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Words from Sabumnim

I would like to acknowledge Rogit Nagpal and Christa Victoria, two beautiful souls that have spent much time training at WMAC. They both left a special impression on many of our hearts before they passed on, leaving the world forever. And for those of you who are dealing with the loss of loved ones, I feel for you and you have my deepest condolences. No one can understand what great loss really feels like until they experience it for themselves, but know that you are not alone.

Christa Victoria - Listen to her music here
www.christa-victoria.com/musical_performances/

Rogit Nagpal

The years 2017 – 2021 are sure to be an unparalleled time of social, political and economic upheaval. You should make sure you take every precaution to guard the safety, security and well-being of yourselves and your loved ones. We are entering the most dangerous time in the history of America, not a time for any of us to be asleep at the wheel on the highway of life.

Be aware of all the signs along the way, but also be vigilant and shield yourselves from the mental and emotional chaos, with calmness, serenity, tranquility, peacefulness, joy and unclouded thoughts. Proper prayer, meditation and practice will give you a huge advantage.

January is White Belt Month

Once again we will be starting the year with white belt month. On the surface white belt month is about everyone wearing a white belt and reviewing the basics, but there is much, much more to white belt month. It’s a time of discovering and dealing with your greatest obstacle to learning martial arts. This great obstacle is called your ego.

It affects your hearing, your vision, your emotions, your thoughts, your judgment and your actions. The ego is skillful, crafty and elusive. Most of its power comes from psychological stealth: a small opponent is much more powerful than many large opponents.

White belt month is about discovering how you get in your own way when it comes to progress, not only in the martial arts but also in life. We live in a world where rank and title come before personal merit. This is the great disharmony and imbalance of our world. A person should come before rank, title or economic wealth because the person is who we are, and the rest is only a label.

The greatest richness you can possess can only be found and kept in the heart and soul. For many practicing martial arts, belt color can get in the way and become an obstacle for progress and personal fulfillment. The beginning white belt can speak humbly, where the Bodan ego may say “I’m hot shit, I understand it all now. I can design my own training. I’m better than most of the blackbelts. I know better than Sabumnim now!” Ego will always run amok. A huge ego will always create an energy field around it of discomfort, confusion, annoyance, distress and disharmony. No one wants to learn from, teach or practice with a person generating this kind of energy field. WMAC training is basically community based martial arts training, meaning that it is the whole community that contributes to and supports your martial arts progress. Thus, if one’s ego creates disharmony, internally or externally, they have little chance of success or a future here.

White belt month is also a time when I get to look deeper into the student and not be distracted by the color of their belt. There is much that is revealed when students wear their white belts that is not obvious at times when they wear their colored belt. This is also the best time for me to find suitable, acceptable and desirable assistant and future instructors. White belt month is also the best opportunity and time to learn and improve on being an excellent instructor.

Have you ever said to yourself “If I could only go back in time and redo…” or “I wish I had known back then what I know now”? You should seize it, embrace it and discover what rewards you can come away with from it, not only in your training, but also in your personal life.

Special Offers

January Special 2017
30 Days — $75

Take Me there!

Special Video

Play Now

Special Offer until March 31st: 20%

WMAC members, family and friends

20% off any service Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday

Kick-start the week with a fresh new look in the New Year!

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January Black Belt Birthdays

Kyosanim Lena Viddo 1/22
Ricardo Robert 1/1
Lynn J. Babcock 1/5
Jean Francois Vallee 1/7
Nubia Phillips 1/9
Thomas Lamphier 1/11
Kristin Walsh 1/11
Frankie Austin 1/13
Jonathan Jones 1/16
Renaldo Parilla 1/18
Kirsten Lawton 1/23
Angelique Burrison 1/25
Alex J. Paiva 1/26

February Black Belt Birthdays

Nicole Becher 2/1
Nori Jung 2/27
Elorie Tate 2/25
Jake Gsell 2/29

The White Belt Month

The white belt symbolizes emptiness, openness, clarity; a clearing, egoless surrender, greatness, acceptance and freedom; simplicity, possibility, potential and purity and the beginning. Traditionally the Master and/or Temple would only accept you as a student or disciple if you had most of these qualities. Today we give people the opportunity to strive and possess them through our teachings and training.

White belt practice is an opportunity to take your Martial Arts, your self, and your life to a higher level. This only happens if you truly practice and embody the teachings and principles of the white belt practice. If you take a lot of time off from your training with the belief that because it’s a white belt practice time, and you’re above white belt, you won’t learn anything or improve, you will be at a great loss.

Some of the biggest gains at the World Martial Arts Center have been during white belt practice. If you come to classes regularly and simply wear a white belt and just do training as usual, you will make some improvement in your Martial Arts. If you become a white belt completely in body, mind and spirit, you will make a multi dimensional leap in not only your Martial Arts but also in your whole being. This is even more so if you are a higher rank. It is like the drawing of a bow and arrow; the further you draw the bow back, the more potential there is for the arrow to go forward and fly higher. The drawing of the bow requires strength; mentally, emotionally and spiritually, depending on how high you wish to aim.

Recommended Practices for White Belt Month

Here are some of the recommended practices for white belt month. You must choose for yourself how deep and how high you wish to perform these practices. What you get out of it will depend on what you are willing to put into it. Your level of desire and your ability to face your fears and discomfort will dictate your rewards.

1) The physical practice
Empty your cup. Become more grounded in your body, develop a profound personal practice, Do some kind of physical training everyday, re-learn all your basics, eat and drink wisely. Proper sleep and rest - listen to your body- strive for physical purification.

2) The mental practice
Empty your cup – forget the past. Open your mind – be open to new learning. Seek to learn the things you don’t know that you don’t know about yourself. Focus your mind on the right things that will support you. Only think positive. Have no expectations and be open to possibilities, Listen more than you speak - listen to your inner wisdom – strive for mental purification.

3) The soul practice
Empty your cup – let it all go. Free yourself of old emotional scars and baggage. Every day find something you can give up.. Every day find a reason to laugh and then to smile, give up needing to be right. Give up needing to look good. Find ways to bring more joy and fulfillment to your life. Listen to your heart.

4) The spiritual practice
Empty your cup – give it all you’ve got. Empty yourself and be full. Practice with a warrior’s spirit; with strength and compassion. Help others unconditionally. Forgive others, forgive yourself. Do Acts of Kindness every day. Find things to appreciate in others and tell them. Meditate daily. Generate Peace. Listen to your spirit.

5) The higher practice
Empty your cup –worry not about life. Practice acceptance of life and of death, live your day with unbound courage. Always take wise action, never procrastinate. Pray and work for World Peace. Do your best to help and pray for those who suffer. Pray by sending love and gratitude to those around you and to the Lord of Life, the Creator of the heavens and all the worlds. Every day practice a love meditation, generate love inside and to yourself that is beyond measure. Live your life like this could be the last time around for yourself and those you love.

Every day wake up as a new and improved you. Find ways of being of worthy service to others. Find ways of being of worthy service to your teachers, and all who help you and challenge you to grow. Listen to your Higher Self.

Those who practice even 10% of the practices for the entire white belt month will reap great rewards that will increase their ability to produce powerful and positive changes in ways and in places they were never aware of. The wise who choose to extend this practice for 100 days can use this time to prepare for how they would like their life to look and feel like by the year 2020.

This is a perfect time to read or review the chapter in the Beginner's Handbook titled "The Meaning of the HapKiDo White Belt".

Dress Code for White Belt Month

Follow the protocol: A practice in discipline, humility and respect. No dress code, no training, no excuses, no exceptions.

White belt to High red belt — clean, white uniforms and white belts only.
Yellow belts should still have a yellow tip on their white belt
Orange belts will receive an orange tip on their white belt.
Green belts will receive a green tip on their white belt.
Blue belts will receive a blue tip on their white belt.
Red belts will receive a red tip on their white belt.
Bodans — clean white uniforms and white belts only - until February 1st; Ai belt when assisting or teaching.
Black belts — white uniforms and black belt only.
Senior Instructors — White uniforms or white with black trim only.
Kyosa's — white, black or white with black trim uniforms.
Chungsa's — all uniforms.

White belts can be purchased at the front desk for $5.

White Belt Month is also Black Belt Month

White belt month is also black belt month training. We strive for a higher standard of precision in technical skills, and also a higher level of worthiness, This is the month where the eligible become fitted to the task of learning and training to become qualified to lead and become instructors and assistant instructors.

WMAC is a place of self discovery, a place to get healthier, stronger, more flexible; a place to learn self defense, a place to learn the deeper meanings of martial arts, but most of all, WMAC is a place to learn how to become an excellent instructor and eventually a master of martial arts. WMAC is a place to learn leadership.

We are constantly learning how to follow and how to lead, Yin and Yang always support each other, so does following and leading. No matter what color your belt is, life may call on you to lead at any time. Even if you are a greenbelt, if you are the high rank in class, you are expected to lead and start the class. At WMAC leadership takes many forms regardless of rank or station in life.

May your 2017 be divine and full of great progress, prosperity and joy.

BECOMING AN INSTRUCTOR

As a student of WMAC, there comes a time when you are asked to work with other students. You are observed to see if you work well with others. If this goes well, eventually you may be asked to work with lower ranked students and assist them with their progress. If this doesn’t go well, you may not get another opportunity for years. If you prove yourself by being able to follow instructions, and you work well with others, you would then qualify to become an assistant instructor.

After learning how to and completing 10 hot and cold introductions, you receive your first gold bar. After learning and completing leading warm ups in a class 20 times, you receive your second god bar. After teaching 30 successful classes, you are awarded your third gold bar. The third bar requires special training in how to teach mat skills and new member protocols concerning the four priorities of the contact person.

Below is a small section from the Instructors Handbook for those of you who would appreciate more insight into this level or would just like to get a head start in learning.

The First Contact

I. The first priority of the contact person is to establish a positive and professional relationship with the prospective member, that is in alignment with the protocols of the school and the vision of the Master. This may not always be possible with individuals that have special needs or limited awareness, but it should be our aim to be successful with this with everybody.

II. The second priority is to provide accurate, essential and current information such as schedule of classes and events, hours of operation, close dates, program options and special promotions. If you don.t have this information, you should direct them to someone in the immediate vicinity that may have it.

III. The third priority is to set up the new student for success by:

1. Explaining to them that they must arrive 30 minutes before their first class because they must be properly prepped for the class in order to assure their safety. The ultimate goal is to make sure they have a successful class and leave with a good experience. We also want to avoid them being a burden to other beginning students of a risk to themselves. Let them know that the Master and Instructors may not accept them into their very first class without the necessary preparation needed to ensure a safe and successful class for a brand new student.

2. Make sure they receive all components of the beginner’s welcome packet for the program they are enrolled in.

Example one: Beginner’s guide, beginner’s DVD or beginner’s USB key and a uniform.
Example two: Beginner’s handbook, beginner’s DVD or beginner’s USB key, uniform and gloves.

3. Make sure we have a good photo of them and we have an accurate email address and phone number. Tell them about receiving the school newsletter and other important announcements. Tell them about going to the happykicks.com website to find past issues and videos in the archived newsletters.

Enrollment

Enrollment, like battle can only have three likely outcomes, victory, defeat or draw. With enrollment, this is either, “Yes, I’m in”, “No, I’m not interested”, or “I’m not sure, I need to think about it”.

Everyone that calls or walks into a martial arts school is either selling something or has some level of interest in the martial arts. But this interest will change into one of the three previous possibilities. This all depends on how the first and second contact goes.

When most people think of enrollment, they usually think of someone signing up. That is the lowest level and only the final 1% of enrollment. This is the kind of enrollment used by a gym, dance school, tennis club, etc. Once you sign up with them, they usually don’t care if you show up again as long as you make your payments. You could train at a gym for ten years and they still wouldn’t know your name or notice if you died and never showed up again.

However, this is not the way of a martial arts school and community. A martial arts school wants and needs qualified, motivated members.

Qualified means:
1.They have the time to train at least once a week even though two to three times a week would be preferred.

2.Their travel time to and from the school isn’t too burdensome.

3.They don’t have any physical, mental or emotional challenges that would make training dangerous for themselves or others in class with them.

4.They have the means to fulfill and complete their financial commitment to the school and community.

5.They have good character, they can work well with others, they are coachable, trainable and teachable.

Motivated means:
1.They have a strong desire to learn martial arts.

2.They have a strong reason to train.

Chose Your Words Wisely

Life and death are in the power of the torque. –Proverbs 18:21

We are fed from the fruit of our lips –Proverbs 13:2

Set a guard O Yahweh, over my mouth: keep watch over the door of my lips –Psalm 141:3

The Torah, Tanach, Zohar, Bible, Koran as well as many other ancient texts, all state that all of creation began with words, as did the downfall of humanity. Every true Master understands the power of words. Just as a knife can be used to feed or to kill, words can be used to build or to destroy, to open a path or create an obstacle. The mastery of this art and science of the spoken word is one of the most important skills one needs to develop, regardless of industry or geographical location. There is a particular language used in law, medicine, science, real estate, etc. The same is true for martial arts schools. In a martial arts school, there are three primary languages used: one for the martial arts practice and teaching of that practice; one for administration; and one for enrollment.

The contact person, the leader, and the teacher are all in possession of a flame that must be passed on to thrive. Passing on the flame is the responsibility of them all. During the enrollment process, when you speak to someone that has a small interest in the martial arts, you may light a blazing fire of desire or throw a cold bucket of water on the little flame. With your words, you have either enrolled or un-enrolled them.

If a person is not emotionally and rationally enrolled first, they will not sign up with a firm commitment. This is the reason why most people that sign up for a trial month do not make it to green belt. Then we have people like Chungsanims Dominick Bioche, Betty Sze, Brad Kagawa, Jonathan Waks, Jill Burdick, Kyosanims Lena Viddo, Eva Vaccaro, Steve Vaccaro and Holly Kozak, Instructors like Jean Francois, Carol Glasgow, Sarah Williams, John Roman, Georges Brisset, Kelly Rutkowski, Rosa Cho, Susan Ferugio, and many, many more who have been with us for 10-28 years and enrolled for 36 months without even doing a trial class first.

It is the potential enrollee’s level of interest and motivation combined that causes that person to be enrolled enough to take action and commit to their training and personal development in the martial arts. What they see and hear from their first and second contact will either move them towards or away from committing to a real program.

When we speak to friends, family, associates, visitors or even strangers, we must be ever mindful of the words we use. Here are just a few examples of common errors many people make when speaking to perspective enrollees.

Common errors:

1. Speaking in martial arts practitioner languages

A prospect will understand what we mean when talking about mat skills such as rolling, falling, throwing and break falling. This kind of talk can generate a lot of concern because it brings up some people’s basic fears: fear of falling, fear of injury and fear of looking bad. Even prospects who have Aikido, Judo or Jujitsu experience may have concerns because of the high rate of back, neck and shoulder injuries in these styles specifically because of their methods of training and teaching falls. When you tell someone we teach joint locking, joint breaking, choking skills, front snap kicks, etc., you must understand that you have no idea of what their interpretation of these words means to them. It is a big and sometimes unfortunate mistake to assume that someone who has never taken lessons at our school would know exactly what you mean when you use the language of our practitioners.

2. Speaking in business language

This is a waste of time other than the cost and length of programs and even those shouldn’t be discussed unless the prospect is qualified first. Potential members do not need to know or understand the back end or business end of the dojang.

3. Speaking in multiple tongues
This is when the contact person speaks to the prospect combining the language of the martial arts practitioner and the language of the martial arts business system with the language of enrollment. This is a clumsy approach and not advisable unless we really don’t want that prospect to join us.

Below are some examples of words that shouldn’t be used and some better alternatives to use in their place.

Not to use                              To use
Selling Offering
Contract Agreement
Hard Challenging
Diluted Simplified
Watered down Simplified
Difficult Challenging
Confusing Requires focus
Philosophy Practical knowledge
Fast Rapid
Crowded Busy
Help Encourage
Help Improve
Longer time More commitment
Karate Martial Arts
Fighting Sparring
Tests                                         Promotions
Try Do our best/do your best

Here are some examples of words that should never be used:

Snap
Crack
Hard
Heavy
Falling
Falls
Break
Crank

Here are some examples of words that are good to use:

Progress                               Fun                                         Simple
Fulfillment Rewarding Opportunity
Enjoy Satisfying Harmonious
Beneficial                              Community Health
Easy                                      Supportive Balance
Organized                             Longevity Well experienced
Confidence Positive self image Professional
Practical Reliable Safe

THE POWER AT THE BEGINNING

“What is at rest is easy to hold;
      What is not yet begun is easy to plan.
What is thin is easy to melt;
       What is minute is easy to disperse.
Deal with things before they emerge;
        Put them in order before there is disorder.”

“People often spoil their work at the point of completion.
With care at the end as well as the beginning, no work will be spoiled.”

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching