Tend to your garden

December 2025 blog Total 360 Karate

Warrior to Gardner

On a barren land, where you sit and wonder if anything is going to grow here.  It’s easier to simply walk away than to tend to the land.  Life is tending to the land.  As the land becomes open, the possibilities arise and so does Total 360  Karate. Welcome to the December 2025 blog.  This blog will focus on growth and gardening as it relates to karate. 

A gardener works hard to feed, seed, and watch their plants grow.  Karate students are no different. They want to see the results of their hard work. Some walk away before they ever get that chance.  The results vary.  One student might learn respect, another discipline, and another may have to defend themselves.  If you're looking for the idea fighting, this is the wrong dojo.

In Total 360 Karate, we tend to our garden by coming to class, putting in the work, and being present.  We sharpen our tools daily in the hope that we never have to use them, but the reality is that at some point, you will use your tools mentally or physically.  Each seed is planted and nourished through our students who help each other. Our instructors give them water and watch as they break through barriers.  These barriers might be things like fear, doubt, anxiety, or simply learning how to be a part of a team.  

Each student picked a reason for joining. Each student decides whether they should keep going. The Sensei’s job is to hold a clean container void of the contaminations of the swirling world.  Inside our dojo, we don’t argue, bicker, or hold onto things.  You get hit, you learn how not to get hit. The simplicity in this is that you can drop all of the things you are holding onto and come to class.

We water our garden through deep training, reading, and execution of our craft.  We are relentless in our pursuit of continuing the legacy of Chito Ryu karate. It would be easy to say we have a new system, but lineage is beautiful.  The tools we use for our garden are our mind, our body, and the dream of seeing the fruits of our labor.  We use nature and the resources around us to feed the growing seeds.  Students of Total 360 Karate get the opportunity to truly grow, as our belt system is designed to take years to achieve results. 

When you spend time in the garden, you realize that we are not about war, but we are about peace and developing minds to be strong. Total 360 Karate commits to the idea of building a body that can do anything.  The body is not just physical, but also mental.  What have you done today to tend to your garden?

Sensei Rodgers

2nd degree Shodan, RYT 500,  Master Personal trainer