millhilldojo

Thanks for the shout out! It's a pleasure to be here,, Bonsai from the blind sensei of Mill Hill Dojo.

It sounds like a quality club to join my friend, if the senior sensei's are training at national level and preparing for international level then you could only presume these guys are at the pinnacle of their game. I love all styles of martial arts and don't really have a preference but shotokan is really growing on me at the moment, I hail from a Goju background myself and I am totally blind, my PT who I work with daily is from a Wadu Ryu background but also has trained in Shotokan and is currently teaching me all the shotokan kata and I love the hard direct approach they use, makes a refreshing change from the curvy sanchin dachi's and mawashi uke's all the time in goju.

also I don't mind answering any questions about myself or my martial arts journey,, I enjoy answering so don't be sorry or afraid to ask,, obviously training me would have been somewhat different compared to normal students but credit to my senseis and my PT who have all helped me along the way, and now it is me who does the teaching,, I am an instructor and senpai at my local class and also host the martial arts instructional videos I have on my youtube channel and website. bonsai

100% totally blind. Was having laser surgery while becoming partially blind through bad diabetes management which was partially my own fault by not looking after myself as a teen, doing all the wrong things haha, but in the operation I had they hit the optical nerve which left me completely blind. That was in 2002 and I started karate training a year or so after becoming blind.

Just to follow up on this post.. Last week I posted the playlist to my series of Taikyoku Kata which are one of my favorite ranges of kata, despite their simplicity they collectively give you a great introduction to the skills and techniques need to progress in karate. Similar to the Taikyoku series,, is the Heian Katas, which from what I understand were introduced to Japanese Karate-do by the Shotokan founder Funokoshi. My natural karate style is goju based so these heian kata I have learned from my PT Robert who used to be Nidan in Wadu Ryu 15 years ago. Freshly filmed today, just had the link sent to me from Robert, so if anybody would like to watch a blind man performing the Heian katas.... Heian Kata Playlist Ossu and Bonsai [/url]

Thanks for the answer How does your kumite factor into your training? I'd imagine you have to make some adjustments here and there. Hello DWX. I love kumite,, I have to go very steady now after just having the kidney transplant but prior to that I would do kumite just like any other student. I didn't feel I really had to adapt but I did have to learn control at first. Lucky for me I picked up the control quite easy and despite zero sight I can still block a fair amount of inbound strikes. obviously I still can feel vulnerable if its too noisy or if Im not concentrating to my best haha. I tell anybody who spars me to treat me as sighted and do what ever you normally would do,,because if I can get them, i will, so show no mercy both ways lol,, I have a few videos on my channel of me either sparing with my PT and blocking, also some kumite footage from my Shodan grading. I will try to post them here if anybody is interested in watching.. and.. Blind vs Blindfold Sparing and... ossu and bonsai )

Like all the previous posts, all humans will make mistakes at times regardless of skill or rank. The most important thing I would say to you judging by how you put the question would be not to dwell on this. The fear of making a mistake is obviously occupying your thoughts before you have even got to the dojo, this is not good as you are already kinda bringing negativity with you to your training. At the end of the day, mistakes should not be a big issue, knowing that we all make them should help but really please do not dwell or over think about them, just be cool, relax and stay positive. It's a fact that when a student overthinks or is nervous/anxious then this can breed mistakes. Students who come to training relaxed, happy and focused make far fewer mistakes. Drink plenty of water, not just before training but as much as you can in your day to day life as water helps the brain make better decisions and increases concentration levels. I wish you well, Blind Sensei

Thank you to you all for your welcome,, sorry its took a few days to get back here. The main reason I choose karate after going blind was quite simple. At the time I was in a very dark place, no pun intended lol but after just loosing my site, having to quit my job as a chief and suffering other health problems too, I was pretty much isolated and down for a while. Some door to door 'come and join karate' canvasses happened to call at my door asking if anybody in the house would be interested and I said yes me but I am blind so I cant. They said it wouldn't make a 'blind' bit of difference so I took them up on it. 8 years later I got my Shodan and never 'looked' back since,, too many puns here sorry ) but yeah thats my karate story. Also I don't have any preference on whether the style is 'close' quarter grappling touch related bjj judo etc or more distant striking arts like karate etc i love both and aim to do every aspect of the art that a sighted person would including sparing, kumite etc. thanks for welcome again people )

Maybe I should have come here first instead of diving straight into the forums but here I am now better late than never. My name is Mark Brown, I am totally blind and lost my sight 10 years ago due to my diabetes. I studied Judo as a child but didn't really get back into Martial Arts until going blind. I am now a 1st Dan Shodan in karate, I graded in April 2013 which for me was the greatest achievement of my life so far. Just come fresh from operation table after having a kidney transplant March 2014 after suffering with kidney disease for the last few years, little bit tender still but so glad to back training in my dojo. I train 2 times a week with my local karate club and train every single day inside my own dojo which I built in my back garden from an old car garage I have a personal trainer/assistant who helps me with my day to day activities who is also a martial artist. Collectively we make youtube videos and have a website where we try to offer free karate instruction via our videos for anybody who is interested in learning or watching some karate and self defense techniques. Martial arts training and participation is my life, we currently study quite a lot of styles from the chinese Wing Chun Kung Fu, Traditional and japanese karate to boxing, wrestling and anything else that comes along and catches our attention. Humbled to be apart of this forum, only just discovered it and still cant get over how much information and interesting reading there is on this site, I think I will be apart of this forum for a long time and look forward to any future discussions and meeting new like minded friends. Just a quick explanation, some people may think how can a blind man be part of a forum or use the internet? lol, I have a laptop with talking software and screen readers and also an iphone 4s with voice over which allows me to read pretty much everything anybody else can on the internet. Best regards to all my fellow martial artists, my website for anybody interest in checking us out is... MMA DOJO or my youtube channel where you can find all 100+ of my videos is.. Mill Hill Dojo Channel Osu, Bonsai, Good day from the crazy blind sensei

For me the belt is plain and simply just a color. I don't think one should be judged by the color of the belt. I am Black belt 1st Dan at my local karate school I attend and I treat all students with the same amount of respect and dignity regardless of the belt. Also, belt color is suppose to represent skill level and knowledge, I don't believe this is the case either. For example, I have come across quite a few high ranked belts who's karate still seems at a very poor level, just the same as I have known white belt students who are instantly worthy of a higher grade. Some clubs grade their students for financial incentives rather than skill or quality of karate which again allows some people to be graded who I regard myself as not ready yet, but its money that makes the world go round and most karate schools are ran as a business so what should one expect really. I am completely blind and I have a training partner who I employ to work with me as an assistant and personal trainer called Robert, when he was young teen he earned his black belt in Wada Ryu but no longer considers himself a black belt or any other color belt simply because he is no longer associated with that karate club. He is still very knowledgeable in karate but refuses to 'grade' with his current club because of the politics, meaning he is a potential shodan student despite wearing his white belt for many years lol,, that's just my example of how insignificant a belt color actually is. I think karate should always be about the person, how he conducts himself and how he works on his own skill and totally not about what color belt you are wearing. Obviously this is just my view, most people still want to achieve the highest belt color they can and thats fine, but I would rather be a true karate-ka white belt than a half baked uninterested ego driven black belt any day of the week.

Thanks for the welcome Sensei8 and also thanks for the thumbs up on my videos that means a lot. Really enjoyed what I have read so far here on KF, very impressed with the set up here, so much to try and read and get through. Thanks again,, Osu

I love all the kata that I have learnt so far. Think my all time favorites would be the simple and sometimes overlooked Taikyoku series of Kata whos true meaning has been lost somewhat over the years. In fact I have just finished filming the first five of the Taikyoku kata's for my youtube channel today if anybody wants to check them out. It is my first day back in karate training after having a kidney transplant last month and it felt really good to be back in the dojo. I am also totally blind and a diabetic. This is my first post in this forum so hello to everybody! Here is my Taikyoku Kata Video Series if anybody wants to watch a blind man do kata lol