Combat Body Positioning Seminar (9th Nov)

Great to see all of you there at another of our free Wisewarrior Workshops. This one was on the art of Body positioning. It is this concept that underpins all martial arts and makes them different to just ‘scrapping’!

The session, run by Tim San and Richard San, was attended by a good cross section of our students, from beginner to 1st Dan, so it was important for the Sens to cover the basics, yet crack on with tempo and reach some fascinating conclusions.
Tim San started with some niffity footwork drills, that explained how to get there and why. Also it got everyones Sleepy Sunday mind into gear! He continued on to partner work as he expanded on the theme o; needing to make a choice about where you stand in relation to the attacker. This will of course depend on what they do – and what we, as defenders, need to achieve. Always the same point was reinforced; ‘move your bl**dy feet more!’

 

It’s amazing how often a lower grade struggles with being in the right place at the right time – and being in the right place and able to do something when they are there!

The last half of the workshop moved up a gear as Richard San introduced 2 against 1 training. Now where you stood in relationship to the other two attackers was vital. This advanced footwork exercise increased in complexity as the other two partners took turns in attacking the student in the middle. Then both would attack after each other! Making the defender not only be in the right place to avoid the first attack, but also be in the correct place to sort the second attack out!

Of course the black belts got the hang of this quite quickly, (very much like their Black belt nights!) But it was a lot to take on for the lower grades, it was more than enough to process defence against two people, let alone be in charge of where they placed their feet!

We ended by each student having not just to avoid the attacks, but carry out a specific technique. This had the effect of focusing the mind on an outcome and not just a foot movement, and for many this last piece in the puzzle brought the whole lesson being taught together.
The conclusion being of course that where you stand does matter, for the outcome you wish to achieve. So the more confident you are in the desired outcome, then the better your feet will move.
The rest as always; is up to practice and training.

Weapons Seminar (15th June)

Many thanks to all those who came along this Sunday to another of our free seminars. Good numbers despite it being a lovely sunny day, and sharing the day with Fathers Day of course! But weapons seminars are always popular with our students, and this proved to be no exception, also it was nice to see new faces at these events.
So myself and Tor San had the job of running this ‘gig’ on Sunday, so we turned up with spare bokkens, staffs, nunchuka and batons; prepared for anything you might say! Also intending to give a full choice of weapons for our students to try, catering for all tastes you might say!
But obviously word had leaked down from the black belt class, that baton was the ‘thing’ to do. So everybody was up for this weapon. Not a problem – myself and Tor San were happy to oblige!
We of course toned it well down from the type of baton work we teach on the those blackbelt nights, but still the movements and drills we covered really appealed to all in the room, from brown belt right down to beginner.
It took a little time for the coordination of double baton work to click in, but after the first hour we were away!
Trying a new weapon system for the first time is always challenging, but judging from the smiles and positive feed back after the session everybody seemed really keen for the next session on this weapon.
There was time at the end of the session for Tor San and myself to give a short demo, here we showed where this fascinating weapon system can lead, in improving the mind set and physical movement of a martial artist, especially when it comes to knife defence and advanced self-defense in general.
Looks as though we will be running another one soon!
Sensei Richard Trafford

Performance Night! (Nov 6th)

This was only our 2nd ‘Grading and Performance Night’ and it’s already become a firm favourite with Tim San and Richard San, and it would seem you guys too! Big thanks for all of you who managed to make it along to this special night. We just can’t believe what an amazing standard you are all showing us when you walk on to the area!
The night is a simple idea; instead of the whole class just watching the students who are grading…everybody can get up on the area and perform something of their choice! And what a buzz there was in the room this time, kicked off by the headline act of Sempai Lucy grading for her Aikido-Te black belt first part. She was asked to perform many times throughout the evening, demonstrating both art and aggression wonderfully with great skill! Special thanks too must go to her Aikido partners who placed their bodies on the line for Sempai to demonstrate all the techniques and applications, well done guys!
We had the full range of gradings, form Yellow belt right through to Graeame San, who will be trying for his 1st Dan in BAMA Karate soon! Special mention goes to Nick San, the longest serving student in the room after Tim San and Richard San, who achieved his 1st part black belt in sword on the night, well done Sen!
But these performances did in no way overshadow the awesome displays from the other students who weren’t grading, but they were certainly displaying the same spirit and focus! We had demonstrations ranging from Karate Katas to combat and knife displays and from Reflective Aikido Katas to sword displays, a feast for the martial arts eye!
The biggest highlight of the night for the instructors was the atmosphere and friendship created from you all, especially as some of you don’t get the chance to meet up very often, so it was really great to see everyone chatting and catching up in the pub afterwards!
Here’s to the next one in 2014!
By the way, if you want to see lots more pictures from Novembers Grading & Performance Session then we will be putting them up on our member’s page soon!

Spotlight on more Training Tips

FLEXIBILITY

If you’re into Karate then its all about the kicking, and kicking high. Which is a shame because the emphasis should really be on kicking well! However, you just can’t do either without flexibility.

Kick High, Kick Well. Get the Flexibility to make the difference.

Flexibility is one of those things martial artists got wrong in the beginning with the whole ‘no pain, no gain’ macho approach. Ballistic stretching in particular, although effective, is pretty dangerous. Martial Artists now train Smarter as well as Harder.

Stretch harder and smarter with up to date flexibility training

It’s important to point out that ‘Warming up’, ‘Stretching’ and ‘Cooling down’ are 3 very different concepts and NOT separated by doing the same exercises at different intensities.

Warm up, Stretch and Cool Down – Know the difference.

Warming up gets the blood moving and should incorporate moderately vigorous movements like jogging on the spot, swinging legs and arms and shuttle runs. Training (in this case stretching) is to take the body beyond its comfort zone. So stretches should be progressive, reaching to a maximum and held there for at least a full minute and repeated. Cooling down facilitates the recovery process and should involve light easing of the muscles used during stretching, not held or bounced.

Thomas Kruz, author of Stretching Scientifically (http://tomkurz.wordpress.com) suggests that the ‘Stretching’ portion of your workout be to work the legs (kicks, patterns etc) then strengthen the legs (weights/isometrics) then stretch the legs before finally cooling down. Its a hell of a workout!!

PRACTICE PRACTICE…

Whatever you practice the whole idea is to get better at it, right? As obvious as this is, without the right mindset you’re unlikely to succeed.

The right mindset will pick you up when you feel low and give you the discipline to get up to train when normally you might give up. So what is the right mindset – for YOU?

To get your mind working for instead of against you…. Remember that the martial arts are centuries old and when you practice you are developing the art as much as those that invented them.

Martial arts training is ultimately you against you…. As funny as this sounds, which ‘you’ do you want to win?

More often than not, the day you really don’t want to practice is the very day you should. And in some odd way, its always the day you give your best!

FOCUS

You just don’t get anywhere without the right focus. But practicing focus is easy. To focus is to think, just before you act, about exactly what you want from this action.

Martial Arts training requires great focus and brings your concentration to those fractions of a second just before, during and after every technique.

To practice anything is to practice focus. But to get the most from your practice remember to apply EVERYTHING you know to what you’re doing. Simply put , a punch uses the whole body – not just the fist.

You get more of what you focus on. For example, focusing on how unfit we are doesn’t fill us with a desire to train. Instead it promotes negative feelings about ourselves that become self perpetuating, resulting in us training even less. Know what you’re focusing on!

Focus on ideas that move you forward. Thinking ‘I can’t’ is bad enough but even thinking ‘I can’ might limit us, especially if we don’t believe it. Try thinking ‘I am getting better’ because practice can’t make us worse and the mind can’t argue with that!

August 17th: Karate Seminar

John San here has kindly submitted a write up about the Cheltenham Karate Seminar that was run on Saturday!

So, a karate seminar based on hand-techniques; it sounds like a scary prospect doesn’t it?! In fact it was a really fun learning experience and all partner based.
Tim-san and Richard-san changed our approach from trying to learn hand-techniques by rote and instead took a look at what makes them work. We worked each technique back from the contact point; what Tim-san called ‘where we interface with the opponent’!
This change of focus on to the target area immediately improved everyone’s technique! After working through the techniques for each grade, the pace would then be heated up by Richard-san; and we really drove them home.

For me, martial arts have never been purely about self-defence; I’ve always been interested in the ways that the body moves. I’m always amazed at what we can do with it, the shapes it can take and the flow of movement that really feels so artistic, and makes you feel so good. We were shown on Saturday the importance of correct delivery of the hand-techniques; but not in a static way. Getting the right part of the hand to the right point on the target makes the body take the correct shape and we must move to make it so. The seminar ended up with several exchanges of partners as we took it in turns to attack and defend. Those two and a half hours raced by and I’m sure everyone gained a new perspective from the experience; I know I certainly did!

The focus and concentration required adds a whole new spiritual element to what we were doing. It’s difficult to explain I suppose, but all of this together gives an intense joy experienced not only by me, but judging by the smiles I saw around me both during and at the end of the seminar, by all of the other students!
If you weren’t there, you missed a doozie and should be asking ‘When is the next one sen?’!

John San

Wisewarrior Dojo Performance Night

A great night to watch, a great night to be part of!

That was the whole idea of this event, instead of students just watching those going for their 1st part BAMA gradings and 2 nd part Wisewarrior gradings, we wanted everyone present to be doing something, result….a brilliant night!

So on the mat that night we had; Aikido-Te, Karate, Jo staff, Aikido, Knife-defense, Budo-Te, Iado and Ken-Jitsu, not a bad line up for the students to get a real feel for the martial arts and fellow students and instructors!

So a run down of the grading results first; congratulations to Dohighs’ Will and Chris for obtaining their brown belt part 1, this was an all night affair showing all aspects of their knowledge of Aikido-Te, very tired but happy!

Dohigh Matthew’s purple belt part 1 grading showed how much he has improved in the last few months, the power of focus! Dohigh David too passed his first part grading for purple belt in Budo-Te, after many combat tests during the first half of the lesson he then performed his Katas to the class.

Dohigh Jon advanced weapons part 1 in Jo staff began with a great kata display and then followed with a combat display with partner; fantastic focus! Mark San as a 2 nd Dan of course made his Green belt green part 2 sword grading look awesome, with an especially written kata. Lastly, and by no means least Kohigh Heidi in her first Karate grading walked on to the area in front of the whole class and without a trace of nerves did her first Wisewarrior grading for yellow belt! So well done to you all!

The many displays started next with our sword students first. Dohigh Tam performing a true warrior like ‘Kimi Kiri’, made even more special by her recent recovery from a nasty ankle injury. Hayley San followed next and amazed everyone with a mesmeric Iado performance, a floor sequence written with Richard San and based upon the poetry of Kado (way of the flower).

Sempai Lucy showed why she is going for her Blackbelt in Aikido this December, by performing a powerful display of partner Aikido work, based upon a black belt sequence; a kata that Richard San had demonstrated to the class before hand in its most fluid and artistic form.

Graeame San then picked up the tempo somewhat with a storming knife defense demonstration, firstly showing the audience the knife defense waza, and then remarkably a pure spontaneous display with two attackers! We had Dohigh Nick demonstrating a Bushido Kata, and with this lovely kata he really showed the hard work he has put into his recent improvements.

The last two displays came from Tor San; who ripped through the brown belt Bushido Kata, showing all the focus and controlled power needed for advanced Karate, and lastly we all had a treat watching Tim San unveil and perform a completely new Wisewarrior Kata. Its combination of power, technicality and artistry was a joy to watch, we now have to decide whether it will be set for Orange belt or Purple!!

So it only remains to once again thank everyone for all the hard work they have put into their gradings, by writing new patterns and performing for the enjoyment of others and of course; the growth of themselves!

Here’s to the next one in October!

Wisewarrior Challenges

This week saw the introduction of our first Wisewarrior Challenge… The 7 Day Zenkutsu Dachi Challenge!!! On regular periods throughout each month we will be putting forward short routines to copy; aimed at helping students with their own personal practice. These will help improve martial art technique, but will also help towards fitness and body conditioning; which are also key factors in the subjects that we teach.

Modern day life finds people busier than ever, and often finding the time for practice can be really difficult. These challenges are a fun, quick way of keeping up with the demands of a complex syllabus and can easily be fitted in throughout the day.

As the weeks progress we will be encouraging students to work on stances, develop fitness levels, explore different techniques and increase the repetition of patterns. Also as i hope more of the dojo members take part in these challenges – then each of us is helped knowing that we are all working together! 🙂

But above all we would like these challenges to inspire students to ask questions about their syllabus, and how they can improve fitness and technique. Practice, after all: is as much about thinking as It is about sweating!

If you have any questions or maybe challenge you would like to offer up then ask me or the team!

Many thanks Sensei Tim Dickerson

Black Belt Seminar: 16th March

Seeing the Forest through the Trees (by Sensei Mark)

A friend once asked me what I wanted to be. He thought he’d figured out his ideal career. But for me it has never been about what job I do, but about the person I want to become. My life is given meaning by the journey. The Dojo has always been my laboratory for developing myself, for confronting my fears and increasing my abilities. This is not isolated from outside: sometimes I get an inkling that something I’ve seen in a book, or on TV or the radio, relates to an idea I’ve gleaned in the Dojo. These hunches often lead to a rich seam of personal growth.

So it was that I noticed one day that if I looked at somebody – not right at them or at any particular part of them – but in a diffuse way, I could see more about them than if I focused on specifics. I could see how they would move, and even get hints about what sort of person they might be. The closest I could come to explain it was that I had learnt to see the forest through the trees. I soon forgot about such crazy thoughts however!

But last weekend at the Black Belt Seminar when Tim San and Richard San began to talk about ‘the space between us’, and how we could feel hints of another person’s intentions, my ‘hunch-ometer’ went off the scale!

We did things like block a punch before the attacker knew he had thrown it. We drew and cut with our katana just as our partner decided to do the same. We did other crazy, brilliant things that are best kept in the memories of those of us who were there. Later, of course, one tends to rationalise and reduce events to bits we can easily understand. When I blocked just before Kevin San threw his punch, and I did it repeatedly and reliably, was I: unconsciously picking up minute movements of his shoulder; reading his intent from his breathing; or synchronising with his rhythms? Many of these things I have consciously done before. These are the skills we learn as we become more capable Martial Artists. But I think we were doing more than this. We were doing all of them at the same time and more besides. We were seeing the forest through the trees.

This is what Black Belt seminars are all about. We spend so long training specific techniques and trying to consciously master movements. These are the trees in our forest. But sometimes we need to step back and see the big picture. It was a very interesting view!

Mark San

‘Ladies self-defence workshop’. Review by Hayley San

November 3rd Ladies Self Defense Workshop: Highlights!

It was great to have the opportunity to be part of the ladies self defence workshop on Saturday, and as Richard San’s previous blog on ‘Spotlight’ importantly states – ‘the what if thought’ is the first and strongest step towards defending yourself you have!

Firstly Tim San started everybody off by getting us all into the mindset of;

‘DON’T MESS WITH ME, I WILL DEFEND MYSELF! I VALUE MY SELF AND MY SECURITY!’

– a state of mind that we should have at all times. So with a great team of  Martial Artists as willing partners for the ladies we soon got down to work! And began to get a feel for confrontation and its physicality through much partner work. Seeing the ladies switch from nervous mode to being in control of their personal security was truly great to see. Through out the session we talked about the many problems and fears we might have to encounter during an attack, on all its different levels. And in this safe environment we explored these scenarios and enjoyed the instructors giving us their sound advice and input.

The instructors always re-enforced key principles throughout the workshop, It’s not easy keeping it simple, as there are so many scenarios that could happen, and so many possible solutions, especially for an experienced martial artist.

But as this class was aimed at beginners whose mind could easily become clouded with many things like; ‘If I get grabbed there and from that angle what would I do?!’ etc. But Tim San kept repeating that it is all about the mind set we have through out all these various exercises that matters most, so it soon diminished the mind clutter, and the ladies just dealt with what ever came their way!

We covered many great physical exercises on stance, guards, blocking, kicking and hand strikes all combined in the last exciting routines.

So a really enjoyable and informative session, so valuable for enforcing our personal security, even for me and i was part of the teaching team!  It’s quite liberating to actually feel that it doesn’t matter what size, sex or age you are, with confidence, a strong mindset and the right knowledge you can deal with so much. But the wise words of Richard San echoed through out the day, that it is so much better not to be in that situation in the first place! So awareness about your self and surroundings, combined with awareness about what you are capable of…is everything!

Hayley San

Self Defence Workshop…. What If??

Our work shop on self defence will soon be upon us, and has sparked a lot of conversations in the blogs and facebook pages, although we have run these courses before and will do so again, these events do focus the mind upon this important subject – that of the defence of the self.

It is of course the reason most of us have got in to martial arts in this first place, one day we asked the question; ‘what if’, and for most of us the answer was; ‘I’m not sure!’ So the next logical step was to find a martial art club…and here we are!

But during the years of our training that question is often replaced by the enjoyment of training and the discovery of skills we didn’t even know we possessed. So a workshop always brings that question back to the forefront of the mind…’what if’?  And strangely enough, despite the grades we wear often that answer is still elusive, but that’s the good news!!

The true gift of martial arts is ‘awareness’, or what we call ‘Zanshin’ in the dojo, even the awareness that we might not be good enough yet, so we had better keep getting good!

Unfortunately the people who might run into trouble out there usually never saw it coming till it was too late, never questioned the environment they were in, the people they were with, or the physical state they were in, they probably think they don’t even need a ‘self defence’ work-shop!

So these skills of awareness, focus, and environment will be the main lessons we will be trying to teach in our workshop, indeed these are the skills that are being hammered into you during every dojo session without you even knowing! Not just during a combat sessions, but during Katas, during weapons, even during exercise sessions! Even as you walk into a room full of other martial artists your awareness skills will grow, the sense of self becomes heighten, and all this is so much better than having to throw that punch!

So as martial artists you might still ask the question; ‘what if?’ Don’t worry you always will, that’s your advantage over the other guy!

Sensei Richard