A dojo [pracice hall] is a miniature cosmos where we make contact with ourselves - our fears, anxieties, reactions, and habits. It is an arena of confined conflict where we confront an opponent who is not an opponent but rather a partner engaged in helping us understand ourselves more fully.

When you lose your temper, you lose yourself—on the mat as well as in life.

Anger doesn't demand action. When you act in anger, you lose self-control.

Only after several years of training did I come to realize that the deepest purpose of the martial arts is to serve as a vehicle for personal spiritual development.

One of the first lessons one learns is that the mind is a powerful factor in everything you do, including those exercises that seem to require a maximum of physical strength.

When a problem arises, don't fight with it or try to deny it. Accept and acknowledge it. Be patient in seeking a solution or opening, and then fully commit yourself to the resolution you think advisable.

What stands in the way of effortless effort is caring, or a conscious attempt to do well.