Spreading the Word – Making a Difference

Through our work with the NinjaSelfDefense.com online training courses we have made learning the art of To-Shin Do available to everyone. Back in the early 80’s it was a very different world. I won’t bore you with stories of how I had to walk uphill barefoot in the snow both ways to and from class (though it was a little like that). After traveling extensively, at great cost, I realized that starting my own training group could do three important things for me.

1. I had training partners that I could practice what I was learning with regularly. Because our martial art is all about realistic and effective self-defense it is critical that you have opportunities to train with live partners as often as possible. This is how you collect the experiences that move you toward owning your skills and making this art your own.
2. By charging a small fee for the training I was passing on to the members of my group I could help pay for, often completely, the important training events that I had to attend (like our annual festival) in order to get as good as I could as fast as possible.
3. If I could grow my group big enough I could afford to sponsor teachers to come to where I was rather than having to travel myself. This way my students could experience the art with people who were much more skilled than myself. I figured this would motivate them even more to come to my regular classes. And it did.

By following this plan I grew past the size of a group and now have a beautiful state of the art dojo and do what I enjoy for a living. Further, what really started as a purely selfish endeavor transformed into something much, much bigger than I had anticipated. Through the years of sharing the power and beauty of our art with thousands of people I have made a tremendous impact on a great many lives. I still get letters and phone calls from both previous and current students explaining the invaluable difference this training has made in their lives. For me, this is the most gratifying part of my martial arts journey that began over 52 years ago.

Becoming knowledgeable and skilled in the many aspects of the To-Shin Do martial art can be a very rewarding experience of practicing “enlightened selfishness”. This occurs when we pursue something that we really desire and as a result the world around us is better for it.

We have made it very easy to start and maintain a training group. Click here for more information. You know the old truism; “The journey of a thousand miles begins with…..”