PeaceWalker Blog

Moshe teaching Jenna. We teach them how to avoid getting hurt. There is an old saying, no pain no gain. There can be many interpretations to this. . Indeed it is true that whatever you want to accomplish in life will involve some sort of pain; you want a college degree, you will have to make some painful sacrifices. You may have to cut down on your regular work, reduce your work hours and income, stay up late at night, miss some great parties. This is all painful but it is a pain you are willing to endure in order to earn your college degree. . Having a family also involves painful sacrifices. You do it because you love having a family.  . Martial arts training is no different. To achieve your goals you will have to make some painful sacrifices.  . And then of course there is some physical pain. No matter how careful we are there are going to be some bumps and bruises along the way, it is inevitable. You cannot learn to ride a bike without falling down a...

  Long ago a king had a boulder put in the middle of a well traveled road, then he hid, waited and watched to see if anyone would remove the rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many blamed the king for not having the obstruction removed from the road keeping it clear for travel, however none of them did anything about moving the boulder off the road either. One day, a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. When he came up to the boulder, he laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing, straining and sweating he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables he noticed something. A purse was laying where the rock had been. The purse had many gold coins in it as well as a note from the king saying that the money was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many never understand, that every ob...

When teaching physical defensive tactics we spend a lot of time on the portion of an interaction we call "The Approach." The Approach is simply when two (or more) people come into one another's space. It's conversational distance. It can range between hugging distance to upwards of 20 feet. The general distance is about 3' to 6' apart. Many people don't understand the importance or correlation between physical positioning and movement when it comes to conflict communication skills. Verbal communication without proper positioning and movement during potential conflict changes the effectiveness and safety considerations for both parties which can substantially alter the engagement. (Probably a good subject for a future blog post!) The method that we typically cover to give people a basic familiarity of tactical body positioning is: 1) The "fence" position*: Feet shoulder width apart, knees relaxed and slightly bent, hands in a posit...

CLARITY... ...That You Matter: Because when we feel that we don't matter, or that something, someone or some group matters more than us, we often think, say & do things that are out of balance, unhealthy, disrespectful and violent. ...That EVERYONE Else Matters just as much as you: Because when we think we matter more than others, we often think, say & do things that are out of balance, unhealthy, disrespectful and violent. ...The YOU part is NOT your actions, beliefs or values. The YOU we're talking about is your LIFE VALUE - Everyone's Life has value and that value is Separate from their Relative Beliefs, Values & Actions. CONFIDENCE... ...That there is NOTHING you or ANYONE ELSE can do to take away your value , so there is no need to worry about it, argue over it, try to manipulate, intimidate or hurt others to get it, because you already have it. No one can take it away from you! If you resort to arguing, manipulating, intimidating, hurting ...