Taikudo-ka

Now Zak, didn't anyone fight out of Sanchin stance?

The best thing I did was to go to class early and got through the kata slowly with a sempei. At worst try to learn one or two new moves each time. Eventually you'll have the whole kata down pat.

Yeah, I'm a fan of mokosu as well. It doesn't shout "hey look at me, I'm meditating", like sitting there in the lotus position. Plus its a bit more universal - I've even seen a picture of an ancient hill Rasta demonstrating meditation, and you might as well say he was sitting in a classical "mokosu" position.

Well the working day theoretically finishes at around 5:00pm, and most classes start around 6-7pm, and go to maybe 8 or 9, so there is plenty of time (in theory) to attend MA training. Of course, in reality, work sometimes interferes, and adults sometimes come late to class through no fault of their own. Sometimes maybe they can't train as much as they want, but hey, if you can't spare a few nights a week for an hour or so, it's probably a sign you are working too hard (and damaging your health thru stress and lack of exercise). Of course there's also weekend training, and martial arts is one of few physical activities or sports where families can all participate together. (Unlike football, baseball, cricket, etc, where things are rigidly grouped according to age and gender). Ironically, I've been working weekends so that I have days free during the week to train. Weeknights I have to work a night shift...

Breath, take it slow, and focus on the kata you are performing. Focus your vision on a point in front of you, where your "imaginary opponent" is, not on the surroundings. If you wear glasses, maybe you could remove them to simulate the "blindfold effect"... If you get distracted, refocus, breath, and continue.

Use the free time to train your mind as well. Learn to play music or rebuild an engine or write poetry or something. My sensei believes one should train seven days a week, but I must say that here I still believe it's good to take a break and do something completely different every so often.

My understanding was that Shi-To was an attempt to create a "unified karate" combining features of most of the original styles. Hence the vast amount of kata - they took just about every kata from every style that was going around Okinawa. My question is - are you actually required to learn all those kata? Or does there come a point in a Shi-to ryu practitioner's life when they get to select the kata they want to learn from this massive library? I must say, one aspect that attracted me to Goju was the fact that we only have about a dozen or so kata. I feel that for me personally, that's enough to last me a lifetime. As Sherlock Holmes once remarked, there's only so much data that can be stored in the mind at any one time.

Yes. You will fork out vast sums of American dollars to be taught Wu Shu by a guy from the nearby village who changes into orange robes just before the lesson... Well... what did you expect? Kwai Chang Kane? I've looked into this, and heard quite a few reports. There are still hordes of western people staying there to learn MA, so they must get something out of it.

Aahhh, the mythical "street fighter". Trained at the best street-fighter-ryu dojo this side of Konami... Wouldn't another word for "street fighter" be "untrained, drunken lout"? Who else fights in public on a regular basis?

I think you guys should do Taido. The most acrobatic martial art. (Or so it has been billed)

Iain Abernathy's book is great, though a bit beyond beginners. It has some meat in it though, unlike many other "martial arts" books out there. He has a new one called "Bunkai Jutsu" which extends the content of the first book. Although I haven't read it, I assume it would be better to get this over the first book. Any good Goju-Ryu books out there?

I still have all my internal organs - even tonsils. I'd prefer to keep it that way. Have you been 'regular'? Kickchick, if this happened to me I'd probably just avoid solids for a day and drink heaps of water and juice. Do you think this could cause a similar rupture? (I've never taken a chemical laxative.)

So someone else is doing better than you... big deal! Forget about it... Also, when we sometimes seem to get worse at something, it is often a sign that we've actually (finally) become aware of faults in our technique and areas for improvement. Once you're aware of what you're doing wrong, you can work to improve it. Just focus on your own improvement, and you might eventually start beating this guy again.

Hey Bon, after thinking this over I decided that karate might not provide everything you're after here. Perhaps something with a higher female:male ratio, something where they'd be begging for male participation... - Ball room dancing - Yoga - Cardio kickboxing and other purely "fitness/lose weight" type activities. - Avon parties

Hey G, on the other hand uniforms will NEVER be removed from Australian schools, for similar but opposite reasons to those you give for America... It was once voted upon school by school, and just about everyone voted to keep uniforms. (Not I). BTW a uniform did not stop people from judging each other on what they wore, as everyone found ways to "extend" and get around the uniform code, eg different shoes, types of pants, etc. It DEFINITELY did not stop bullying and discrimination, as that was a daily occurance for most students. Overall, public education is an exercise in child-minding, 13 years of tedium in which they fit about 2-3 years worth of education. I literally taught myself rocket science in year 9, in spare time during classes/breaks, etc. Forgotten it now though...