sensei8

That right there...is why we do kata with our eyes closed as often as we do kata with our eyes open. It's that awareness that we take for granted. Especially when one of the senses, in this case, sight, are taken away. It's true, things get tougher, but the other senses make up for it. Your movements are much more to the point, and wasted movements become things of the past. Adapt and conquer, I say!!

Welcome to KF, KarateLdy; glad that you're here!!

Century MA has this... https://www.centurymartialarts.com/apparel/century-kicking-jeans-blue

The suplex, imho, isn't all that and a bag-of-chips. My counter to it, and it's not let me down yet, is to make my back as wide as I can. The more surface to ground available, the more can be absorbed.

Do they need to be evaluated based on combat effectiveness? It depends. Do they purport to be combat based arts? If so, then yes. However, if the answer is "it's a sport art" then no. Is fighting without violence possible? No. Solid post!! Violence, no matter how one views it, is the necessary evil. Without violence, of some degree, there's nothing that we can do as MAists.

Just a very quick story regarding bowing... In the west I think we have a tendency to consider bowing rather insignificant (apart from the intended display of respect and humility) and easy. I remember a course held by a senior Japanese instructor I used to train with where, after starting with a bow in he preceded to spend about 30 minutes explaining how to bow (tachi-rei, and za-rei) - as he was appalled by the fact that, as he said - 'no one knows how to bow properly'. The course was attended by many 6th,7th and 8th dans from all over Europe - many of whom hadn't a clue they weren't bowing properly and more importantly why! Disappointingly however - most didn't seem to care. K. Solid post!! To the bold type above... That is sad, but not surprising. They missed a great opportunity to increase their MA, as well as their personal, betterment. Whilst I say that kiai and bowing are about the easiest thing to learn for a beginner, there's more that meets the eye with either of them. Do both right sincerely, or just get off the floor!!

Perhaps you can fool most of the people, most of the time sensei8, but who can write 12566 comments on martial arts and not be considered anything but outstanding.I appreciate that; thank you, Alan!!

Nothing in the MA is absolute; therefore, proof is on the floor!!

That Shindokan has it's limits across the board!!

Congrats singularity6; well deserved.

I've been doing kata with my eyes closed since 1964. It's one of my Dai-Soke's favorite drills. It's weird the first dozen or so times at first, but, then, you start to see the advantages of doing kata with your eyes closed. That since of awareness is highlighted as never before. You "FEEL" the kata!!

I'm as normal as the day is long, who has aspersions, just like others. I put on my gi like everyone else. I train like everyone else. I tie my obi like everyone else. So on and so forth...like everyone else.

Well done sensei8.Why stop at toe touching, next stop one foot behind the neck; no rush, at your own pace. Thanks, Alan!! LOL...I think I'll skip that for awhile...don't want to, ahem, be a show off.

Yes, this is great news, tubby!!

No, I've never used a Tetsugeta, and I do agree that ankle weights usage if there are no Tetsugeta available.

There's a big difference between resisting during sparring and resisting while the teacher's teaching/demonstrating. A profound difference. And the teacher shouldn't be using much force while demonstrating. The point of demonstrating isn't to hurt the student nor is it to show the class the teacher's technique doesn't work. That's what sparring is for. It's like a science class (I'm a science teacher, so I have to go there)... The demonstration and practicing the taught material without resistance are the lecture portion. Sparring is the lab. You prove and disprove in the lab, not during the lecture. What if the person has been in many labs and lectures beforehand?Science is continually being updated, or is it not so when someone is wearing a white lab coat? The ego problem can be with the teacher just as much as it can be with the student. As one person will eat what is served to them while others will send it back, due to its low quality in one area or another. If I had one martial art teacher, then everything is cut and dry, with who is to blame; in my case, having many teachers, with not one incident with most, how is it that the younger the teacher is the more problems arise? Simply a lack of experience and social skills on the teacher's part. That should be teaching kids and not adults due to not knowing how to deal with people that have real life experiences "Under their belt" To the bold type above... Who's running the class? Student or the instructor? Student came to the instructor to learn, and in that, the instructor didn't look for the student. Imho, you were incorrect because you're the student who disrespected the instructor, for what? Because you felt like it. The bearded guy in that video was dead wrong because he's anger issues, for what? Because he's not the skill set required...that's his problem.

I really don't put much of an emphasis on the hows of kiai with my students, nor with those within the SKKA Student Body, nor whenever I'm conducting a seminar outside of the Shindokan circle. I simply tell them, whomever it might be...just open your mouth and sharply exhale loudly quickly. Once that's aside, then I'll teach them the finer points of kiai, which are quite minimum. For me, the kiai, and the teaching of it, is the simplest thing to learn on the floor, minus bowing. Humans have been vocally loud since birth; it, the kiai, is just that simple!!

Yes, they are; compasses to weigh upon. Honestly...I don't care one bent pin or not. It's the individual's betterment that I care more about. The style, if I may be as bold, is just a thing. Of my MA? No, not really. Individually, well, that's a complete other thing, and to that, yes, they are the foundation and/or keystone to my MA betterment. Without them, anarchy and havoc rear up their ugly heads unchecked.

Without ambition, there's no reason to ever step on the floor, just as long as the ambition is knowledge and experience based; everything else, i.e., fame and/or money and/or rank and/or notoriety, destroys ones own MA journey...imho!!

Because of our premise was of a seminar, we were allowed to wear our black belts, but at their insistence, and not ours.

From Shindokan, WC looks like every other style of the MA; disjointed!!

Simply, yes, because Shindokan, like every other MA style on the planet earth, are limited by design.

That's the beauty about the MA; disagreement of methodologies and the ideologies of the given MA style, no matter what it might be. We, in Shindokan, teach resistance across the board from the model of teaching, and in that teaching model, we've two variants: 1) Non- Resistance Teaching/Learning 2) Resistance Teaching/Learning Nonetheless, we're criticized for our methodology/ideology that ours is wrong/incorrect/etc., and oftentimes, vehemently. It's our way, and our way isn't disrespectful nor is it harmful to anyone in the Student Body, yet, our way is effective in both the teaching/learning models, as well as in the application(s) that we utilize.

Solid post!! I know from recent, and ongoing, journey to do that very same thing as described in the OP.

Ahem...lost the oversized belly first. [Pointing at myself before I lost a lot of weight]; I can touch my toes once again!!