Equality emanates from internal understanding, attitude and fortitude.

Simply put, you know deep down that you are equal—you don’t have to be told you are, and can never be told you are not.

                                        Master Balzano
                                        8/10/08


Monday, August 4, 2008

Practice begins with repetition which moves to review and evolves into recall.  Make each new, learned and mastered technique your own. 

 
                                        Master Balzano
                                        8/3/08


Monday, July 28, 2008

Always lend your assistance to those less experienced in the Martial Arts than yourself.   The lineage of Martial Arts instruction is a closed circle of those who know and those who learn.

                                        Master Balzano
                                        7/27/08


Monday, July 21, 2008

A good sense of humor being essential to martial arts training:

I was having a conversation with a friend recently and we were discussing cloning.  I decided if I were to clone myself I would make my clone faster, stronger and smarter than I am through genetic engineering.  Then it occurred to me that my clone might just be a bit too good and would of course have to go. 
If I eliminated my clone, would that be murder or suicide?

                                            Master Balzano
                                            7/20/08
 

Monday, July 14, 2008

To master a subject is to forgo its mystery.

                                            Master Balzano
                                            7/13/08


Monday July 7, 2008

There is no such thing as a "rock bottom" to hit.

Start climbing back now,

or keep falling forever.

                                            Master Balzano
                                            7/6/08


Monday, June 30, 2008

To confront one's problems headlong and in a timely fashion,
is to trim the shoots of a bamboo garden early.

To procrastinate the actions to solve one's problems
is to allow that same bamboo to grow into an inescapable prison.

                                            Master Balzano
                                            6/29/08

Monday, June 23, 2008

Truly principled actions must come from pure intentions and are, more often than not, private from the public.

                                            Master Balzano
                                            June 22, 2008


Monday, June 16, 2008

Humility is learned through heart-felt self-evaluation, not humiliation.

                                            Master Balzano
                                            6/15/08


Monday, June 9, 2008

Dreams are a pivotal aspect of a martial artist's journey.

Dreams provide the drive and motivation for the formation of goals for training.

Never allow dreams to dominate your training but never train without them.

        
                                              Master Balzano
                                              6/8/08


Monday, June 2, 2008

Those with whom you train in the martial arts are your brothers and sisters, 

Not your opponents, nor adversaries and certainly not your enemies.

Competition among siblings is necessary and naturual.

Vengeful aggression is a perversion of that natural necessity.


                                               Master Balzano
                                               6/1/08



Monday, May 26, 2008

The power of love is greater than that of the power of rage,

for rage is debilitating while love is regenerative.



                                                Master Balzano
                                                5/25/08


Monday, May 19, 2008

Throughout our journeys on the our martial arts paths, we must always remember and respect our connections to the past.

Each teacher, partner and master brought us one step forward, even if at the time it seemed like a step back.

We must all realize that the martial artists we've become began with those willing to teach us what they knew.


                                                 Master Balzano
                                                 5/18/08


Monday, May 12, 2008

Martial arts training is not just about techniques.

It is not just about following a particular program.

Nor is it just about training with master.

Martial arts training is about courage.

Courage to face the truth,

courage to stand against aggression,

courage to be oneself.

When all else seems lost,
return to that initial courage with which you began your path.


                                            Master Balzano
                                            5/11/08




Monday, May 5, 2008

Self-Mastery, Part 2 of 2:

Only through the mastery of oneself will desire yield to appreciation, 

the inner focused nature transform into love for all, including oneself.

This is the path of the Martial Artist: Self-Mastery.


                                           Master Balzano     
                                           5/4/08

 
Monday, April 28, 2008

Self-Mastery, Part 1 of 2:

When one serve's only oneself

A little of almost anything is already too much

And an extravagant amount is never enough.

        
                                        Master Balzano
                                        4/27/08


Monday, April 21, 2008


Conflict, attended to, focuses and sharpens one's mind & body.

    
            
                                      Master Balzano
                                      4/20/08    



Monday, April 14, 2008