Akron Kids Martial Arts Blog - Zahand's Martial Arts

Im Always Good

As many of you have heard me say when you ask how I am doing, I will often respond, "I'm always good ." This response elicits a variety of responses. A few are: "C'mon, you can't always be good ." "Are you really?" "I love that you are always so positive." "I wish I had that mindset." "You know what, me too!" Today, I want to share with you why I feel this way, why I say it, and I share this in hopes that it will give you a better outlook on those bad days that we all can have. Many years ago when I introspected deeply and became attuned to myself, I had to look at my darkest sides as well. After losing the Navy and breaking my back, I had reached depths ....
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The Kids Mean Everything

I was 16 years old. I had recently made a mistake in my life. I never thought we could make mistakes that we could regret for a lifetime. But I had. Maybe in some people’s eyes, this was minuscule, but in mine, it was the worst. I hated myself. Maybe on the outside I seemed good and it seemed I was putting my best foot forward, trying to teach karate, keep up with school, while dealing with my girlfriend at the time who cheated on me and manipulated me constantly, but in my mind, I was the worst person. I could not get through the day. I could not teach classes properly because I was so distraught internally about my mistake and my life. A rapid decline into a deep depression began ....
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I Love You. Here's Why.

Hi everyone. It is Doshi with one of my Doshi thoughts. Today, I share with you that I love you. I want to explain why I throw these important words around, some instance of what they mean to me, and why I choose to say this to you all. As I have said time and time again, you trust myself and my staff with your children. This is the most important thing in my life, yours, and our world, in my opinion. This means me giving transparency to the families under our dojo allows for you to know what leads my thoughts and actions and to show how much I value your trust and friendship in our home. I encourage you to read this in its entirety. To begin, Mason Samuel Weitzel was my best friend ....
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Why I Compliment You

Parents, you trust my dojo and me with the most important thing to you - your children. Let me be transparent about who I am to you. I let my entire thought out on this so get yourself some popcorn to sit and enjoy because I will not lie, it is long. It is worth it, in my opinion, to read through as it gives you more insight on how I think and who I am as we do speak weekly. To begin, too many times in life we get defensive of what people do and say to us because people ALWAYS do and say things with ulterior motives. They do things to benefit themselves and masquerade it as doing things for others, especially the machiavellian types. I am sure you have said this to your kids and were ....
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What Happened to Sensei Matt?

Many of you have heard Doshi lost the Navy. That was his dream. He has back problems. Yada yada yada. I have given some explanation to what occurred to me in bits and pieces, and sometimes in parts in person. But today I want to share with you one of the darkest times in my life. I want to share with you what made me lose myself, fall into the darkest depths of my mind and depression, and what the kids saved me from. This will be lengthy as you will need context and details, some shared before and some new, to understand what I went through at that point in my life. Today I explain to you what happened to Doshi (Me-teehee). To begin, understand I have never had back issues before going ....
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Be Bold

Hi everybody! It is Doshi Matt here. I miss you all so much! Most of all I miss the kids smiling as they walk through the door. I am excited to see all of their little faces again in the new year. Before we get back into the groove of things (don't forget, we reopen the 2nd), I wanted to send an email out discussing something I talked about at our Christmas party regarding the culture I wish to build for everyone in our doors, along with some other fun things that have occurred to me over the break. As many of you know, if I have something on my mind that can give you an in-depth look into who I am then I like to share it with you because I believe as a mentor and leader for your ....
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Introspection Equates to Harmonious Success

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate." - Carl Jung Introspection equates to harmonious success. I encourage you all to read this if you want to better your life and understand my journey. Today I want to to share with you something very valuable I learned in my life. This will be a very deep rooted email, but I believe that transparency is important because you trust myself and our staff with your children - our future - and the most important thing God has blessed me with in my lifetime. Years ago, I was lost. I had faced years of turmoil both mentally and physically from losing the Navy. I was in constant searing back pain. I ....
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22 Feb 2025
Culture creates concrete learning

To begin, I had a pleasant surprise happen the other day at our belt ceremony. One of our best adult students, KellieRose, who moved away to pursue her career field made a visit to our ceremony. To celebrate, her, Ms Samantha (another amazing adult student and parent at the dojo), and myself went out for a bite and chatted about life. As conversation resumed, Sam asked KellieRose, "What is one of your favorite childhood memories?" KellieRose thought briefly honestly stating, "It's hard to for me to remember," to which I interjected, "Where do you have the MOST memories from in your childhood? I ask because where you have the most memories means you felt the safest in that environment ....
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First Impressions and Leaving Your Mark

Hi everybody! So to my surprise, I have had numerous parents ask me why I have not said much in my emails lately, mainly my little excerpts at the end where I discuss certain thoughts I like to share. I appreciate that you parents do like what I share, though I feel I can be a little annoying, so I try to keep it at a minimum. But its time to give you a little of what some of you have asked for. I dont bring up discussion topics unless I truly feel it is something that can resonate with our 300+ student body. Sharing my thoughts with all of you is only necessary, in my mind, if I can give something for all of us to relate to and remind you that I am human, same as you - ....
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26 Dec 2024
WHY MARTIAL ARTS

I was asked an interesting question on the phone on the other day from a lead that came in. A woman was looking for classes for her 11 year-old son. Her son had been dealing with some bullying issues as he is the type of child to wear his heart on his sleeve and get pushed around because of his kindness. I shared this quality when I was younger. The mother also explained how she wanted her son to have more confidence and a stronger backbone. She continued, "I know martial arts is kind of spiritual, too, right? Like it’s meant to be more in-tune with yourself. Why did you pick martial arts to be the thing you do? Like why is this the thing?" I took a second to digest her question, ....
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Blog | Zahand's Martial Arts

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Im Always Good

The Kids Mean Everything

I Love You. Here's Why.

Why I Compliment You

What Happened to Sensei Matt?

Be Bold

Introspection Equates to Harmonious Success

Culture creates concrete learning

First Impressions and Leaving Your Mark

WHY MARTIAL ARTS

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