Lesson: Layers of Fear

Also, during the dinner discussion, we talked about the difficulty of breaking the opponent's barrier.

Jae Choi Sensei said that there are layers of fear we must over come (or get through).

First, he said we must over come our own layer of fear (the self-imposed fear).

He said, "First, you must break the layer of your own self-imposed fear. Do not let your self-imposed fear block you." (or something along that line) He said he learned this from Yamaguchi Sensei long time ago in a different context, but it is applicable to us.

After that, once you've broken your self-imposed fear, then you must break your opponent's tip of the sword (shinai).

After that, then you must break your opponent's wall of barrier. And, so on.

Basically, he suggested us to overcome our fear layer by layer. So, each practice, I should get into it w/ that objective in mind.