3 Big DON'Ts You Can Learn from Maya Angelou

This week we celebrate the extraordinary life of  Maya Angelou.  She was one of the most expressive and courageous people of our generation, and in fact, of many generations.  Her strong words and presence will continue to echo for years to come, and as a martial artist, here are 3 big lessons we can learn from her extraordinary life.

Don't Live a Fearful Life

"Courage is the most important of all virtues, because, without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage." As a professional martial artist and instructor I have had to be courageous in the face of opponents, and sometimes, in the face of  real world danger. I have had to be courageous trying to establish my own businesses, seeking new students, and even convincing my wonderful wife that I was not crazy for trying to follow a dream.  I am sure everyone had had a large number of situations in life where we had to be courageous.  Howbeit, in hindsight I have come to realize more and more that we waste a lot of our life living in fear. Sure we eventually deal with risk and pushing ourselves forward, but generally at a last resort. Most of us can be very courageous when backed into a corner.

However, if we are afraid to stand out from the crowd, or take some big risks, then we will live a very normal life. Life is hard for everyone, and if life will be hard for all of us, then let's choose to live life extraordinarily. There are many virtues that we learn throughout life, but what are they without the courage to walk out those virtues with a high level of compassion?  You can't live a compassionate life if fear grips your every decision.  Choose rather to be courageous, which is not the absence of fear at all, but the state of mind that says, I am moving forward anyway.

Don't Live a Defeated Life

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."   Win or lose, up or down, in or out, we are learning! It feels great to be on top, to be the best, to be the tournament champ, but I, and we learn far more from our defeats. We all love mountain tops, but for every mountain top you climb there will be decent into a valley of some sort.  Valleys teach us two things; how to live defeated, or how to pull greatness out of ourselves.  The rougher the valley, the easier it is to climb a tougher mountain! Everything we need to be successful is already in us, and when we realize life is chiseling away at us, we have to take a step back and see the beautiful work of art that is forming. 

Therefore, we should not live as if we have been defeated, nor if someone owes us something for feeling down and defeated. Take your future in your hands, whatever it may be. Stand up straight and meet those challenges ahead with a firm handshake. We are never truly defeated, until we give up. Besides, confidence in yourself, your abilities and the common sense to improve where needed, speaks volumes.

Don't Ruin Your Good Reputation

"I 've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." There are so many wise sayings covering a good reputation, but it really comes down our level of integrity and character. One day when life is over, we will all leave behind something, so just make sure one of things you leave behind is a good name i.e. reputation.  A good reputation is all you have sometimes, and it will speak on your behalf. That is why bankrupt CEOs can ask any bank for money and they will still give it to them. That is why we take advice from some friends, and do the very opposite of what other friend say. Think about it. 

The bottom line is that we build trust over time through our words and our deeds. As a martial artist and business owner I have to realize that my actions will increase or decrease my reputation, my trust factor, my influence factor. We all have to realize that our reputation extends to all aspects of our lives, relationships, work and family life. So, let every time someone mentions our name, no matter if they smile or frown, whether they like us or not, let it be with an understanding that we are striving to be people with a good reputation.


Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei"
Okinawa, Japan

Capoeira Music - Energy, Soul and Swing

"Capoeira music is music"... that's what a Mestre said to us all, as we listened attentively to every word that came out of his mouth, and every stroke of the berimbau during a batizado in Tokyo, Japan. That simple statement from Mestre Acordeon, the world reknowned Capoeira master, changed the way I saw Capoeira music forever.

Generally, you get used to hearing people belowing out Capoeira in their loudest voice and highest octave possible, followed in suit by students, bless their hearts, who sound like a wave of war trumpets sounding a charge.

After Mestre Acordeon reminded us all that Capoeira music is first music I began to understand things a bit differently. Sure they say that not all Capoeiristas learn music, and some of them won't touch an instrument (not to mention there are far fewer who get great at music), but great sounding music is just logical.  As a man who spent a third of my life in band, and most of my life singing and dancing, I truly have no excuses. The music should be great at all times.

The music coming from the roda, as one Capoeira Professor (Linguica) said, "Should give people goosebumps," and if that is not the case, we should continue to strive to improve. In my humble opinion, there are very few Capoeira music albums that I would listen to just for the music, and Mestre Acordeon would be one of those that I would listen to of course. His albums are truly great music, many songs which could be played along side regular hits on a worldbeat radio station.  For the most part though, Capoeira albums that have great musical quality seem to be made and produced by actual singers, who just decided to record a few Capoeira, Dance Afro, Samba or Maculele songs. Which is fine.

However, I think that in every school and in every roda we should strive to do better with our music abilities. (Believe me I am working harder and harder every day). Berimbaus should be tuned, instruments should be tuned, voices should be prepared and singing ranges should be identified. If no one in the academia has experience in or an ear for music, ask a professional musician or a voice trainer to stop by to help your group out. Your students will love it and the group will benefit all around.

Here in the video below, I am singing the chorus to a few of my favorite Capoeira songs in the key of D with the berimbau tuned to the key of D. I used to sing in a much higher octave and my voice cracked all the time or I couldn't hit some notes at all, and my Mestre, Sucuri, told me, "Your natural voice is great, stop trying to immitate the Mestre's your hear on CDs and DVDs and just sing with your voice." This was the result.

Thank you for reading and thank you Mestre Acordeon and Mestre Sucuri for the words of widsom. I know I am not great yet, but you both set my on a path to enrich my Capoeira journey even the more.

 

 

Benjamin "Foguete"

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Capoeira Forca de Arte - Osaka, Japan - Batizado 2014

What an amazing weekend it was in Osaka, Japan! I recently attended the batizado for Forca de Arte under Contra Mestre Espeto in Osaka, Japan.

There were so many guests and teachers there it was marvelous. These included Mestre Marcelo of Capoeira Mandinga, the Capoeira master who motion captured Eddy Gordo's moves in the video game Tekken, and Contra Mestre Omi from New York.   Then there were a ton of teachers and individuals from around Japana as well.

During the batizado presentation I seen the best Samba band I have ever seen, and they were all kids. I was truly delighted by their precision, timing and the energy they gave off in the presence of some astounding guests, visitors and parents. The youth and adults also did Macule, Puxa de Rede, Coco, Samba, and then of course the best roda you could imagine. The energy coming out of all of the players in Japan was phenomenal.

Here Mestre Marcelo plays with Contra Mestre Espeto

Here Mestre Marcelo plays with Professor Neguinho

Thank you again to Contra Mestre Espeto for a great time in Osaka, Japan. I wish you another 20 years of playing and teaching!

I also have to say a special thank you to Mestre Marcelo for some great words of wisdom. He said, You are going to have some hard times in Capoeira (just like in life), where you will say to yourself maybe Capoeira is not for me, or maybe I should try something else, or someone with my body and abilities can't excel, but you have allow yourself to have hard times. Keep training through those hard times and your love for Capoeira will return, and when it does you will have appreciated going through those hard times.

Thank you Mestre.

The teachers who were present were Professor Neguinho, Mestre Marcelo, myself(Foguete), Contra Mestre Espeto, Contra Mestre Lua Cheia, Contra Mestre Omi, Professor Onca de Mao, Professor Falcao and Formado Cacapa.