Fairfax_Uechi

Actually I can buy one for a few bucks, or go to a McDojo and buy one by spending a lot of money!!!! . But you're right to truely earn one requires lots of hard work.

That can happen. Great of you to see it. As Jaymac said, look at how well they're doing, and help them perfect all they can. It might even accelerate them more, and if it does you know a few things. One, they are truely committed, and two you're doing a great job. If it slows them down, then you did them the right thing. In either case, you'll either slow them down and they needed it, or they'll get even better. In both cases you do right. Also keep the communication open, and keep up the good work.

If your MA school fails, could you sell or rent the store front and not lose money that you can't afford to lose? Can you rent it and cover the expenses? Are properties going up in value? Are you financing it or paying cash? Look at the real estate part of the transaction as a seperate business than your MA school. This will tell you if buying the property makes sense. Now do the same sort of thing with the MA school. One thought that came to mind is to talk with the guy across the street. Do you know him, have you met him, or just seen his school? I can tell you that if you opened a business right across from me and it was similar to mine, I'd have adverse feelings towards you. Now if you talked with me before, I still might, or I might actually want to work with you for the betterment of both of us. It would depend on many factors, such as how directly you compete with me, and what benefits and negatives your business would have on mine. In other words, think things through carefully before opening across the street from someone else. Do some homework before you decide to talk to him/her or not. Good luck and keep us posted.

SUPPLEMENTS! That's what most folks don't understand. I have many books, and some videos that I've downloaded off of Uechi sites. They've helped me when I'm learning something new, or working to perfect something, but I'd never consider them a primary source to learn by. Going to class and learning from my Sensei and being corrected over and over and over until I get it is bad enough, but if I wasn't in class, I'd probably never get things right. FYI, do you use videos at all? One area that I"m toying with is to tape my practices. This way I can see what I'm working on. The hard part is making the time to train as it is, let alone going through a bunch of tape and watching it.

You said it. At times all of the hard work seems like a royal pain. And wouldn't it be nice to do it the "easy way". Well as you know, the things that really are worthwhile are the ones we have to work the hardest for. Sadly our society has come to value instant gratification over hard work and a sense of accomplishment.

This is so true. Recently I had a student who is pretty senior in the Kyu ranks say that he patience was thinner since he gained some rank. What we talked about is how after a few years, a student learns quite a bit and knows that they're starting to be pretty good. This is a very dangerous time as they know enough to hurt someone but also don't have the many years that humble someone. In other words, I think it's normal for all Martial Artist to go through stages. Some come in wanting to learn to fight, others are pretty passive and want to defend themselves. Folks calm down after training awhile, then get edgy as they progress. Finally as they get more experience they learn to seek inner peace and become a true martial artist. Now, this is just my observation, and it's very general. Anyone notice similar trends.

Yes, it is said that Uechi is Sanchin. All is Sanchin. Sanchin is in all. In other words, everything we do in Uechi is based on Sanchin. The great thing is that we work it and work it and work it until you're so sick of it that you just finally accept it and then just make it part of your art, then work on perfecting it and mastering it as it becomes yours. For something thats so natural it takes a long time to master (like a lifetime).

Where are you located. In any major city and most mid sized ones there are sporting events, movies, and bowling. Other standbys are picnics, charitable events, etc. Our dojo plans events several times a year. When we plan we decide what we'll do for the next year. So if we plan twice a year, we do it for the year, then we do it about six months later and for the next year with some overlap. We get folks to sponsor events that they want to get involved with and think that students, parents, friends etc would participate in. Anything can be suggested, and anyone can sponsor. The only thing is that the sponsor must be involved. Some events involve the whole dojo. Others are small groups. But it builds friendships and folks enjoy getting together outside of the dojo.

We have several teenagers in our dojo. They are just like every other person, but as others said, they can be very energetic and gung ho at times. The key is to treat them with respect, and lead by examples. Include the parents, and make sure that ramafications exist if they use what you teach them to harm someone.

I have to respectfully disagree. To pick an art, Lets say, I compare Shotokan to Uechi. From my limited knowledge of Shotokan, it seems that they do many things differently than we do in Uechi. They appear to have many low stances while we're more upright, they appear more linear while we're more circular. Even a style closer to Uechi such as Gojo is very different. And this is just the basic body positioning and foot placement. Sure kicks and punches are similar and some blocks are the same, but if your footing and stance are different it really becomes a totally different art. In my case, I can tell you after all of my training it would be a real disaster for me to attempt to train in an art with low stances with feet spread far apart. First it's not natural for me, and second it's the opposite of what all of my training reinforced.

From the OMMA website "The OMAA system is rooted in the study of fighting forms or katas from Chinese Kung Fu and the Okinawan Arts: Uechi Ryu, Goju Ryu and Shorin Ryu." This sends red flags to me. Nowhere on the site besides this quote and a similar quote in the adult class section do they mention styles. From the little bit I know about Gojo Ryu it's very different from Uechi so I wonder what the deal is. Also no information on the Sensei other than his name in the endorsements is made. This also concerns me. The other site looks much better as far as information. Like others said, I'd suggest you check them both out. As far as OMMA. If you seriously consider them, check into their lineage, and let us know, I can check on the Uechi and I'm sure others can do so for the Gojo and Shorin.

Funny you should say that. I figured out what I wanted by eliminating all that I didn't want. High Kicks, MMA, sport MA, etc. When I was done, I found Uechi which worked out perfect.

That sounds very resonable, and it sounds like you have a great attitude. Best of luck and keep us posted. As you relearn/remember stuff, you'll find new enjoyment in your art.

WOW. Sounds like a great experience for a great cause. Congrats.

Well it's said. I see your from the UK. I'm both sad and happy to see that you have the same instant desire mentality that we have here in the U.S. Sad because it's a bad sign for the world. Happy because it's not just the U.S. One thought that comes to mind, is that these students have now gone to a McDojo. There's not much you can do about it. But what bothers me is that the McDojos continue to grow and as we all know the more and more they do the less respect that the true martial artist gets. The perception is that we're all products of these places. I'm sure at some point, I'll just keep my training totally to myself and my very close friends which is both sad a blessing. Sad in that I'll get very selective in my teaching and who will get to learn what I've learned. A blessing in that I'll bring my art further internally, and the few students that I teach will be the ones that I think able to carry the principles and beliefs that I have about my art.

As one who has an extensive scientific background, I would say that martial arts apply many scientific principals, but they are not normally taught using much science. They're more a passage from one to the other, even the books written are not scientific in nature. Now there is a huge exception. Bruce Lee studied using a scientific approach. He kept detailed notes, experimented, looked at the results, and was very critical of nonscientific nature of martial arts at the time. Sadly, his death put an end to his work. Now, I've never heard of anyone else doing detailed study like he did, but I'm sure there are others, they're just not very well known.

I hope I read this wrong. If you truely mean this, then maybe you need to keep a training log or some sort of journal. In my log, I keep my workouts on one page, and coments on the backs of the previous page. I record everything, how the workout went, how I feel, etc. I do this as martial arts is an aspect of my life that ties it all together. As I've mentioned in ohter posts, I look at the internal as a huge part of the arts. So many little things become clear through my training. Now with all of that said, I try to make a little progress in everything every day. So what may not seem like much day to day, is huge over months, years, and decades. For instance, I used to have a huge temper. Through taining, couseling, and chaning my attitude, I still have a temper, but it's one thats like a sleeping fed lion. It's there, it's very powerful, but as long as it's not threatened it's like it doesn't exist. But threaten it enough and it can come out. The key is keeping it asleep, which I continue to work on. In any case, do you meditate? Do you evaluate yourself often? Or are you very hard on yourself and evaluate yourself all the time? There's a difference between seeing progress over time and just looking at today, yesterday, and the short term. If you've truely come a long way after some reflection, then I hope I've helped. If you honestly believe that you've made little progress, I would challenge you to look at changing your training (on the mental side), and give yourself 3 months to see if you can make some huge leaps!!!

I know of a Uechi student locally who broke his wrist by being kicked. It takes time to heal. He was out about 3 months, and is working "easily" until it's fully healed. My suggestion to you is to listen to your doctor, AND your body. Don't push it, and try too hard. Give your body time to heal it's not worth it, even though its not broken, give it time.

If your instructor is worth anything he/she won't invite you to test unless you are ready. Now an invitation doesn't mean that you'll pass, but the test should be a formality unless you royally mess up and/or don't prepare for the test. Like others said, the fee should be for the time and expenses of the test, the test boards time, and any extra costs. But each school is different. For instance, I could teach for a nomial fee, then charge a higher test fee, or charge a little more in fees with low test fees, or I could charge nothing. It really depends on what I feel my time and effort is worth. (BTW, in my case, I freely give private lessons and charge what someone can afford. Personally, I'm not teaching to earn money, but I do expect something for my time even if it's only symbolic).

younwhadoug It sounds like you have it together. The only suggestion is what you probably know and that is to just be yourself. Train hard, and don't worry about them. BTW, how about learning to use mixed case!!! It really helps making what you write easier to read.

Yes and no. Self defense should be your primary goal and learning to avoid bad situations should be at the top of your skills as well as getting out of bad situations without fighting, but let's face it. If we have to defend ourselves there is a chance that we may have to fight. And we all train to be able to fight well. So call it what you want. But it's all part. BTW, due to political correctness we often forget the MARTIAL in martial arts.

Actually it's more than most people will ever learn in Uechi!!!! If you think of the number of people that start Uechi and those who make it to 2, 3 and/or 4 Dan and finally learn all 8, it's very rare. Afterall, at Shodan, most Uechi folks only have learned the first 5 right??!!!

As others have said. Uechi has 8 kata which is plenty to learn. Mastering Sanchin takes a lifetime, and that's the first kata. So I can't imagine what it would talke to master all 8.

I don't like any style. I train in Uechi and it's a very good art for me. Overall, I get the impression that Uechi has a great reputation for producing some very capable Martial Artist. More popular styles typically have more belt mills. A lot of this has to do with the shere number of people in the styles. Now with all of that said, the art isn't what's important, what's important is the artist. And yes, I know folks in many different styles. Some good, some not so good, and some excellent. (And I'm the best me there is, and I'm an ok Martial Artist, but always working to get better)