Sasori_Te

Wal-mart, $3.95 in the energy supplements section. Sorry ,bad joke. If I'm not mistaken they get their power from being well grounded. All power starts from the ground up. In doing this, the whole body is used to generate the power rather than the individual body weapon.

I agree with White Warlock totally on this. You abused your friends trust in a "training situation. You need to have established guidelines during training and stick to them. With that said. If I were with a training partner and they decided to go ballistic while we were training I would slip to the inside and blast you back, hopefully, into the training mode. It's not nice to abuse your partners trust. Don't mistake his kindness for weakness.

What they discuss there is what I was asking about. That's why I was hoping that you had more traditional training. Thanks for all the information though. What I read from the Indian sites that i visited (and there were a few) was that you started with weapons training and advanced to empty hand at a later time. They did mention the massage you were talking about as a very important part of the warm up. It's suppposed to align the body's energies to make it stronger and more flexible. It seems like a very interesting style.

This particular topic is why I left my first instructor. He was prejudiced against most anyone that wasn't white. Although they were good enough to take their money in exchange for lessons, with a healthy dose of talking about them behind their back of course. I will say that he seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Thank goodness. I don't understand how people operate in today's world with mentalities like that.

Wouldn't you agree that every situation involving a gun, or any other weapon for that matter, is unique and complex? You have to judge every situation on it's own merits. You can't generalize for one side or the other.

I know the Japanese have a formal tea ceremony. I have never heard of a Chinese Tea Ceremony.

I was hoping to find out about the empty hand aspects of the art that aren't started traditionally until after the weapons have been studied.

standing and applauding White Warlock ...Good Answer, Good Answer!

Scare tactics on knives? White Warlock, how are we doing that? I personally believe that a knife is every bit as dangerous as a gun. It may be easier for a physician to repair knife damage than a bullet wound (maybe depending on the location and type of knife wound). A severed artery is still a severed artery regardless of the cause. Personally I'd rather not have either to contend with. But I honestly say that I would rather be shot at ( note I said shot at) than sliced with a knife. I've also never had to reload a knife because I missed. with that said, I also wouldn't want to bring a knife to a gunfight. I'm rambling incoherently now.

I understand. We all have our own opinions. I have never viewed team sports as my competition. I feel that if a student doesn't want to be there learning what I have to teach, then I don't want him/ her there. These are the reasons that I could never open up a full time dojo. I've never seen a full time dojo where the instructor didn't compromise himself/ herself to some degree. I have a few friends with large commercial schools and they all envy my ability to make decisions based on the best interests of the art rather than having to worry about keeping enough bodies in place to pay the bills. No Thanks....

wow, that's very ethical. I don't think I like this kata, therefore I'm going to throw it out, make up one of my own and call it the same thing." Hmm. A Westerner would get slaughtered for even suggesting such a thing.

Equaninimus is correct. There are all sorts of these weekend sifu guys running around. My friend has been studying the Yang Short and Long Forms for 15 years along with the combat applications. He is a student of Willy Lim in Scottsdale, AZ. Very cool to watch them move. Very strange to feel them hit you or check you. It feels like running into a mountain.

Wow! That was some web site. Is there any meat to go with all that gravy?!? After I waded through all of the window dressing I couldn't find anything regarding the actual style or where it's taught. I want to know! I want to be a member of "Team Viagra"!

Oh.. Is there a website I missed? I didn't see it.

Let me be clear. I'm not trying to be snobby. It's nice that he has provideda website to us. It's just the material on the website seems to be filler material for instructors that don't have a clue. If you have to go outside your own art for ideas on drills and lesson plans, perhaps you should reconsider what you are doing. Also, promotional ideas and advertisement suggesions. Dojo management 101. This just smacks of the "mcdojo" syndrome. As the gentleman/ woman said, He's not trying to sell anything. ?!?!? As for providing information for free, check out the information being provided. Most of it is how to get bodies in the door. One idea was to bad mouth team sports. Check it out That article was a real winner.

What??????? Who picks these best techniques? Best for who? If I had to take a guess, I would say best for the person that doesn't have the patience to study the techniques they aren't good at. At Shodan you are just prepared to start learning the "good stuff". If all you want to know is how to fight, go out and fight. Fight with whomever you can pick a fight with. eventually you'll get better. Streetfighting 101

I think delta is right. Deltas points are exactly the kinds of things that I was talking about. The belt system while not perfect is something that should be decided within a style or school. After all it is only one superficial aspect of the martial arts. It's nice to discuss it in a forum like this but would you really like an independent governing body dictating everything about your training?

Thank you for the over view. We called the first point you made, _Don't shield the knife, let it shield you, Teeth and claws forward. You get a better picture by imagining an animal on the defensive. I'm not sure I agree with the second one, especially if you're facing a skilled opponent. I did notice you said a basic usage tactic. The third is simply the first restated. I do agree about the grip you've chosen. I call it the natural grip. I don't suppose we need to agree on everything. That's what makes the martial arts so great. As they say, "There are many paths to the mountain top, but the moon looks the same when you get there." Thanks for the clarification.

I like my students to have a good understanding of the techniques they are performing. Call me crazy, but I think that performance improves with a better understanding of the techniques. If they don't understand what they're doing then they aren't ready to move on.

I agree with ShorinRyu Sensei and White Warlock. the training should be the fun. If they don't like the training because it isn't what they thought it was going to be then perhaps they weren't ready to begin training. I'm just curious. You folks that say to make sure you pick a school with a "good kids program", What is a good kids program?

I block most incoming kicks with legs and feet and knees. I find that my feet and legs are best used to give me a solid base and if used properly steal my opponents base.

I have a video of Taika Oyata performing the Tomari version of Seisan. He performs it the way that equaninimus is describing. I've always been taught to perform Seisan this way. By this way, I mean with normal speed/ power/ focus.

Tai Chi is an excellent art to compliment any system. I have a friend that I'm about to start training full time with. Like a lot of martial arts, Tai Chi has a host of things to offer on many different levels.

Okay wado_lee. Who exactly would be responsible for that regulation? You would need some sort of world martial arts governing body. Try to take in what that implies for a second. That would be about as effective as the proverbial "one legged man in a butt kicking contest". Actually the one-legged guy would fare much better.

Thank you AndrewGreen. I was about to say the same thing. You want to learn to fight with short sticks whether it be double or single. As, AndrewGreen said, Escrima, Arnis, Sinwali are all systems for learning to do this.