Richmond MMA

I was talking to a friend of mine, who teaches at Richmond MMA, and, upon doing a quick Google search for them, I noticed that Shinka Martial Arts didn't show up in a search for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

As Shinka is in Richmond, and teaches MMA, I found that quite odd, until I realized that one of the things we do is figure out which martial arts combination best suits our students, which is different than simply teaching "MMA".

Still, for those people searching for MMA in Richmond, I would heartily suggest Shinka Martial Arts.

It's a collection of martial arts that are suited to your body type, your goals, and your mindset.  So you still get your Kickboxing, your Muai Thai, your Jiu Jitsu and others - and, it's a process of discovery and development.

It's pretty cool :-)

The Cure for Google-Brains.

The Cure for Google-Brains.

I think we can all agree that thanks to Google, our youth have more access to information in the palms of their hands than their parents had in entire libraries. 

What this technological marvel has made, is a society of young people incredibly skilled at leveraging information, to which there is no limit to what they can accomplish with a click of a button.

Don’t know how to build an origami gyroscope? 

Google will tell you.  (Heck, there’s a how-to video on youtube.)

As with all technologies, there is a trade off. 

With limitless access to ideas and information, and the training we receive from video games, our youth has been trained that answers are easy to come by, that if you’re having to work hard then you’re probably doing something wrong, and that the answers to our challenges will highlight themselves for us if things get too difficult.

Again, this inspires today’s youth to believe that anything is possible, that anything can be learned at the touch of a button and that ideas are what are important rather than the process used to achieve them.

But what our youth is forgetting how to do, is to persevere. 

We are forgetting how to try something, fail, try again, get frustrated… and keep trying.

Edison failed 10,000 times before inventing the light bulb.  Colonel Sanders was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted his idea of a licensed chicken recipe.

The Google/Video Game/Youtube culture of today is fantastic for providing arenas for creativity, and for leveraging other people’s strengths while simultaneously devastating to the individual’s ability to grow past their own limitations.

Just as the advent of the calculator and spell-checkers has made many of us completely unable to do simple calculations in our heads or write a comprehensive letter, so too has Google has robbed us of our ability to individually grow.

As technology increases, and it will continue to increase, I predict that our children will become quicker, faster, and more faceted thinkers who will seek answers more and more from outside of themselves.

While this breeds a type of entrepreneurial spirit, or leader/director mindset… someone has to build the giant robots or write the program that will analyze the data for you.

Too many chefs spoil the stew, and a kitchen staff without a head chef runs around directionless.

Can we achieve a balance in our society? 

I believe we can, through activities which teach our children how to grow, persevere, and to understand the fundamental concept that how they do anything, is how they do everything.

As the head instructor of Shinka Martial Arts, I’ve had the opportunity to observe a few generations of students.  All the way from the enthusiastic 4 year old students, to the introspective 76 year olds, to the determined 50 year olds to the ambitious 20 year olds - there are mental and cognitive trends that are easily identifiable.

Like the rings of a tree, we can see different methods of communication and thought processes in the various generations.  Some prefer a story format to assimilate information, while others want the bullet points.  Some of us were taught that information takes time to learn and master, and enjoy the process, while others were taught through the reward-system of video games, and focus more upon the levelling up than we do the playing of the game itself.

Neither thought process is inherently wrong, but I would point out that if one focuses upon the joy of the journey one gets hours of enjoyment, while if one focuses on the joy of the destination, one only gets a brief second of success after a few hours wait.

An activity like martial arts helps students of all ages surpass who it is they are.  That is, it helps them grow to meet their challenges, rather than to seek answers from outside of themselves.

While leveraging talents and information is an exceptional life skill, ultimately it means very little if it is all leveraged from an unworthy source. 

Something like martial arts helps people surpass challenges, while still providing the video game like progress bar of the belt system.  It allows us to surpass mini-challenges, but there are no cheat codes, no walk-throughs and, ultimately, it is a single player game.

Learning to push ourselves is a learnable skill.  School teaches us to learn the skill of learning.  The internet teaches us the skill of leveraging.  Martial arts teaches us the skill of growth.

If all we learned was growth, we might become a poorly compensated technician.  If all we learned was leveraging we might become an inept CEO.  If all we learned was learning we might become a teacher or a scholar.

But together, there is a synergy.  Ask yourself what could stop a constantly growing, constantly learning, highly skilled, physically powerful & vibrant individual?

Keith Owen & I

I've gotten a few comments over the last few days, comparing my teaching style to Keith Owen.  To be honest, the name kind of rang a bell, but I wasn't sure from where.

I looked him up, and I really enjoy his teaching... so that probably means we are fairly similar.

One thing about teaching that I've noticed, is that its a lot like driving a car.

Anyone who drives faster than you is a lunatic, and anyone who drives slower than you is a moron.

Meaning, its a very subjective and biased thing.  Like most arts, we all see what we are doing and think "yup, that's the best way to do it".  This is one of the reasons why I do my absolute best to surround myself with people who are excellent at what they do, but different from me.

We can always learn and grow, always develop our styles and our arts.  For me, one of my arts is teaching.  Its something I've been doing for a very long time, through quite a few mediums.

I wrote my book, The Key to Awesome to help leverage my teaching abilities into areas of the world where I may not frequent as often.  (or hopefully "ever" in some cases, as I'm donating a few to some prisons and such) and made Shinka Martial Arts the best dojo in Richmond so that I would have a huge martial arts facility to teach fun fitness and self defense.

I think that this is one of the key points of evolution that we all undertake.  We find something we enjoy and are good at, and we figure out how to help as many people as possible with it.  Leverage.

I see what Keith Owen is doing, and I really respect it.  Teaching to mass audiences and impacting the world through leveraged information.  Good job ol' chum.

Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts

Author Uses His Own Self Help Book to Cope With Stress!

(laughs) its true.  I read my own book, The Key to Awesome: The Step by Step Guide to Having an Outstanding Life to overcome challenges in my own life, and to grow.

I wasn't kidding when I said that every time you read the book you're an improvement since the last time, and you'll get even more out of it.  It's true for the author as well as the readers!

I'm prepping myself and Shinka for our POWD boxing event, which we are hosting.  Our richmond martial arts facility is a really, really huge martial arts space.  And it is going to be awesome.

(heh, although, to be fair, a lot of the students are as excited about the ring girls as they are about the fights themselves)

And, with any huge event, comes a little bit of last-minute touch ups and preparations.  I've found myself reviewing the pages on handling stress, and... oops, wrong link handling stress and it has really helped.  I think we all need a coach - even if that coach is a book one has written, that coach is still there for you and, as its in book form, its still impartial, and doesn't get clouded or stressed out by any of your current situations.

Also, I've noticed a growing internet buzz about The Key to Awesome: The Step by Step Guide to Having an Outstanding Life, which is really cool.  People I don't know are finding out about the book, and I haven't started the marketing campaign yet.  Good sign :)

I think it might even be on Amazon... let me look:  The Key to Awesome... tk2a... nope, not yet.

Soon!

Sensei Ono, Shinka Martial Arts.
Winner of:
Richmond's Best Martial Arts School
Richmond's Biggest Martial Arts School
Richmond's Best Coach
Vancouver & Richmond's Top 3 Businesses