Australian Tour 2011....

3.5 Weeks, 3 cities, 13 workshops, 290+ people, 6 new Australian Team members, countless friends made and several lives changed.... 

A huge thank you to Joe Saunders, Damien Martin, Hannah Thornton, Shane Cassidy and his team, Dom and Ali O'neil, Phil Thompson, Jim Armstrong, his family and his crew, Cranbrook High school and all the kids who welcomed me and took me in as well as every seminar participant who helped make this yet another incredibly successful tour, without all of you, there is no me.... thank you for the friendships above all, thank you for the trust and thank you for the love!!!!

"Loved every bit of it mate........your message is loud, clear and Brilliant!!! You sir are making better people and the world a better place....thank you."  ~ Colin Staples

One of the 4 Sydney workshops.

With Joe Saunders and Phil Thompson at the Melbourne workshop.

"‎6 days with Senshido's Richard Dimitri 26 hours, 37 bruises, 2 bloody noses, 1 open mind and countless life lessons, great stuff!" ~ Jeremy Excell

Talking shop with my bros Dom O'neil and Joe Saunders.

Working hard with my brothers Phil Thompson and Jim Armstrong of RAW Combatives.

"For everyone who has the chance to train with Richard Dimitri in Melbourne, if you don't, you're missing the chance of a lifetime. In my 30 years of training and all the seminars I've done, this guy is the best at what he does and how he does it. So many people talk about fighting without fighting, this guy will show you how that's done!" ~ Damian Martin 

With Damien Martin and the Queensland crew.

Melbourne private workshop for the RAW Combatives crew. An amazing bunch of people!!!

"I am very happy and proud to have met you in person. Your life experiences have become your greatest asset and a true credit to all who meet you. You are the only person to trigger a true emotional response from me in a scenario, great work!" ~ Joseph Robb 

13th and final workshop in Melbourne...  burned out but incredibly fulfilled! 

"Hey Rich. How are you? I was in your last class that you gave on the last day. I'm sure you don't remember me because you saw so many different people. Anyway, firstly I'd like to say... F!#$, you are amazing at what you do! You are definitely my new idol to look up to! Especially when you said "while all your 'friends' we're out getting pissed at the pub, you were at the gym pumping weights." That got to me. I'm inconsiderate about my weight, and hearing you say that made me feel that all I need is motivation and I'll get through anything. I know you may think this is a bunch of crap coming from a 16 year old guy, but your lesson was truly amazing! 

Sorry if I bored you, Rich, but you spoke to me! You're incredible! Keep it real man! And I hope life treats you the way it should. Like you said, no one is gonna belt you as much as life will. And with your wise words, you've prepared me to be ready to fight life back and kick it in the balls! all the best!" ~ Arky

Whenever I return from a trip, I get home to countless testimonials as the ones above... it is due to these lives that we change that we continue to do what we do as nerve racking as it is for me.  With every testimonial, with every life change, I feel the consistent pressure to maintain the quality and integrity of the Senshido International movement.  Though I've wanted to quit many times, though there were several times where I just didn't want it anymore, these messages keep coming to me and I simply cannot walk off this path.

Sure there are people out there that hate me, dislike me, disprove of my methods or ways and even wish me out of work, it's normal, it's part of the game, when you challenge the status quo, when you succeed at what you do above and beyond what others may have though you capable of, you'll make a few enemies along the way... such is life, such is the way of the world... but for every one person who dislikes me, there are thousands of others who's lives have evolved, improved and even went on because of our work and that makes those who disprove quite obsolete.

There is nothing more fulfilling than to change another life...Brian Hall wrote "Every day we are tested a hundred times, are we  going to help this planet or are we going to hurt it? People wince when you say that but it should be a comforting thought, it means everything we do matters." and he was spot on... every thing we do does indeed matter. John Woden went on to say "You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you." and once again, he was spot on.

My experiences in my short yet incredibly full 42 years on this planet of doing it both ways I can honestly say that we are truly born to serve and since a certain Herman Melville said it better than I ever could, I leave you with this quote:

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes and they come back to us as effects." ~ Herman Melville

Much peace,
Rich