Shihan Kendall

"Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." -Mr. Rogers My young children's faces in a rearview mirror. That's one of the most vivid images I have from 25 years ago, when on an absolutely beautiful September day, the world suddenly felt like a very dark place. It's an image that endures alongside a whole lot of others from that day--ones that all of us of a certain age share: balls of fire, falling bodies, falling buildings--and it is every bit as vivid. Those two...

"Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great." — Ralph Waldo Emerson There are perhaps no moments in any Dojo class more important than the first few--those moments when we transition from wherever else we've been and whatever else we have been doing that day to being present in our Dojo. That's why the first thing we do after we bow in is simply breathe. Deep, conscious breathing relaxes our bodies. Relaxed bodies bring calm minds. And calm minds help us make that transition....

"Wherever you go, there you are." — Jon Kabat-Zinn (Also, Buckaroo Bonzai) Walk into the dojo this week and you'll feel it — that low hum of "back to school" energy. New schedules getting mapped out. Fall classes on the calendar. Everyone, students and instructors alike, already half a step into September. That instinct isn't wrong. Preparation matters. But it comes with a cost most people don't notice: it steals your attention from where you're actually standing. Right now, we live in one...