Ashigeru

I might also add that there are certain medical conditions that cause people to gain weight that have nothing whatsoever to do with laziness, lack of fitness, or self-discipline... Making casual judgments based on personal bias is easy. If the instructor can teach the students well, then what does it matter his, or her, weight? Today's medical establishment loves to blame laziness and lack of self-discipline for "Obesity". If someone is over weight, then they must be lazy. Sometimes this is the case. Other times, there may be underlying medical conditions such as thyroid malfunction, PCOS, injuries that prevent an active lifestyle. Making flawed judgements about people's fitness level based on appearances, and not experience, is somewhat shallow. If I made that mistake with Wullie, or Uncle Meyer, I am sure that I would pay for it in humility, bruises, and possible injuries. Weight is not a measure of fighting ability, or of fitness. OSU!

First thing that you should do is learn something about the style... Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Do_Kwan I am sure that an internet search would yield more results about schools, and styles, near you. You should find one that suits you best, not that makes you fit the style. Whatever you do, don't give in to high pressure sales pitches, those are almost sure signs that it is a McDojo. I always look for dojo's that do not require contracts with large amounts of money. All that does, is protect the school's income base, and does very little for the students.

As has been said by everyone, it happens to us all. Practice will help, especially if you know a kata the requires concentration, like Sanchin... Mindfulness meditation will also help you to not lose focus, or to regain your concentration. (Good advice, Ev) OSU! PRACTICE!

If your association has removed him from its rolls, I might consider going to a different school. I might even, depending on the felony crime, remove myself to a different school. I would want to find out the facts first, and foremost. If he lied and cheated - yeah, then he would have proven that he isn't honorable, or worthy of loyalty. Respect, and loyalty is a two way street. If he cheats his own, then he will (and likely has already) cheat you. Either way, be sure not to make the same errors in your life that he has. If you earned something, it is yours. No matter who taught you. Their morals and ethics are theirs, not yours. If they taught you well, it doesn't matter what they did, as far as your training is concerned. You may want to question the moral and ethical lessons that they taught..., and try to improve on it, but your rank is yours. As someone that has had his lineage questioned (my Hanshi was considered "too kung fu" to be "pure"), I would not remove him. What he taught me was priceless. If he had committed a crime, I would keep him there as an example of what not to be, and teach my students to be better. Yay for Evergrey! You have come so far in the last few years. Keep it up. I am proud of you.

She came to a dojo that wasn't hers under invitation. She took offense when none was intended. Whether you are "proven", or not, if you were trying to be helpful by pointing things out to her, it should be taken as it was meant. That is disrespectful to you and to your dojo to take well meaning advice as being disrespectful and as using intimidation tactics. I can't see how she got that out of what was said. All of the schools that I have visited have always been polite to me. I always understood that it was their place, and their rules of etiquette. I was the guest. To have been upset over them not treating me as I would normally be treated in my dojo would have been insulting to the school that I was a guest of. Your friend seems to have forgotten that she was a guest, and blamed you for not being treated as she would in her dojo. As a Nidan, she should have known better. As a Sensei in her own right, she should have known better, and apologized for not leaving her ego at the door in the first place. By challenging you for your "insulting" her, and for your use of "intimidation" tactics, she has placed herself within the rank structure of the dojo that she is visiting. That isn't a thing a guest does. Protocal wise, it is an insult to your Shihan, as well as your instructors, as it places her within the rank structure of your dojo without their permission... I will be discussing these things with her when I see her next.

Congratulations to the nominees and to the winners.

Always remember that those people that are above you in rank began, as you have, as a beginner. If they laugh at your mistakes, it isn't you that they are laughing at, because they have made similar ones at one time or another. When you think that others are performing perfectly, it isn't true. The mistakes are there, and one day you will see them. Perfection is an illusion, and a goal. The martial arts is about striving for perfection, about overcoming problems within and without ourselves. I used to hate kumite, which is mandatory in our style. I hated it, because I was always losing. I used to get picked on all the time at school. When I would lose a sparring match, I would just shut down. Then, one day, I realized that I had to face it and embrace my fear of losing. I started karate to learn to defend myself. How could I do that, if I couldn't fight? I was determined to get better at kumite. I even asked the most difficult opponents to spar, including the instructor, to spar with me whenever I could. Yes, it was scary. Yes, I lost a lot. But, eventually, I started winning against people, even against some that were higher rank than I. I began winning tournaments, which I wouldn't have even thought possible when I first began. Why did I work so hard at it? Because I had self image issues, as you do. I had to do it to prove that I could. There is a word that is used in some styles - OSU! It is a contraction of the Japanese words Oshi (to push) and Shinobu (to endure). It's meaning is to push yourself to overcome adversity, and to endure all the hardships that come along your path. In our style, it is a motto. It is something that we are asked to live up to. Whenever you want to shut down, just remember OSU - push and endure, and you will succeed. Don't let yourself allow you to fail.

OSU! Congratulations, kohai! You have learned much since I began instructing you, and you have shared what you have learned with others. I am proud to have such a student as you. OSU!

If my sensei was in a fight and handling himself well, I would use the experience to learn. I would watch him and take new knowledge from it. I would not jump in to steal his thunder. If he wasn't fairing well (i.e. outnumbered, weapons being used, outclassed, etc...) I would definitely jump in to help. I was trained to use what I know to help those who can't defend themselves. This would be the case in this scenario.

Name: Michael Rank: Kyokushinkai - Nidan since 1984 Daitoryu Aikijutsu - 8th kyu TKD - red belt

In Kyokushinkai one can only achieve 10th Dan posthumosley. This is in honor of Sosai Oyama, who as originator of the style, was only a 10th Dan. The highest you can go is 9th Dan before you die. So any Kyokushin claiming to be 10th Dan, or higher is either lying, or dishonoring the memory of Sosai Oyama. I really think that most of the concept of ranking should be done away with. Maybe just have ten ranks total ( including the kyu ranks.) (oh, then american dojo's would end up losing students left and right, oh well... I still think it is a good idea.) Things have really gotten too far out of hand.

I began Kyokushinkai in 1980 at the age of 14, and will probably train in this style until I die. After trying various other styles, none have ever matched the level of training that I had from my old Kyokushinkai Sensei. (Note, not all Kyokushin sensei's that I have known are as demanding as mine was. It was his expectations of perfection that pushed us to push ourselves in the dojo, and in life.) (He is still the only one that I refer to as "my Sensei".) For me, the Kyokushin philosophy has become integral part of who I am. Not everyone that has taken it feels quite as strongly as I, but there it is.

Oops, I forgot to mention that Sanchin also shows how to coordinate breath with the technique, as well as teaching how to extend KI into the strike.

Especially SANCHIN!

I know nothing of kata Naihanchi, having never learned it. Sanchin, however, I have studied since 1980. Having failed my brown belt test. I was made to practice it by my Sensei, "Until it is PERFECT!". At first, I hated it, but the more I did it the more I realized its benefits. (I still practice it at least twice a day.) It not only strengthens the body, focuses the mind on multiple tasks, develops KI, develops the leg muscles for stronger stances translating into more powerful techniques and better balance. If I forgot something, please let me know. It strengthens mind, body and spirit! The movements are kept simple for the same reason that zen meditation is simple. There is a lot more going on than what appears on the surface. If the movements were complex, the kata would lose its purpose. As I said, I don't know anything about Naihanchi, but sanchin is a different matter.

The One, The Only - (Virtual Drum roll) Sanchin! and Lao Gar kuen (A.K.A. Lao set)

While I do agree that control is a neccessary skill that all karateka must learn, I must also disagree about the lack of emphasis that full contact training is given in most styles. It is not the experience of hitting your opponent that is of value, rather it is the experience of being hit and how you react to it in combat that matters. You react the way you train. The whole purpose of medium and hard contact (w/o pads or gloves) is to teach the student to overcome pain so that when they are hit on the street, they WILL NOT crumple in a little mewling pile to be beaten at the leisure of their attacker. Before anyone in my style engages in full contact, they voluntarily undergo rigorous body conditioning training. (After six months of this training, I found that I just would not bruise (at least for the next five years) even after having (36" long with a 1" diameter) oak dowels broken across my abdomen, and back.) But the down side to this training is that the conditiioning process is rather painful. (Honestly, if it sounds like it, I am not trying to brag.) Those who have not volunteered for the training are limited to light, or no contact. As are their opponents. So, even though I have fought numerous heavy contact matches, I have fought even more in non/light/medium contact matches. Contact, in Kyokushinkai, is considered neccessary not only to temper the mind and body, but also the spirit. It allows you to lose the fear of pain, because YOU are in control of it, not letting either the pain, nor the fear of pain to hinder your actions. No matter the level of contact, control is considered to be of the utmost importance. ( otherwise all of my classmates would never have been able to afford our lessons for all the medical bills! ) Just because I can break more than 10 tiles doesn't mean I cannot control the amount of power I put into a strike from a light as a feather touch to a bone shattering strike.

We learned how to do that through experience. We did a lot of hard body contact in free sparring. Neat idea though, to do a drill for it!

I teach out of some very profound emotions. *The first is that I feel a deep obligation to pass on what I have learned in order to honor those that enabled the knowledge to be passed on to me. *Karate has become such a passion for me that I cannot help sharing it with others. *I am also a natural teacher. (I was actually asked by one of my instructors "Who is supposed to be the instructor here, HMMM? If you want to teach a class get your own studio!" I was kinda embarassed. )

The best books that I have read concerning the Martial Arts are: *Miyamoto Musashi - his life and writings, by Kenji Tokitsu (really explains the next book, and is a seriously good book) *The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho), by Miyamoto Musashi *The Art of War, by SunTzu *The Unfettered Mind, by Takuan Soho (really good) *Hagakure And (saving the best for last) *Living the Martial Way- the way a modern warrior should think, by Forrest E. Morgan, Major USAF. (this last one seriously changed my life! I have two copies- one for studying and note taking, and one hardbound for rereading. A Must have!)

Very good article! I have only one thing to add. When you strike someone, the force of the blow sends a shockwave through their body. Very quickly, some of the force rebounds back through the limb doing the striking, thus limiting the effective power of the strike. If you are able to retract your striking limb quickly enough, The recoiling power has no way to leave the opponents body. My Sensei used this technique on me to prove that muscular power is no match for technique. He threw a fast punch at my chest. Began retracting it even before touching me. His knuckles barely brushed my skin through my Gi, and Wham! It felt as though his fist had passed through me! He barely touched me! Later, on accident, I did something similar to a friend. We were just playing around, when reflex took over and I powered up a hook to his head. Before it landed, I realized what I was about to do and tried to pull it before it nailed him. My knuckles barely touched him. He fell to the floor holding his head! needless to say I appologized very quickly. But it taught us both how to use the technique. I hope this helps someone.

Cha'n Buddhism came about in China when Buddhists added taoist philosophy into their belief system, and found that it not only fit, but that it actually helped to directly transmit (without words through direct experience, since not there are things that cannot be explained by words, but must be experienced to understand) enlightenment. The Japanese later called it Zen when it was imported from china. The Bushi of Japan found that Zen helped them in numerous ways. Losing fear of death, not being distracted by the enemy (zanshin), being able to "know" what an opponent will do before even he knows (mushin), and many other abilities that enhanced their survival on the battlefield. The Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao.

An old article in MA Training suggests that the perfect height for a Bo is 3" taller than the person using it. Don't know if it is true, but it works well for me.

There are always differences from school to school. My School trained hard with a emphasis on the street. But we also trained hard on the other aspects (i.e. kata, meditation, body hardening, non-contact, full-contact, falls, kihon, and more kihon). We also practiced without pads-full contact. Bunkai was taught in Q&A sessions, or when someones curiousity got the better of them. It was not uncommon for me to see other Kyokushin students from other schools lose to us in tournaments, have less discipline, and sloppy kata. I used to wonder how that could be. I figured that we were all in the same style, so our training must be the same. Obviously not. My point is that it is not neccessarily the style, as much as the instructor and student. The style is merely the structure. It is up to the karateka (whethter Sensei, or student) to train appropriately. I have studied several styles of MA (none of which pushed me as hard as Kyokushinkai), but that doesn't mean that they are any better-or worse than Kyokushinkai (I have seen other Kyukushinkai school members (from other schools) flap their arms in imitation of kata. Floundering their way to Shodan without knowing what the moves mean. I was disgusted. I was also disgusted to find that they passed!) My Sensei always uses these words at the end of each class -- "PRACTICE! OSU!" These words defined our school and many others--not neccessarily all Kyukushin schools. There are always bad apples in every barrel.

If you can't take much pain, then it isn't for you. Full contact, no pads, training through the pain. I have had oak dowels broken across my abs, and lower back. The idea is to not let the pain stop you, ever! Black belt initiation is bing hit by the entire school (All Ranks and wieght divisions) in any fashion, at any power that each karateka wishes. It is a test of endurance, and character.