01/02/2024
August of 1992 was our 4th National Seminar and the first of many in Seattle. The last class included tamashi wari (board and brick breaking), and many of the larger boards were especially difficult to break as they were not well-matched. Near the conclusion of the session, I was holding 5 boards for an especially challenging technique. Sensei Mike Lewenczuk was going to break with Kekomi Yoko Geri, a thrusting side kick. I said to Shihan Arel that I think it would be safer if I received some back-up, believing he would send over one of the other black belts to support me. I was hoping for Master Bob Longo who was nearby and would certainly have provided the high level of concrete stability that I desired. Instead, Mr. Arel stepped closer to me and lightly, almost delicately, put his hands on my wrists. Shihan was not in a deep stance as he had a particularly acute bone spur in his heel at that seminar. I was slightly concerned that this support would not be enough to keep those boards in place for the break but I trusted my sensei and said nothing as Mike prepared to unleash his powerful kick. Just a millisecond before the knife-edge of Mike's foot hit the first board I felt a surge of energy throughout my body that felt like lightning and thunder had combined in an explosion of power. Just as the sidekick demolished the last of the five boards, all of the energy disappeared as if it had never happened. As everyone watching applauded for my friend Mike, Shihan whispered "Nice job, Dan" and stepped away.
Today marks 15 years since Shihan Arel passed away. It is hard to comprehend that so many years could have passed already. I am in good company in saying that his lessons, technical instruction, stories, and humor are so viscerally embedded in his senior students that time has diminished none of the vibrancy of the memories as if they happened last week and not decades ago. As a martial artist and as a person, a distinguishing characteristic of Shihan Paul Arel was the very small, almost imperceptible nuances of his techniques and interactions. They were often not easy to see and even harder to copy. But it was the small rather than the grand actions that distinguished him from others.
While he had many students throughout his 60-year martial arts journey, those who absorbed most effectively what he taught and how he taught it did so because they were maximally receptive and open to his teaching. We did not all fit a specific athletic mold, nor did we fit into a certain psychological profile that was suited to his style of karate or jujitsu. But we had three qualities that enabled us to absorb what he had to teach: 1) Trust in our sensei; 2) Patience to keep working and wait until he was ready to teach something new; 3) Acute openness to receive and absorb as much as possible whenever, wherever, and however the lessons might be imparted.
On this sad 15-year milestone, I am exceptionally proud of all of our students and sensei in Seirenkai who continue to keep alive our own Sensei's traditions, both technical and otherwise. Though we do so as part of the International Seirenkai Organization, we all diligently honor our promises to our Sensei, and as he said, "do our best" to perfect our technique and character while passing on the lessons to new generations. Shihan Arel's last request to me two days before his death was to "Say hi to all the guys for me," so I am hoping this message in his honor will be a unique and personal manner of honoring his last request.
