"The Way of the Warrior includes respect and self-control. I can be that warrior."
Calvin, age 13
"To follow the way of the warrior, you must practice self-control. Life becomes simpler when you do not act irrationally. Bushintai-Do helped me realize that earlier than most people who will learn it the hard way. Like Bushintai-Do, you must practice self-control before it is possible to master it."
Marie, age 14
"Self-control is really important to our existence and we would have a terrible environment without it. Self-control is the way of the warrior, and I have experienced that I am a warrior since I use it so often. I wish everyone would practice self-control so that they would not get each other into trouble. I congratulate Sensei Quinlan for teaching us these ways to self-control."
Abdi, age 12
"I learned that having self-control is very important to having a successful life. If you don't use self-control, your life will become hectic. You'll live a stress-filled life. To have self-control means you're living the way of the warrior. I would like to become that warrior one day."
Anya, age 13
"One of the key elements to practice is self-control. Your life will be easy, if you have self-control. To succeed in Bushintai-Do, you need to have self-control, so you can be a warrior in mind and body."
Phat, age 12
"I've learned that doing your best is one of the most important things in life. Without doing your best, you would get nowhere in life. You wouldn't get a job, house or anything else you would want. If you want to be warrior, you need to try your best and never give up."
Shaun, age 12
"In Bushintai-Do, I have to take tests, but before I do, I have to practice, which is something I do usually in my Teacher Advisory class. If I don't practice, then I won't know what to do when I take my yellow belt test. Just like in school when I have to take a test, I have to study. If I don't study, then I probably won't pass my test and move onto other things I need to do."
Alaynah, age 12
"Doing your best is more than an overused phrase. It means never giving up, and giving your all to most of what you do and try. Before Bushintai-Do, I had never done a move before. I had to work and work and work on it, and it was hard at first, but in the end, I got it. It was the best feeling in the world."
Grace, age 13
"Bushintai-Do means "the way of the warrior in mind and body," and that sounds really cool, and I've learned really cool forms."
Hassan, age 12
"When I first learned my White Belt form, I was nervous and scared but this didn't keep me from going forward and my best got better. I found out that to do my best is the only way to learn and this helps others, too."
Nishan, age 12
"When you do Bushintai-Do, your body gets active and healthy. To make your body healthy, you have to do the exercises like you mean it. In Bushintai-Do, you have to control yourself to focus on the work. Doing your best does not just mean to do what you can, you have to make it better every time. Doing your best is very important in Bushintai-Do."
Sujit, age 12
"Sensei Quinlan made up Bushintai-Do for a good cause. He wanted to teach us kids about self-control and respect for yourself and others. The techniques we do in Bushintai-Do calm us down and get us more focused. Bushintai-Do is a great way to practice and learn self-control, and this self-control can lead to success in our lives."
Hibaq, age 13
"In Bushintai-Do, if you don't do your best, then you will never be great at it. That's why the sensei is really good at martial arts. He worked harder and harder until he became a master. When people do their best in Bushintai-Do, they work really hard and give their time to learn more and more and more about it. If you don't do your best at anything, then what's the point of even doing it?"
Abdirizak, age 14
"Doing your best is the most important rule because it shows the warrior inside you. If you keep on whining, it shows you are just pretending to be a warrior. In the future, I will always do the best in classes and my job. I will show the best attitude. This way you'll always see me following the "Way of the Warrior"."
Alex, age 13
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Bushintai-Do is a martial art designed by David Quinlan to bring the action and excitement of the martial arts to children and adolescents in a way that is safe for all students to learn and practice.
Bushintai-Do is a complete martial arts system and a comprehensive fitness program. It is based upon the purely defensive aspects of a variety of traditional Asian martial arts. It fosters a student's cognitive, physiological and emotional development through the teaching of coordinated movements, strength and conditioning exercises, and meditation, all within the context of Bushintai-Do's philosophy of doing your best, showing respect, and practicing self-control.
Bushintai-Do motivates students by its belt-ranking system and by its connection to a student's personal safety.
Bushintai-Do for the Classroom is a web-based movement program that makes the benefits of Bushintai-Do training accessible to teachers and their students through a series of 25-minute instructional videos, consultations with a professional martial artist and fitness educator, and a Teacher's Guide.
Using a playlist format, the 25-minute movement lessons of forms, techniques and exercises can be shortened or lengthened to fit the classroom schedule, or used as structured recess time. The additional 5-minute at-the-desk movement breaks (called 1/24 Brain Breaks), facilitate a positive use of transition times, energizing students and bringing them to a ready-state for learning. The classroom becomes the martial arts studio, and educators can participate and learn alongside their students.
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommend 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity for students, aged 6-17 years, during each school day, and report that increased physical activity is associated with increased academic performance.
When physical activity is tied to Bushintai-Do's motivating and proficiency-based system of belt-ranks, student engagement increases. The movement becomes purposeful, interesting, authentic and achievable. Students develop confidence and self-esteem, and understand that practice and repetition build success, a long-standing tradition in the martial arts. These lessons of determination and persistence translate into a work ethic that is the foundation for academic achievement and personal growth. Current and emerging research confirm the relationship between physical activity, brain development, emotion control, and academic achievement. See more...
- The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies reported in Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School (2013) that while academic performance is influenced by factors like parental involvement and socioeconomic status, active children tended to have stronger academic achievement, especially in reading and mathematics. The IOM believes that the benefits of exercise during the school day outweigh the benefits from increasing class time for additional academic instruction.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report in The Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance (2010) that cognitive skills and motor skills appear to develop through a dynamic interaction. Physical activity affects the brain's physiology by increasing:
- Cerebral capillary growth
- Blood flow
- Oxygenation
- Production of neurotrophins
- Growth of nerve cells in the hippocampus (center of learning and memory)
- Neurotransmitter levels
- Development of nerve connections
- Density of neural network
- Brain tissue volume
These physiological changes may be associated with:
- Improved attention
- Improved information processing, storage, and retrieval
- Enhanced coping
- Enhanced positive affect
- Reduced sensations of cravings and pain
- Medical and health education researchers Francois Trudeau and Roy Shepherd (American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 4, 2, 138-150, 2010) found a positive correlation between physical activity, brain health, and the academic performance of schoolchildren. A significant number of quasi-experimental and longitudinal studies show that increased physical activity improves the academic performance of students, even though the time for physical activity replaces the time for additional academic instruction.
- "Exercise enhances cognition, academic outcomes, and graduation rates, and it reduces behavioral problems," writes Eric Jenson, author of Teaching with Poverty in Mind (2009). "Schools that cut physical education time in favor of more "sit-and-git" test prep are missing out on big academic gains."
- John Ratey, MD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of of the book, Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain (2008), states that we trigger biological changes in our brains when we exercise and learn coordinated movements. This physical activity helps us reduce anxiety, increase self-control, ease depression, manage stress, and build a stronger and more connected neural network that is ready for learning. Read the article Physically Active Play and Cognition (2009) for a synopsis of Dr. Ratey's findings.
- John Medina, author of Brain Rules (2008) reminds us that "cutting off physical exercise - the very activity most likely to promote cognitive performance - to do better on a test score is like trying to gain weight by starving yourself."
- The US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health reports that students who were physically active in school were more likely to achieve higher grades. When researchers adjusted for socioeconomic status and demographics, the grades of active students remain 20% higher for mathematics and 21% higher for English, and show a positive correlation between physical activity and several components of mental health, including "self-esteem, emotive well-being, spirituality, and future expectations" (Harris, Udry, & Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2008).
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Contact us for more information regarding next steps or questions about
Bushintai-Do for the Classroom. A Bushintai-Do Programs
representative will contact you within 24-hours.
You can also choose to immediately enroll your classroom by purchasing a
belt color program that suits your students' needs. Once enrolled, you will
receive access to our on-line video lessons, Teacher's Guide, and technical
assistance. An educational consultant will contact you directly for further
support with our program.
We want this program to work for you and your students, so each purchase comes with Our Guarantee. If you have
questions or concerns about how to best implement and sustain our programs, please email or call us immediately. If
we are unable to resolve any concerns you might have, we will completely refund your payment within 2 weeks of the
date of your purchase.
To determine what belt color program is right for your situation, refer to the Pacing Guide for Belt Promotions. Some
schools may prefer to have students progress through the Bushintai-Do curriculum in one year, two years or three
years, so may elect to purchase the White to Yellow Belt and the Yellow to Orange Belt Program this year, and other
programs in subsequent years. Other schools may want students to achieve the rank of Black Belt and can use the
Pacing Guide to determine both the pace and price of this curricular decision.
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Bushintai-Do for the Classroom can be modified to fit the individual needs of each classroom. For students to have enough experience with the movements of Bushintai-Do and reach a minimal proficiency with the forms and self-defense techniques, each 25-minute lesson should be practiced twice during a week. Each practice session, if completed fully, is considered one Class Credit. 24 Class Credits are needed for each belt promotion through Blue Belt, 48 Class Credits for Green to Brown Belt and 128 Class Credits for Brown to Black Belt.
Since lessons are organized in a play list format, a teacher can select 15 minutes of movement segments to complete in the morning, for example, and then 10 minutes of the lesson in the afternoon. In this way the movement lessons also become intentional movement transitions that bring a student to a ready state for learning.
Earning belt rank is a source of motivation for most students. Use the Pacing Guide for Belt Promotions to determine the frequency of practice sessions during a week and the resulting belt rank by the end of the school year. This may help determine what belt programs are right for a school, a classroom or a student.
| Number of Class Credits per Week* | Number of Weeks between Belt Promotions | Belt Rank after 1 School Year** | Belt Rank after 2 School Years |
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| 1 Class Credit | 24 Weeks | Yellow - Stripe 2 | Purple |
| 2 Class Credits | 12 Weeks | Purple | Green - Stripe 2 |
| 3 Class Credits | 8 Weeks | Blue | Brown - Stripe 1 |
| 4 Class Credits | 6 Weeks | Green | Brown - Stripe 3 |
| 5 Class Credits | ~5 Weeks | Green - Stripe 2 | Black |
*Each online lesson is 25-minutes in length and is practiced 2 times for 2 Class Credits. Since each Lower Belt Rank has 12 Lessons and are practiced 2 times each, 24 Class Credits are needed for promotion.
**Assumes 36 weeks in one school year.
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Instructional support is available directly from a Bushintai-Do Programs representative and the online Teacher's Guide. A request for technical support with our web developer is available by email or by phone. Optional teacher trainings with David Quinlan, Bushintai-Do's founder and lead instructor, are also available and can be arranged for an additional fee.
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Bushintai-Do for the Classroom assumes no prior martial arts experience for both students and teachers. The movements of Bushintai-Do are clearly explained step-by-step in the online video lessons and described in the online Teacher's Guide.
Through on-going consultation with a representative from Bushintai-Do Programs, teachers will be provided with the information and support to run this program. Optional teacher trainings from program founder and lead instructor, David Quinlan, can be arranged.
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We want our programs to work for you and your students, so please contact us to request a lesson preview prior to
purchasing. Click here to view the demonstration videos for belt testing, and see what your students will learn! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for supplementary video releases!
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To safely and effectively use Bushintai-Do for the Classroom, we recommend:
Safe Surroundings
- Spacing should be comfortable and safe. If too constricted, practice in 2 shifts.
- Move furniture as needed. Have this become part of your classroom routine and practice it with your students so it becomes automatic.
- Use classroom arrangements that allow for an activity space. Bonus: You and your students may find new and creative ways to use this open space for other events other than classroom-based physical activity.
Safe Pacing
- In physical training, only bad things happen quickly. Positive results take time. Negative results--injury, overexertion, frustration, intimidation--can occur without proper pacing.
- Take time to learn proper form for each exercise. Each video explains this, but we encourage you to watch closely and break down the movements even further. While pushups and jumping jacks are common exercises, many students benefit from specific instruction about how to move.
- Take breaks as needed. Unless students are wearing heart rate monitors, it is difficult to tell whether or not a student is tired. It is very easy to under estimate a student’s physical exertion.
- Learn to monitor pulse rates, and learn recommended ranges.
- Make it fun or connect it to a class goal or project. Teach students about the relationship between physical activity and brain activity.
Teacher Modeling
- Important: Just do it! Teachers do NOT need to be a fitness instructor--that is Sensei Quinlan’s job--but research shows that when educators model a positive attitude about physical activity and participate in physical activity alongside their students, buy-in is much greater and a sense of community is fostered.
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Click here to read about our technical support and equipment requirements. Bushintai-Do for the Classroom is designed to be used with SmartBoards or other computer projection devices. If teachers would like to enroll their students, individual student site licenses can be purchased. For this option, please contact us directly for more information and pricing.
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Programs are named according to belt colors. For example, if a teacher would like to purchase a program in which
students would earn a yellow and an orange belt by the end of a school year, he or she would purchase 2 programs--
a White to Yellow Belt Program and a Yellow to Orange Belt Program. Each belt-color program contains 12 lessons
and up to 4 views for each lesson, access to an online Teacher's Guide, and program and technical support from
Bushintai-Do Movement Programs representatives.
| Number of Classrooms | Cost per Classroom per Program |
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| Up to 5 Classrooms | $195 annually |
| 6 - 11 Classrooms | $175 annually |
| 12 or more Classrooms | Please contact us directly for pricing. |
Typically, classrooms purchase two programs per year. However, if one classroom purchases just the White to
Yellow Belt Program (12 lessons and each lesson can be played up to 4 times total), the cost is $195. If three
classrooms purchase the White to Yellow Belt Program, the cost would be $585 (12 lessons, and each lesson can be
played up to 12 times total).
Bushintai-Do Programs is dedicated to continuous improvement and routinely updates video lessons and support at
all belt levels. We want our programs to work for you and your students. If you have questions or concerns about how
to best implement and sustain our programs, please don't hesitate to email or call us. If we are unable to resolve any
concerns you might have, we will completely refund your payment within 2 weeks of the date of your purchase. This
is Our Guarantee.
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David Quinlan, Nancy Keller, and all Bushintai-Do Programs representatives are committed to the growth and development of students, both in and out of the classroom "dojo". We believe that healthy bodies make for active minds and believe that Bushintai-Do can make a difference. To continue to meet the needs of educators and students alike, we want your feedback. Please email us. We value your recommendations and insights.
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