Shihan Training: Fall Program 2016

What you can expect when you join us:

Bujinkan is more than a martial art, where the mental, physical and emotional challenges brought on by training open a path to a person’s heart. The discipline is in the form, but the art is in the feeling. That is why we need both:

1. Form+feeling. Not just steps of the technique, But the ideas behind the technique
2. Shaping the mind so the technique can train you instead of you training it.
3. How to serve the art. Not what you get, but what you give to the training.
4. Intuition as a form of knowledge.
5. When the body is tired, the spirit prevails.
6. Interdependence is tactical
7. If everyone is still alive, we will do individual assesments

Would you like to be a Shihan?

Me too! A few years ago, Hatsumi Sensei made me a 15th dan. That means that some people think I am a Shihan.

But to myself I am just me. A normal Bujinkan student. And I know that Hatsumi Sensei promotes people before they are ready. This is to inspire them to grow into the rank.

This makes me want to train harder and put in the work. What about you? How to you get to be a Shihan?

What is the appropriate experience to get that outcome? I have an idea of some choices you might take. And I want to share these with you.

Since I began in this art 30 years ago, I have learned that it is like any long term relationship. At first you are excited and in love! You can’t wait to train every day. Every class is so amazing.

Then you get married to it. This may happen when you reach a certain rank. Or when the training becomes routine.

This is when training changes. You realize that training is not actually about fighting. It is about reshaping yourself and that discovery of who you are.

But some people only want to flirt. They only want the sex or the romance. Those people are immature. They soon quit and go from one bad relationship (or martial art) to another. We sometimes joke that they are dojo whores.

But real training… the training required to be a Shihan, is lifelong.

Bujinkan training shows you where you are small. Where you have to change and expand. This is because the real goal of training is higher than technique. With these practices you can transform your life.

Becoming a Shihan means you become a master of your own humanity. You are not training the art, it is training you. Your heart becomes clear as a result.

This is why you need to get close to the discipline of training. Find it. Do it. Treasure training in your heart. Because most people fail the first test which is just showing up.

If you want to get on the Shihan path with me, You can register for the Rojodojo Fall Program here: