sensei8

In your opinion... What's the most important part of board breaking?

There's nothing wrong with you buying a black belt!! Use whatever inspires YOU!! Wear the black belt at home if you want to because what you do in the privacy of your own home is your business.

Yes, by all means, visit said dojo but visit that said dojo more than one time and watch different classes. Do some research on your own through the internet or library. After that, gather some questions that you both might have, and then ask them of that Chief Instructor.

Not at a black belt factory type school of the martial arts.

Solid post as well as solid questions!! My question...just what are you hitting? A wavemaster? A makiwara? A hanging bag and what type of hanging bag? Tameshiwara materials? A focus pad? A hand held shield? Also, with ms, are you more subjective to bruising? Please forgive my ignorance and any of my perceived tone of insensitivity with this question, that's not my intent.

Congrats Nevinyrral!!

The Chiefs can't seem to win against the Ravens. The Chiefs didn't run much running with only 108 rushing yards. The Chiefs 3rd down conversations were dismal...12.5%...only 8 first downs...OUCH! To win it helps to get to the end zone or to within range for a field goal. I had predicted that the Chiefs would win against the Ravens 21-17, BUT, I said if the Chiefs could put their loss against the Raiders behind them and focus, they'd have a chance to win, but the Chiefs struggled on both sides of the ball. 5 turnovers...OUCH! The Baltimore defense was SOLID across the boards. The Chiefs would try this and then they'd try that, but to no avail because the Ravens meet each down with mastery determination, and all the Chiefs running game did was run against a Raven wall. The time of possession for the Chiefs was just over 18 minutes, while the Ravens time of possession was just over 41 minutes...another OUCH! This game was similar to when these two meet at Arrowhead before....20-10. Having said all of that, I'll still say this for the Chiefs. They played their hearts out this year and they were a much better team this year than they were for the past 2 years. I was cheering for the Chiefs to beat the Ravens because I believe in their abilities across the board. The Chiefs are a young team, and they'll be fine next year!! Now the poor Ravens have to play the Steelers...this will be either a great game for us fans to watch...or the Steelers will become a victim of an upset. I don't see the Ravens winning this one, but, the Ravens are very hungry and they've a pretty good record on the road.

And how...the Packers took care of the Eagles...21-16...fun game to watch. Rodgers took care of business...65% 3rd down conversions....that leads to TD's. Now the Packers have to play the Falcons...this is a game I want to watch!!

A student asks his/her Sensei... What is "Ki" Sensei? What is "focus" Sensei? When you say to "focus more," what does that mean exactly? The bold type above is the subject of this thread. I'd say that to "focus more" means to PAY ATTENTION ON THE IMMEDIATE TASK AT HAND!! As most here know, I'm a large proponent of two principles; Mizu No Kokoro and Tsuki No Kokoro [Mind Like Water and Mind Like Moon]. We lose focus on the task at hand when our mind is distracted! So without going into a speech, the simplistic of focusing is to PAY ATTENTION ON THE IMMEDIATE TASK AT HAND!! Leave EVERYTHING outside of the dojo and only think about what you're doing, whether it's kihon or kata or kumite. The old saying...Ikken hissatsu [Kill with One Blow] in the context of this topic is to put your EVERYTHING into each movement without any reservation while your on the floor. When you punch...PUNCH, when you kick...KICK, when you block...BLOCK. You're not a flopping fish out of water, so stop acting like one. Pay attention TO EVERYTHING! Pay attention to how you are standing, pay attention to your posture, pay attention to your breathing, pay attention to the "NOW" and cast away your yesterdays and your tomorrows because these are not what's at hand immediately. Nothing's more important than what's happening right NOW, and the old now is ever changing and 'it' will quickly disappear when the new now is upon us because 'it' takes care of itself without you doing anything: Time moves without permission! So, PAY ATTENTION!! Your thoughts?

I voted "YES" , however, I'd rather we didn't even have a belt awarding methodology to indicate ranks, but, that was left up to those who came before me/us to decide.

Solid post!!

I thank you in advance, and please forgive my obvious dumb request of you...Please define "Move/moving". I can't see anything happening in the martial arts without moving. I've thrown my share of practitioners, but, I've moved something somewhere.

Thats exactly the same reason I got into Martial arts. Except I wanted to be the green one. Maybe one day I will get to play him RW I think you should start another thread with that I would have replied but don't want to derail a good thread. I second that...please start another thread.

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!

Oh boy...oh boy...and I mean oh boy. That was a close one....Jets BEAT Manning and that means that the Jets beat the Colts with a winning field goal from Folk with practically ZERO time left on the clock...17-16. Jets didn't score in the first half, where the Colts scored 7 points. What I saw was that Sanchez couldn't compete a pass if his life had depended on it. For the day, Sanchez was 18/26 on pass completions; at half time Sanchez was 9/20, and in the playoffs, that's a formula for disaster. However, the Jets went to their run game, and when they needed the yards, they got them, and in that, the Colts couldn't contain the Jets running game. The Colts were 24th against the run...and it showed. The thought did occur to me that Manning had sealed the outcome for the Jets when Manning put Vinatieri’s foot on task to hit a 52 yarder. Problem for the Colts was that Manning, again, left too much time on the clock for the Jets...53 seconds. That's a lot of time in the NFL. On the Jets' next possession, Cromartie returned a 47 yard kick off return. That allowed Sanchez to drive the Jets into scoring position with just 5 plays. That's all Folk needed to reverse the role on the Colts. I mean, Manning could only watch as Cromartie, Sanchez, Edwards and Folk drove down to the promised land; a win over the Colts during a playoff game. The Jets were solid on both sides of the ball, even though the Jets' passing game in the first half left little to be desired. This was a sweet win for the Jets. Now the Jets will have to try to do the same thing against the Patriots. That won't be fun. Why? Well, the Jets and the Patriots split during the season, but the Patriots won 45-3 at Foxborough. I'm sure that's in the forefront of Ryan's mind as he prepares his Jets to meet the Patriots one last time this season. Yet, this time, it'll be for a Division win. That won't be easy against Brady and the Patriots. Just like it wasn't going to be easy for the Jets against Manning and the Colts; and it wasn't, but the Jets got the win nonetheless. GO JETS!!

For me, In this case, knowing the specific name of a style means EVERYTHING! On one side of the coin, consumers don't want to know the name of the style, I agree with that, but on the other side of the coin, there are those consumer who do want to know the name of the style. In that, those consumers who do want to know the name of the style will research the style on their own. Consumers are shrewd, and in that, they aren't stupid about what it is that they want, and how they go about getting it. You'll go in that computer store and you'll select a computer the way that's familiar and comfortable to you, and that's fine. Yet, there are other computer consumers that do want to know everything geeky about that computer, including the processor and all of the bells and whistles and stuff. The name of the style CAN be enough to tell enough of the story as to what that school of the martial arts will provide them, and yes, I believe that the name of the style needs to be in a prominent position in the body of the ad, for example, at the very top of the bullet points or large and in charge centered at the very top of the ad. Surely, burying it somewhere in the ad isn't going to be beneficial for the school. There are two sides of each coin, and in that, there are two types of consumers in the search of a martial arts school. One who cares about the name of the style and the other who doesn't care about the name of the style. I'm fine with that. If they want to know what Shindokan Karate-do can and will provide them, well, all they have to do is ask, and I'll be glad to explain it to them in layman's term. Besides, imho, the ultimate goal of any ad is to get the consumer to call and/or to visit the school. The ad serves the role of the teaser, or the hook. If I clutter the ad, most consumer won't read the whole thing, therefore, keep the ad short and sweet, but with just enough goodies to get them interested in your school of the martial arts.

I need a Jet win and a Raven loss...lol

I understand what you're saying and I agree with you. Will his two son's be a good thing for the team? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about what the other students think, and if they don't like it, then all they have to do is...complain to the instructor....and then they can see just how far that will get them...not far! After all, like Brian said...you're there for YOU!

Solid post!!

Joe, you're staring right at black belt, aren't you? Way to go my friend...way to hang in there!

Good post!! Maybe it's more easier for them to say the reasons listed above in bold type, instead of saying self-defense or the akin because they don't want to appear "weak"...maybe...I'm spit-balling here. I'll go back to my corner for now.

Different styles, even different branches of Shito Ryu, could do Bassai Dai differently, and have different bunkai. I agree with sensei8. Ask your Shihan. He's your sensei! Your karate should be his karate. It might be interesting to know how others interpret the kata, but your sensei's version is the important one. Plus, of course, if you're tested on this, you have to know HIS bunkai. Solid post sir!!

When that practitioner knows that "it" isn't working. However, just because something is discarded now, it doesn't mean that it'll remain that way. As knowledge increases, so does the ability to recognize its viability across the board. It's the..."When I first learned the martial arts, a kick was just a kick and a punch was just a punch..." as told by Bruce Lee. The needed knowledge is an acquired element. Nonetheless, it varies from practitioner to practitioner for one reason or another. Good point! We'd only know by actually watching and/or interacting with the practitioner while that practitioner is executing said technique(s). They either will know or they won't and that's revealed on the floor...the floor doesn't lie.

But if I ever got into one at my age, I'd like to be able to get out of it before the years over.