UsagiYojimbo

Oh yeah, I used to love to jump on the bed like that!

I think I may have a disadvantage as well. I'm a girlie; I'm slender, but I'm pretty heavy up top, if you know what I mean. I'm just wondering if that throws off my center of gravity and makes it harder. Unfortunately, I've got a hurty knee right now, and I decided that I should lay off for a couple of days; that sort of stress won't help it. Yesterday's attempts were thoroughly amusing; I wish I'd had a videocamera.

Thanks. I actually have a bit of a dilemma going on right now. I just checked out a club yesterday that I really liked. The only problem is, with my current schedule, I would only be able to attend one of the meetings per week until May. I'm checking out another one tomorrow, but the same deal applies. So I'm wondering if I should sign up for one class now and just start with once a week until May, or if I should wait until then, so I have more time to dedicate to it. We shall see...

Thanks.

Yeah, I'm just interested in what I need to do to pull it off properly. I always end up just doing sort of a "wave" with my legs and smacking my head on the ground.

Hi there, Does anyone know how to do this move? Lying on your back, you sort of bring your legs into your chest, throw them down to the ground and land on your feet. I've seen people incorporate their arms as well. Does anyone know what this is called and how to do it?

Did you try using the search feature at the top of the page? A ton of stuff comes up if you enter "shito". Hereis one example.[/url]

I work at a library. I'm currently getting my master's degree in Library and Information Science so I can be a "real" librarian.

Haha! I wish I could go back to my old sensei, but 4 hours is a bit far to drive, and I don't think he teaches anymore (unfortunately).

Yeah, I had this experience when I practiced goju before. Our senseis were a husband and wife team. They had a small school, but they didn't charge enough to make any money at it. I wonder why goju in particular seems to have this trait?

Hi all. I actually used to hang out on this board about a year and a half ago, when I started taking a Shuai Chiao class. My previous training (about ten years ago) had been in goju ryu; I did S.C. for a little while, but it just didn't seem like the right school for me. I just recently found out a friend of mine is an associate instructor at a Shito Ryu club at the university here, so I'm going to check that out with her this weekend. Also, after seemingly endless searching, I _finally_ found someone who teaches goju ryu in this area. It was almost impossible to track them down, because they don't run a school; they teach out of a recreation center instead. This means that the classes are much, much cheaper, but I'm not sure about the level of training, class style, etc. I'm going to check them out next week. Anyway, just saying hi again after a long absence.

I know I'm joining the conversation late, but here's my 2c. I had always thought the purpose of female only self defense clubs was to keep what they learned a secret. Like, most guys on the street who attack a girl aren't going to know that she's going to come back with a poke to the eye, etc. However, if they'd practiced with women in a rape defense class, they would know, and be able to learn to defend against that. Stupid idea, I always thought, but perhaps I was wrong.

Kirves, There is an exception to this, I think. If you've seen other people do it well (in competition or the like, not movies), then you could probably tell the skill level of the school.

Tom, Yep. I saw in your profile you do Tang Soo Do. Are you with one of the OSU clubs for that?

Got to my 4th belt when I took karate. I started again with Shuai Chiao a couple of weeks ago, so I'm still a white belt in that.

Best martial arts movie: Legend of Drunken Master (the remake). This thread seems to be taking a soft approach, taking the original posters more potent questions and redirecting them... hmm...

I would strike a woman if the situation warranted it. But then again, I AM a woman.

Kyle-San, I'm currently taking Shuai Chiao. We learn Tai Chi moves and use their martial applications. So it can be combative, depending on how it is practiced.

Fireka, Perhaps it's because karate has been around forever and become so heavily cliched. Now all these other martial arts are becoming more popular, and old style karate just isn't "cool" anymore. I took karate years ago, and I went to an excellent school. However, when I decided to take up a martial art again, my thinking was, "Eh, karate's lame. I wanna take something cool." I can see now that taking a different art was a good idea to expand my knowledge, but I learned a lot of important stuff in karate. Just because karate's out of fashion at the moment, so to speak, doesn't mean it's not a valuable martial art.

"The Art of Shen Ku" by "Zeek". Very cute and tongue in cheek, but offers lots of stuff, not just on basic self-defense, but survival skills, yoga postures, herbal remedies, etc. Not strictly martial arts, but a fun read.

Essentially, the problem I had was accepting the idea that Jesus died for my sins and that to have salvation I had to accept him as my personal saviour. Which kind of makes it real hard to be a Christian. The only way to settle this was through a lengthy process of self-examination. As I've told other Christians who have expressed concern over this, I appreciate the concern for my well-being, but that's the choice I've made thus far. Best wishes to all.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Everyone here seems pretty cool and I really didn't want to ruffle any feathers, honest. In reality, I didn't leave Christianity for Paganism. When I was about 14 to 15, I found my ideas about the world were changing, and Christianity was leaving a lot of stuff unanswered. It was later that I began to do some searching and found that neopaganism matched more closely with my beliefs. Still have Christian friends and family, no problems with them.

JerryLove: I have to admit I'd be taken off-guard if someone threw a baby at me. Beer bottles.

I know! It's great! It actually helped me in my Japanese Religions class.

Got my name from the comic book. If you haven't seen it, it's very cute.