Krav Maga Coffee Memories






Krav Maga Coffee Memories


By Moshe Katz

Starbucks, Brussels Airport, Belgium.

March 21, 2013

As is my custom I arrived at the airport hours before the El Al counter even opened.Thankfully there is a Starbucks directly across from the El Al counter, Row 7, Gate B.  Nice reggae music playing in the background. Relaxing.
Coffee memories; a long cup of coffee. You cannot drink it fast, makes you slow down, relax, think, take a pause in our hectic lives. Perhaps that is why I write best with coffee. Drink it fast and you get burned inside, slow down, let nature take its time, take your lead from nature.

Friends formed over coffee, deals concluded, thoughts crystallized.

People walking by, coming, going, everyone is going somewhere; going home, following a dream, meeting an obligation, real or imagined, closing a circle or opening a new one. Here new ideas are born and old ones laid to rest. Coffee, it changes everything, take it slow.

Do not respond quickly for your may respond in haste, have a cup of coffee, slow down and think it over.

Changes take time. The coffee bean meets the hot water, total opposites in form and color. The hot water changes color and taste by virtue of the coffee. The coffee bean loses itself but becomes something greater. It becomes one with the water, a new being, creating something greater than itself.

Faces and Places come to mind, my dear father of blessed memory, how he loved a good cup of coffee. I can picture him sitting with me and sipping his coffee while collecting his thoughts. My brothers, may the living be separated from the deceased, all devout coffee drinkers. Coffee around the world; Ukraine, Florida, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Milan, Italy, Jacobs coffee in Germany, Schamong coffee,  South Africa with Des, Annie, Jennie and Tyler, with my friend JC in Zurich and Esther in Israel, with the gang on Tour and Train.

Coffee, you have to relax.

With Krav Maga I often see beginning students who cannot relax, but ultimately to reach the highest levels in Krav Maga, you must relax, there is no other way, the flow, the rapid response comes from relaxing.  (but I am not saying non coffee drinkers are not welcome, some of our best people do not drink coffee, Craig, Serve…so…do not worry)

Krav Maga cannot be static, unchanging, like the coffee bean it enters the hottest water and changes everything, including itself. Krav Maga becomes new every day, changing flavor and color.

Airports, the scenes of some of the worst attacks on innocent civilians; Lod Airport in Israel, LAX, Athens, Zurich….

We train in Krav Maga to be ready, to be ready to respond, to react, to live freely. So that no man shall walk in fear, so we can live on our own terms. So we can enjoy our cup of coffee..

People walking by, I watch them, each one with his/her luggage, each with his/her "baggage", fears and concerns. Each one with the outfit they chose to showcase themselves to the world today, each one with hopes for a new day…

I am here to help make that a better day, a safer day, there are still so many dreams to be fulfilled.

By Moshe Katz

Comments

  1. Kurt MMarch 24, 2013 at 1:50 PM

    Very thought provoking. Not sure I can get into the coffee thing though. :) I'll stick to tea.-Kurt

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marc SpecterApril 7, 2013 at 9:12 AM

    Wow...I had no idea that Moshe could be so poetic. A very interesting metaphor, the green coffee bean, fresh-plucked, as the krav student. The HUGE change it takes to become proficient, to become the krav martial artist. How many stages there are on the journey of both the bean and the student. Me, I guess I'm still in the roaster. Good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. kravmagafithitJune 2, 2021 at 4:44 AM

    I appreciate your efforts which you have put into this article. This post provides a good idea about Krav Maga. Genuinely, it is a useful article to increase our knowledge. Thanks for sharing such articles here.
    online krav maga

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Uncomfortable Situation

Image
  Funny pic (and movie) about a not so funny situation… In training as in Life, it’s better to treat people with dignity and respect. However… What does that look like in the moment? Being that I’m teaching a Women’s Assault Prevention and Response Workshop this weekend - it’s probably a good time to talk about… Uncomfortable Situations Let’s talk about training at the academy for a minute… We run open co-ed classes at the local academy. What does that mean? Men and women train together, but we don’t stop there. People of different skill levels, backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations, careers, religious beliefs, political affiliations, ages, injuries, pre-existing conditions, life experience, training expectations etc. etc. train together! We ALL work together! Overall, I think it’s better this way. Of course sometimes there’s static, you know, conflicts, and misunderstanding. When something happens, most of the time it’s just that, a misunderstanding… Sometimes people ...
Read more

What'd You Say?!

Image
  You ever have a conversation with someone who really lifted your spirits? How about having a conversation with someone who’s a real downer?! We spend a lot of time talking to people. Matter of fact, talking is one of the most under rated and under trained aspects of protecting yourself. It’s much better if you can talk your way out of a bad situation, rather than having to resort to some form of physicality. This is why we spend so much time on sharing effective communication frameworks in the PeaceWalker course. But All of that Aside… When we think about communicating, we often just think about talking to other people. We forget how we talk to ourselves! You may have heard it called, “Self talk.” All day long we talk to ourselves. We carry on an inner dialogue in our heads that only we can hear. Unfortunately, this means it's very easy to be hard on ourselves. There's something about privacy which makes it easy to say the things you would never say out loud to another living...
Read more

Cracks in Your Foundation?!

Image
  Last night we had one of our weekly coaching calls for the PeaceWalker Evolution Course. What a great call! Rob and Jenn, a couple of the Level II - Momentum folks (people who graduated from Evolution last year and came back for the second Level.), were tasked to run the meeting as part of their training. I must say, they did a stand up job! The topic of discussion was building an Unshakable Foundation. WTH is that!? It’s basically the way you live. Your habits. What you do in your day to day life. How do you train your… Body  - Your physical health Mind  - What you’re filling your head with Mouth  - How you’re communicating Heart  - How you foster your relationships Why?! Without a solid foundation it’s difficult to remain balanced. When you are not balanced, it more difficult to stay calm, cool, and collected, (especially) under pressure. As I often say,  “You can’t hide crazy.” (It eventually comes out!) Regardless… You don’t have to be in the PeaceWal...
Read more