Types of Tae Kwon-Do students.

     If you go into just about any dojang (place of training in Korean) you will find a variety of students. Regardless of their age, students will fall into one of these categories. Not every single person will be exactly as described but will definitely be a mixture of these categories.

Please note that just because someone is a new student to the academy does not necessarily mean they do not have years of experience and discipline from another style or art.

Types and stages.

New student- usually does not have any martial arts training and therefore doesn’t even know that they don’t know. They will have short term vision and commitment, they will say things like…I’m just here to lose a few pounds or get a little more flexible, but have not grasped the fact of the much larger picture of Tae Kwon-Do. Instructors must treat these students as fragile eggs and realize how easy that the trust they put in you as an instructor can be broken with just one negative comment or non thoughtful action.
Real World you might say things like..."I am just getting by.", "Every day seems to be a struggle."  The truth is you are not aware of your own potential.

The warrior- these are serious students who are aware that they have room to grow in their technical area, train quite regularly and become aware how food and drink that they consume affect their progress. He or she knows what to do to improve, but is not yet disciplined long enough to always do what is necessary. Most don’t quite grasp the importance of meditation and regular practice of going into the silence.
Real World you might say things like..."Things need to change but what can I do." or "I feel like doing something but don't know what."

The disciple- my experience has been that this occurs between second and third degree black belt. Although I have seen students start this way, it is very rare. This student is totally dedicated to the instructor and art with utmost respect. They teach and spread the tenets of Tae Kwon-Do and also “walk the talk” meaning they listen, focus and are very competent in their techniques. These students understand and know the power of universal law. The second to third degree black belts are domestic instructors. Forth to sixth degree black belts are Chief international instructors and are recognized world wide as excellent instructors.
Real World At this stage you become aware of what you need to do in your life to have an impact on those people around you.  You begin to feel more confident in your own ability to affect the people around you to make a positive change.

True Masters- these are very rare individuals who have dedicated a large part of their lives to the advancement of Tae Kwon-Do. They move thru their techniques with unconscious competence. They know universal law and use it to benefit others. These true masters have experience in all areas of TKD from the basics, self defense, mental skills curriculum, sparring and the highest levels of competition will be part of their history. You will know that you are learning from a true master when you meet his or her students. If the students are polite, friendly and without ego you are on your way to master Tae Kwon-Do.
Real World , these are the people we see around the community and we want to be like, because they always seem to be so positive and nothing rattles them

To relay this to our community, city, province, country and plant you might ask...What type of student/person am I?  If every student/person in this academy(community) was just like me, what kind of academy(community) would this be?

Respectfully,

Master Dan

To take the LEAD.

At all the Tae Kwon-Do International schools in Canada there are leaders willing to lead all future leaders. The goal of TKDI Canada is to have 1000 more black belt leaders in Canada by 2020 or sooner. The mission for all these leaders is to create a more peaceful world. They start being peaceful in their own homes and continue into their communities and towns, cities and finally provinces. When you become part of something larger than yourself that helps others you create a life of passion and purpose. There is always room for leaders as well as opportunities for those who are willing to be of useful service to others.

Using the acronym L.E.A.D., we will discuss the qualities leaders possess.

L – Long term vision… use your imagination to keep the end in mind.

L – Listen…truly hear the person before you speak.

L – Learn…something(s) everyday, leaders are readers.

E – Enthusiasm…brings up everyone around you including yourself.

E – Excellence…do your best with what you have, where you are.

E – Example…what you are speaks so load, I can’t hear what you say.

A – Attitude…is always one of gratitude, and determines your altitude in life.

A – Action...nothing happens until you take your first step in the direction of your dream

A – Awareness…of what you are consciously thinking. Positive thoughts on purpose.

D – Decide…Know what you want in life and go for it.

D – Desire…you must have a burning desire to achieve what you really, really want.

D – Discipline…you always do what you have to do towards what you want whether you feel like it or not.

Respectfully,

Master Dan

Universal Laws for Tae Kwon Do

   Discovering and using universal laws (also known as laws of nature or natural law) will bring harmony and peace of mind to you which all human kind seeks on earth.  Although there are numerous laws, I will be discussing the ones that will make you better in Tae Kwon-Do and your daily life to connect to your higher self.  You do not have to be a master, mystic or some spiritual teacher to have the benefit and to use this simple but profound knowledge once you know it and make it your own.

    These laws are not theoretical speculation but have been proven not only thru the years, they are scientifically proven. The law of gravity proven by Isaac Newton is just as relevant now as then. All laws were not able to be proven until recent modern technologies were able to measure things like vibration and light particles under super sub atomic microscopes and physics.

   These laws are unwavering and unchanging principles to guide you to grow and expand.

Law of Transmutation.

      There is a sea of energy all around you (Dr. Deepak Chopra calls it quantum soup) in martial arts we call it chi or Ki pronounced key. This energy is constantly coming from this energy field to manifest into the material world. As a martial artist who trains your higher faculties of your mind you can conceive an idea in your mind and bring it from nothing to in your hand. For example the dojang or building your training in was first in someone’s imagination, then blue prints and then made.

Law of Vibration.

Tells us that everything in the universe vibrates at a certain speed, even you. What is important for you do learn is that you can increase your vibration and thus your energy thru your proper positive metal attitude and thoughts.

Law of Attraction.

Teaches us the importance of being “aware” of what we dwell on in our minds. This law states that you will attract to you the people and circumstances into your life that harmonize with the vibration that you project from the thoughts you keep in your mind.

Law of Cause and Effect.

    You’ve most likely herd this as sowing and reaping, karma, what comes around goes around. Any action(s) produces or returns a result in proportion or greater to the cause that initiated it. An example would be a student that focuses more in class-being the “cause” and becoming better in TKD faster would be the “effect”.

    Do these things for yourself, not for others. When you feel you have to impress others your focus is not centered, your true e-motions are not at work, and your true Tae Kwon-Do abilities and higher self cannot be expressed.

                                                                Respectfully,
                                                                        Master Dan Zaleski

Higher Faculties of our minds.

The word “Education” comes from the Latin word “Educo” which means to educe, develop or to draw from within. The famous author Napoleon Hill stated “An educated person is a person who has so developed the faculties of their mind that they can acquire anything they want or its equivalent without violating the rights of others”

As intelligent beings we can use these five higher faculties of our minds to help others and as you know when you help others to get what they want in life you are always helping yourself to what you want to attract to your self and to what you deserve.

The first is Perception – This gives us our point of view. It has been conditioned by the way you have been brought up in life and that in which you believed to be the truth.

The incredible thing about perception is that we can alter it by choice and our whole world changes.

The second is Reason – its what we think with, and most importantly we use our conscious mind to choose what we believe. “We become what we think about”

Third is Will – this is the ability to hold onto one idea without becoming distracted by a negative thought or distraction.

“When you hold onto a thought with belief you intensify the energy of vibration that you are projecting to the world around you”

Forth is Memory – Have you ever herd or said to yourself I have a bad memory? I think most of us have said or herd that once in our lives. The truth is that there are no bad memories just untrained ones. You can develop this faculty of your mind by exercising it like any other muscle. “ Say to yourself I choose to remember” you will be amazed how fast your memory will improve by holding onto this thought in your mind with belief.

Fifth is Imagination –

As little children we used this all the time until one day some well meaning adult or significant teacher in our lives told us to stop day dreaming! When you put creative thought to work in your mind and become an imaginer you can then create your dream life in your mind, hold onto that thought and manifest it to your material life.

Master Dan says…”Dream what you want and then want what you dream and you shall have it!!!”
                    
                                                          Respectfully,
                                                                   
                                                                     Master Dan

A Real Christmas Present

A Real Christmas Present


Thank-You is such a simple word, but it is so powerful. You see the power of thanks comes from the vibration of the thought. When we are in a continuous vibration of the “attitude of gratitude we simple attract circumstances and people of like minded energy. That is why or academy is the way it is. To all our students that have been here from the beginning, or if you just started today I just want to say THANK-YOU!!!

With out the eager student there is no teacher or academy.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

When we realize and give thanks for all our life lessons which sometimes may have not seemed fair at the time and reflect back we notice that they had to occur to make us the person we are today. We have always had the choice of how we reacted or responded to all life’s lessons.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

Make sure you are telling and showing the ones you love how much they mean to you. Once we are staying in that conditioned state of having an attitude of gratitude we are more relaxed in our thinking, which calms our nervous system and creates better health. This gives us more peace in our lives.

As with all thoughts they attract higher energy thoughts like courage and faith. These two thoughts combined are so powerful. One of the greatest definitions that I have learned on faith was;

“Faith is the ability to see the invisible, Believe in the incredible, and therefore letting you have what the people on the “mass” consciousness level of thought call the impossible”

So as we go into the Christmas season keep your thoughts under your own self control, be thankful for all the blessings that we have living in this great country, our health, our family, but most of all the gift of our freedom to choose our own thoughts and to lift them as high as we can.



Respectfully,

Master Dan, Mr. Rowe, Mrs. Koch, Connie Vetter-Johnson,

Mr. Pratt, Ms. Lindsey Tetlock, Mr. Kevin Gourlay

THE MATTER OF ENERGY

     Now we understand with modern science (think microscopes, atoms and sub-partials) that we live in a world of moving energy. Everything has a field of energy, and if we focus our attention we can sense it and direct it.



Where our attention goes, our energy flows.



     When we do this attention focus we increase the pace of so called coincidences in our lives to attract and grow physically, mentally and spiritually.

     The great Albert Einstein changed our belief system when he discovered* in the early 20th century that matter isn’t really solid, but made up of compressed and shaped dynamic energy. (*time is not constant, but relative to the mass or speed of a particular object.) So what we learned is:

• We live in a universe of dynamic (moving) energy.
• We are made of this energy.
• We can reach out and transcend our physical bodies and influence other energy systems.

     We can connect to this unlimited power by making a conscious choice to do so, and to understand that we do not need to make ourselves stronger by taking scarce human energy from one another rather we focus our attention within to connect to the divine energy. (Please do not take any label I personally use as what to call divine energy. It is also know as infinite intelligence, our higher self connection, our connection to God just use what you feel comfortable with.)

   

     When you force people to listen and behave the way you want them to against their will you drain them of their human energy. For example someone that complains to you all the time we call an energy vampire ;-). Insecurity ends when we connect to divine inner energy. (God, universal power, divine intelligence.)

  

     One way we can tap into this divine source of spiritual energy by conscience listening and speaking when we are with others. To do this your intention must be for the higher good of all involved while you first listen with your full attention, then respond accordingly. There are definite signs to tell if you are connected:

1.  You actually feel light on your feet.
2.  You feel a sense of joy and peace.
3.  You know that the peace and joy that you feel is independent of any life situation.
4.  There is a sensation of LOVE that is attributed to the inner connection with the divine energy and the connection is unmistakable.
5.  The last sign is that we begin to gain strength from our inner energy instead of taking it from other people.

 This puts us on our true spiritual paths…

                                              Respectfully,

                                                        Master Dan Zaleski

AWAKEN YOUR MASTER WITHIN.

      Your master within is your Real self, your original Self. It expresses itself through your thinking, your true ideas and thoughts in your mind. It is the internal self that exists apart from your brain (which is a sensory processor only) and the personality traits imposed on you from your environment. (From Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim) one of the first women Grandmasters

      As I have said many times your real self is connected to the infinite intelligence.

     Start with an empty cup. In martial arts it means to empty your mind by letting go of your ego, as well as our everyday repeated noise in our minds and making room for new information that aligns with our future goals and a better life. We achieve this by making time to meditate daily on who we truly are and what we want in our lives.

     Your thoughts create your reality. Have you ever had an inspirational excellent idea and thought to yourself that is awesome, but did nothing about it. Then a short time later you see your manifested idea in your local department store. You see true idea’s come to all of us and “what you think about you bring about” so by using your “will power” meaning to concentrate on what you want and to not think of what you don’t want will allow to have what most people would call a dream life.

     Find role models. In martial arts it is quite easy because we have instructors and partners at our academies that can and are willing to show us how to achieve our martial arts goals and higher levels. So let’s take this powered will to all areas of our lives and improve slowly but surely towards an incredible life! What ever you need to learn you can do it by just emptying your cup (mind) and filling it up with what you want and need from someone who has already achieved what you desire.

     The time is now. When would you like to have the dream life? Live where you want, do what you love, use your creativity daily. The saying “Do it now, do it right and do it all” tells us to just start the journey of a thousand steps one step at a time. Trust your inner master to give you the direction when you need it. There are no mistakes…just lessons.



Respectfully,

Master Dan