Why I have started this blog and why ‘Zen in the Martial Arts’ is so important to me
The first martial arts book I read was given to me by my Sensei in the summer of 2010. I had been in a car accident and was unable to participate in class and this was a way that I could continue learning. The book was written by Joe Hyams and it was titled ‘Zen in the Martial Arts’.
Sensei allowed me to write freely of the book and of the lessons I learnt from it, my only instruction was “not to write about the book but to write about what I felt about it”. I decided that while I could easily write an essay and be done with it that each time I read this book over the course of the year, I took something different from it. It wouldn’t do it justice to write a constant, final piece when this book was changing for me everyday.
This book was the perfect first karate book for me because the way it was written in itself inspired me to write out how karate has affected parts of my life. Joe Hyams collected teachings over many, many years and is now able to look back and see the points in his life that were game changers. I recently was asked how long I have been doing karate and because, at the time that I started I didn’t know it would mean as much as it does to me now, I did not note when I started nor do I have a dated certificate from my yellow belt grading. Therefore, I have decided to start collecting my teachings from now to look back on in the future.
The book is not written in chapters but in life lessons that Joe has collected over many years in martial arts. Each lesson in itself is so deep that you could read the same five pages again and again and believe you have extracted what you can from it, and once you move on to the next reading you realize that you need to re-read the last lesson another five times over. It’s simple when you read it yet so complex that if you try to apply it a single essay, that final edit would not suffice. Thus, this blog starts with my application of this novel over the past year and onward and will grow to include my future readings and training.
Why Sanchin
I chose to name this blog ‘My Daily Sanchin’ because it is about my daily three battles with my mind, my body and my spirit. I have yet to master the three and as I learn more through life experiences and Goju Ryu Karate I will write about here in this blog.
My Daily Sanchin 
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Thank you for your amazing comment, Bethanie! It’s always good to know that we’re not alone in this. I hope you find some answers here and share with me what you have come across as well.
Look forward to hearing from you!