Wayofaswede

Happy to hear your knee is getting better, congrats on passing your latest test. Always enjoy hearing about your MA journey.

Thank you very much Aurik, I guess that it has something to do with having reached 40+

Thank you very much, I am truly honored, this forum contributes so much to my own journey as karateka (budoka). Congrats to all nominated and winners. You all make this forum as special as it is

Thanks, Brian and Sensei As I met kansho this Saturday, he seemed very surprised that I wasn't going to test. Only reason he hadn't told me he found me ready was that I had missed the last double-session I usually attend so he hadn't had the chance to. We decided that I will test for 3 kyu midterm next year, so I could prepare properly (I prefer going through everything once/day the week before testing). Really enjoyed watching the others testing however. There is something very special about watching someone who was beginner with yellow belt as I joined the club, this Saturday passing the test for black belt. Following and encouraging fellow MAists along their path has the longer I've trained become almost as important to me as my own path.

So gradation coming up on Saturday. Unfortunately I've missed some club sessions lately due to birthdays and cold and haven't heard anything from C I, so I haven't prepared for grading this semester. Will still go there to watch fellow club members and to offer a bunkai/kumite partner if someone would need it for their grading. Maybe after another semester I'll be ready for 3 kyu. Hope you all have a good end of semester and a great weekend.

Being a father of 4 children (2 toddlers) what keeps me home the most from evening practice is that they grow so fast and I really don't like missing out on our "daddy reads one book each and sings songs when we go to bed"-routines That's what's great about training Saturdays, daytime Try to compensate by training evening sessions in the living room - more often than not the toddlers join in and try to imitate what dad's doing.

Thank you very much - I like how MA becomes more and more important in my everyday life - I do some blocks when having a break at work, I do breathing exercises from Budo if I have trouble going to sleep etc. Not a day without a kata - I want and need to have it that way!

First day of my first karate camp was today Got to try two new katas - Rohai and Hauffa - for the first time! Hope you all have a great weekend. Looking forward to day two tomorrow

During today’s double training session I got to try the legendary Naihanchi shodan for the first time! Really like the limited area it occupies and the logical flow between the techniques in it. May very well become one of my favorites once I’ve learned it. Hope all you karatekas are having a great weekend

Thank you very much, Sensei. Especially the breathing like Sanchin and similar seems to becoming more and more in focus. I try to incorporate more of that into my solo sessions at home

Thank you Aurik, I wish you the same Today I had my first ”2x1h-session”, and participated in the advanced group for the first time. Challenging, inspiring, and rewarding.

Thanks bushidoman, it was wonderful training by the ocean. Yesterday I finally took the next step and went to my first training in the main dojo of my club. It was great and felt a bit more intense, due to more adults and more with a higher rank (most were green or above). Among many things I got to try the Tensho kata for the first time. My C.I. told me that he thinks I am ready for the advanced group as well, so on Saturdays there will probably be two hours of training. Really looking forward to this semester, happy to have been to the new dojo. Hope you all have a good MA start of the autumn

Just finished another solo training session. The latest sessions have taken place outdoors, by the sea. There is a special feeling training so close to nature - bare feet on the ground and grass, with sea waves roaring ahead. Have taken the opportunity to intensify my kote kitae somewhat lately using the remnants of a dead tree. Happy to have found continuity in my Budo practice so far this summer. Hope you are all having a great one. Keep training!

Congrats on the new job! Happy to hear the clouds are parting for the sun to shine upon your path again...

Thank you very much, Sensei. Your wise words and support has meant a lot along the road I have given it some thought and decided that I will continue in the same club, add the extra travel time and switch to the main dojo. I have found my way back to the essential path for me that is Budo and am determined not to let it out of sight again. Even though extra travel time and training on a family-wise "worse" day may mean I won't get to the club dojo every week, I will keep doing my daily/weekly routines and go to club session as often as possible in order to keep the continous flow of MA practice and progress going. It will be a hurdle to go to a completely new hall, but once there I'm sure I will feel as much as home eventually. The possibility to eventually train with more advanced students in an advanced (3 kyu+) group is one of the good things about being forced to transfer. I will keep you all updated as the MA road goes ever on...

Little did I know that todays ”last club training for the semester” would be the last in the dojo I’ve been training in since I started training Karate! Our C.I. revealed after class that it was the last session for the club in that dojo, and that only the main club dojo (much farther away from my home) will be running when fall semester starts. Main reason is that many members have quit and none of the current trainers lives near this one. Sorry to hear, but grateful for all fond training memories during my first years as karateka.

Thank you and congratulations!

Congrats on 8 kyu, I enjoy reading about your path and what you learn as you follow it.

As a fairly new practitioner of Uechi-Ryu, I can definitely agree with that. At the start of every single class we run Sanchin 3 times, with our sensei checking our technique. One of the mantras I've heard whenever someone asks a question about a technique is, "go back to Sanchin". Oh, and congrats on the 4th kyu! That's great to know. Looking forward to hearing more about your future progress. Thank you very much for the congrats Unfortunately missed yesterdays session due to children being ill, but I'll focus on the next opportunity instead

That would be an honor - and I am sure my C.I. would feel the same. Let me know as the date draws closer and I will inform him about your visit

Keeping the dantian horizontal, would be similar to a conveyor belt, or diagonal like an escalator or vertical like an elevator, there is a mechanical efficiency to them all, then a gyroscope would be fitting, however combining the human element of self expression is a very important ingredient including the dantian. Thanks for elaborating, tanden has indeed become a central concept through my MA years and I usually try to start every technique "from tanden" (somewhat like the "wave motion" in breakdance), at least mentally. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts about using tanden as starting point and trying to "connect" with the opponent's/partner's tanden?

Keeping it level makes things look "clean," but I find it can actually be detrimental to the generation of power for some of your techniques. Our Naihanchi kata do this, because they are focused on rotational power, but the rest of our kata feature some degree of level change. I also practice a version of Naihanchi from KishimotoDi, which very specifically incorporates level change (using shiko-dachi, actually) I was referring to the horizontal direction, not level in terms of movement up/down, which obviously will occur in many katas/techniques

So happy this was a joke - really had a hard time replying to an interesting post yesterday. Love your sense of humour, Patrick

The idea of keeping the Dantian at a horizontal level at all times sounds really interesting, Alan. It should definitely make for a better posture moving through a kata. I'll keep it in mind - and suppose the same idea should be applied to separate stances like shikko etc?

That's nice. It does seem like a kata that contains so much more than meets the eye.