Every woman (human) should be writing to Oprah about this….
by stacia on August 24, 2010
in Goals, change, communication, marital arts, samurai, writing
Tom Callos over at the New Way Network shared this beautiful video last week and I felt strongly enough about it to share it with you. The filmmaker, Yuriko, needs money to finish her film on Sensei Fukuda…She found the story about her in Oprah’s magazine. Our community is asking that you join us in writing 1000 letters asking Oprah to please look over the film –and to consider some kind of involvement in it.
Please, pass the message on. This film shares a wonderful, dedicated message that should be share in more than just this short clip.
A sample letter to use:
Send a letter to her at the Oprah Winfrey show:
The Projects List…started
by stacia on August 16, 2010
in communication, fitness, marital arts, meditation
So, if you read my previous post, I’ve started working on the UBBT already. If you know me, you know me well enough to know when I find something worth doing, I tend to jump into it with focus and passion. While I need to figure out the whole vlog thing and learn how to not mind being on video…I’ve gone ahead and started my projects list. I’m up to five 
- Everything Self Defense (ESD) Book Search, Consolidation, Review Writeups, Author Recruitment, and top 10 list.
- ESD & the100 press releases and article database – write up everything we can and post it every WHERE we can.
- Mindful Breathing video & curriculum for kids
- MBS Program for At Risk Youth.
- DOJ grants – helping the100 uses gov’t grant money to get martial arts teachings into the schools – anti bully, sound mind, sound body, etc.
I’m sure these will adapt and change over time. But this is my start 
I keep adding/changing the list as I go. Change is good, and modifications mean we’re learning and growing.
~S
My new goal: the Ultimate Black Belt Challenge
by stacia on August 5, 2010
in marital arts
I’ve been wanting to do this for a few years now.
ubbt 8
Tom Callos , founder of Everything Self Defense and countless other programs, created the Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT), which is a business development program for the most serious, career martial arts teachers.
The premise of the project is that the teacher embarks on a journey –a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual quest for self-improvement; however, the goals of the project involve more than “self” –in that each participant engages people in his/her sphere of influence. The “ultimate test” isn’t just a test of personal ability, it engages and affects the tester’s community.
Now, I don’t currently TEACH. But I want to. I just need to get my sea legs and figure out how I want to teach. Well, and where and to who….
What does the UBBT entail?
Nick helped me break it all down for the year:
- 200 sit-ups a day/5x a week
- 200 pushups a day/5x a week
- 20 miles a week (walk, run, bike or swim)
- 60 minutes of sparring a week
- 20+ random acts of kindness a week
- 20 repetitions of form/week
- weekly blog/vlog
- 1 environmental cleanup project for the year (we’re good, we do several on our own for CatKlaw)
- DAILY meditation
- 2 short films a week on self defense/enrichment topic
- 20 total projects for a project portfolio for “Out of the Dojo and into the World”(I think I need to build a classroom and students…ACK.)
Those are just some of the requirements. I love it. I think Black Belts should teach, but should also be the blended showcase of all that a student could and should be.
Most of these are completely doable and with ease…but there are quite a few that will be a stretch for me. I’ll have to enlist my dojo for the sparring. I’ll have to make sure I’m AT the gym 5 days a week, at least.
And, most importantly, I have to figure out a way to TRACK IT ALL!
