Zaine

Congrats! Well earned!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

You've asked a good question here. I think that Funakoshi nails it here. Self-defense is a huge part of what we do when we practice any martial arts. For many of us, this is the principle motivator for joining any martial art in the first place. However, I think that there is a philosophical side to martial arts. Martial arts are just self-defense and a sound body, but a sound mind as well (think of the old adage sound mind; sound body). It's not enough to be a great physical specimen of martial arts, because with no wisdom behind the techniques all we get is ego and brutality. Martial arts requires, I believe, the wisdom to use it. So often we tell stories of how arrogant practitioners are kicked out of schools because they refuse get in line, or a complain of a student of another school who does not practice restraint. So I think that Funakoshi is correct, martial arts should teach you to leave ego at the door, not caring whether or not you win or lose, only that you learn from each instance and apply that for the betterment of yourself.

I agree with you here. I don't see the problem in posting kata online. I certainly would never advocate for that being a replacement, and I often don't recommend that people pursue online education for martial arts until they have been practicing for a few years, but looking at a kata for reference, or even a different perspective, is rarely a bad thing. I think you also run in to the problem of people not wanting to post higher level katas because it is "supposed to be secret" or something similar, but in this case setting up a website that gives permissions to certain people to access certain pages with videos higher level techniques is fairly easy. That way you can guard these katas from outside eyes while allowing your students to learn through them. I've always had trouble finding kata videos for Matsumura Seito that reflect even the way that we learned it. A very legitimate concern your teacher may have is that because there can be so many variations even in the same system that they are worried that the kata you learn won't be the kata that they teach.

So general geek things? Cool!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you! What kind of geek podcast?

It's important to remember that there is more than one way to generate power. For example, Shorin Ryu tends to generate this power from the ground up by turning the body. With way uses the body to strike, it doesn't necessarily use its entire weight to do so, as other ways would. The trick is to find the way that works best for your body and go from there. If you wanted to generate power as your sensei would teach you, then continually practice with a makawari or heavy bag until you can both generate great power and do the technique correctly.

I think it depends on what I wanted to focus on. After warm ups, focusing on one or two kata seems like a good way to spend the half hour if I didn't want to practice techniques for another area.

Congrats! Well deserved!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you.

I'm about 3 hours east in Tyler. Our options are pretty limited here, but if you know anything about this area, or anyone from this area with some guidance, let me know! That's a little out of my range, so unfortunately I can't help on that front. However, just be vigilant when you're looking for school. Proper research can go a long way.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you! I live in the DFW area, so if you're in the same area maybe I can point you in the right direction.

Start where you're comfortable! Check out the Karate forum, since what's being discussed there will probably be more familiar to you! Or, check out the Weapons page, if you're interested in becoming better at using weapons. Start your own thread, or feel free to add your input into any of the existing ones. We're excited to see what you contribute.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

This is an important question that I think that we need to ask throughout our Martial Arts life. When was the last time someone took a look at where we are? What have we let slip because no one has caught it? I think that it is when we allow ourselves to go unchecked for too long that we lose control of our egos and our martial arts.

The first and second ed are really special to me. They have this magic and mystery that I think that the later editions (to be fair, I have not played 5E as of yet) have failed to recreate in whole.

That pretty cool.

Agreed... Picking and choosing which "battles" ("spare time shenanigans", as you put it ) to engage in is the key. (And, D&D has become an "odd" thing, too, IMO... up to 5th Edition; our group sticks with a blend of the old 1st and 2nd Editions...) I played 2nd edition and a bit of 3rd edition under a great GM. If it just wasn't so damned time consuming... Hehehe... We call it the "Wayne's World Timewarp"... As soon as you break out the books, dice, and character sheets - doo-doo-doo-doo...doo-doo-doo-doo (space-time continuum blurring and waving)... It's 2 days later! Lol... I currently play Pathfinder once a week. I love table tops, they definitely make you forget about time (and how early you have to wake up the next morning).

Happy Birthday KF! It's awesome to have such a fantastic and accepting around and to be a part of it is both an honor an a privilege. Just as I found myself shaping my ideals of what it meant to be a martial artist based on what I learned here, I hope that in the future many other Martial Artists, young and old, will do the same.

Great post and questions Spartacus. Time, mostly. Time away from video games or other things that I love doing. They also take away from school and being with my family, so I have to budget my time wisely with these things so that I can get enough classroom training in to continue learning while at the same time being a good student, husband, and father. As far as material things go, I have not had to sacrifice much. Mostly, my passion for the various things in my life has necessitated an equal allotment to all of those things. The thing I struggled the most to let go of was pride, anger, selfishness; all of those things that martial arts is supposed to cull out of you.

Congrats Heidi! Thanks for all the awesome posts!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Happy Birthday Ken!

Train what you know! Remember that it is hard at first to keep good technique when you are far away from the dojo. Slow is correct, and as long as you don't rush through it and focus on doing this correctly.

Congrats! It's awesome that you had a great time! Good luck with your journey and keep us updated!