Karate-do can have many meanings, just as there are may people practicing this art. For me is started as a means of getting fit and to give me a good reason to be disciplined in my life. As I got more into Karate I realized the more there was to learn and discover. I realized the spiritual side or strengthening of one’s spirit is a natural flow-on effect of the hard physical training. The training becomes a "way of life." Karate-do, to me, means a way to follow in life using Karate.

The study and research of the old masters shows us how they lived and taught but it is up to us to find our own way. Each person, the more they train, they find their own Karate-do within and I believe it is important not just to blindly follow someone if you don’t feel what they are saying fits your set of beliefs.

In fact Karate is truly a solitary practice, or can be if there is suddenly no teacher for you. You can still train with what you have learnt this far until another teacher appears.

Having said that the solitary nature of Karate teaches you to relate to people in a different way. To be more controlled in difficult situations to have more confidence in yourself and certainly appreciating the brotherhood and friendships of fellow Karate people.

I don’t think I realized when I started what Karate-do meant and I am still learning more about what it means as different stages in life come along Karate is a great tool to help get through the stage. Your Karate is something no one can take away from you no matter what happens and I believe it is important for higher students to realize that fact. Learn from many sources to make your own thing.

So in summary, Karate-do is on three different levels:

1. Physical, hard training to develop the body
2. Mental – to handle situations in the dojo and in life with a calmer attitude
3. Spiritual – to develop and nurture each person inside to shield them through life’s ups and downs.

There may be other levels which I don’t know about, but these are those I know at this stage.

The is an aspect of Karate which is missing ,which due to our mechanized society is lost from most people and that is living by the rhythms of nature. More research I would like to do here to understand kata more fully, when to train, how much to train, as I believe the incredible strength of the old masters came in a great part from living their lives in tune with nature and the power of the breathing techniques is just on aspect of this.

So Karate-do is using Budo as a way of life to improve yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. For me this is what Karate-do means.