Sensei Bruce Costa has been practicing karate for over four decades and is the founder of Perkasie’s Granite Forest Dojo, where he teaches as the chief instructor to a wide range of children and adults.
His new book, “Welcome To Karate: Unlocking the Wisdom of the Beginner’s Mind,” was published in September. Its 11 chapters are jampacked with principles, traditions, techniques and etiquette for martial artists who are beginning their training. The book offers technical support for striking, blocking, kata, sparring, body shifting and kicking.
“Every black belt is a white belt that never gave up,” said Costa. A self-described non-conformist, Costa quickly realized that the art of karate prescribes just the opposite.
“You go in, and you remain quiet. You do your best to be at your full listening potential – you do exactly what you are told, and you do it to an extreme,” Costa said in an interview with the Bucks County Herald.
Much of Costa’s listening consisted of the words of 10th-degree black belt Grand Master Teruyuki Okazaki, whom he trained under for years after Okazaki moved to Philadelphia to teach karate from his native Japan in 1961. Okazaki wrote the forward for the book, in which he describes martial arts as a lifelong endeavor, one where “you are never finished, and there is no graduation.”
Costa echoes this sentiment, saying that those who enter into the art with guns blazing and untamed aggression usually find their backside on the mat in quick time. Costa emphasizes the need for a “beginner’s mind” when suiting up for karate.
“Go back to the beginning, and maintain a beginner’s mind,” Costa said. “Place yourself in a position where you know nothing. That is the secret sauce right there.” With a beginner’s mind, there is an abundance of room for personal growth and knowledge, Costa explained.
Costa’s vision for the book came from his desire to write a karate book that has not been written before, one that encompasses all he has learned from his four decades of training.
“You end up with a journey that seems to be a good narrative, and you write that journey,” he said.
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