Hello {{ subscriber.first_name() or 'Warrior' }},

Welcome to this week's edition of my all new Three-Tip Thursday, where I share three powerful tips in one short email.

This week's tips come from my recent Warrior's Whiteboard Wednesday episode, The Path to Self-Defense Mastery!

Tip #1: There is a Natural Path to Mastery - USE IT or Risk Training Harder!

In my latest Warrior's Whiteboard Wednesday episode, I went through the 4 stages of skill development and mastery. In other training circles outside of the martial arts this is often called the 4 stages of skill acquisition. Regardless of what you call it, this is a natural path or process that we all follow every time we learn set out to learn a new skill - be it tying our shoes, learning to drive, or learning techniques like Musha-Dori, Shihaku, or Ichimonji no Kata.
 

Watch or listen at: https://youtube.com/live/H6qCGSKaFYM
 

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Tip #2: Be Careful of The Trap at Stage 3!
 

In the Path to Self-Defense Mastery episode, I go through each of the stages and explain not only what happens at that stage and what we must do to progress to the next stage... but also the trap within each one as well.  And, while many pass through the first two with commitment and dedication - their eye's firmly focused on the goal not only promised by stage 4 - the stage demonstrated by Hatsumi Sensei and other master teachers who've made it... the big eye-opener for a lot of people who watched was in how they can confuse the skill proficiency attained in stage 3 can actually cause them to fall short of their goal of mastery and full skill integration!
 

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtube.com/live/H6qCGSKaFYM

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Tip #3: The Japanese Call This Integrated Mindfulness Heijoshin - Know What the Goal LOOKS Like!
 

One of the first things my teachers did way back in the day, long before everything "Ninjutsu" got watered down to just kata and physical techniques, was to paint a picture of both the goal - the mental, physical, emotional/spiritual, and life skills we would have at the end of the process (known as Heijoshin "calm/consistent mind") - and the path to get there. 

They explained that this wasn't about memorization of techniques, but internalization of the lesson and... more importantly, integration of these skills and lessons into our very being - the ability to have these techniques, skills, and mindsets come out of you, witout thinking or hesitation, even in the face of fear, surprise, size differences, and anything else that would not make the attack or overwhelming challenge you're facing, a "fair fight!"

The question is: which stage are each of your techniques in? That the ral question... not how many techniques do you know, who've you've trained with, or what belt color or rank you have.  Because, until you know that, you won't rally be training smarter... but forced to train harder (or blind!).

If you caught this week's WWBW of KUDEN! Radio podcast on Heijoshin itself, the next step is to register for "part 2" during this Friday's Advanced Ninjutsu Masterclass: Learn More and Register Here
 

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to training with you again soon!

Dai-Shihan Miller
 

P.S. Follow the KUDEN! Radio podcast on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or your favorite podcast app.