Feature Article in the Times-Leader

Our Studio -- and our monthly Kindness Missions -- was featured in the Saturday, April 18 edition of the Times-Leader.

Overall I felt it was a very positive article and successfully illustrated that we are more than just kicking and punching.

Martial Arts Students Practice Monthly Acts of Kindness

How Are You Using Your 86,400?

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. However, there are certain rules.

RULE #1 -- Everything that you didn't spend each day would be taken away from you. The bank carries over no balance from day to day.

RULE #2 -- You may not simply transfer money into some other account. You may only spend it. The next morning, upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400 for that day.

RULE #3 -- The bank can end the process without warning; at any time it can say, “It’s over”. It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do? Would you withdraw every cent? Buy anything and everything you wanted not only for yourself, but for all of the people you love? Maybe even for people you don't know -- because, of course, you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself? Would you help the less fortunate or hoard it all? Or would you just leave the money alone and not touch it at all? Would you ignore the daily deposits and nightly deletions?

The fact is that each of us is already in possession of such a magical bank; we just can't seem to see it; or if we see it, we appear to take it for granted that it will always be there.

The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!

Every morning, we are credited with 86,400 seconds – one full day. Every night, the amount of time that we have failed to invest to a good purpose is written off as a loss; never to be recovered. No balance of time is carried over to the next day. And time allows no over draft. Each day a new account is opened for you. Each night the remains of the day are burned away. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.

You can never recover the time that has passed. 

You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in happiness, and health.

Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank (Life, if you will) can dissolve your account at any time ... without warning. None of us is ever guaranteed a new day. We have only this moment.

So, what will you do with your 86,400 seconds? Aren't they worth so much more than the same amount in dollars?

Enjoy every second of your life; use it wisely.

The clock is ticking, my friends.

Make the most of today – it is the only time you have.

You Are Only as Big or as Good as Your Vision

Any Martial Arts studio can teach a student to kick and punch. Unfortunately, that is all some of them do.

I have given 34 years of my life to exploring, training in and teaching the varied arts that I love; I have seen and experienced firsthand the incredible transformational power that can come when they are properly taught and studied.

That is why it deeply pains me to see that, for so many studios, ego has taken over and the driving force has become all about how much money the owner can make (charging hundreds of dollars/month in tuition, using hard-sell tactics, and constantly hyping "program upgrades"), how many "world champions" or so-called "black belts" or they generate (often too quickly and while charging exorbitant test fees, to the detriment of both the student and the art), how many trophies line their front windows, etc. They nominate and elect themselves to meaningless, ridiculous martial arts "Halls of Fame". In the pursuit of money, trophies, glory, or self-aggrandizement they have either forgotten or deliberately abandoned the deeper lessons of the Martial Arts.

While that appears to increasingly be the norm, I'd like to think Barnes Martial Arts students are part of something more intelligent.

They know that fighting is absolutely the last resort, the final option.

They are aware that their actions and behaviors affect their families, their friends, their neighborhoods and their world in ways both positive and negative. They strive on a daily basis to maximize their positive impact while minimizing the negative. 

To that end, our students undertake various projects each month that serve to expand the reach of the lessons they are learning. Here are just a few samples of the Missions (some completed, some ongoing) at Barnes Martial Arts --

• Work toward the elimination of bullying in our local schools by offering classes, seminars and specialized programs that focus on educating students, the public and school administrators and teachers on how to identify, deal with and safely intervene with bullying behavior.

• Work toward the elimination of Domestic Violence in Luzerne County (and elsewhere) by offering free workshops, clinics and self-defense seminars.

• Monthly Kindness Missions -- everything from cleaning up our neighborhoods, to painting Kindness Rocks, to working with charitable organizations like the ALS Association.

• Annual Toy and Clothing Drives to help those in need.

• Working with the Al Beech/West Side Food Pantry to feed hundreds of hungry local families in our area

• Organizing a Card & Letter Campaign for Blake Kitchen, a 12 year old autistic Missouri boy who was severely beaten by a school bully.

• Finding and recognizing local heroes (upcoming)

• Group participation in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge organized in 2014 in memory of my fiancé’s father Ray Williams, to raise awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

• April 2015 -- Spring planting campaign. It doesn't matter what they plant -- a tree, herbs, vegetables or flowers -- they are spreading Life and that is Kindness. 

Our goal – the likes of which has never been attempted before in Northeast PA – is nothing less than the complete redefinition of the concept of self-defense and the role of the Martial Arts studio – and Martial Arts student -- in the community.

First, we must accept that true self-defense comes from safeguarding ourselves from anything that would harm our mind, body, or spirit. Considering that cardio-vascular disease and diabetes, for example, kill far more people in the United States than do violent street encounters or roving bands of sword-wielding ninjas, it is not an exaggeration to suggest that the food we eat, what we drink and other substances that we put into our bodies are as much factors of self-defense as knowing how to throw a powerful, knockout punch or a devastating kick. 

Next, positivity goes hand-in-hand with Kindness and Compassion.  These are the deeper lessons that we teach; these ideas may be considered as “self-defense of the Spirit.”

Each of our students embodies the commitment to becoming a meaningful, contributing part of their/our community. They realize that the true nature of the training transcends the physical; the act of punching and kicking is merely a vehicle to a deeper understanding of lessons on life and living.

They understand that we are all part of one world and it is our duty, as individuals, to leave that world in a better state than we found it, to steward it for future generations. You might call that “community” or “environmental” self-defense.

The same goes for our mental "nutrition". We must defend our minds as much as our bodies, perhaps more. How different would our day -- indeed, our very lives -- be if we awoke each morning with a heart full of joy, grateful for simply being alive? What successes and benefits would we enjoy if we greeted the morning with a smile on our face? What consequence would we experience if, before we took on the day, we sat for just a moment on the side of our bed and gave silent thanks for 5 or 10 things in our lives?

Attitude does determine our altitude -- in Martial Arts, education, business, and in Life. Of course, it isn't always easy to stay positive in a world that often seems pitted against us. But really, what other choice is there? 

Negativity sets the tone for our day -- we see everything as a curse; the world is out to get us; the Universe hates us. We say destructive things to ourselves like, "This is just my luck" or "I am such a loser", until, like weeds, those thoughts, take root, germinate and grow, eventually dominating not only our behavior but our very identity.

Is that any way to live? By contrast, a positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, reactions, events, behaviors and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.

I often say that our Studio is "small, but we are mighty." The reasons listed above are proof of that.

As Martial Artists we have a greater responsibility to each other. Compassion is one of the fundamental capacities of what it means to be an evocative, instrumental member of one's community, and the world at large. More than that, for Martial Artists it represents balance and harmony. It is not enough for us to learn how to damage people without also learning how to reach out and help them. Too often, Martial Arts studios -- even here in NEPA -- focus on the closed fist rather than the open hand.

This is why it is so important to our identity as a Studio that our students all become engaged in our ongoing efforts to spread Kindness, to set the example that Martial Artists are more than just fighters, and to truly take these lessons ... “Out of the Dojo, Into the World”.

Thank you for your continuing efforts to help us redefine the role of what it means to be a Martial Arts school in our contemporary world, to set the bar higher than it has ever been set locally.

By aligning with our wider, deeper Vision, together we can truly accomplish great things.

March 2015 Student of the Month -- BRAYDEN ISAACS

On Tuesday, March 31, Brayden Isaacs, age 5, was chosen as Student of the Month.

He is a member of the Little Dragons Program, a specialized age-appropriate class for children ages 4-7. 

Brayden is a Kindergarten student at St. Nicholas/St. Mary’s in Wilkes-Barre, where his favorite teacher is Mrs. Al-Saigh. According to Brayden, his favorite thing to do in school is “having recess”.

He lives in Kingston with his parents, Dennis Isaacs and Mary Sweeney.

Brayden has been attending Barnes Martial Arts for about eight months and he has attained the rank of Advanced Gold Belt, 2nd stripe. His favorite part of class is a self-defense technique called “The Shield”. 

According to Master Barnes, “Brayden was chosen as Student of the Month for a number of reasons: he is incredibly focused -- it really stands out among kids his age; he is very smart -- he asks some of the best questions; his enthusiasm for training is off the charts; his positive attitude; extraordinary attendance – he almost never misses a class; he participates in every community event and monthly Kindness Mission. Brayden is an exemplary student in every sense and, to me, he is an outstanding example of what a Student of the Month should represent!”

In addition to Martial Arts, he lists his other interests as playing soccer and video games.  

Students of the Month are chosen based on a variety of criteria, including: class participation, discipline, attitude, technique, personal conduct and how well they exemplify the Martial Arts in ALL areas of their lives, in and out of the studio.

When asked if he had any advice for other kids who were thinking of pursuing Martial Arts training, Brayden responded, “Do it because it is fun.”

Barnes Martial Arts is located at 1366 Murray Street in Forty Fort, PA.