Sasori_Te

I have a question. You got out of your car and this guy just walks up to you for no reason and says this to you?? Nothing else had happened between you prior to this? You'll have to forgive me, but I've never seen an adult (even a bully) act like this. There is usually some sort of catalyst for the situation.

bushido-man96 I agree with you 100%. A very high ranking guy once told me that if he ever stopped learning it was time to quit. These were lip-service words from him, unfortunately, but they always stuck with me as a good way to look at training for the long term. Rank just gets in the way, especially when it isn't utilized properly.

Belts and titles ....... titles and belts ...... Blah .... Blah .... Blah. Too much of this in martial arts if you ask me. Can you you teach me something? This question can be answered in the affirmative by everyone you train with or meet walking down the street. That's all I need to know. Everything else is ego. If not directly on the part of the person with the title then by the folks who have conferred the title. It's a word and much like the physical belt rank in any given system, it means no more or less than the definition given it by that particular system.

I try to keep all of my students updated at least on the local laws concering self-defense and concealed carry. Really, any aspect that I can think of that the training I provide may fall into. At the end of the day however, I tell them that in an actual self-defense situation it's better to be tried by twelve than carried by six.

Sorry to be the fly in the ointment here. (Not really ) Why doesn't the instructor know this already? As an instructor myself for the past 15 years, I usually have a pretty good idea of the disposition of all my students. Of course, I don't teach children either, but that's niether here nor there. As a parent myself sometimes I think we tend to see the flaws of other people's children more quickly than our own. Don't be too surprised if the instructor already knows about the things you are concerned over. There may be a reason that he's allowing it or we may not be getting an entirely accurate picture of the whole situation. Of course with some schools and instructors out there now days, they could be totally clueless which is an entirely different problem. Regardless, I hope you have good luck resolving your problem.

Kicking with the ball and toe of the foot has been a part of both the Naha and Shuri Te Lineage systems since the techniques were imported from China. Uechi Ryu Karate ( Pangai Noon Gong Fu ) still utilizes the big toe and ball of the foot to devastating effect. The body has to be highly conditioned to do this however. I found some video of Shinjo Kiyohide Sensei doing various breaks and one of them is a big toe kick. You can see it at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfXX5aQhjc These kicking variations all depend on the body part being targeted and the skill of the kicker.

Thanks for the extra info on those books. I haven't read either of them. But, I was wondering about GOM's sources. He mentions some interesting details that I would like to study more.

many resourcea?? Can you give me a few examples? I'm always looking to expand my collection.

GOM Good post. Could you please tell me where you got the details? I'm a MA history buff and story collector and would love to find out more. Thanks.

I would think the most impractical weapon would be one that I'm not trained in properly.

I'm going to have to agree with Martial_Artist here. No matter what you carry you better be well trained in using it. In other words, you remain your most important weapon. Both have advantages and drawbacks. You guys better check your research on the knife vs. gun distance thing though. A person with a blade out has the advantage over a person with a holstered weapon from 40 feet. This was based on a study done in the military using sling rifles and holstered pistols. If something goes down close and quick with a knife the person with the gun is at a distinct disadvantage. As stated before, it all comes down to proper training to include appropriate empty hand tactics against both of these weapons.

Tung oil does make the wood shiny. Over time the coats act sort of like a varnish. I would also recommend soaking your weapon ( yes this is a pain ) in something like mineral oil or linseed oil for 3 or 4 days then let it hang dry for 3 or 4 more days and then apply the tung oil. This will keep the weapon from drying out from the core. Good luck.

Yes Shotokan is descended from Shuri Ti. Funakoshi Sensei's instructor was Itosu Ankoh Sensei and he was a Shuri Te stylist. Funakoshi and Itosu together (mostly Funakoshi) changed the art to be taught to school students in Okinawa and Japan. Then Funakoshi named his style Shotokan. Shuri is simply the name of the village in Okinawa where this style of Ti was practiced. On Okinawa most Karate was called simply Ti or Tode. The variations were due to the influences on noted instructors in specific villages and were later named after those villages. Shuri, Naha, Tomari ..... Later instructors started using their own names to differentiate their personal styles within those systems .... Shotokan ( Shoto was a pen name for Funakoshi ), Uechi Ryu ( named after Uechi, Kanbun ) ... Anyway, you get the idea.

Givnal I meant to say that seiza is used like the lotus posture. The type of meditation you are describing can be done from any position so long as it's comfortable. I was simply elaborating on what seiza was traditionally used for in terms of meditation. I'll elaborate more as I have time.

Let the random thoughts happen. They're going to happen anyway until you learn to ignore them. The key is, don't hang on to any one thought and don't get hung up on the fact that stray thoughts are messing up your serene meditation. I personally let the thoughts happen. I don't concentrate on anyone particular thing. Think of it as watching scenery from inside a moving car. Simply let it pass by. Your thoughts will become one big blur of background noise which you will eventually be able to ignore totally. Don't concentrate on any one thing. For example, If you concentrate on your breathing you start wondering all sorts of things about it. Am I breathing correctly? Is my breathing too fast? Is it too slow? Yadayadayada ...... Let it blur. Then you can start fine tuning your meditaion after you calm your mind. As for seiza, it's a different take on the lotus position for energy work. The idea is that it's easier to accomplish circulating the energy ( small circulation ) up the back and down the front (I'm really generalizing here) if the hips and knees are bent. This is supposed to greatly reduce the flow to these areas ( think of pinching off a garden hose ) and allow more energy to be available to circulate along the desired path in the upper body.

I hope that I didn't imply that you were a "mcdojo". It's just that I've been teaching for 15 years now and have run across this situation several times. Unfortunately, in every case in my experience I had to get rid of the student in question. In one case it was an entire family of 5 beacause the dad was a jerk and wouldn't calm down. Good luck to you. I know these situations can be tough.

Why do we as martial artists feel it is necessary to define the term master. It's much more appropriate, I think, to have someone else remember you as such. As someone said earlier, you have touched a life in an important way. There's a story one of my students told me that always reminds me of my notion of true mastery. Once after a seminar with Goju Ryu Master Teruo Chinen Sensei, he and some of the other students went out to eat afterwards. In the restaurant all the other guys were wearing their martial arts t-shirts and jackets while Chinen Sensei wore his regular clothing. The waitress asked if they all studied karate to which they all eagerly responded yes. Except for Chinen Sensei who said "Oh, I'm just a cabbage farmer." That story always stuck with me. I hope it serves some of you as well.

Hello all, I haven't been around in a few years. Did you say in your last post that you have other potential "poison" students? Respectfully, I would give you this advice. Ask yourself why the students are able to become poison students. What atmosphere in your class allows them to behave this way? I ask this because we had a student, I not sure if he was poison but he was pretty noxious, that ruined almost every class he was in. The other instructors and I sat down and had a talk about how things were being run. We discovered that discipline was running a little lax in class. There was too much of the instructor trying to be everyone's buddy and not enough control of the class going on. I'm not sure if that's what you have going on, but it sounds like it could be playing a part. Again, no disrespect. I hope this may help. BTW - we implemented a 3 strikes rule and suspended the student in question. After he was suspended he quit on his own. You may have to get used to fact that you might lose his son too.

Since we are talking semantics now I thought I'd go and get the text book definition of a warrior. NOUN: One who is engaged in or experienced in battle. One who is engaged aggressively or energetically in an activity, cause, or conflict: neighborhood warriors fighting against developers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ETYMOLOGY: Middle English werreour, from Old North French werreieur, from werreier, to make war, from werre, war ; see war I read Forrest Morgan's Book. I found it also to be over-romanticized. He was an Air Force Officer. Almost every officer I ever met had some sort of romantic notion about the glory of the struggle in battle. Anyway, as I recall, to be Samurai (since this was also mentioned earlier) meant a life of service to a lord. I don't think this service entitled the Samurai to follow any convictions of what they thought was right or wrong. They, like modern day soldiers, followed the orders they were given. Of course you are entitled to think whatever you like, but in this case I happen to disagree.

Try this web site. https://www.acskarate.com . Ray is a friend of mine and an excellent teacher. He's probably not the cheapest guy in town but he's got a really good program and his students are excellent. Tell him Greg Dowden sent you. If you don't like him, there Mike wall on E. Thunderbird Rd. He teaches Taika Oyata's RyuTe Kempo. Here's the web site for them: http://www.pvkarate.com/Our_School.htm Good Luck! Let me know if you want more information. I'm not really familiar with the Ahwatukee area. I lived in North Phoenix for 8 years though and I met a lot of folks in the martial arts community there.

I don't see "boys" and "girls" in the dojo. I see students and training partners. Some happen to be male and the others female. As for getting beaten. You know how she was beating you, why didn't you do something to counter it? Personally for someone pumping any kick, I'll time it, use my lead hand to push the kick past me and open up my opponents outside. A backfist to the back of the head usually does the trick from there.

I was about to make a post but then I read what elbows-and-knees said. I agree. Just because you train in a martial art doesn't make you a warrior. That's a load of romanticised rubbish. Martial arts might have once prepared the practitioners to be warriors. Some arts might still include some of the necessary mental and physical components to prepare you for a fight. However being a warrior implies that you know the quickest and most efficient way to destroy (yes, I said destroy) your enemy on a battle field. There is nothing spiritual about being a warrior. You might be a spiritual warrior but you don't need to be one to be the other. I served in the Army in an infantry unit during Desert Storm in 1990-91. I have over 10 years in the military total. I don't know that I'd call myself a warrior. I do know one thing. 20 years worth of doing line drills and kata up and down a dojo floor won't make you one. Neither will competing in a million tournaments. So if you're not a warrior and you're not a thug where does that leave you? Why can't you just be a person that enjoys training in the martial arts for whatever reason that you like doing it? What's wrong with that?

The theory is "If you break your training partner, you won't have anyone to play with."

I'm with Master Jules and ShorinRyu Sensei. It's not something that manifests near, on or after a belt test. You train. As, you train your understanding of the techniques grow (hopefully). I don't know about everyone else but my understanding of my arts now as opposed to when I was say a 5th kyu is much much different. It sometimes doesn't even seem like the same style when I think about it. As for belt tests, I don't put much weight on them. I'd much rather watch a person during an "ordinary" training session. A belt test is more of a recognition ceremony to me.

Notice that he said escape from a full nelson applied by a person twice your size. A properly applied full nelson that is locked in by a much larger opponent is very difficuly to get out of. The best advice I could give is to try and not let the opponent get his hands locked behind your head.