Always Open
I began practicing the martial arts when I was a small child. For years, I trained hard, practicing late at night in a garage my parents transformed into my own personal dojo. There, I would punch and kick for hours and hours every day. Back then, I didn’t have any real responsibilities, so I had time to do whatever I wanted, and I spent all of my time training.
As we get older, life presents more responsibilities. We have jobs, a partner; maybe children who need our love, time, and energy. This can make it hard to get to the dojo to practice. My work required me to move around the country, and often, I found myself in remote towns where there was no place to train. Martial arts skills are highly perishable, and once you’ve been out of practice for a while, it can be really tough to get back into training. This can leave you with a feeling of frustration, and even sadness, for not doing what you love, and not having the time or place to do it.
Several years ago, I was living in a small city where there was no dojo. I took some vacation time to train with my teachers in Japan and I remember expressing my irritation to one of my Sensei. I think he understood what I was feeling because he stopped, looked at me seriously, and said, “Michael-san, never forget the dojo is always open.” He was relaying an important lesson that some things we want are not accessible, not because they don’t exist, but…
