Suffering is from Resisting Pain

Suffering is not caused by pain but by resisting pain.

 -Unknown-

(I like reading with theme music)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa-ae6_okmg

Today I learned that the toughest athlete in the world is a 62 year-old woman.

 Spanning back 35 years to the first try, 1978, but especially these past four years.
From August, 2009, to Labor Day, 2013, there was nothing but Cuba.

 Every day, every hour, the focus was laser sharp. No stone unturned 

62-year-old Diana Nyad swam without a shark cage 103 miles
between Cuba and Florida !

  Despite deadly Box Jellyfish stings,
Diana courageously continued for 41  hours,

 eventually compromised by the physical effects of the stings.

 A year later, she again faced the seemingly impossible,

 this time with a secret weapon:
a jellyfish suit, a thin nylon covering that prevents stings.

  She swam 51 hours, 5 minutes, much of the country following her every stroke.

 Again the jellyfish attacked, striking her repeatedly on the lips,

where the nylon suit opens to allow her to breathe.

Life-threatening lightning storms and the powerful Gulf Stream

 current literally spun the Teams fleet compasses in circles,

shoving Diana on a winding route of nearly 100 miles through the water
 before the team had to removed her.

On Labor day 2013 she emerged on Smathers beach and gave us a message..

Nothing is impossible !!

What keeps us from being super acheivers ?
In my case, it was crippling fear, but in generalization,
 it’s attachment to any negative self-talk you have.
 

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

-Helen Keller-

By giving up my attachment to that abusive inner dialogue,
I was able to release the fear and anxiety associated with change
or the possibility of failure.

 I was able to look at it objectively by removing myself from it emotionally.
I have to remind myself every day to hold onto that objectivity and release the fear,
 but so far it’s working.

The Recipe

There are three ingredients in the good life:
 learning, earning and yearning.
-Christopher Morley-

It doesn't matter whether your baking a cake, some gluten free brownies,
 (ha ha Susan)

or trying to develop a successful team with a sense of community.........

The blending of ingredients is the benchmark of success,
 not the ingredients themselves. 

 Grand Master George Mattson, Uechi ryu Pioneer

I've never known anyone to taste flour or baking powder

then smile and say "mmm boy is that gonna be a goood cake,,,,,,,!"

Often our vision turns out to be something  drastically different than we imagined.

Last night in Plaistow, NH...

 I watched 200 plus people celebrate their Black Belt Graduation.
The candidates were joined by an audience 1500 people from the community
These students had been mentored by Senseis' Buzz and Judy Durkin
 and the Butokukai  organization of outstanding teachers.
Associations and dojos have alot to learn from Senseis' Buzz and Judy.

Later during a brief conversation with martial arts legend, 

George Mattson I discovered an interesting lesson.

I said to George,
"It must be an amazing feeling to know your responsible for all this !"
He smiled and said he hadn't imagined this.

During a conversation about the release of my latest film project, 
'Anatomy of the Tide', originally due Sept 2012 now June 6, 2013.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1980038/

I told George I was a bad guy in the film and had used movements from the 
Uechi Ryu Kata Seisan in my fight scene then curb stomped my opponent.

He said sarcastically,
"That should be real good for Uechi Ryu..!

Each of us are merely ingredients in the recipe that is our art,
Our family, our style, our dojo .....our community.

Robb Buckland, Grand Masters George Mattson & Buzz Durkin, w/ Sensei Allan Azoff

 

Live life fully while you're here.

 Experience everything.
 Take care of yourself and your friends.

 Have fun, be crazy, be weird.
 Go out and screw up!

 You're going to anyway,
 so you might as well enjoy the process.

 Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes:
 find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. 

Don't try to be perfect; 
just be an excellent example of being human
 

The Vision

When we come close to those things that break us down,
we touch those things that also break us open.
In that breaking open, we uncover our true nature.

-Wayne Muller-

I'm American. I'm eclectic. I'm going to follow my passions.
 If people don't like it, and it hurts my legacy, I'm not going to worry about that.
We can never die as long as someone still speaks our name.

 We have given up on the family dojo.
We train fighters/instructors.
It is individually paced.
I only tone it down for groups that include other kinds of students.

 

We are about undoing learned helplessness.

A student must overcome their fear in order to truly become what they desire.
I think this covers all categories that they enter into training for.
Inclusive of their preconceived notions.......
 as a foundation to work with and develop from.

 Robb Buckland / Ian Marshall

  There are still many levels of wolves (or Gorillas).
Some will be ferocious and able to protect the pack (troop),
others will be strong/clever/skilled enough to be part of the team.

We will provide opportunity for all but exceptions for none.

  

A wreath in Loving Memory of our friend & mentor Joe Lewis

In a recent conversation with Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace, Danny Dring,
Terry Dow and Anthony Albanese;
 we dicussed necessary adjustments that would enhance
students skill sets...............

 The lay of the land is fluid, moving, changing.
 Stop trying to dam the river,
  you could use its tremendous power to deliver you downstream.

Efficiency isn’t about wrestling the world to its knees by domination and control;
 it is about being exactly, precisely who you are.
 The straightest paths will then arise.
 You won’t have to choose them for they will choose you.

Life and nature have their own paths
From our viewpoint they might be taking the long way,
but we don’t see everything.

It’s a serious error to think that our perspective is “the truth.”

 

The Anatomy of Courage

A coach must be able to help a student to believe in oneself.

 He must build self-esteem before confidence can surface.
 

 Self-esteem gives rise to self-confidence;

 not the other way around.

 A coach must understand this process to develop a student’s
 level of consciousness.
 

 Consciousness is one’s ultimate survival tool in a real altercation,

 not some technique or style of martial arts.
 

 For a fighter,
 the authority of one’s will is their ultimate attribute.

 

-Joe Lewis-
 

Vicky Soto,

A non-trained woman of exceptional courage

gave her life that others may live.

Her selfless act should be a cornerstone on all our lives.

 

So many people with the will and strength to survive being overcome by violence engage in and lose a fight for their lives  because they're out-massed, out-gunned and untrained. 

 

 Try to stop a moving car by getting in front of it instead of turning off the ignition.

Seeing a person as a machine—and then shutting it off—goes against everything we are and love.

It is a failure of our humanity and our society.

All of us wish we could have been at the verge a of disaster with a firearm,

 or at least armed with knowledge and skill and in the right place at the right time.

 

    Practice means that when it matters most it won’t be the first time you’ve done it, but the 101st.

That fantasy of making a difference is made real by preparation.

The worst time to be reminded that you meant to learn CPR,

is when someone is having a heart attack right in front of you.

 

  There is no beast within you waiting to be unleashed as your window of existence begins to close.

  You will only have what you brought with you.

 

Right now.......

You know how to run and you know how to hide. 

 

.

This is why I teach and train.
 

 I can’t be with you every moment of every day. 

 But the information, the knowledge can. .