When school lets out the Summer of Kung fu Awesome begins!

Our class schedule will not change, but we will add in the following events into our regular schedule!

• Free Ice Cream Days!
• Ninja Madness! (we’re going to make throwing stars and learn the secrets of how to make your own ninja mask)
• Kung Fu Panda Day!
• Lotus Pole of Doom Day!
• Grill Skillz Day!
• Popcorn and Kung Fu Movie Night!
• Build a Lightsaber Day!
• And much much more!

We’ll also have an end of summer party for everybody who makes all 16 classes during the months of June and July.

And finally we’ll have a Traveling White Oak Shirt Contest with two categories: 1) a picture of you wearing one of our shirts in the farthest away place, and 2) the funniest/coolest thing that you are doing in one of our shirts while on vacation somewhere.

Thanks! It’s going to be a great summer!

For more information check out our Summer Program Page!

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THE SUMARY FOR:

The Charter for Compassion

Compassion means:

Treating people the way you wish to be treated.  “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”  Giving anyone complete justice, respect, and treating them equally as we would care for our family.  Wherever you are, you should always act kindly, avoiding being disrespectful in all ways, and not speaking badly of anyone, including the people we don’t like.  Never miss a chance to be kind and respectful.  Services are a good thing that leads up to compassion.  You do things you want to do, for instance, you go to the store with your parent because you want to, not because you feel you have to.  Helping elders, holding the door for someone, being kind; everything adds up.

We need to eliminate selfishness and bring back compassion and respect.  Selfishness is terrible, because it breaks respect, creates hatred and anger, etc.      Compassion helps a lot of things, and is crucial for human bonds.  It lays out the path to glory and successfulness, and is the ultimate creation of justice.

That is what COMPASSION means.

For more information about our school click here! 

Here is a book that is some of the required reading for our Black Belt program. It is completely free and has some great ideas in it, so I thought I’d post it as I think you’ll enjoy reading it.

The ability to focus is the key to accomplishing whatever it is that you set your mind to doing- for work or play.  Having seen the positive results hundreds of times, I can honestly tell you that an education in the martial arts builds focus incredibly well.

So, here is the book. Enjoy!  Free Focus Book.

If you would like some more information about our school click here!

In fact, for every belt our students have to be able to apply a physical self defense skill, pass a physical fitness test, and complete a positive character trait task. This past cycle we talked about positive attitude.   Here is a short video showing off some of out students assignments, spot lighting Claudia and Bodhi.

Click here for more information about how our school can help your family.

My point is this, violence is an attempt to build power and as humans we seek power.  This in and of itself is not a bad thing, but this power needs to be honed and focused towards positive ends.  This is where a martial arts education in self control is so important.  We address force, power, and violence directly and teach how to control these things, this quest for personal power, and how to shape the power we seek into a positive direction instead of a destructive one.

Here is a short video with this lesson as it will be taught in class.

For more information about our school click here.

QiGong can be used for three main functions: power in the martial arts, physical fitness and harmony, and the pursuit of personal development and enlightenment.  This class will not touch on martial arts at all and will focus entirely on the health and meditative aspects of QiGong.

These practices have been used to create and maintain good health in China for around 4000 years.  Having lived in China, the Chinese are a very intelligent and practical people. The only reason to do something that long is that it works.

Try this class once for free.  You will find that this is the perfect addition to your current fitness practices, and is a great very low impact way to get started on a fitness program regardless of your current level of health.

Stop by on Monday night from 7-8pm to try one class out for free.  If you have further questions call 828-713-0765 or email dctai@charter.net.

1.     Don’t shop alone.

Shopping is always more fun with friends anyway, and there is safety in numbers.

2.     Carry your cell phone and have group meet up times and places.

If your larger group breaks up into smaller groups, make sure that there is a phone in every group. Set up a designated meeting time and place knowing that security will be called if a group is late.

3.     Don’t wear things that somebody would want to steal.

Just wear normal casual clothes.  Don’t wear expensive looking jewelry that would be theft worthy and don’t carry a pocketbook that would be easy to grab.

4.     Walk with purpose, like you are on a schedule.

If you look like you have spare time, you look like you won’t be missed for a little while.

5.     Pay attention to what is happening around you.

Always pay attention!  Be on the lookout for potential bad guys.  If you get a bad feeling about somebody, you are probably right.  Get away and find security.

6.     Don’t carry large amounts of cash.

You can call to report a card if it’s stolen….

7.     Park by a light, lock your car, and get your keys out in the store.

Look under and around your car as you approach, then look in it before you get in.  Have your keys out so you can get
into the car quickly.  If things look bad, go back into the store.

8.     Panhandlers and people who approach you are most likely scammers.

These people mostly want to see the contents of your wallet so their friend can mug you later. They are generally professionals, especially around here.

9.     If you feel threatened, find any store staff member or security.

Any store employee can call security, and any store would be happy to escort you to your car.

10.    If you are in trouble, cause a scene.

Bad guys want things to go down quietly and smoothly. So if somebody tries to hurt you, yell, scream, and generally draw
attention to yourself.

But on top of knowing what to do, the student must also have a clear understanding of when to do these things.  Obviously we don’t want to have a student who is looking for a fight all the time.  Therefore we spend a great deal of time teaching a simple philosophy of use- use the smallest amount of force necessary to not get hurt, preferably none, with the objective of escape.

However, though there is the possibility of having to defend yourself against a physical attack, other attacks are much more likely- in fact I guarantee that they will take place.  Therefore our self defense curriculum spends a great deal of time working on defense against negative peer pressure, bullies, good nutrition choices, personal fear and self doubt, anger management, effective ways to say no, managing the environment, and many other real life challenges that out kids face every day.

And finally, out students learn a great deal of becoming an effective person.  A Black Belt Leader with us is the kind of person who is not negatively influenced by those around them, rather is a positive influence on those they come in contact with.  Out students learn about honesty, integrity, a positive attitude, gratitude, discipline, respect, self confidence, and a whole lot more.  These topics are taught in every class just like techniques are.  Not only that, but out students are required to actually do things to apply these lessons to their lives for each belt.  We call these tasks.

For Black Belt there is a community leadership task.  This time around Zoe lead a team to clean up the overpass bridge next to an elementary school, while Elliot lead an effort to raise money for gifts for the less fortunate.

Now that they have both earned their first degree Black Belt (and both did an amazing job on every challenge I threw at them) it is time for them to get to work on their second- with a whole new set of challenges!

If you would like more information about our school please click here.

Master Croley,

I want to thank you for helping me in more ways than one and for opening my mind.  I have only attended your classes for two months now and I have benefited physically, mentally, and it has impacted my relationships at work in a positive way. Through your “Black Belt Leadership Program” I have opened my heart to others that I normally wouldn’t have.  I have given with an open heart in hopes to build friendship, especially with one person I’ve had a hard time with at work. The results have been positive. Thank you!

The entire point of an education in the martial arts in to improve yourself, and that means more than just doing push ups.  I am thrilled to hear about our students taking the martial arts mindset and applying it to their lives.

For more information about out school please click here.

Here is what Abir had to say about it.  Please note that he chose to approach this topic from the context of comparative religion but we do not discuss religion in class. With that said, this is an excellent paper discussing the concept of compassion from different perspectives.  I guess it helped him out a little bit that his mother teaches philosophy at UNCA.

Dear Master Croley,

To me compassion is the Golden Rule that is, Treat Others The Way You Want To Be
Treated. Compassion is important in the religions because each religion has the
common value of compassion. For example in Hinduism compassion stands for non-Harmfulness.
In Christianity compassion stands for loving even one’s enemies. In Buddhism
compassion stands for the ability to fully appreciate one’s own suffering and
the suffering of others. In Judaism compassion says, ‘Kindness gives to another,
Compassion knows no other.’ In Islam compassion stands for helping and
supporting everyone.

In every religion compassion requires
humility and self-control. So if you have humility, self-control, and
compassion altogether you are a good person. You learn these virtues and other
virtues in the process of becoming a black-belt.

EX AMPLES:

1. When I help my best-friend build
   lego sets.
2. Helping my friends learn to swing
   on the monkey bars at recess.
3. If somebody needs help washing the
   tables at lunch I help them.
4. If a classmate needs help with
   reading I go and help them.
5. If a friend has fallen down I help
   them up.

Sincerely,

Abir

I really like how he looked at this topic from several different angles and then applied them to his life.  Well done Abir!

For more information about our school, click here.