Also big news!

Well, as some of you may have heard, I have some riiiiiilllllly big news!

No, I am not having another baby, silly. I am going to Washington D.C the weekend of march 7th.

I can hardly believeit, but I have been given a really great opportunity to train as a teacher for Budokon!

Let me backtrack.....


A few months ago, I was on the GAIM website loking for something and I happened upon a link to BUDOKON....It is a new form of exercise/lifestyle fitness that melts together some of my favorites...Yoga, martial arts and zen/mindfulness meditation.

So, I further investigated it and it's teaching style and sent away for a DVD on ebay. Not only is it a great workout, but the guiding principles also embrace a way of thinking and being that I have been adopting and applying to my own self-growth. Believe it or not, it sort of ties into the whole realm of "the Secret", quantum physics, mindfulness meditation, and the basic law attraction. Some of you know I have been sort of going on about this stuff for a alittle over a year or two now and I have seen and felt some real and dynamic change and benfits from it.

I'd like to say that some of my fears, old habits, patterns of self-destructive thoughts and behaviors have been turned around, or are in the process of being eliminated due to this sort of mindful state of self-awareness. Heck, i would even attribute it to me being able to open a dialogue with my father and brother, and ending over 20 years of restlessness and nightmares that had plagued me. I am happy and grateful to say that I am happier in the last 2 years than I have ever felt in my entire life, and I welcome the evolution and growth that will come with the passage of more and more time.

Long story short, Budokon is the bomb!

So..... to get back to the story....Budokon has DVDs and also classes you can take if you live in a town where they teach it (not wisconsin!). they also have a belt system, like other martial arts schools, where you can train to earn a black belt. They also have teacher training, and in order to teach a class you have to have a certain belt, etc, etc.

Well, I had recieved an email about the upcoming Budokon immersion class wekends and other teacher trainings, so I thought...."hey, that would really be cool to do! I think I could do that!"

I checked out all the information and found out that the trainings were held in califorina, the east coast, Vancouver.....I felt the wind go out of my sails a bit, but still had it in the back of my mind that I should find a way to do this.
I kept on revisiting the site and the schedule of classes and trainings....there was a page for registration, etc, but I thought it was too far away, and the travel would be too expensive, not to mention the training is over 2 grand. I put it out of my mind again.

Of course, i was still thinking of it and saying to myself that I could do it, if I could get it paid for.

Well, a few weeks ago I recieved another email and I just thought, what the hell, I'm gonna figure out a way to get there.

I went to the registration page and noticed that they had a new attachment that allowed you to apply for a scholarship. I opened it, wrote an essay about myself and sent it off.

A week later I got a response.

I am going to the teacher training in D.C. in march! My application was recieved and accepted, and I will be getting my training fees waived. Holy cow, what awesome news.

I mentioned to Jeff that I had applied for it the day before I got the response. He of course, in his ususal supportive nature, had no doubts that I could do it. A small part of me and my old thoughts said "hey, aren't you too fat for this? " Luckily, my new-and-improved-baseball-bat carrying-positive-thoughts quickly beat the shit out of my negative thoughts. Who gives a crap if I am not 110 pounds? I am an example of what a really person looks like doing exercise, and I deserve the right to follow my dreams too, right?

Take that you negative thoughts.

I am going to D.C. I don't care if I have to go by myself, I don't care if I am the biggest girl in the room when the training begins, i am going to go and do it.

There are only 77 certified teachers of Budokon in the entire world as of today. Me thinks we need a budokon teacher in Wisconsin!

Wanna hear something else that is kinda weird and freaky? I have a tattoo on my back that looks almost exactly like the symbol for Budokon. Holy coincidence, batman!

And by the way, if anyone wants to spent the weekend in D.C., lemme know, the plane ticket is less than 200 bucks. (hint, hint, Mel!)

To check out more about Budokon, go ot: www.Budokon.com