PeaceWalker Blog

  Happy Halloween Weekend!! . I have to admit, Halloween is my favorite! . I love the time of year and the feel of all of the mysterious, scary stuff. The costumes, intrigue and festivities! . Did you know its the second highest retailing holiday next to Christmas!? . Trick or Treat!! Wondering which you'll get is Good for Halloween... . Bad for Protecting Yourself! . Remember Halloween night when you were a kid!? . You prepared for weeks: . What you'd dress up as? . We'd map out our route to the houses that we knew handed out the best candy. . We'd pick up our Halloween flashlights. . Remember those things?! . They were these really cheaply made flashlights that had a pumpkin, ghost, skull or witch face made of plastic on the front end of it.  , We got them at Meijers (our local grocery store). They never survived the night w/o breaking or just not working. . Then we'd pick a bag for our candy... . Not too small... (You want to make sure you have enough room for al

Back in 1996, Rickson Gracie of the famous Gracie Jiu Jitsu family taught a seminar in Chicago Il.  I had the pleasure of being there. It was my first in person experience in that art. After watching the first few UFC's, like many people, I became very interested in Gracie Jiu Jitsu, so when I had the chance to go to a seminar I jumped at it!  I still remember how I felt during the experience. Rickson was the real deal! It was a huge seminar. A gymnasium full of a few hundred guys. Rickson could have beat us all, yet, he was the humblest one there! A long time ago, Rickson gave Graciemag a long, thorough interview about his career, ideas and philosophies. He spoke about the role of instructors and the essential mission of those responsible for teaching the art.  "The life of the martial artist is, first of all, to serve. It's to help, it's to be a person who participates in the community," he taught. "The martial artist, therefore, has to be a positive person

Here's another re-post from my friend Moshe Katz. I posted an article from him a few weeks back regarding the history of Krav Maga. I asked him if I could re-post this one as well.  Why!?  Because this is the same way I feel about teaching defensive tactics. People are often misguided when it comes to training.  Learning how to protect yourself (and others) is a skill, a perspective, a Lifestyle that is of benefit to everyone! So, training should be accessible to anyone who wants to train. Moshe's approach reflects this ethic.  So here it is... VICARIOUS ABILITY AND POWER KRAV MAGA BY MOSHE KATZ I had an interesting discussion with one of our students/instructors. Often I am asked to recommend Krav Maga schools in various areas. I am reluctant to recommend schools that teach self-defense but violate what we consider fundamentals of self-defense. Schools that rely upon the three unreliable amigos - Speed, Strength, Precision; Schools whose techniques demand excessive practice, g

A few years back I was hired by the Michigan Counselor Association to be keynote presenter and do a couple breakout sessions on conflict management. In one of the breakouts, I showed them how verbal communication and physical defensive tactics go hand in hand. I demonstrated to them how these two are essential not only for your safety, but when you bring these together, your confidence raises in pretty much everything you do! The Experience Stunned Them... Someone brought up the topic of bullying. . "In my opinion, one of the main problems of many of the approaches embraced by today's schools is that they are coming from the wrong place. They are starting from the wrong foundation. They are beginning from a place of false assumptions and more importantly from a flawed, warped perspective of the human experience.” . What?! The crowd mouthed. . " Could I get a volunteer?"  I asked politely. . A small, young lady stepped up. . "Let's say that you have to talk

  Busy... Lot's going on at the academy, on PeaceWalker and just in Life in general! You too!? I'd guess you're busy too! Summers coming to a close soon. It wrapping up fast! A lot of kids are back to school and others will be soon! I've got some traveling coming up, so these emails are going to be a bit more [Almost] rather than daily for the next couple weeks. Damage & Value “A shop owner placed a sign above his door that said: ‘Puppies For Sale.’ Signs like this always have a way of attracting young children, and to no surprise, a boy saw the sign and approached the owner; ‘How much are you going to sell the puppies for?’ he asked. The store owner replied, ‘Anywhere from $30 to $50.’ The little boy pulled out some change from his pocket. ‘I have $2.37,’ he said. ‘Can I please look at them?’ The shop owner smiled and whistled. Out of the kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle of his shop followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur. One puppy was lagging considerab