Shin Sei Kan means rebirth. The name is not decoration — it is what the training is for.
Shin Sei Kan Martial Arts teaches authentic traditional Shotokan Karate-Do in Poughkeepsie, New York, to students from three years old through adult.
What happens on our floor comes down in a direct line from Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan, through Shihan Abdur Rahiem, who has been training since 1971, to Sensei Sonny Williams Jr., who first walked into Shihan Rahiem's class as an 11-year-old in the Bronx in 1980 and never left.
That is the whole point of a lineage. It means what you are taught was taught to your instructor, by someone it was taught to, all the way back. Nothing here was invented for a franchise manual.
新生館 — Shin Sei Kan — means rebirth. It is the same idea our students recite in the school creed: my rebirth is my ultimate goal. Students arrive one way and leave another, and that transformation is the actual product, not the belt.
Four words on our logo, and the four things every student is actually measured against.
Bowing in is the first lesson. Students learn to honor their instructors, their training partners and themselves.
Showing up, doing the work, finishing what you start. Karate turns it into a habit instead of a lecture.
Kata demands complete attention. That same concentration follows students into the classroom and the workplace.
Real conditioning and real self-defense, built with control and never with aggression.
Every student learns the same principles Master Funakoshi set down, alongside our own creed.
I seek knowledge of all endeavors from the cradle to the grave.
I strive to master self so I can benefit others.
My rebirth is my ultimate goal.
I will train hard, always.
Mind. Body. Spirit.
Every student follows Bushido Elite, our written character curriculum. Monthly Lessons in Mindfulness supplement what happens on the floor with reading, reflection and a code to carry off the mat.
Most schools teach the technique. We teach the person holding it.
Recognize the need for discipline and direction.
Establish your personal code and values.
Start applying discipline in daily habits.
Develop emotional stability in challenges.
Stay consistent with your principles over time.
Evaluate your actions and refine your approach.
