seiya dojo – Meditations on God

We are a collective of training brothers and sisters joined together with the goal of mutually beneficial martial improvement.

One of the things that attracted me to traditional martial arts was the feeling of family and belonging within the group. We all worked together to make each other better and, through that, to make the group stronger. We knew each others’ families, had dinner at each others’ homes, went out to eat together, and attended each others’ weddings. Successes were celebrated together and losses were mourned together. It was like family.

I think this is the essence of what some traditional martial artists mean when they say, “We don’t compete.” While they may think that this idea means not testing each other with resistance and not challenging each others’ limits with pressure in training, what I think this idea of non-competition really means is that we all work together, that we are all here for each other, and through this mutually beneficial practice, you are never my enemy.

-Robert Van Valkenburgh teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Kogen Dojo

Often we do not know what those who love us do for us in silence and when no one else is looking, the things they do without ever asking for recognition or appreciation. These are the little things that do not seem like a big deal, but that add up to us feeling loved and supported if we are paying attention. Unfortunately, all too often these little things and the compassion behind them go unnoticed and unrequited because we are too busy to see them, too used to them for them to seem special, or simply too self absorbed to care.

For two years, the Taikyoku Budo group, and eventually the Brazilian jiu-jitsu group, trained at my house, in my home dojo, Seiya Dojo. My wife gave me permission and support in building the studio. She allowed these people into our home to train several nights a week and on weekend mornings. Sometimes she even served us food. Not once in those two years did she complain about the knocks on the door, the noise coming from the basement, or the late hours we trained until. Never did she hold it over my head as a favor she was doing for me. She knew it was important to me and she supported it.

One evening, in the middle of class, I had to go upstairs to use the bathroom. Someone was in the hall bathroom, so I went into the bathroom attached to the master bedroom where we slept. When I walked in, I realized two things. First, in two years, I had never before come upstairs during class to see what it sounded like from my wife’s perspective. Second, I could hear everything going on in the dojo from the master bathroom, which meant that she could as well. It immediately struck me how much my wife, who is not the suffer in silence type, tolerated so that I could chase my dreams. The next morning I thanked her and that began my search for what would become Kogen Dojo.

-Robert Van Valkenburgh is a practitioner of Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Kogen Dojo

Meditations on God

Tag: seiya dojo

Non-Competition for Mutual Benefit

The Little Things That Matter Yet Go Unnoticed

Tag: seiya dojo

Non-Competition for Mutual Benefit

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The Little Things That Matter Yet Go Unnoticed

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