10 Teachings From Rick Hotton That Stay With Me

Training with Rick isn’t like collecting techniques. It’s not a checklist, not a syllabus, not the mechanical accumulation of “move your hand here” or “turn your shoulders there.” His teaching lives deeper — inside the subtle shift between movement and meaning.

These ten ideas come directly from his writing and teaching. I didn’t invent them — I’m just someone changed by them.

They continue to shape how I train, and honestly, how I live.

1. “We are studying how to study something.”

Rick makes it clear that karate isn’t merely a physical craft — it’s a framework for learning. The longer I practice, the more I see what he means: technique is important, but curiosity is essential. Karate becomes the mirror — not the destination.

2. “Quality of engagement matters more than quantity.”

Anyone can repeat a movement ten thousand times. Fewer can do it with attention. Rick reminds us: effort without awareness isn’t practice — it’s habit. Presence is the real training.

3. “Connection is the real technique.”

Movement without breath, intention, and grounding is just choreography. Rick teaches that the moment you feel alignment — physically, mentally, emotionally — technique becomes effortless. Connection gives technique meaning.

4. “The question is the practice.”

Rick writes and teaches as someone who understands that answers can freeze growth — while questions keep something alive. When he refuses to give a direct solution, it’s an invitation: stay engaged, stay curious, keep exploring.

5. “Karate isn’t something you perform — it’s something you inhabit.”

There’s a line between imitation and embodiment. His writing consistently points toward the shift where movement stops being performed and starts emerging naturally. That shift is quiet — but unmistakable.

6. “Zanshin means remembering who you are.”

In his writing on Spiritual Zanshin, Rick reframes awareness from tactical readiness to inner presence. It’s not about anticipating threats — it’s about returning to oneself. Again and again. Breath by breath.

7. “Tradition is a guide, not a cage.”

Rick respects lineage deeply — but he’s not owned by it. His writing reminds us that tradition exists to preserve insight, not to restrict evolution. If a technique becomes rigid, the spirit behind it has already hardened.

8. “Strength doesn’t always look strong.”

Softness, timing, subtlety — these take longer to develop than tension or force. Rick’s teaching points to power that doesn’t rely on resistance or aggression, but on alignment and understanding. Soft isn’t weak — soft is refined.

9. “Karate is a way to deepen one’s appreciation for being alive.”

Someone once asked him what karate meant to him. He answered:
“Love.”
Not sentimentality — but reverence. A way of paying attention to the mystery of existence through movement, breath, and awareness.

10. “Keep going.”

This isn’t motivational — it’s fundamental. Understanding doesn’t arrive quickly or all at once. It grows through repetition, confusion, failure, curiosity, and persistence.

Practice isn’t the path to understanding.

Practice is understanding in motion.

A Closing Thought

I’m not trying to define who Rick is — only to reflect how his teaching continues to unfold in me.

These aren’t lessons you finish.

They’re reminders:

Pay attention.
Stay curious.
Keep practicing.
There is something here worth becoming.