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OKAWA-TE
MARTIAL ARTS
SEMINARS !!!
We are extremely excited to announce that in honor of our First Ever Black Belt Spectacular
we will host seminars on
Saturday 29 SEPT 12
featuring the GrandMaster of
Okawa-Te Bujutsu and Director of the Okawa-Te Bujutsu Kai Association;
Dr Brian Campbell and other members of the Masters Council !
with seminars for
Adults & Kids
Kid-- 10:00 -11:00am
Adults--11:00am-1:00pm
LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE
Sign Up at
the Front Desk !!
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SUMMER
VIP Referral Contest
Because we get our best quality people referred by other current students at the Academy we'd like to show our appreciation with a chance for you to WIN .....
a KINDLE FIRE
The Contest is over and we'll being drawing during class this Week to select the winner of this grand prize to be awarded at our
BLACK BELT SPECTACULAR !!
Check our FaceBook page to see if you are the winner .....
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LOGO
on
LOCATION!!!
During your vacation or travel activities take a photo of you in your Academy Logo T-shirt in a scenic location, by a notable landmark, doing something cool, exciting, fun, or with a celebrity. Post your pic on Facebook and tag the school. Get as many of your FB friends as possible to "LIKE" the photo and enter by 22 Sept 2012 voting ends 26 September and the prize will be awarded during our
BLACK BELT SPECTACULAR !!
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Welcome to our E-News Online Newsletter for the Month of -- September !
BLACK BELT SPECTACULAR
Fri, 28 SEP @ 6PM
American Black Belt Academy is excited to invite you to our 1st ever Black Belt Graduation!! Our Black Belt spectacular will be held at Athens Church and will feature:
Exciting Martial Arts Demonstrations Special Guests Belt Promotions Matt Graham receiving his BLACK BELT!!
Please join us in supporting all of our students, and especially Mr. Matt, in this awesome journey to Black Belt!! Tickets and Seminar value packs are available at the front desk, but space is limited! FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK OUR EVENT PAGE ON FACEBOOK -- CLICK HERE or GO TO THE WEBSITE -- CLICK HERE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MAGEJI TAMASHII - - INDOMITABLE SPIRIT The "warrior spirit" , the word "indomitable" is defined as "brave, determined and impossible to defeat or frighten". --- "NEVER GIVE UP"! Until World War II, the phrase Yamato-Damashii (also spelled Tamashii) was used to identify spiritual qualities supposedly unique to the Japanese people. These qualities included moral fortitude, courage, sincerity, devotion and an unswerving success oriented attitude. Originally, taken from the Chinese school of thought, the concept was based on unquestionable loyalty to emperor and nation. With a military mindset, the Japanese people later took this concept to define the spirit, which a warrior held when obtaining an objective.
Today, martial artists use the concept to define the spirit of a warrior when he or she trains, develops strategy and tactics or engages in conflict situations. Knowing that we are often our own worst enemy and human beings tend not to demonstrate discipline and persistence in achieving our objectives, many modern teachers now use the concept of Damashii to identify those traits needed to become successful in any endeavor.
While it is very important to have the assertiveness, endurance and stamina to stay the course until success is achieved, it is equally important to be able to identify the most important and highest value things to achieve and in which order they need to be accomplished. Those who have a strong, well-developed indomitable spirit have a strong will that allows them to do what ever they set their sights on. Your indomitable spirit directs your life forces, habits (both good and bad) and your condition in life. It has a connection with all avenues of knowledge, activities, and accomplishment. It is the inner energy which controls all conscious and subconscious acts.
The person who has a strong indomitable spirit exhibits energy and enthusiasm in everything they do. They have strength and the intestinal fortitude to stand up for what they believe in. They have passion and excitement - an ardor that you can see in their eyes, a fire "in the belly", a purpose that you can hear it in their voice and control over their physical state that conveys quiet confidence. They are far less likely to show discouragement, because they have the determination, confidence and courage to handle the challenges and obstacles that they encounter everyday of the week.
There are two questions that you can ask on a regular basis to keep yourself focused on getting your most important tasks completed on schedule. The first question is "What are my highest value activities?" Put another way, "what are the most important tasks I have to complete to make the greatest contribution to my organization? Which threat needs to be neutralized first in this conflict? What is the most important thing I could be doing right now for my family? What are the most important tasks I could be accomplishing?"
This is one of the most important questions you can ask and answer. What are your highest value activities? First, think this through for yourself. Then, ask your boss. Ask your coworkers and subordinates. Ask your friends and family. Like focusing the lens of a camera, you must be crystal clear about your highest value activities before you begin work.
The second question you can ask continually is, "What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?" This question comes from Peter Drucker, the management guru. It is one of the best of all questions for achieving personal effectiveness. What can you, and only you do, that if done well, can make a real difference? This is something that only you can do. If you don't do it, it won't get done. But if you do it, and you do it well, it can really make a difference to your life and your career. What is your answer to this question?
Once you have identified the most important thing you should be doing, it then becomes important that you do it right away and with an attitude that nothing will stop you from reaching that objective. This is what the term Damashii or indomitable spirit is related to and is one of the true keys to "Black Belt Excellence". Remember "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu --- Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC). The Journey to Black Belt Excellence is not about where you end up, it's about what you become. Shihan Randy McElwee
Director
American Black Belt Academy |
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Principles of a Martial Artist
Persist Until You Succeed By Brian Tracy
The most important single quality of success is self-discipline. Self-discipline is having the ability within yourself, based on your strength of character and willpower, to do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. Character is the ability to follow through on a resolution after the enthusiasm with which the resolution was made has passed. Persistence is Self-Discipline in Action
Perhaps the greatest display of self-discipline is persisting when the going gets tough. Persistence is self-discipline in action. Persistence is the great measure of individual human character. Your persistence is, in fact, the true measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to succeed. Each time that you persist in the face of adversity and disappointment, you build the habit of persistence. You build pride, power, and self-esteem in your character and your personality. You become stronger and more resolute. By persisting, you become more self-disciplined. You develop within yourself the iron quality of success, the one quality that will carry you forward and over any obstacle that life can throw in your path. Get Going and Keep Going
Orison Swett Marden wrote in his book, "There are two essential requirements for success. The first is 'go-at-it-iveness' and the second is 'stick-to-it-iveness'" Referring to the quality of persistence he wrote, "There is no failure for the man who realizes his power, who never knows when he is beaten; there is no failure for the determined endeavor, the conquerable will. There is no failure for the man who gets up every time he falls, who rebounds like a rubber ball, who persists when everyone else gives up, who pushes on when everyone else turns back." Persistence is Your Greatest Asset
Perhaps your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay at a task longer than anyone else. B.C. Forbes, who founded Forbes magazine and built it into a major publication during the darkest days of the Depression, wrote, "History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeat." Adversity is What Tests Us
Throughout history, great thinkers have reflected on this paradox and have concluded that adversity is the test that you must pass on the path to accomplishing anything worthwhile. Herodotus, the Greek philosopher, said, "Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence." The very best qualities of strength, courage, character, and persistence are brought out in you when you face your greatest challenges and when you respond to them positively and constructively. Action Exercise
Your greatest successes almost invariably come one step beyond your greatest failures, when everything inside you says quit. Think of failures in terms of how you can make them successes.
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Parents' Corner
The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games
Are video games good or bad for you? It can be both. Video games are looked down upon by parents as time-wasters, and worse, some education experts think that these games corrupt the brain. Violent video games are readily blamed by the media and some experts as the reason why some youth become violent or commit extreme anti-social behavior. But many scientists and psychologists find that video games can actually have many benefits - the main one being making kids smart. Video games may actually teach kids high-level thinking skills that they will need in the future. "Videogames change your brain," according to University of Wisconsin psychologist C. Shawn Green. Video games change the brain's physical structure the same way as do learning to read, playing the piano, or navigating using a map. Much like exercise can build muscle, the powerful combination of concentration and rewarding surges of neurotransmitters like dopamine strengthen neural circuits can build the brain. Below are the good and bad effects of video games, according to researchers and child experts: Positive Effects of Video Games Video games give your child's brain a real workout. In many video games, the skills required to win involve abstract and high level thinking. These skills are not even taught at school. Some of the mental skills trained by video games include: Hand-eye coordination, fine motor and spatial skills. In shooting games, the character may be running and shooting at the same time. This requires the real-world player to keep track of the position of the character, where he/she is heading, their speed, where the gun is aiming, if the gunfire is hitting the enemy, and so on. All these factors need to be taken into account, and then the player must then coordinate the brain's interpretation and reaction with the movement in their hands and fingertips. This process requires a great deal of eye-hand coordination and visual-spatial ability to be successful. Research also suggests that people can learn iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills from video games. There have been even studies with adults showing that experience with video games is related to better surgical skills. Also, a reason given by experts as to why fighter pilots of today are more skillful is that this generation's pilots are being weaned on video games. Resource management and logistics. The player learn to manage resources that are limited, and decide the best use of resources, the same way as in real life. This skill is honed in strategy games such as SimCity, Age of Empires, and Railroad Tycoon Multitasking, simultaneous tracking of many shifting variables and managing multiple objectives. In strategy games, for instance, while developing a city, an unexpected surprise like an enemy might emerge. This forces the player to be flexible and quickly change tactics. Quick thinking, making fast analysis and decisions. Sometimes the player does this almost every second of the game giving the brain a real workout. According to researchers at the University of Rochester, led by Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive scientist, games simulating stressful events such as those found in battle or action games could be a training tool for real-world situations. The study suggests that playing action video games primes the brain to make quick decisions. Video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons, according to the study.
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Health Kick
Health Benefits of Chocolate Why is Dark Chocolate Healthy?:
Chocolate is made from plants, which means it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. These benefits are from flavonoids, which act as antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body.
Heart Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate:
Dark chocolate is good for your heart. A small bar of it everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well. Two heart health benefits of dark chocolate are:
- Lower Blood Pressure: Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure.
- Lower Cholesterol: Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) by up to 10 percent.
Other Benefits of Dark Chocolate:
Chocolate also holds benefits apart from protecting your heart:
- it tastes good
- it stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure
- it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant
- it contains theobromine, caffeine and other substances which are stimulants
Doesn't Chocolate Have a lot of Fat?:
Here is some more good news -- some of the fats in chocolate do not impact your cholesterol. The fats in chocolate are 1/3 oleic acid, 1/3 stearic acid and 1/3 palmitic acid:
- Oleic Acid is a healthy monounsaturated fat that is also found in olive oil.
- Stearic Acid is a saturated fat but one which research is shows has a neutral effect on cholesterol.
- Palmitic Acid is also a saturated fat, one which raises cholesterol and heart disease risk.
That means only 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate is bad for you.
Chocolate Tips
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Black Belt Club
 BBC dates for the month of September: - 7 SEP 12
- 14 SEP 12
- 21 SEP 12
** Adult BB Focus: Weapon Disarms |
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DEMO Team
DEMO Team dates for the month of September:- 7 SEP 12
- 14 SEP 12
- 21 SEP 12
- 28 SEP 12 **
**BLACK BELT SPECTACULAR Performance
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