cathal

I was in a similar situation in a bar up north. I'd had a couple and was approaching the bar when he turned & attacked. It didn't matter who he attacked, he just wanted the satisfaction of overwhelming someone. I blocked my face and attacked with a forward thrust kick. It connected and he was down. He wasn't able to get back up. After a few moments he was screaming. The fight was over, no one else got hurt, and no one else bothered me in that bar again. As it turns out the kick & fall resulted in just shy of a broken hip. I was lucky his buddies didn't want to continue the fight, I'd gotten my bell wrung soundly in the first few seconds. The bartender said I'd gotten hit three times before defending myself! Not to mention he and his buddies were all nickel miners, tough men in their own right.

I also have training in Yawara/Kubotan. In Canada it is legal to have and use them. The criminal code, however, does make a distinction between proper use of force. If a police officer (and eventually the JOP/judge) decide that its use was unwarranted, given what occurred in defending yourself--you could face charges. Thus its critical to understand the laws of wherever you are, and especially those that cover self-defence.

This is a well executed article. Very good!

Happy birthday Never fear growing older, far too few are denied the priviedge.

My sentiments exactly. Thanks!

Hello everyone! I have been away from this website since 2007 or so and I've recently returned. I can already see that the community, comeraderie, and passion for martial arts is still as strong as ever. I have received fantastic advice, shared great stories, and benefited from the wisdom of this site's members. I'm glad to be back! So a little about me. I first began training in Jiu-jitsu at about age 5 or so. For a few years it was a great place to be. By 8 I was training in Shotokan and then boxing. In my teens I took a few years and trained further in Jiu-jitsu. After a 10 or so year break I felt the need to return to martial arts and returned to Shotokan. In addition I trained in Ryukyu Kobujutsu. I also have some training in Yawara, and also some training in Iaido. For a few years I lived in the arctic where I taught Shotokan and women's self-defence (in secret), and in turn learned some techniques with the Ulu. After fighting illness for six years I have returned to my training and hope to teach again some day. Edit: Spelling! Arg!

Cici118, I know a great deal of Shotokan practitioners, organizations, etc and help. I have taught as well and had a similar situation. Message me any time.

It is also important Tommie that none of this is your fault. The phrases such as you being distracting and your relationship are manipulative techniques to get you thinking it's all on you. They seek to make you think that you've somehow convinced him that you're interested in him romantically. This is all in his mind only and I agree you should remove yourself from this situation. It will only become worse if you try ignoring it.

What efforts have you made to communicate your concerns with your sensei? I'm unsure if you've posted this already, I've only just returned from a few years absence.

I'm afraid what you'll wind up experiencing is a gi that fits around the waist but that is much too long. A tailer can work wonders if you're willing to pay a lot. What works for many instructors I know is having a properly-fitting gi be the reward.

Can you outline your reasons for this? Edit: spelling

Welcome! You're gonna have fun here.

Welcome! Its always great to see new members.

I am with sensei8 on auto-grading (as I am with so many things!) but I am also curious on the techniques being taught versus the testing guideline & the standards of each rank. For example does the instructor hand over a solid yellow belt after 30 calendar days of dojo membership as the sole criteria? Does the instructor hand you over a stripe after he/she believes you've proven you can perform Age Uke, because that is what the dojo deems that new stripe (aka rank) to signify? For me it all boils down to how the ranking structure is designed. Aspects such as intent, motivation, adherence to protocols (i.e. respect, tenure), standards, and more. Combine this with the proper intent of use, universal execution, and tempered wisdom and you have your rank structure. Handing out a rank willy-nilly is a bad practice and a sure sign that something is wrong.

Its a creative endeavour to test and experiment your techniques. It can be a great deal of fun!

What I was taught, and what I teach, are the hops are there to make you think creatively for bunkai. Edit: spelling.

Something to consider with respect to calling someone master is that a long time ago the phrase master meant something very different. Many know the master had perfected certain skills, techniques, and/or abilities. Yet in addition to all this the master was able to pass it on. To be a master at something meant you had also earned the respect & acknowledgement of others who were at that skill level. In the past this made it easier for those who wanted proper training to get it. For example if you wanted to learn carpentry you'd seek out a master carpenter. Certain jobs required that masters of their craft would be involved in order to guarantee a certain standard. The modern interpretation of master does have a lot of negative press. Thus a wide range of people especially in North America see it in that way as well. Now combine this with contemporary democratic & capitalist sentiments of universal suffrage making us all equal. (Therefore no one is a master over another.) Of course most people may see the word Master as being wholly negative. Many years ago there was a post on here about a user who vehemently refused to bow to his sensei, the master, etc. in part due to this point of view. Pet peeve notwithstanding, it behoves us to acknowledge the training and experience our instructors have in some respectful manner. Simply do so according to your conscience

I know a lot of long-training karate-ka that would laugh at that. Good one

Fear is a very strong, very personal emotion. Many are controlled by it. I work through this by using fear & confidence drills. For example have two partner up and one practice punching at their partner's face. Just close enough to feel the air around the fist but just far enough to not make contact. It gets them used to seeing fists & feet coming at them. After enough time they learn to control their own fear. The next step is a simple evasion or block with the same exercise. For confidence that could be anything from breaking a board to throwing people onto mats. Something else my students are doing is recording the time it takes them to do their push-ups, or their running. They see the steady increase in their personal strength and speed and it boosts their confidence. There are two ways to look at her fear, I think. First, she is afraid of getting hurt. Second, she is afraid of hurting someone else. Since she selects persons of a lower grade than herself we can safely assume it isn't the latter. When this happened to me my sensei forbade me from sparring with anyone of a lower grade. Perhaps you can consider the same thing as it forced me to begin dealing with it. It is only logical, of course, to make sure she doesn't constantly spar with lower-ranked students. You don't want her to become a bully or over-confident. I'll suggest you start off from the beginning again. Have her do simple sparring exercises. Build up her confidence from there and get her to go faster. The most confident she is in the simple movements and exercises the faster she will go. Next, go to the next level, do those exercises and go from there. Finally you can get her used to the free-range movement of free-form sparring by taking those same exercises and making them free-range movement exercises. So instead of "3-step sparring" make it 3-steps but they have to use fighting stance and announce each attack. But before they do it they have to dance around a bit with footwork. Maintain distance, etc. Positive Reinforcement tips: - You wouldn't be at this level if you weren't ready for it. Let us help you conquer the fear. - You have proven yourself at the lower levels, it is time to move on. Let's work on it. my two pennies.

It is said that the student's warrior spirit resides in the belt. Much like a Samurai's warrior spirit resides in his sword. This is the main reason why you aren't supposed to wash it.

Yeah maybe.

Just this week: Student: "Excuse me Mister, uh, I mean Sensei. When will we be meditating?" Me: We do that at the end of each class. Student: "Uh, no. Uh... meditate." he hopped into the air. "Med...uh...TATE." Me: Meditate? Or levitate? Student: "Yeah! When will we be medi...levitating?" Me: "... Oh! Next week." Student: "OK!" Yep. Levitating. Next week kids. Mark it on the calendar.

The kids pay for their gi & any equipment they need like gloves but I already have all the stuff to run the dojo.

fantastic advice!

Thank you sensei8, I appreciate it very much. I'm not running a for-profit dojo, though, which is probably why it went over so well...but with nothing else in place they kind of had to let me in, but it was challenging to get the paperwork done.