The first night I worked as a bouncer was at a popular night club in Sydney city in the early 80’s . At that time this particular nightclub was probably THE place to be seen when discos were at their peak of popularity. I did not need the money as I was working full time, I was just really keen to put myself under pressure to see how I would react. I was 22 years old, a black belt, and could handle myself pretty well…or so I thought.

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A FATHER’S STORY ON BULLYING.

This short story is about boys being boys I guess, but as a result of boys being boys, there quickly came a time when the behaviour of one of my sons so called “friends” became really annoying and physically quite painful. I guess you’d have to call it bullying. For whatever reason his friend had been in the habit of walking up behind my son and grabbing him on each bicep, to the point where he was actually in physical pain with bruise marks to prove it. My son had tried lines like “stop it, you’re really annoying me” and “stop it, you’re hurting me”, but his friend simply kept on doing the same thing.

At this point it’s probably worth pointing out that he’s noticeably taller than my son, and I’m assured that he’s significantly stronger than him too.

I knew I had to do something to help my son eradicate this behaviour. His requests for the behaviour to stop simply weren’t working. My son and I needed plan B.

I don’t know the name of this move mate so forgive me, but I started by showing him the move where you clamp your arms tightly into your side, then squat downwards, do a reverse head butt, and then stomp on the attackers toes, but I wasn’t sure that he would be able to clamp the other kids arms tightly enough to perform the move.

The move he ended up using was the one where you twist your body at an angle of about 30 – 45 degrees, enabling you to position one leg outstretched behind your opponent and then do the double knife hand downwards at about 45 degrees across their abdomen, causing them to fall backwards across your thigh. My son must have executed this beautifully, because his attacker fell backwards and in the process of trying to stop himself from hitting the ground he grazed his arm on a concrete pillar and then, before he knew what had happened to him he was flat on his back looking up at my son, muttering the words “I suppose I deserved that”…

There are several points to all of this. Firstly – the Northstar system works. It’s a simple as that. The whole situation that had been dragging on and on, yet it was diffused quite literally “in the blink of an eye”. The second point is that my son has proven to himself that he can put his skills to excellent use – he tried to talk his way out of the situation, but when he needed to use force, he was ready. The third point is that it happened in the school yard and other kids now know my son can look after himself and he cannot simply be pushed around. All good outcomes if you ask me. I hope this short story will remind others just how powerful the Northstar system really is.

Vaughan

Setting up my own martial arts system has had its challenges and it certainly attracted a lot of attention. Word quickly got that there was a new and interesting way to learn martial arts. I made many new friends and met many great like minded martial artists, but there was also a negative. I had to make sure that I was at the top of my game as I was constantly having to prove the system was effective and worthy to take its place as a new and modern martial art.

For further reading : http://bit.ly/du9p53

I can really feel a great energy at Northstar this year. New decade new life. I am loving being back teaching and presenting and being involved in the back end of the dojo. After training and teaching for 30 years I still get the greatest pleasure out of the power I gain from helping others. Thankyou for giving me that opportunity.

The workshop last saturday was a great success, and really consolidated the fundamentals of the great Shinbudo system. More than just a physical exercise, Shinbudo is a philosphy that can shape every aspect of your life. The essence being: be calm, be still, and respond.

As I sit here and write, I ponder over what has helped me to overcome some very large obastables and barriers that have presented themselves over the years. Barriers that have really pulled me down yet, through it all what was it that kept me putting one foot in front of the other. I will share a couple with you.

Perseverance.
It's just too easy to give up. While others were stopping I was still moving forward. The limitations were the same as others, but I just kept picking myself up, dusting myself off and looking at new ways to approach the barrier.

Resilience.
Taking the hits is all part of the journey. We all take great hits, it's how you process it. Yes be down for a while, yes grieve the loss, yes be depressed, but find the light by taking action, any action.

Commitment
Sticking to your choice and applying perseverance and reslience. I always followed through on what I said I was going to do. If I make the choice to do something then that is what I do. I always make careful choices.

Life can be a school of hard knocks sometimes and it often appears that there is no end in sight. But all that happens will pass and the lessons learned from each experience will hopefully prepare you to better navigate what your next challenge.

Don't just give up, finish what you set out to do. Don't go looking for greeners pastures when you may have exactly what you need in front of you. So many people quit when they are so close to winning.

Hope this helps your day.

Andy
andy@northstarmartialarts.com.au

School goes back today! Usually we coincide the beginning of school term with the commencement of the Children's martial arts classes. As we prefer to keep it more stream lined classes will commence from next Monday at both Balmain and North Sydney.

Being the beginning of term, we have space available in most classes, and these places will fill quickly. If you have friends and family that are interested don't hesitate to book them in for their trial class.

I am so happy that so many of you have downloaded my new e-book on Bullying. I hope that you have found it beneficial. If you down load the e-book, you will also be given priority on "part 2" and also my latest interview with Nick Rutledge, the Principal of Scholani Education. He gives great in-sights into steam lining extra education to improve your childs academic potential. So if you have not downloaded the e-book on Understanding Bullying, now is a good time.
http://bit.ly/4LQ1u4

As there is no charge for the e-books, my only request is that you pass the link on to friends and family so they can take advantage and learn from the great information.

Look forward to seeing you in class.

Andy
andy@northstarmartialarts.com.au

YEARLY DATES
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GETTING WHAT YOU WANT IN 2010.

We are in week 2 of 2010 so it's time to set some training goals. Where do you want to be in 12 months time? Are you committed to staying on track and pushing through the hard times as they come up?

I often use this simple process:

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Commencing the year, it's a great time to reflect on where you are going with your martial arts training. I used to one that set really strong, focused goals and have worked really hard to achieve those goals. I must tell you that if you are driven, it works. But these days I am more reflective. I liken goal setting to building castles in the air; that is, having a loose set of plans and then gently moving towards them, and over time seeing which castles build foundations, not being too attached to the outcome, maybe it will work out, may be it won't.

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Great article on the power of intention by Yaro Starack

What Made A Difference?
Below are adjustments to my life and my mindset that I made this year, which I consider most responsible for the significant shift in results I’ve experienced.

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MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE

It has been too long since writing to you all and I have missed not sharing my thoughts with you over the last number of months. This year has been an interesting one. For the first third of the year I decided to take my foot off the throttle and smell the roses after what had been a very very busy couple of years.
I spent time with my son Tom and helped him prepare for various scholarship and selective highschool exams. Tom did do extra study at a great coaching school (if you want the details email me) and after a great effort was actually awarded full scholarships at Newington and Trinity Grammar and also gained a place at Leichhardt Selective. Tom has trained at Northstar since he was 4 and I believe the skills learned at martial arts helped him to excel academically.

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Andy exclaimed “Arghh’ and tried to jump away from Kondo Sensei but Sensei followed him easily and appeared to barely touch his chest again to which Andy jumped away again and made that familiar ‘tiskkkkktatatata” sound that we all seem to make when something hurts a lot.
Just short of the actual full scream of agony. Sensei was saving that one for later….. I struggled to restrain myself from laughing and failed as both Kondo Sensei and Andy laughed to. Quite why we laugh I am not sure but I guess its just funny watching someone react to the painful techniques and then be perfectly ok as soon as its released.

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