Bujinkan Bruin Dojo New York

Spring-2011

Mark — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:48:20 +0000

Classes have moved to Sat at the local park , time TBD by consensus and subject to availability. Contact me directly by text or email for info….Regards Mark

Spring-2011

Mark — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:02:32 +0000

Our thoughts and prayers go out to our teachers our friends and their families through out Japan, as they struggle to recover from the devastation and the heartache that has befallen their beautiful country, several people have been in contact with them, and so far everyone seems to be holding up as best they can given the circumstances, good luck and god speed.

Closer to home the Bruin Dojo is on sabbatical, we’ve taken a break from weekly classes in the city, due in part to the current financial situation, and partly because peoples lives right now are somewhat unpredictable and very busy.

This will pass, but in the mean time, the best advice is, keeping the head down and keep working thru it, its the only sensible course of action right now. We still train in the local park on a Sat morning, and we still travel to seminars, so make the time and make an effort, do what you can, when you can, train in the back yard , the basement or the local park.
Spring is the time of year to get moving again, “movement is life, so live life to its fullest”, whenever possible, the rest of the time, “short breaths and shorter steps”….regards M

Spring 2010 classes

Mark — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:16:17 +0000

We have classes in Sunset Park Wed nights 7pm till 9pm, and on Sat mornings in Manhattan 10am till 12 midday, text me ph 718 930 0729 to RSVP.

In Memory of my Mother

Mark — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:58:43 +0000

Sat the 19th December my mother passed away after a 6 month battle with kidney disease, she was a highly intelligent, highly motivated individual, with no political aspirations of her own she still managed to get embroiled in others battles , she lived life to its fullest , she smoked , she drank and she lived her life as hard as it possibly could.

She was a whirlwind of emotion and energy, difficult to live with and hard to live without . My solution was to live half a world away to no avail , her effect on me has always been profound, she instilled in me a deep sense of pride and passion in whatever I undertook .

In her own life time she was an academic with a deep appreciation for the arts, literature, music and theater, the Times crossword was one of those passions. Even at the end of her journey she was still able to make a statement, that life without dignity or pride is not life, it is just existence, she decided it was her time and left on her own terms, she will be loved , she will be remembered and she will be missed.

Non est vivere sed valere vita est

”Life is more than just being alive it’s a life well lived”

September Update

Mark — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:28:50 +0000

Its been a while since our last post, and a lot has happened in that time. As many of you may have gathered we did not hold our annual 911 seminar, we felt with the current climate the way it is, that it would be unfair to bring undue hardship to anyone by asking them to donate monies to charity. We will continue next year in a slightly different vein.
Its been a busy period for me, but a quiet period for others, its important during this busy times to take care of basics, as in not to overlook them, and when we have down time, its important to renew them and to re calibrate them, accuracy and consistency is in part based on the repeated application of technical knowledge in a physical format/medium.
I will be attending the NJ summer camp hosted by Jack Hoban this coming weekend and Im looking forward to seeing many old friends and some new faces….M

Women’s Self-Defense Seminar

Mark — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:53:43 +0000

We successfully conducted our first Women’s Self-Defense Seminar on March 14th at the 53rd St Dojo. Approximately 25 women attended and many others stopped by to observe and donate. In addition to Mark, a few brave dojo members were in attendance to play the role of attacker for the participants.

The day began with exercises in basic movement, followed by the application of that movement to various assault scenarios. Each participant had a chance to demonstrate a technique in front of the class and this was definitely the most rewarding (and entertaining) part of the day. Despite some initial trepidation, almost everyone managed to show an effective application of at least one technique. Many of the participants surprised themselves and it was awesome to see their smiles when something worked for them. Those “AHA!” moments keep us coming back to our training! To supplement Mark’s instruction, many of the participants asked thoughtful questions and presented ideas that were explored during the course of the seminar. The day was ended with some “helping others” training scenarios.

This seminar managed to incorporate some of the basics of Budo Taijutsu and effective body movement into practical, real world assault situations. It is our intent to conduct these seminars on a regular basis so that the training is fresh in the participant’s minds, ideas can be explored and skills can be built upon and further honed. More to follow on that.

Perhaps the biggest success of the day was that we raised $450 for Safe Horizon. This NYC based organization offers counseling, case management, shelters and support programs for victims of assault and domestic abuse. Their website is www.safehorizon.org.

Sincere thanks go out to all involved –

Mark our fearless instructor
Brayner for the awesome training space
The guys (particularly Dan) who donated their bodies
Everyone who donated money
Everyone who attended

See you next time!

Mike

Seminars-Mar09

Mark — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:00:19 +0000

March 14th we will host a introduction to women’s self defence techniques and their application, it will take place at the 53rd St Dojo from 12 -2pm, donations on the day will go to a women’s charity TBD by vote on the day, all are welcome, there will be some “crash test dummies” on hand to practice on ( male volunteers). Look forward to seeing everyone on the day, Regards Mark .

Seminars-Feb 09

Mark — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:53:34 +0000

Thank you to the Guys and Gals of Chapel Hill NC. I had a great time there and felt a great energy and vitality , I was made feel very welcome . For those of you who aren’t aware of the history of their Dojo it was founded by Dr Richard Stack many years ago, in the days when I still some dark hairs on my head, its been over 10years now since I first made my first foray into the wilds of North Carolina, Myself and Phil Little attended a Steven Hayes seminars Hosted by Dr Stack, we had a fantastic time all those years ago, we made some live long friends, and found a small piece of tranquillity in the process, a place I return to frequently. Every time I’m down in NC I make every effort to visit the Chapel Hill Quest Center, and say Hi, last week was no exception this time we covered some basics and their inter-relationship to other techniques in the various ryu’s, some are quite obscure, and some are obvious, but all of these connections are tied with deep roots to the basics. I look forward to my next vacation and my next visit to the Carolinas.

New schedule for the new year

Mark — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:15:38 +0000

Happy new year to all, sorry its been so long since my last posting, things have been very busy, even in these times of uncertainty and unease we can still remain busy, simply keeping our collective heads down has never been a bad strategy regardless of whats ahead. Remaining an active member of society is as equally important as remaining physically and mentally active, if your wondering what you’ve been training for in the past, well here the chance to put your training into practice, we train hard for hard times, we are now living in a time period where we will need our art more than ever, our training and practice keeps us prepared for these changes and the basics keep us centered in times of uncertainty.

We now have classes twice a week Tue and Thurs evenings 8-9.30pm at the 53rd & 3rd location, also new members can avail of training mon to fri . We will also have the occasional sat morning seminar for those that request it. The fee structure for students enrolling in the new year can be found at www.bwarrior.com or simply contact the dojo by email and they will answer all your questions , and dont forget to ask if there are any special offers for new students.

BWarrior NYC Martial Arts
230 E. 53rd Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10022
ph: (212) 752-3810
email: bwarriormartialarts@gmail.com
web: www.bwarrior.com
www.bwarrior.com

We have started the year with the basics and fundamentals of sword work if you have your own training equipment I strongly urge you to practice at home as often as possible, it is only thru constant practice that we can begin to improve, and by developing an insight with which we can discern the change in ourselves, “Times they are a changin” lets make sure were ahead of the curve, train when you can , practice when you can, stay in contact and be supportive of friends and family on a regular basis, take nothing for granted and live life to your fullest potential for as long as you can. Sadness and loneliness and feeling helpless are common emotions in hard times like these, what makes them bearable is knowing that your not alone. If you where wondering in the past why structure and the basics where/are so important, its not that they simply have to be able to support just you, they have to be strong enough and stable enough to support and protect everyone else you care about, good luck with that….M

Sept 9/11 fundraiser update.

Mark — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:01:26 +0000

Well its still a work in progress, but we have a rough tally of funds raised to date, I say rough simply because the matching funds programs that some of our contributors are members of have slightly different methods and means of completing the fund transfers, so to make a short paragraph longer, when the final tally comes in there will be another posting. We are waiting at this moment for the matching fund tranfers to be completed, so far there’s almost 1,000 dollars in matching donations to come in, which is a fantastic result and a big thank you to everyone invloved.

On the day Mr Hoban led the way with a espirit de corp and panache that he seems to embody so well. The day progressed in an informative and productive manner, with the level of complexity increasing through out the day, culminating in the now regular annual apprisal of what it is we do, and why we do it, but I feel more importantly why what we do, needs to be done in the first place.

So far we have raised about 2,600 dollars (nearly 13,000 to-date) and as soon as we have the final number we will post it. Thanks again to everyone for taking the time out of their busy schedules to come to our assistance, thank you to our families for supporting us. Thank you to Brynard for his continued support and for the use of his Dojo.

Fundementally what we are attempting to do is re-connect with the rest of humanity by showing others that we care, to those of you that support us in our efforts thank you, to those that haven’t theres always next year….M