"TRAINING BECOMING A PART OF MY LIFE"
BY
CHUCK VAN DINE

06-2002

I started to training at the Jinenkan-Dayton Dojo about 10 months ago. In This short period I have already noticed a great change within myself. Training is starting , slowly but surely, to polish my character, Training has also changed my life.

When I first stepped into the dojo I held my head high with my shoulders back. Now, I walk out of the Dojo twice a week with my head hung down low and my shoulders following. Even though class is enormous ego buster, I feel more confident than I did 10 months ago. I have also started to learn patience through learning the kata. Many of the kata are very difficult for me to do and take many tries to just to do it quarterly decent, if that. It will take me many years just to start to learn the basics. But, this is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

Training has also changed my perspective on safety and awareness. When I walk into a room I try to look at every person in it and think how they could injure me or others. I also look to see what is around that room or how to get out of the room in case of an emergency. I visualize people attacking me in different ways and think how I would defend myself. I no longer make quick judgments about people. Now I look for their strong points and weakness without disregarding their hidden talents that I may not know about.

I realize now that training is more important than learning how to "beat people up." Training erodes your ego (for most people), increases your senses, and molds your character. Because, of how training is changing me I have decided to change my post high school life in order to stay around Sukh. I was determined to go into the Army since I was sixteen. Now, I have decided to enroll in a local college so I can stay near the Dayton-Dojo. Instead of treating training as an activity I am now beginning to treat it as a way of life and hopefully it will become a life for me.