I
have been known to be very outspoken and even called controversial at times. I don’t disagree with any of those comments
as I feel one should speak what they feel and not have to worry about being politically correct all the time. In training
I don’t sugar coat mistakes by the students, they respect my straightforwardness. I have an extremely LOW
turnover rate in class because of it.
Here
are my views regarding the world of Budo. A TRUE practitioner should train
with as many people as they can. You can learn from a white belt as much as you can from a black belt in any discipline. Unfortunately
the world of Budo has become very political. Many instructors are dictating to their students who
they are allowed to and not train with. Do not be involved with instructors that try to control you, that’s cult’ish.
Be free and be who you are, you owe it to yourself. I have scheduled a few seminars with Instructors who are not part of any
organization I’m with, I owe it to my students to see as much variety as possible. All the great Martial Artists cross
trained, why should I break tradition?
Look
for an instructor who teaches from experience, verifiable experience. If they were SPECOPS, Federal Agents, Tactical Instructors
or any other high level job they should have proof…DON’T BE SCARED TO ASK FOR IT!! To many people
are falling prey to “McDojo’s” that have instructors teaching skills they have
never used in the real world. Are they teaching specialty courses like Bug Sweeping, Executive Protection and Counter
Terrorism but have no experience in those fields?? Also, does your instructor have rank that makes sense?? Is he 25 years
old and hold 10 black belts all above 5th degree?? That should be fishy in it self. One thing I have made a point
of doing throughout the years is keeping a record of all my accomplishments, for the reason of showing proof. It helps eliminate
any misconceptions or shoot down any skepticism on the new people that meet me. Keep in mind, a good instructor will
have a minumum of 1 training year per dan grade they hold in that art.
Many
rumors fly around the M.A. world, if you ever hear a comment about an instructor or student, rather than believing it you
may want to contact that person and verify the truth. Many times one person will bash another just to look better,
especially in The South Florida Martial Arts World, not enough unity. Budo has become a business to many, that's
when it stops having true meaning.
Remember,
Budo is much larger than any one person on Earth, it’s a never ending journey that should be explored constantly.
In
Budo,
Henry
