Frontline Martial Arts and Wellness

​ Hey guys, I hope everyone is happy and healthy. Also I hope you are enjoying your loved ones on this special day, be it religious or a holiday for you. Ontario Corrections lost another to suicide today. I feel sad and angry. We lose to many good people to the darkness.  The darkness being the trauma, the pain, and the anger we carry from our service.  People try to fight it and/or deny it. You can’t! It is a part of us, wether we like it or not. The best solution I see and experienced is acceptance and taking steps towards healing.  Rest in peace Officer. Be well, Sensei Mike

​ Hey guys, I hope everyone is happy and healthy. I had a difficult meeting this morning. The person I was dealing with was untrustworthy and constantly attempted to pull the wool over my eyes. Behaving in a way that is hard to respect because it lacked basic respect for myself and my intelligence. However, this was not a worry though. I knew my goals going into the meeting and how it fit into my overall plan. If you have a clear heart you know what your goal is. If you have a clear mind you can make a sound plan and see it through the ups and downs of life. This gives you a will as strong as the forces of nature. Use your weapon wisely. Be well, Sensei Mike

​ Hey guys, I hope everyone is happy and healthy.  Still working to find a go between for my camcorder and my computer. I used to do it before but the equipment needed can’t be found. It is getting frustrating and I am feeling angry. Do you get like that when you have a problem you’re helpless to solve?  I bet most people do. What I try to remember is my Stoicism. I cannot attain the solution right now. The only thing I can do is focus on and work towards a solution. When I get angry I lose focus. Therefore becoming angry is counterproductive. Be well, Sensei Mike

​ Hey guys, I hope everyone is happy and healthy.  Still having technical difficulties with regards to producing videos. The live action ones I put out from my cellphone lack the quality I want. The odyssey continues. As for the picture. That is my pintail skateboard/balance trainer. Part of my healing has brought me back to activities I used to enjoy, i.e. bicycling and skateboarding. Also working the skateboard has been a good low intensity treatment and strengthening exercise for my injury. Pintail skateboards are in the category of longboard/cruiser. The  bushings are soft to accommodate for carving/slalom movement and inertia generation. These soft bushings make for a tippy skateboard, perfect for balancing exercise. I practiced pushing, transitioning, and balancing on both sides/regular and fakie. I was practicing on the padded dojo floor which lessened the rolling factor by a lot. So I also forced the wheels to turn to work lateral movement. I felt my muscles from my lo...

​ Hey guys, I hope everyone is happy and healthy. I needed a quiet meditative day today. My mind began to become cluttered with thoughts and worries. So, getting my basics done, but for the rest of my time. Quiet, no music, tv, computer, Xbox, or social media. As a musician I am working on strengthening my hearing by listening and focusing on hard to hear or unusual sounds. The picture is of a Mandala I created for this purpose.  Mandala’s come from Eastern spiritual traditions. Although, I learned about them through Carl Gustav Jung, an early 20th century psychologist and colleague of Sigmund Freud.  Dr. Jung would create beautiful mandala paintings for meditation purposes. All you need to do is create a picture with regular shapes and patterns without planning. Create the picture as it comes. Then try using it to look upon when you practice meditation. Be well, Sensei Mike

​ Hey guys,  I hope everyone is happy and healthy. I put a lot of stock in philosophy. It is important, I feel, to create rules that define our lifestyle and behaviour. We all carry our own personal philosophies in life. Equally, it is a tricky subject judging positive and negative philosophies, i.e. what I see as good behaviour you may view as poor, and vice versa. I can see this becoming rocky fast so I’ll continue with explaining why I chose Stoicism. I had reached a point in my life where my philosophy cobbled together from my experiences in life was failing me. The pillars I leaned upon began shifting. As a consequence my emotions were getting the better of me and my prized discipline became weak. I am an unabashed Star Trek fan and I respect the Vulcans on that show. Although, they feel with more passion and force then we do they always come across as disciplined and controlled. Equally, they showed immense amounts of compassion and respect for others (two behaviours I respec...

​ Hey guys, I hope everyone is happy and healthy. We got some upsetting news here. Upsetting for the whole family, again, lol. Oh well, what are you going to do? I could get t’ed off. I could let the anger and frustration in me rise. I could even let that anger and frustration activate my dark side. Then I could let that shadow self behind the driver’s wheel of my being. By that type A driver is finished my vehicle will more than likely be ready for the wreckers. Or, I could not worry about what is not in my control. I have no influence on the upsetting event. I cannot control the people involved. I can’t even control the feelings of the people in my family in an attempt  to help. All I have control over is myself, my thoughts, my emotions, and my behaviour. All I can do is show support for my loved ones and not let this situation get me off of my center. I need to stand stable in space if I am going to be of real service. So you could spray your energy, time, and effort in all dir...

​ Hey guys, I hope everyone is happy and healthy. I haven’t been to active here the past couple of days. Been fighting something off. I feel as though I should… but I have to remember should only exists on paper in my opinion. If rest is needed, take it. Realizing what you need when you need it is a part of being yourself.  I continue to learn how difficult it is to  do what is in the quote below. The more we learn about ourselves through education and introspection, the more triggers and trauma we find. So we analyze, learn, practice and integrate. After that we discover a new self with greater power and potential, but also a new set of previously buried triggers. The process then starts a new. So, in my opinion, being yourself is a constant process of discovery that continues on for our lives. The benefits of this life long journey is that the more trauma we heal from the more power we receive. While we’re lightening ourselves from those energetic burdens we free up more ene...