atalaya

make sure you're hitting the right spots for your advertisements. obviously you want to announce with a poster or a flier or something, but don't hang it in an inappropriate place. gyms are good (people associate fitness and martial arts), if you teach a slow, internally focused martial art you might advertise with a local church or retirement home. try putting some advertisements up at the local supermarket, et cetera, but get permission first. also, hit colleges. there are bound to be people that read them and pass the word on. leave good contact info and the schedule for your classes.

the unfortunate thing to consider when trying to make the martial arts available to everyone is that a student must seek out the master. a teacher can't "push" the martial arts on anyone- otherwise they won't be able to appreciate their art and study. also, there is simply no substitute for hands-on instruction. you can "learn" all you want from a book or a video, but until the master can give you proper guidance, you are simply mimmicking a martial artist and are not actually a martial artist yourself. i have had run-ins with people who believe that by watching kick-boxing videos and doing the exercises that they will learn to be kick-boxers- they don't have the refinement or the experience that a teacher could give them. there is a different "feel" to them.

swimming is one of the biggest helps i've had from the outside. i've been teaching swimming for years and it helps me explain complex physical movements verbally. also, i find that the physical conditioning is excellent and can be a good change of pace exercise for your class. (especially doing things like kick/punch/blocking drills or kata while partially submerged in water). cpr and first aid classes have also helped me (you are probably going to end up patching someone up and you learn how to cut the blood flow off to different parts, about immobilizing extremeties, breathing, et cetera). taking a break from your class and trying out a different class may also help you learn more than you realize. you can see the difference between the two arts or even within the same art two teachers may not have the same approach. ballet if you're brave. dance has helped (swing and waltz). break yourself away from the ordinary and pursue the extraordinary.

one thing that i look at before advancing a student is how they have helped to further the art. when i look at the way they've interacted with students of a lower rank or when i give a student a portion of the class to teach it is important to have the belt system in place. why? so the other students can see how far that student has run the martial course and what that student may be able to tell them about the road ahead. i would not ask a yellow belt what to expect in a green belt test, though he may know the technical details, the green belt will be able to help me prepare for the test in addition to giving me the information. belts (when used properly) can help ease an immense burden from the teacher by allowing students to interact and grow together without the constant bickering of who is right. the higher rank is usually right and when there is a doubt, the teacher will appear. the belt system gives everyone the chance to be teacher and student.

adonis appears to have hit the nail on the head as far as making kata a personal training exercise versus simply mimicking what others show you. by having your peers stand in as "victim-teers" you can try each technique in a new way. share your ideas. write down what you find works and doesn't work. try holding knives or sticks in your hands while you perform different movements. as an aside- i have enjoyed the discussion about what is "traditional." perhaps something to consider, however, is that the nature of language and words in specific is to convey meaning. if i say "traditional karate" and someone understands it to mean what i practice- i have succeeded in my attempts at being understood.

i love this topic! one of the best parts of dealing with martial artists, in my opinion, is that they are willing and even eager to express themselves/help/explain things to newer or non-practitioners. this is in keeping with the idea that we are all part of a larger whole, because as the parts or members improve, the life and health of the all is improved. certainly miyamoto musashi felt the responsibility that martial artists before and after him have felt to record their teachings and understanding. this would be a good idea for everyone; get a journal and write the story of your learning process. notes from your teachers. your personal thoughts and impressions. specific/detailed instructions on certain topics. the history of your style. those treasures will become increasingly valuable to you when the time comes to try to pass on your martial heritage.

i am kind of remembering a discussion about how the swabbed skin of the inside of your mouth has a reaction when you are happy under a microscope. (even after separation from the body). your body's cells (apparently) maintain some kind of electric-empathy to your brain and nerve endings and actually have marked changes. is this the aura thing? there are a lot of chemical and electrical changes in the body during different moods and it stands to reason that mind over matter applies to the matter controlled directly by your mind.

in the old days, someone would accuse you of consorting with the devil and having the gift of prophecy. (not me). you may be able to use your deja vu to your benefit. since the feeling is usually one of familiarity in an unfamiliar situation, you can draw comfort and peace from that emotion. with practice you might be able to turn your familiarity into better reflexes. do low weight/high rep exercises at high speeds and stretch a lot. spend a lot of time meditating and breathing. when the feeling comes, try to identify what brought it on. also, try to determine how you can use it to benefit yourself and others. reacting naturally to a punch instead of flinching, for example.

during sanchin kata we are to use "hard breathing" or breathing so that you can hear the breath on the "in" and "out" phases. it definitely helps you tense your body. (sanchin kata testing involves striking various parts of the body to test "toughness")- sauzin, you may be familiar with this. (also a kiai is a forceful breath from your core that "ignites" and helps you "express" your chi- hard breathing is a smaller version of that.)

something that may help is to mentally train yourself by imagining the thing you fear, and practicing as if you were going to defeat it. i am getting ready for my basic training (army) and i am scared a lot. i deal with it by running and thinking about running for the army. and when i run i wear a weight vest to simulate the pack i'll be carrying. sometimes i yell at myself and yell back what i think drill sargeants will say to me. that can be a lot of fun and takes away a lot of the fear. become the thing that defeats the thing you are afraid of.

okay. so are you asking if to be a good martial artist, you should meditate? kung fu was developed as a physical expression of meditation. it had the side effect of being very powerful in defense, so it became a major martial art. roots: it was meditation! can you do kung fu or karate without meditation?> i don't think so. you may trick yourself into believing that kata isn't meditation, but think again! since regular movements are to be applied against someone or something, your imagining an opponent becomes a kind of mediation.

i may not have all the answers, but i do know that the west coast owes a lot to bruce lee for its widespread interest in martial arts. (i say this because i lived in ca and in wa and in both places there are thousands of dojos). bruce lee had schools in ca and wa and his grave is in wa. (people come from all over just to place flowers on his grave) i know that a lot of masters live in places like oklahoma- so good training should be had out there, but i don't know what it's actually like.

i started studying kyokushin because i was scared of the other places to study (one was an aikido school that used a lot of work with shinai) and stayed with it because i was able to learn techniques that actually helped me as kyokushin is a "hard" style. i got into goju as a way of continuing practice and stayed because of the close connection between goju and kyokushin. i got into aikido to help me to learn to be "soft." in truth i feel that it is the most complete way of studying: hard, hard-soft, soft.

i'm a young guy myself (23) and it is hard for me to make the leap to "adulthood" and all that that implies. something good comes of that, though. parents begin to respect your abilities as both a teacher and a person and this is a positive influence when bridged with the respect their children (should) have for you.

here is an idea that i was reminded of a little while ago... have students break boards using techniques! that is a lot of fun and is definitely good training. my teenagers did that this morning and despite bruises and sore hands they laughed their way through seeing who could break the most in one strike, what kinds of strikes they could use, et cetera. (i break one with a one inch punch, you try to do the same) (or you break five boards, i try to do the same) ... one inch pine boards (with the grain!!) cut your own, i got fifty four for around sixty bucks.

you seem to be a very sincere person and that goes a long way. someone mentioned how bruce lee had a similar viewpoint. true. he studied an art for a time, studied some philosophy and decided he wanted to teach a "new" way that he called jeet kun do (way of the intercepting fist). of course some may dispute these statements. this "new" style incorperated techniques used in a mix of various styles that already existed at that time. let us not forget about daruma who began by studying chi kung and developed his mind and body to the point that he felt he needed to share. he was rejected by the "learned" and went to the shaolin temple to teach the monks there, but they also refused to hear him out- resolute, daruma meditated for nine years and was finally accepted and taught the monks... kung fu. nothing is new, but nothing ever was new. there have only been slight changes in techniques over the past millenia and if you feel in your heart you have something, refine it-practice it-live it- and share it.

when i was a teen i had been studying kyokushin for some time and found that the routine wasn't wearing on me, but on my fellow students which would wear on me. my teacher, thankfully, was very understanding of the teenage preocupation with games and competition. one day he came in with a bag full of styrofoam blocks wrapped in electrical tape and threw them at us. first we had to dodge them (standing against a wall), then try to hit them out of the air with punches, kicks, blocks, and last we had to try to catch them. as some of you may know, Master Oyama studied for a time with some of the big wigs in Goju-ryu and goju uses the old training method of throwing fruit (and catching it) to train. this is a very good game and i have used it since with my students with much success! you can use anything wrapped in duct tape (soft things get fewest complaints) like socks balled up, empty water bottles, pieces of styrofoam- differing sizes increase difficulty. have fun!

well, i'd imagine that the original kung fu taught to the monks at the little (young?) forest temple could be reconstructed by studying chi kung, the pre-kung fu, and comparing the off shoots of the original kung fu -wushu, white crane style, et cetera, and kind of going half-way... that would give them a good concept of what the techniques may have been. also, zen buddhism plays a big part in kung fu- concepts of meditation, simplicity and balance should be carefully examined ...

i did a paper a while ago on martial arts history which discussed (in parts) the missionary work of bodhidharma (known to the japanese, and me-prior to this paper, as daruma) who left india to teach the aristocrats/ruling families/cultured people the beauty of kung fu (which was developed from the energy boosting practice of chi gong). when he was rejected he tried to go to the shaolin temple, where the sedentary monks refused him entry for nine years. legend has it during this time that daruma meditated facing a wall (once it is said that he fell asleep while meditating and cut his own eyelids!) when they allowed them in he taught them kung fu and the zen practice of buddhism. kung fu was to be used as more of a meditation practice than anything else (according to my research)... wouldn't girls be able to go back to those original teachings and learn backward, kind of reverse engineer original "shaolin" kung fu?

do a search for the coelacanth and you will find that some things that we think don't exist (or don't exist anymore) stubbornly try to prove us wrong. though we consider ourselves the masters of this planet, how much of it do we even know ? dragons- most definitely have existed in some form or another.

martial arts often use the suffix -do (meaning "way"). "do" is used to denote a form or path that will lead to enlightenment. there are many "ways" of life; flower arrangement, pottery, carpentry, et cetera- but if you choose a "martial" way to reach enlightenment you must pursue that course and not get caught up in "the thick of thin things." that being said- we are not all short swords. there was a good movie made about an ex-sword fighting instructor who was sent by his clan to kill a man who was an expert in war. the ex teacher was out of practice and lived a very stale life, but was able to defeat his opponent because his opponent used a long sword in a house, instead of a short sword which has a greater advantage in closed quarters. -my point- we are not all boxers. i admire traditional tkd, but could never practice it because i am not a tkd practitioner. to quote a great sailor "i yam what i yam."

this has been a topic of deep interest to me and many of my friends. it appears that there is substantial evidence in support of a divine fighting method- especially during the wrestle Jacob had with an angel (gen 32:24-32) wherein the angel "touched the hollow of his thigh" and the sinew shrank and it went out of joint. i have also heard it said that "turning the other cheek" had quite a bit of political significance as well. slaps were given with the back of the right hand when given to someone of lower station (this is the same society that determined the kinds of knots you could tie on shabbot). turning the other cheek put you on similar social status with the "attacker" since they had to use the palm to slap again (no one would use left hand for that kind of thing, not even mean people)