, we’re told that the high volcanic mountains on the island of Hawaii helped break up Hurricane Iselle.  This go-around, we were apparently protected by a ridge of high pressure just north of the island.  The impact we were left with has been a steady fall of rain over the past couple of days.   These weather events tend to bring back memories of similar times in one’s life.  My earliest attempt at humor that I can recall (I was three or four) was  while being carried by my dad to the car for a dental appointment.  It was lightly drizzling and I kept on telling him, “Hey dad, it’s grizzling!”.  I had recently learned about grizzly bears in association with Davy Crockett – and thought I was making a good joke by [...]

I’ve often said that our time in the training dojo is finite; and whether we like it or not, we will all experience that one last opportunity to practice the art of Karate-Do. For some, it’ll be a declining level of interest, or perhaps replacement by a new hobby, while others will simply become too busy with conflicting activities. Even for those whose love of the art never wanes, however, the onset of health issues and very mortality of life will some day culminate in a final training session. This is why our (ahem) older members relish suiting up for practice and savoring the stretching/exertion/sweat that really benefits their minds and bodies. It speaks to their self-motivation, but also means that they’re still healthy enough to attend class. I hope that we never take our training time together for granted. Speaking of time, when we hear the term, The Relativity of Time, we usually think about the legendary Albert Einstein. It was he who formulated the theories describing the relationship between the universe’s constant – the speed of light – and time itself. That, as one’s speed approaches that of light (186,300 miles per second), one’s time relative to the [...]