solar_kid

I have tried it, and for me it was surprisingly helpful. One day, I was practicing heian sandan, and when I came down to do the first stomp, I heard and felt a loud pop or snap from my back, and I'm not sure what happened, but my back was quite painful for quite awhile. My doctor actually recommended a chiropractor, and the chiropractor did acupuncture. I was quite skeptical initially, but two acupuncture treatments worked better for my back than any chemical. Although I'd been improving through physical therapy, acupuncture did a really good job of getting me back to normal -- pain-free most of the time. When they put the needles in, I hardly felt about half of them. Of the rest, a few hurt like little pinches, but they don't go in that deep. For me, I didn't really feel any tingling or anything, and, after the first session, thought it had been a waste of time, until I began to move about and realized the pain had gone. I can't personally attest to its effectiveness for illnesses and such, but my experience made me a believer.

I would add to be patient with yourself. Back stance is a difficult stance to get right. And, it's so different from the way we usually deploy our weight that our bodies are not used to it until they do it a lot. You might try practicing your back stance for several minutes at a time while watching TV or some other activity. Try making the back stance for 2-3 minutes (harder than it sounds!) on one side, then switch to the other. If you can't get your knees pushed out over your toes, do your best and over time you will be able to get there. Honestly, for most new students, it can take a couple of years of practice. You might also practice moving forward and backward from one back stance to the next. This might also help train your body to make the stance better. Just keep in mind your body adapts slowly, so be diligent but patient.

I have a wii and a wii fit. I love both. I just got the wii fit -- nobody seems fto have them in stock -- so it took some work to find one! The wii fit games are cool but simple, but I also got "we ski," a skiing game using the wii fit balance board and it's been fun so far. I was kinda hoping to find something that would give me a little bit of that skiing feeling in the off-season. Not sure that it's all that much like skiing, but it is fun. With the regular wii fit games, I thought my MA training would give me good balance, and I think that's true in some ways, but I actually think that some training on the wii fit might improve my balance, because in many of the games, there is visual feedback as to where your center of balance is. Often, you have to try to put your center of balance in a particular place to work the game. For instance, in the ski jump game, you want to keep your balance centered left-to-right, but about 80% on the toes. In some of the yoga games, you want to try to keep your balance centered. In the ski slalom game, you have to move your balance left and right to ski through gates, but your front-to-back balance controls your speed. I actually thought my mom would even enjoy wii with wii fit. It's not massively, incredibly cool, but it is cool enough and enjoyable enough for me!

Yes, I think Nicol's book is not only a great book for karate students, but it's an outstanding work overall. I have enjoyed reading it several times.

I have the 20 GB one just like that and it's been nice. I also have a 60 gb 5g ipod, but I actually kinda like the 20 gb one better. the nice blue backlight is nice.

I drink a lot of Diet Coke... seems obligatory when you work in Info Tech. I went to school on a college campus that had an exclusive agreement with Pepsi, so all you could get on campus was Pepsi. Awful.

I played Half-Life 2, and I think it was quite possibly the finest computer game I've ever played. Absolutely beatiful.

shukokai2000, I was talking to a guy at the car dealership the other day, and he was from that area, and said that was a really pretty drive. It's definitely on my list. England would be nice, too, but I'd have to save up some more vacation time for that!

My favorite was a road trip from Denver to San Francisco, then up the west coast through Coos Bay and Seattle, then home. Beautiful. I want to do it again, but I think next time I might fly to San Fran then rent a car or maybe even a bike to go up the coast.

I didn't start karate until I was 27, and seiza was a bit uncomfortable at first, but it quickly passed. I find that how far I draw my feet in and how I angle my spine forward or back makes some difference. If one way gets a bit uncomfortable, a small change can sometimes help.

I take a nice hot bath or shower. Doesn't work every time, but usually. I used to have a hard time going to sleep all the time, but, as I got older, I stopped having the problem for the most part.

If your distance is appropriate, you might shift in toward your opponent on the outside (back) of his kicking leg. By moving in, you change the distance to keep your opponent from getting power from the kick. By moving to his outside, he has no arms or legs to launch a follow-up with until after his kicking foot returns to the ground. Of course, it's always advisable to cover in case you do not shift enough to get out of the path of the kick. Or, just move back just enough to get outside the reach of his kick and grab his leg!

I am so sorry to hear that Matt. I will keep you in my thoughts.

We bow a bit deeper, like a 30 degree bow, when bowing into the dojo, the training floor, or sensei's office. With that bow, the head inclines downward. When bowing to a person, though, we bow a little less, like 15 degrees, and we do keep our eyes on the other person.

I liked the old Doctor Who shows, but around here they showed on public television so sporadically, it was never possible to really watch it with regularity. SciFi channel here just finished airing the first new season of Doctor Who... so, we've only seen the latest Doctor for all of five seconds!