June 2006 Newsletter from Gojuryu.net

Onegaishimasu Mina-sama,

Can you believe the month of June is upon us? For us Karate and Martial Arts folk June often marks the time we have our travel plans put together - which includes competition and seminars, not to mention explaining to your spouse or significant other that "Yes - I am taking another Karate trip". So write it on your calendar and post it on the fridge before someone else occupies that weekend to stare at a statue at remote museum for hours upon hours when you should be out playing weekend warrior.

So the opening subject is "staying on course and calendaring your schedule", the keystone to every successful person. It is equally important to calendar your goals pertaining to Karate and revisit those goals every few months. Some goals are short term; fix that posture in Sanchin, follow up with students or potential students you haven't seen for weeks or months, stop forecasting your mawashi geri, have certificates framed. Some goals are long term; prepare for next grading [with approximate date in mind], train for competition, put together demonstration team. What-ever the goal is or was [remember those New Years resolutions?] this is the time to revisit, revise and refocus.

Dojo in the spotlight:
For the March 'Dojo in the month,' comes....... "Toronto Kyobukan" of Toronto Canada. Under the leadership of Ken Jacobs Sensei who's current memberships include: Okinawa Gojuryu Karate-do So Honbu Jundokan [Ei'ichi Miyazato Dojo], Ryu Kyu Kobudo Tesshinkan - Ozato Son, Okinawa, Japan. National Karate Association Canada [NKA] and World Karate Federation [WKF]. The Toronto Kyobukan is an active in the Canadian NKA and a great representative to traditions of Gojuryu Karatedo. Visit them at kyobukan.org - Congratulations !!!

Gojuryu.net Dojo Database:
Seeing success stories and messages from people explaining to us that they "would have never found a club or dojo had Gojuryu.net not helped" is exactly why we exist. Communication is the building block of humanity and at Gojuryu.net we have plenty of ways to get in contact with others. In the forums as well as general membership [which is free], we have plenty of lurkers and it would be great to hear from each and every one of you in the Introduce yourself threads. If you're already a user member and your profile is empty - please add something; a region, a city, an association. It all helps and has been proven to help build the All Goju Ryu Network family. Think of it like this - would you prefer those looking for a dojo or club to join the local McDojo and their kids receive their 3rd degree Black Belt with the pink tiger stripes as soon as they turn 8 years old? The Dojo Database & user profile is fully index searchable via the search page and it's here for your use.

Knowledge and tradition:
Reciting Dojo Kun at the end of a class is a reflection of your Dojo spirit and helps to reinforce constructive actions and thoughts - both personally and within the community or our group of peers and relationships. Reciting Dojo Kun helps prepare, or even a better description – helps persuade us to become what we recite. Imagine if our daily recitals included "we strive to loose weight" or "we pledge to finish college" then in due time – we would. Dojo Kun is an Oath to ourselves, a verbal affirmation that helps us become better people, to grow physically, mentally and spiritually. A philosophy that extends beyond our training in the dojo to the outside world. Every now and then we should all reflect upon our Dojo Kun and our personal version; as a way to keep us grounded, optimistic, motivated and on the right path.

Additional site updates:
With approximately 700 online user - members and another 2000 users taking advantage of the free email service Gojuryu.net - the All Gojuryu Network is almost ready to release the next portal upgrade - an online image hosting section that ensures secure photographic contributions for personal, historic and copyright value; meaning that what you post cannot be stolen or borrowed by others without permission to do so. Finishing off minor scripts this week so watch for it soon.