Welcome to Adrien Breton's Website on Self-development and Spirituality!
We are delighted to have you visit our site on personal development and spirituality.
Are you ready to start on your spiritual journey?
Whatever the activity you practice, there is room for self-development and spirituality in everyone's life since we are, above all, spiritual beings just begging to blossom.
Our Books and the Author - Click on the book cover of your choice if you wish to order it.
Personal Development
The Homing Beacon of Martial Arts is for those who practice a martial art such as traditional ju-jitsu, judo and karate. The first part deals with personal and spiritual development while the second part covers various techniques mostly for advanced practitioners. It presents a harmonized approach to these three important martial arts. The first part deals with the philosophical aspect aimed at achieving balance between opposites (yin-yang). The technical aspect is discussed in the second part and is aimed at advanced practitioners. In addition to the highly important breakfalls too often overlooked by several styles of martial arts, there are techniques based on gross motor skills, but also fine and very fine motor skills. An English, French, and Japanese glossary on defensive martial arts is found at the end of this manual.
So, if you are a practitioner seeking personal development, spiritual sense and an integrated approach to karate, traditional ju-jitsu and judo, this book is for you. Shihan Breton holds a sixth degree black belt in traditional ju-jitsu and is a certified instructor in Can-Ryu Jiu-Jitsu 2000. He also holds a first degree in judo and a third degree in Kenpo karate. As a karate practitioner, he studied several styles for many years in addition to making a brief one-year incursion into Taekwondo. Shihan Breton is the founder of Bouei-Michi-Ryu, a traditional self-defence ju-jitsu program based on the concept that any advanced practitioner can successfully defend themselves regardless of their size, of age or gender using specialized and refined techniques requiring little or no brute force. The Homing Beacon of Martial is a publication on personal development based on this concept of martial arts.
May you thrive as a martial artist. All the best! / Bonne chance ! / Alles Gute! / ¡Buena suerte! Note: We can respond to your emails and inquiries in any of these four languages. Our email address is as follows:
Spiritual Development
Our Spiritual Development Above and Beyond our Human Condition is available in English and French. It is a collection of reflections (and a set of illustrations from paintings), dealing with various topics such as our conflicting expectations or the harmonization of opposites, etc. Some of the questions it poses are: "what is success?", "is violence good or bad?", "is there life after death?", etc. The book addresses the nature of pain that can serve as an ally, the importance of making distinctions, the complexity/simplicity of the universe, the development of an alert mind (“zanchin”), the notion of temporality and timelessness, our belief system and many other issues we are faced with. The last part of the book is an excerpt from the philosophical section of The Homing Beacon of Martial Arts also by the author.
Good luck in your quest for serenity.
Author's Biography of Adrien Breton
Shihan Adrien Breton has been teaching languages for over 50 years and has nearly 35 years of experience as a martial arts teacher. His interest in people’s well-being stems from his desire to promote a balanced physical condition where yin and yang are in harmony. In the traditional Japanese-style ju-jitsu school he founded, this condition takes shape as each adult develops techniques to defend themselves with “kime,” regardless of gender, size or age. In everyday life, the philosophical development of every human being is a natural consequence of achieving balance and harmony through a deeper understanding of oneself and our spiritual component. This spiritual awareness can be developed through introspection and the various forms of meditation offered by nature in its most delicate manifestations (be they flowers, landscapes, the various songs of birds, etc.) or through other meditative and contemplative methods available to us. As we go about our daily hectic activities, all we need to do is take a moment to stop and reflect. The book Our Spiritual Being Above and Beyond our Human Condition can open the door to such reflection and allow us to achieve balance and peace of mind in the face of all these contradictory expectations of our modern way of life.
“Fare thee well” on the path of harmony.
The Spiritual Aspect of Martial Arts
A Way of Life
In my view, martial arts should be “a way of Life based on harmony between opposites” rather than just a system or method for self-defence. If your mind was set on simply learning effective self-defence techniques to protect yourself and your loved ones, just a few months would suffice, and we would only have to concentrate on your gross motor skills (those that are likely to respond well under high stress). On the other hand, if you wanted to compete successfully in a “martial” sport such as judo or Brazilian jiu-jitsu, we would need to spend a few years to develop specific fine motor skills on how to respond to various standing and ground fighting attacks, somewhat in the same way that a chess player has to outdistance his/her opponent by thinking several moves ahead of time.
Our purpose is to help you reconcile so-called opposites so as to assist you on the path of becoming the best human being possible. It is a lifelong endeavour during which the outcome is not something yet to come, but rather something you are achieving right now, in the present moment i.e., while perfecting every move as you learn them. In other words, the outcome IS the process (pretty well in the same way that Marshall McLuhan used to say that “the message is the medium”). Aim for self-accomplishment now, in the present, rather than waiting for an undetermined moment in your life. Linear and circular moves are indeed part of the same process, and so are hard and soft, gross and fine motor skills, etc. Gross motor skills can only exist because of the counterweight of fine motor skills. Why limit yourself to only part of the picture and be a prisoner of this fallacy for the rest of your life. One cannot exist without the other.
You may eventually find that this development process has repercussions on every aspect of your life, including your intimate relationships. You will have a different outlook on why people respond with violent means despite any laws that can ever be voted in parliament to stop violence. You will gradually understand that violence is a useful energy that can be channelled to achieve desirable goals, and so is sexual energy, etc. Mastery rather than repression is the only answer to human harmony. Only gradual, painstaking efforts can lead you to this state. Discover the spiritual and eternal dimensions in you. Discover that body and spirit are intimately intertwined rather than completely separate entities. Do not let your ego take up all the space. Your self-accomplishment starts right now!
©2017 Excerpt from The Homing Beacon of Martial Arts by Adrien Breton Shihan.
You can write to the author in English, French, German or Spanish at: adrien.breton@videotron.ca
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