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Everything posted by Zaine
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During the beta, I played on World Tier 2 and noticed that there were some pretty good challenges. I had to pay attention to the mechanics and make sure that I was doing the right thing. It was a refreshing difference from some of the ARPGs that I have played recently where it felt like I was too overpowered from the jump.
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A while ago, Drew made a post giving some tips on being a practitioner of Martial Arts. In it, they mention that "The forms of Tai Chi contain much of the metaknowledge you will need to even stand a chance against some one who is trained, taller, etc." That got me thinking about the metaknowledge of Martial Arts altogether and I have been contemplating it for nearly 2 months. I feel like I have a shaky understanding of what that is, but I am curious about what y'all think when you hear the phrase Martial Arts Metaknowledge. Is it our understanding of technique? Is it the pedagogy and teaching behind a MA curriculum? Is it the ability to size up an opponent? What are your thoughts?
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Same. I am typically pretty bad when it comes to PvP trophies, but I feel like I can manage 5 PvP kills to get that particular achievement. There aren't many achievements to be had, honestly. They will add more with whatever DLC they are planning, but this most of the achievements are things that you would want to do anyway. It seems fairly easy to accomplish.
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I'm going Necro. Necro was the first class I played in D2 and I fell in love with it. I loved the Necro in D3, as well, and I played Necro during the open beta and had a lot of fun with it.
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I wish I had the money to be able to play it now instead of wait until after launch. As of now, I'm waiting for the 14th to be able to play. My wife joked that I should start a GoFundMe since I was being so impatient about it. Until then, I'm just playing some Diablo 2 seasonal content.
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Member of the Month for June 2023: Zaine
Zaine replied to Patrick's topic in KarateForums.com Announcements
Awesome! Thank you for this honor! -
I am so pumped for D4. I have been playing D2R a lot over the last few months as well. It's as great as I remember it. I did take a break to play Tears of the Kingdom and have put easily over 100 hours into that, as well. I wanted to sink as much time as I could into it so that I had a "free conscience" while playing D4. All these new video games are really messing up my reading time!
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Happy birthday!
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My original CI had a school that was in an MMA gym. We were a combat oriented school, so we fit in with the crowd more than maybe some others, but it was fine. We got questions every now and then.
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Member of the Month for May 2023: KarateKen
Zaine replied to Patrick's topic in KarateForums.com Announcements
Congrats! -
I agree. Zanshin is an important concept to MA as a whole, but especially so in Sanchin. They even have the benefit of sounding alike. I would have like to see a lot more talk about it as a concept.
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I'm definitely interested!
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Chapter 3: The Mechanics of Being in the Moment I lost my book for a bit. However, with it now found I can continue. I think this is a really cool title for the chapter. However, I do wish that he would have actually talked about the mechanics of being in the moment. I don't feel that he achieved that to any degree. He spends some a lot of time writing disparate facts about the brain, some of which are outdated, and fails to really bring it all together. I think that the worst thing here is that he fails to bring it back to Sanchin. Wilder talks a lot without consideration for the subject matter of the book. If he were to circle all of these random metaphors and allegories back into Sanchin, I think that the book would be much better. Instead, I get long-winded, dry, semi-educated information on the adrenal system with no relation to Sanchin in any way. I have two English degrees, and cannot really comment with any authority on all of this biological information. I just don't think that it has much of a place in this book. It feels like Wilder has a word count to hit and is ginning up any tangentially related subject to meet that criteria. Wilder says two statements here that, to me, stick out as being statements about Sanchin and Martial Arts. The first is this: It seems here that he is suggesting that Sanchin is performed slowly as a learning tool. I disagree with this, and my analysis on this is what started this thread in the first place, so I won't go through the whole thing again. Briefly, Sanchin teaches us about dynamic tension. It teaches when to relax, when to be tense, and how to breath. It's ease of learning has nothing to do with its speed. The second quote: I think this is a good analysis of the kata. Sanchin is good at teaching you how to balance these things within the moment. I often to Sanchin as a way to meditate. It helps me to remove myself from a strong emotion to see things more objectively. These two quotes were in the introduction paragraphs of this chapter. I think if Wilder had spoken towards these things, then the chapter would have been far more cohesive. Putting these lines in the introduction made me think that this was what we were going to be talking about and I found it odd when he took a left turn and began to discuss biology.
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I have sent you an email!
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It's definitely a journey. I started this journey before I got on medication for ADHD, Depression, and Anxiety. It was a lot harder to do without medication, but I did see improvement in my life. I don't think that Zen asks that we get rid of things like anger and anxiety. As negative as these are, they have some use. More than that, the idea that we could strip ourselves of these things is silly. What I think that Zen does is that it gives us the tools to recognize these emotions or instances of anxiety and make better decisions during your experience with these emotions. It's not about letting go. It's about having better tools. I would stick with it! I think that you will benefit from doing so.
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Certainly not. Not every practitioner and sensei can be good, the numbers just don't account for it. This is normal. There has always been, and always will be, schools that don't uphold a certain standard of excellence that others might. Is it unfortunate? Absolutely. In a perfect world, this wouldn't be the case. I would love to see every school doing its absolute best to make sure that the students got a quality, practical education. I wouldn't take your experience as the norm. There will always be schools and students who don't give their all. This just makes those that do give their all shine all the brighter.
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Nice! I'm happy to hear that you found something that works for you, even if it might need some modifications.
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Yes, karate uses fa jin. The idea, for those not in the know, is that the practitioner is relaxed and then suddenly throws a technique with explosive power. Think of the one-inch punch as an example of this. You suddenly focus all the kinetic energy you can create from the ground up to, and out of, the fist. I would say that a lot of two person work deals with fa jin. In my experience, the receiver of the attack remains relaxed and ready. Once the attacker throws the technique, the receiver then moves with explosive power to parry, block, or dodge that technique and issue a counter. We teach students to be relaxed because it allows them to move faster and maintains their endurance. Even in sparring, the idea is that the combatants should remain relaxed until they attack or receive. This also helps the student spar for longer periods of time, while alleviating chance of injuries.
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I think that I would add the Pinans and Empi Take/Iwa to your list. The Pinan series introduce a lot of concepts important for later kata. The Empi series uses elbows and teaches you to become comfortable with doing so in self-defense situations.
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Member of the Month for April 2023: Drew
Zaine replied to Patrick's topic in KarateForums.com Announcements
Congrats! Well deserved! -
I would say that it is more like a natural step forward, if a little smaller.
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I agree here, and I love the insight into Uechi, which focuses Sanchin throughout its curriculum. If I'm understanding you correctly, I think that approach of Uechi-Ryu is similar to how I see it. It is less a kata that requires a breakdown of bunkai, and more one that supports and informs the breadth of what it is that karate is for you. It takes the forefront of practice. I know that Uechi has a saying that everything is Sanchin (or comes back to Sanchin). In this, it makes sense that the practice of Sanchin is separate. It requires a different kind of study that other kata do not. Do I have this right? Or am I misinterpreting something here?
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You make great points here, aurik. The legacy of hojo undo and the strengthening of the body outside of martial practice goes very deep. In part, the introduction puts me off in no small way because it starts off with so much misinformation. It frustrates me as a writer, as well. I write fiction, and even then I do so much research to make sure that what I am making up is faithful to the history of the genre or world. It really seems like this guy just came in with a bunch of preconceived notions and a lot of audacity and went ham.
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I'm not a huge meditation person either, but doing a meditation through movement really connects with me. Maybe it's the ADHD, but I just can't stay still for long enough to meditate in what we think of as the traditional way. However, applying focus and centering myself through movements practiced 1000+ times is really helpful, especially when I am having bad days. I was recently at a dojo that largely practices Korean karate (the base of their system is Korean, but they also mix in Japanese influences and kata) and they had the same issue as you are having with the steps. I come from an Okinawan system, where the steps are shallower, so it was a little easier for me to get in line with the steps. That said, Sanchin Dachi is even a little shallower than what I was used to so it took some time to get into that rhythm.