Guardian Quest Martial Arts Dojo

One of the traditions we had at the Guardian Kempo Kajuko Do Dojo is that we'd provide everyone with a set of Thank You Cards and some guidance on how to use them. Thank You Cards, actual physical cards delivered in-person or through the mail, are a bit of a lost art. With Thanksgiving coming up, and Christmas right after, it is a time for giving thanks, for being grateful, and for some attention on the best parts of community, family, and being connected. Gratitude is the ...fastest path to happiness. As we work our way forward, for those of us so inclined, perhaps an opportunity to incorporate the lost art of thank you cards might be an opportunity to step up to old-school classy. The basic rules: If you can say thank you live and in-person (which we are doing much, much less in these days!), then no card is necessary, but it's still an indulgently classy thing to do. If you won't see or talk to the person in real time (such as only by post, email, text, messenger), then consider a card as expected by old-school courtesy. If you will see them on video or talk to them by voice, then it's entirely optional, but still classy. While a physical card is ideal, an e-card, nice text or email, or other electronic means is better than not doing it at all, and certainly expresses gratitude in the way intended and in the spirit of the technology of this new-school era. * * * * * * * * * * * Standard Conway Gift-Opening Protocol: Everyone gets a gift. We each take turns saying who the gift is from and opening the gift. We all enjoy each other's gift. We all pause and write our thank-you cards for that gift before moving on to the next gift. * * * * * * * * * * * Admittedly, following that protocol was much, much easier when it was just me and Wendy. After all, there were only two of us, and both of us did cards. It was a little more challenging with Dawn and the boys because then there were six of us, and trying to get that done with six people was a bit more challenging, especially when a couple of them were still in elementary school.... but it was still an ideal we worked on. In either case, it turned what might have been 5-15 minutes of ripping open gifts into an hour or more of savoring gifts and expressing gratitude.

I was honored to talk to my friend and long-time instructor, Grandmaster Scot Conway, on the most recent episode of my podcast. It was August 17, 2005 that I fi...rst walked into Grandmaster Scot’s dojo. I have trained with several masters, coaches, and instructors, but none of their instruction, mentorship, and friendship has been as meaningful or impactful to me as much as that of this man. I am most certainly imperfect.. In the areas where I do well, I owe much of my accomplishment and character to the investment of Grandmaster Scot. Of course, my most significant appreciation of his help is the application of his teaching in repairing the core of what was broken in mine and Andrea’s marriage. Early into our marriage we separated for about a year and a half. We reunited in December of 2009 with tools to continually make our relationship stronger and more meaningful for each of us. I hope you enjoy the conversation Grandmaster Scot and I had as much as I did. Oh, and in case you want to check out some of what he is doing now, check out www.scotwith1t.com or search his name, Scot Conway, on Amazon. @gqdojo @aloya319 #GuardianKempo #GKKD #GuardianQuest #GuardianStrong #TeamLoya #JoshuaTheJedi #Adventuremind

15 years ago Andrea and I stepped into Grand Master Scott’s dojofor the very first time. It was one of the best decisions we ever made. We, officially, closed d...own our dojo last month, which we inherited from him in December. Andrea and I continue to train in Guardian Kempo Kajuko Do to this day. We are able to responsibly work with students on a limited basis; though, we need to be creative, so as to not put students at unnecessary risk. We can also do private lessons over video chat, for those who are interested. If you are interested in training with us, please get in touch. I check my Messenger regularly. To any of our students who want to train wit us, we’ll get back to you soon. OUr move into our new residence has been much more involved than we could have possibly expected. To Grandmaster Scot, thank you for GKKD! Thank you for Quest Xian! Thank you for a deep dive into Ohana! Our lives are much better for us having known you. Mahalo, sir!

To all of our students and Guardian Quest Martial Arts Dojo ohana, We will be back! Taking a little bit to regroup before we take the next step forward in our m...ission of helping others to be strong on the inside and outside. We’re mostly done with the move into our new townhouse. Lots of challenges with this one, though. Our new kitchen had serious plumbing issues, which looked like it was going to be much harder to fix. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be. Our kitchen now works! That will make things much smoother going forward. To our students, we may have an opportunity to post some content to the Facebook page or our private training group over the next couple of weeks. It may only be occasional posts for a little while. We do not yet know what our new schedule will be. We anticipate more regular online content to resume no later than August 17, the 15 year anniversery of our first lesson with Grandmaster Scot Conway. Video chat based private lessons will be available on a very limited basis before that. In person privates and small group classes will be the trickier thing. Please send me or Andrea a private message, if you are interested. Thank you all for the support in these very challenging times. We never wanted to close our dojo. Remember, we aren’t giving up. We’re regrouping so we can be even stronger. Guardian Strong! Strong on the inside! Strong on the outside! #TeamLoya #GQDojo #GuardianStrong

Hello Guardian Quest ohana, It is with a heavy heart that we have made the difficult decision to discontinue running classes at our current location. Ever changing guidelines have made it difficult for us to know when we can fully reopen and be able to stay open. Fortunately, we (Sensei Joshua and Sensei Andrea), are moving to a new rental home in La Mesa. It is our intention to run limited classes, private lessons, and online classes from our new home. Students who wish to t...rain with us can contact us via our email address: [email protected]. We will not be running full classes right away, as we want to continue to abide by the guidelines given by California and Federal officials. We intend to offer the options mentioned above. Online and remote lessons are the easiest to do while minimizing risk as much as possible. Private lessons are probably more effective, but come with more risk. The more people we teach at a time, the trickier things get. We do not want to compromise your health in order to keep our business open. Thank you for your support. We love each and every one of you, whether you are former students or part of our extended family. This is not the end. It is just change. We will be holding online classes, with occasional private lessons, at the current location through the month of July. We expect to resume teaching from our new home, depending on guidelines, no later than August 17, which will be 15 years to the day from our very first lesson with Grandmaster Scot. All the best, Team Loya