What is karate?

Karate is a martial art designed for self-defense, and used to improve fitness, discipline, and respect for yourself and others.

A typical class will start with warm-up, followed by skill learning, practice, and drills (for example, how to strike using your fist, elbows, knees, and feet.)

All karate teaches how to block attacks against one or more attackers. Some schools will concentrate more on sparring, some on fitness, others on the spiritual aspect of the art. And yes – some places (like our school) will touch a bit of everything.

Now for the good stuff!

After almost 30 years practicing martial arts, I have realized that all of the above is just the tip of the iceberg.

I’ve learned more than how to use my body, I’ve learned how to succeed and more important, how to deal with failure. Now that, my friends, is the real secret of karate. I’ve learned that the greatest benefits of karate is that you are always looking to perfect yourself. We all know that perfection is impossible, but trying to be a better person, a better parent, friend, and a better employee is a valuable goal. The gain is in the trying, the striving to be better, not just in the end result.

What better way to strive to be better than doing something that always pushes you, even through failure. You learn to look within yourself, and find a lesson or some kind of moral that will help you deal with it. If someone is willing to practice this for years, day in and day out, life would be a lot more interesting!

Now imagine that person willing to share this knowledge with others. Some call them Black Belts. I call them Martial Artist.

OSU

Marc Paradis

Soke-Dai