Dynamic Edge Martial Arts: How standing on the Front Porch can deepen your Martial Arts Training

Zen-jitsu: How Standing on the Front Porch can deepen your Martial Arts Training.

I was speaking with Tom Callos the other day and the topic of a purpose driven martial arts practice came up, Tom is an excellent teacher of martial arts, a business mentor,  a teacher of teachers and one who embodies the quest to live a purpose driven practice. He reminded me that what we pursue with intention we imbue with meaning and often we don’t know how to proceed in the best or “right” way. That’s why it’s a practice. Jump in and fail. Increase your awareness. Use the lessons of Martial Arts to sharpen the sword of your awareness and cut through the chaos of worry and guilt. Use the skills of a warrior to live in and radiate peace. How does one accomplish such lofty goals? You practice. So often I hear my students say they wish to be more awake, calm, and aware but that with the job the, kids, and all the requirements and obligations of daily living, I just don’t have the time. My response is simple. Time is of the essence, now is the only time you have and all those obstacles you mentioned are the backbone of your training. You just outlined your spiritual obstacle course.  Stress, the pressure of time, relationships, that is your spiritual practice, one that your Martial Arts training is perfectly aligned. 

Mr. Callos mentioned a simple practical technique for bridging martial arts and training for daily life. He was speaking of Benny “the Jet” Urquidez accepting a new adult student (one who is already a teacher of martial arts) under the condition that he accomplish 30 tasks. One of which is for one week simply stand on the front porch for 5 minutes before entering his home.  Leave all the stress, negativity, and emotional vomit outside. Remember the struggle of earning a living is FOR our family.  This practice is truly a gift for all those you come in contact with and is an example of how improving yourself can improve the lives of those around you.  Extending this moment in awareness you deepen your practice further. Think of 5 minutes of awareness.  What sounds to you hear? What activities are happening in your surroundings?

I like to think of this process as a scan that spirals from the external world, to the internal.  On a self-defense level you can extend your awareness by scanning the immediate environment.  Where could you be ambushed? If you were to break into your own home, how would you do it?  How quickly could someone approach you from the street, parking lot or driveway? What opportunities are there for someone to hide? After this external scan, shift to an internal scan. How am I feeling right now? Am I relaxed, pre-occupied, frustrated? These questions lead to increased awareness of your emotions and your environment.  After guiding  your awareness from external to internal, take a moment to just be. Stand there or sit in your car and consciously breath. Slow, quiet breath to nurture a calm, quiet mind.  Let the day go and become open to receive the gift that is your home environment. 

Alongside many of my students, I’m on a quest to learn how the lessons of Martial Arts can help in everyday life. It’s a journey from questioning and translating ancient knowledge to focusing contemporary experience into useable techniques for helping my students, the community and myself.  The mission is to take what we learn on the mat out into the world.   The starting point for this search is the realization that spiritual development is personal development. Not an easy task. This mission requires patience, perseverance, and a dedication to walk the path through the challenges and ascend the mountain of knowledge and wisdom.  The beauty of this is that the practice is with you every moment you take to simply exist within your own being and let the chatter of the monkey mind fade into the background.  Standing on the front porch reminds us to use our awareness practice to reset our calm to avoid contaminating our most sacred environment, our home with the pollution of negative, stress filled thought.  It's a service to your family and to yourself. Practice well, often and enjoy the moment!

Becoming a Super-Human

Last Saturday we had a test and graduation for students at our martial arts school. Children as young as 4 all the way to adults displayed their physical fitness, coordination and all the hard work they've put into their training over the last 3 to 4 months.  During the test we had a discussion of leadership and role models. 

When asked who was a good role model or hero several of the younger children became excited and exclaimed; "Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Spiderman, Ben Ten," etc. So we talked about what makes those characters heroes. After a bit of a discussion we started to realize that it wasn't their super powered kicks and punches, or laser blasts from their eyes that made them heroes. What it came down to was that these characters all choose to use their super powers to help other people. They faced villains and enemies even though they were afraid.   What we started to learn was that these superheros faced their problems head on and helped people in the process.  They were role models teaching us that we can live the same way.  Although we can't have the amazing superpowers of leaping tall buildings or lifting 10 tons we can be Super-humans.  I could see a since of excitement and empowerment growing.  "You mean little 7 year old me could become a Super-human? I could be in the same league as my favorite characters?"


Super-humans are real life people living their lives for others and facing invisible enemies like boredom, laziness, apathy, jealousy, arrogance, and anger with the same determination found in our larger than life comic book heroes.   We spoke of real life people like Mother Teressa, Doctors without borders, and people that raise money for those in need.  I could see that the kids were excited by the prospect of being a Super-human, of living one's life to it's fullest potential by breaking free of unhealthy life style choices and choosing to help others rather than just seeking constant distraction through personal entertainment.  "We will become Ninjas of Kindness," we declared.  Through random acts of kindness we will strike from the shadows to help those in need all around us. 

Starting with our families we will leap into action and help with the clean up and maintenance of our homes,  rescue our friends from sadness with kind words and encouragement and face the enemies of slackatiude, sloth, and apathy.  We are on a mission to become warriors of peace and will commit ourselves to performing 1,000 acts of random kindness this year. We will record these in a journal to chart our progress toward becoming Super-humans!  In so doing we will reach out to others in our community, in our schools and neighborhoods. 

We want to foster an awareness in these super-kids that even though you don't always realize it, there are people out there watching you, being inspired by you, and being influenced by your choices, actions, and words.  There is great power in this awareness. 

Our martial arts practice lends itself to personal discovery, new challenges and a sense of self-worth far beyond passing level 10 on the latest video game. Students training in martial arts will become stronger, faster, more coordinated, they will have improved mental abilities including focus, and concentration, they will be able to kick, punch, cartwheel, and roll, they will learn to defend themselves against bullies as well as defeat, discouragement, and feelings of inadequacy.  They will become more powerful but as we've learned from one of my favorite comic book heroes, Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility."

My Life as a Dojo...

“My life is my dojo.”

“Dojo” means “school” in Japanese — literally, “the place where you find the Way.” And while every country has its own name for school (it’s a different word in Korean, Chinese, etc.), the important part of this statement is that your life is your school — your LIFE is the place where you find the Way.

Should you ever decide to take martial arts lessons, of any kind, I hope that you would be lucky enough to find a teacher who understands and practices the idea of my life is my dojo.

When a student is on the mat, executing punches or kicks, rolls or break-falls, leg locks or arm bars, and/or blocks and parries, all sorts of things are learned, such as the patience required to polish the maneuvers, the control you have to exercise to do it right, the teamwork it takes to participate with a your partner and classmates, and the understanding of the return one gets on effort and consistency. What a shame it would be if we failed to take those lessons “out of the dojo and into the world.”

The real lessons in our school, the valuable ones, are the ones we practice on the mat, but fully understand that we’re practicing for the purpose of making something in our life work better, smoother, and with more mastery. We practice in our school, what we wish to see in our lives. That’s what we know to be the most valuable aspect of what we do in our school.

By the way, if you’re not a student, but you’d like to see what it’s like to be one, just mention this post, and we will give you a pass to come in and try classes. Every great journey begins with some small movement in a new direction, yes?

And here’s a secret: I think, “My students are my dojo.” I learn what I need to learn by helping others to do, well...all of the above.



Theron Sturgess
Dynamic Edge Martial Arts

Dietary Self-Defense: A warrior's way with food!

Obvious and Not-So-Obvious Benefits of Taking Martial Arts Lessons










I have been leading an intensive fitness boot camp at our school for the past 10 weeks here at Dynamic Edge in Springfield, MO and I've learned a thing or two.  Primarily how great this intensive physical training has been on my boosting my mood and secondarily how this training has refined my attitude about food and nutrition. For a long time food for me was just fuel, sometimes good, sometimes bad.  Lately, food is becoming more than just a fuel it's becoming part of my martial arts practice. Dietary self-defense is the philosophy that our nutrition can be a shield and a weapon to help us fight dis-ease, stress and to help us recover and rebuild our bodies after training.  Eating well is an essential aspect to the path of the modern fitness warrior!


There are some obvious benefits that young and old alike garner from studying the martial arts. The first one is in the exercise involved. Exercise, if it’s tailored for the age and ability of the participant, is good for the body, the mind, and, yes, often good for the spirit too.
A not-so-obvious benefit of studying the martial arts is the often unspoken requirement to “be present” in the practice. “When you’re dealing with kicks, punches, and arm-bars,” says veteran martial arts teacher Tom Callos of Hilo, Hawaii, “you simply have to stay ‘in the moment’ to keep from getting socked in the nose. Awareness of what I call, ‘The here and now,” is something you can instantly take off of the mat and put to work in your everyday life.”
With exercise and mindfulness comes a third component that is not a benefit you’ll find in every martial arts school, but it’s something we are deeply involved with. It’s about food and its connection to fitness and health. The Diet Chronicles is a project where a group of martial arts teachers are starting to document, on video, what they eat and how it’s prepared –in an effort to eat more mindfully.
Some of the video journals are being posted to an on-line community based around the book Savor (www.SavorTheBook.com). Savor is co-written by Harvard nutritionist Dr. Lilian Cheung and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
To see one of the Diet Chronicle videos, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3gANPh_RvY
“What we consume is as important and relevant to self-defense in today’s world,” says Callos, “as any kind of martial arts technique.”
For more information on using the martial arts to improve the body, mind, and diet, contact Theron Sturgess at Dynamic Edge 417-889-8900 or e-mail us at dynamicedgeinfo@gmail.com