Hi everyone!

If you’re reading this, congratulations; you have, in some way, shape or form, been a part of this incredible journey of starting and managing a martial arts school. Whether you’re a present student, past student, seminar attendee, or community partner, THANK YOU for being a part of our school. Can you believe it’s been four years!?

I’ve decided to start this almost-monthly newsletter to keep everyone up to date on all things dojo: news, events, and opportunities to connect with one another. My hope is that this can be both a useful reference and a tool that we can use to grow in our community of practice. In a world that’s somewhat disconnected and devoid of third spaces, it’s my hope that the dojo can be a place where we go not only to improve as martial artists, but also to stay grounded in our local community by engaging with one another as friends and fellow practitioners.

Now, onward to our news and events!

Events

Tea Ceremony

Our first quarter dojo event is an American tea ceremony on Saturday, January 24th! We’re partnering with Café Tamaki (a small business from the Muskegon area) for an afternoon of delicious tea and casual conversation. This event is for all ages and is FREE for current dojo members ($20 for the general public). That said, you still need to register here to reserve your spot. There are multiple times available (each ceremony is roughly 45 minutes long), so pick what works best in your schedule and enjoy the experience!

Free Friend February

Coming soon: free friend February! Throughout the entire month of February, members can bring friends to as many classes as they want for free. You can bring a ton of different friends or the same friend every time. Whoever brings the most friends may even get a prize. Stay tuned for more details in February’s newsletter!

Black Belt Testing

Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 28th, the date of our next black belt test. Cheer on your fellow dojo members as they test for their next degree of black belt! More details to come.

Reminders and Updates

Sign In

Please remember to sign in using the sheet on top of the shoe rack! This is important for promotion requirements. If I don’t see your name on the sheet, I can’t count your class toward promotion.

Dojo Hygiene

The more people we have working out in the dojo, the more important hygiene becomes. So get some D.O. for your B.O., everyone! And if you’d like me to stock your favorite product(s) to help with this, let me know. I know that a lot of you come straight from work, and so I’m happy to help make things easier (especially if it makes the dojo less stinky)!

Thursday Schedule

Starting this week, I’ll be teaching at Grand Valley on Thursday nights for their winter semester. If you’re a student who regularly comes on Thursdays, you may not see me for a bit. But fear not! Our other Senseis (mostly Sensei Mike) have got this! And if you have any questions regarding payment or anything else business-related, please email, text, or call.

Website Updates

Finally, Fourth Form’s website has gotten a (slight) face lift. I’ve updated our schedule and pricing for incoming members. I’ve also tweaked a few promotion requirements and am now using MailPoet to get these newsletters into email inboxes rather than having them solely as blog posts. If you run into difficulties accessing anything or have any questions, let me know!

Community Corner

Happy Early (Or Late) Birthday to Our Dojo Members!

If you see these folks around the dojo, make sure to wish them a happy birthday month!

• Nick R.
• Tom D.
• Azada E.
• Alli T.
• Luca P.
• Danielle R.

Increasing Community Connection in the Dojo

In the future, I’d love to use this community corner to better connect our dojo members to one another. So if you have something fun to celebrate, a need that’s arisen, or anything that you’d like shared, just shoot me an email so that I can include it in next month’s newsletter.

Final Thoughts

Thank you for sticking with me. Not just for this hopefully-longer-than-normal newsletter, but also through the last four years. I often feel like I stumbled into business ownership on accident, learning as I went, and it’s a marvel that I’ve managed to last this long. Then I remember that I’ve had the blessing of working with and beside people who not only show me patience and understanding, but also provide me with support and encouragement when everything feels like chaos.

So thank you. Thank you all for suiting up, showing up, and making the dojo my favorite place to be. I’m so excited for what 2026 has in store for us, and even more thankful that we get to find out together.

-Sensei Allison