Yossi Sheriff Quotes

By Yossi Sheriff

These are the subject headers of the short talks for each and every lesson. They can be found in Hebrew in this link (ציטוטים של יוסי שריף)

The foundation

The three roots of the teacher's work are: Kata, Randori and Mondo. [read more]

  1. Kata is the seal of order, a major part of the praxis and a set form.
  2. Randori is the meeting place of chaos and order.
  3. Mondo explains the thinking part what is happening in the doing part.

Without these three, there can be no teaching.

  1. Mondo subjects about fighting

    1. Do not participate in any battle that has predetermined rules. [read more about duels and war]
    2. Look for what you feel, but understand that you do not understand (Zvi Lanir).
    3. The first force multiplier is cooperation between individuals. [read more about groups and community]
    4. For partnership, mutual will is needed; for violence one is enough.
    5. Two for tango, one for aggression. read more about two to tango
    6. If one runs a war as a collection of duels or worse, a duel, he will lose. read more about war and duels
    7. The tension, the conflict of interests, can't be solved. We can only try to conduct ourselves. Read more about stoicism
    8. No surprises, war and negotiations are always against demons. read more
    9. If you have such a hammer that makes every problem look like a nail, get yourself a spoon. read more about subjectivity
    10. Every attack is a syncopation, so pay attention to rhythm. Read more about rhythm and syncopation
    11. In a hundred years, MMA will be a traditional martial art and automatic weapons, ancient relics. read more about Turning gunmetal into gold
    12. When one learns aggression, it is good for feeling better, When sensitivity is learnt, that's for fighting better. Pressing the trigger between two heartbeats, observing the opponent's patterns, that's sensitivity.
    13. Most of the time there is a big difference between a sense of danger and real danger. Sugar killed more people than all the criminal organizations.
    14. Near signs that warn: "Be careful, pickpockets!" are always congregations of pickpockets. They build on the fear. That is the best place to know where there is money or valuables. Most people would touch there just to make sure. Seeing with awareness always discovers another reality.
    15. Swords are made in fire, doughnuts are coated with sugar.

  2. Mondo subjects about beginnings

    1. The journey cleanses.
    2. Two mistakes are cardinal, the first, not starting to walk, the second, stopping before it's time to stop.
    3. We will talk after 10,000
    4. If it's April the 14th, 1912, and you are eating breakfast on the Titanic, it's too late to learn to swim.
    5. Godspeed!
    6. You are not a magic wand that can do everything the magician wants.
    7. No pills, just wake up in time.
    8. No use talking about a journey without physically walking.
    9. The freedom of discipline is a direct consequence of the option to not be disciplined. Discipline is a decision that has to be renewed every time. The role of a teacher is to demonstrate it. That is all. Once a teacher activates a student discipline by proxy, both have failed. Sometimes a leader and teacher's roles are mixed up, they should not be.
    10. Form is secondary, utility is king.

  3. Mondo subjects about continuing

    1. Look at the water and look at the fish
    2. Do your best and get some rest.
    3. Veteran soldiers can sleep anywhere.
    4. Emulation, internalisation, creativity.
    5. To do what you like is low, to do what you should is high. To like to do what you should is the path to mastery.
    6. Many rests on the dojo mattress is a talisman for many happy years in the dojo.
    7. Don't give steaks to babies; when we start, we start with the foundation, not from the needle on the highest tower.
    8. There's enough time, inhale and slowly exhale after a hundred years. There's no time left, hold your breath and look around now.
    9. Go for the feel, not for the kill
    10. I train my dog like this, I pat him for no apparent reason.
    11. For me every training session is the whole universe. (Ido Goldshmidt)
    12. There are no Shortcuts, but there is Kwitzat Haderech. Here's to Kwitzat Haderech.

  4. Mondo subjects about Emotion regulation

    1. If I remember myself, everything that hinders helps.
    2. Before fighting demons, they must be named.
    3. The hand remembers less than the cheek.
    4. Don't argue with the universe.
    5. If you can, change the situation, if you cannot, change your attitude.
    6. When the metal goes into the furnace, your thoughts go with it too.
    7. The ability to abstain from hitting a person depends on the ability to punch a person well.
    8. The results of uncontrolled anger are always worse than the causes.
    9. Get comfortable being uncomfortable and the main tool for that is breathing.
    10. If you find it hard to fall asleep, put a knife under your pillow.
    11. When night falls and you are alone in the desert, words have little meaning.
    12. At the end of any fear, any anxiety, there should be action. Plan this action.
    13. Fear is contagious; one gets it through texts, visuals and smell.
    14. One person's fear is another person's opportunity.
    15. Minus times minus is plus, but shit times shit is never a vanilla ice cream and no religion or science would prove the opposite.
    16. Pain is a close friend, I listen to it with compassion but no identification. It's a friend, not me.
    17. Don't confuse complexity with chaos. Complexity is the many factors that one can prepare for, chaos is a situation that can only be prepared to by emotional stabilisation.
    18. The gun kills instantly, medicine takes time.

  5. Mondo subjects about trust and community

    1. The Practice is more important than the teacher.
    2. The main thing learnt at the dojo is Trust, not strife. If a practitioner cannot deeply understand and appreciate this, he must kindly be refused because he is a danger to the physical and spiritual praxis.
    3. I am not less of an orange even if he is a magnificent apple.
    4. A beginner is the most important person in the dojo.
    5. When Practice changes under a gaze, even for the best, it's not stable.
    6. The knowledge community exists not only for those that are physically present; it exists also for those that cannot be present, for many reasons. So not being present is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a matter of circumstances.
    7. Training in martial arts is not only for martial knowledge; it is also a way through which 'people who should study martial skills' understand.
    8. We need command, control, communication. Why do we always forget communication?
    9. The two markers of culture are tools and leg bones that have healed after a fracture. There are no animal leg bones that have healed because an animal that has broken a leg does not receive protection long enough for the fracture to heal. That is a phenomena of deep Trust.
    10. A gecko can teach Tyrannosaurs Rex not only survival skills, humbleness too.
    11. The first force multiplier is cooperation.
    12. When the communication is better and there is trust, so grows the force multiplier.
    13. Trust is an inner and outer force multiplier. Read more about Trust
    14. There are other ways to have cooperation without trust; over time, they are inferior.
    15. Would you rather climb without a rope or climb with a rope that looks ok, but is torn inside?

  6. Mondo subjects about facing adversity

    1. Prepare for everything and you'll be ready for nothing. Better get ready for nothing. (Dan H.) [read more about Shin Gun]
    2. It doesn't matter if you had fun, what matters is, did you control yourself.
    3. Robots, robots, in the end, somebody has to do the job.
    4. To breathe is easy, to stop breathing is hard. Standing is easy, falling is a skill. Holding comes naturally; letting go is an art.
    5. You can't make an omelet without breaking any eggs, but just breaking some eggs does not make an omelet.
    6. The algorithm is an enemy.
    7. The internet is broken, it has been broken for a long time, and that is dangerous. Learn to open a book and sit with it for a few hours. Learn to sharpen pencils. Learn to walk. Go to your friend's house and call him out to play. Learn to hear people, talk face to face and mainly learn to shut up.
    8. The craft should always be married to the brand.