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Of all the things students expect their teachers to do for them, motivation is near the top of the list. But, it’s the one thing that no one can do for, or to, anyone else. During this episode of KUDEN! Radio, we’ll be diving into this critical aspect of success, both in our martial arts […]

One of the greatest fallacies circulating in Ninjutsu is that you can’t learn this art without going to a dojo. This, in spite of the fact that I and a HUGE percentage of the older teachers in this art have always been…solo, distance training students…INCLUDING SOKE HATSUMI HIMSELF! During this episode I’m going to show […]

Grandmaster Hatsumi often spoke of the trap of confusing how many techniques one knows with their ability to actually survive a real-world attack. This was due in part to the number of variables outside of kata that are a part of the problem we’ll face inside the bubble. During this episode of KUDEN! We’ll be […]

One of the greatest allures of the Ninja’s self-protection and personal development system is the promise of increasing your personal power in not just a self-defense and survival situation, but in every area of your life. So, the focus of this episode will focus on 5 core practices designed to ramp up our ability to […]

One of the biggest problems that most people face, especially students of Ninjutsu and it’s promise of self-protection and personal development Mastery is… Most of us were never taught HOW to learn. We were taught “what” to learn, and rewarded for passing tests designed to gauge how well we could remember facts, but most of […]

During this episode we’ll be looking at the connection between goal attainment and frustration- two things that seem to be at odds with each other, right? After all, if you achieve your goals, how can there be frustration? Connected to this is also the difference between how the super successful and the wanna-be relate to […]

When you think of martial arts of self-defense, one of the first things (if not ‘the first’) that comes to mind is…fighting. But the world of conflict resolution, warriorship, and combat…especially within the Ninja’s realm…involves MUCH more than just meeting an opponent head-on physically – as if the winner of this match somehow decided many […]

Over my years on the Path, I have been exposed to many lessons within the Kuden and Shinden realms of training. Many of these lessons came from the Dragon’s Realm, rather than the Tiger’s Realm of raw, violent battlefield survival tactics for winning. During today’s episode, we’ll be diving deep into some of these lessons […]

One of the most common concepts and lessons that I heard in the earliest days of this art, both from my personal teacher AND the Grandmaster, was about “returning to zero”, being a ‘no-limits person’, and becoming a Tatsujin – ‘a fully actualized human being’. Unfortunately, this, among many lessons, is not discussed very much […]

The world of Ninjutsu training has been all but reduced to a small aspect of the original self-protection and personal development I was introduced to in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Having been a part of the early introduction and teachings that went WAY beyond “budo-taijutsu”, I was driven to succeed by descriptions and […]

No matter what you do, say, or achieve; you will always encounter haters and those people who will attack you and try to undermine your efforts. During this episode we’ll be looking at examples from not only my own life, but also moments in the lives of Hatsumi-Sensei and his teacher, Soke Toshitsugu Takamatsu, where […]

There used to be a debate as to whether what Bujinkan students are doing is BUDO or NINPO taijutsu. I don’t hear that much anymore, but…I should! During this special episode of KUDEN! we’ll be taking a look at how these two terms (& practices) are connected, and how they’re different. I’ll also be answering […]

Are you having trouble overcoming an enormous challenge in your training, or in another area of your life? If so, I get it. And I want to help you cut through the confusion and get the results and success you want. During this episode we’ll take a look at a simple process that can be […]

During this episode we’ll be taking a look at the subject of goal setting and attainment – one of the topics covered during our recent Spring Ninja Training Camp. Specifically, we’re going to look at 3 ways goal setting is approached (if it’s done at all), and why those who use them see mediocre results […]

This episode is based on a question I received from a student about something he saw online and wanted my take and help in understanding it. At the root of this is something that, if we don’t get right, let’s just say that the “rabbit hole” we’ll be going down won’t lead us to the […]

During this week’s episode I’ll be explaining why I chose the teachers that I did – the criteria I used, and why I think it’s important for a student to choose their teacher(s) with more care than they usually do. I’ll also be giving some suggestions for avoiding common mistakes, as well as how to […]

During this week’s episode we’re going to take a look at yet another over-used and misunderstood word, especially within the context of Ninjutsu…”Traditional.” This will probably ‘trigger’ (if that’s even possible for real warriors to become) some hate mail and irritation among many but, if we’re going to get this thing that we say we’re […]

The word “natural”, much like “warrior” and “enlightenment”, is thrown around quite a bit in both the world at large and within in the world of Ninjutsu. But you can often be hard pressed to find it in all of its aspects when you watch people actually train. During this episode we’ll be diving into […]

One of the most common things heard around the world of Ninjutsu, especially within the Bujinkan, is the statement: “That’s not how it’s done in Japan.” This, and the implied slight of someone being “old-school” is supposed to differentiate between someone doing it right from those who are doing it “wrong”. I’ll be discussing this […]

Have you ever felt “stuck”? You’ve tried doing everything you can think of to solve a problem with your training, a relationship, job, or life in general…but you can’t seem to find the solution to getting unstuck and moving forward? At the core of the Ninja’s arts is the concept of becoming a problem solver […]