The last minute, again
Published: Fri, 03/31/17
Today is the last day of my lease on the premises that has been the Stav Centre for the past 4 years. I am a bit sad about it of course but the new arrangement makes more sense. The building gets used for fitness training on a more regular basis and I still get to teach some Stav there. Thinking about it from a Karl point of view I may be relinquishing ownership of space (although I was only renting) in order to protect my financial well being. Protection on a Karl level is a process of give and take, balancing risks with rewards and trying to make the best use of all one’s resources.
Yesterday was a rather strange day. I am making some modifications to the Stav Centre (for today) ready for the next tenant. There is a lot of work to do but I am right on the last moment because of recovery from a minor operation which developed complications and then my back giving out on me. So I am playing catch up, I am not saying I didn’t take care of my health but even a short period of disability makes me realise what an important resource good health is. So, I am struggling a bit for time and yet yesterday morning we had a free consultation from an accountant. We were asked if we wanted a meeting to see if there was anything that an accountant could help us with. We had a very nice chat, actually answered a lot of questions we had and finally agreed that really we can manage our own accounts just fine. As indeed we have been doing for years. I guess it was a failed sales call in the sense that we are not going to be
using that company directly but I will be very happy to recommend them to anyone else. Could I afford the time yesterday morning? Not really but I did gain a lot of useful knowledge so I am not complaining.
In the afternoon I was making pretty good progress and I noticed someone looking at the posters in the porch. I went and said hello and spent at least the next hour at least talking about martial arts and Stav and, well it was very interesting and the chap says he wants to give Stav a go. I wasn’t protecting my time very well but it was an interesting discussion, someone knows more about Stav than he did before and I might get a new student out of it.
I guess the Karl principle is about engagement with risk. You can hide away from the world and be safe in one sense. However, a completely risk free life would be a bit dull to say the least. If you are going to really live life then sometimes things will go well, sometimes not so well. If you are prepared to learn from others and be responsive to your own experience then on balance you will come out ahead in the long term. Or you might go out in a blaze of glory in the short term. Either way is better than dull in my opinion.
During my discussion yesterday afternoon I found myself demonstrating the Karl knife defence drill. In the Trel drill you simply get away as quickly as you can. In the Karl drill you are defending space by avoiding, neutralising and countering simultaneously. It is a much more risky strategy than just backing off. But if you have something to defend then you have to take the risk.
I will be teaching five principles defence at the seminar with Fox next weekend (8th and 9th of April). We will also cover Bowie knife, cudgel and straight razor full details at http://www.somersetstav.co.uk
regards
Graham
PS Great film on release at the moment called The Lost City of Z with Charlie Hunnam (who will always me Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy for me) about adventure, risk and destiny. I am not quite sure if the main character is a genuine hero or borderline insane, a bit of both probably. More info at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1212428/