Tag: kung fu

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Beginner’s Mind

Steve Rowe

“It is easier to write on a clean sheet of paper than one that someone has already scribbled all over” It’s a bit like singing in the choir with one chorister horribly out of tune, as the class glided nimbly across the Dojo floor into Neko Ashi Hanmi with an almost imperceptible ripple of power through each body manifesting itself like a whip into a powerful Shuto Uke, there was one klutz among us spoiling the harmony…… Thud!  As his foot stomped down on the floor in an unnaturally elongated stance, you could light a fag in between the timing … Continue reading Beginner’s Mind

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Who Do You Train For?

Steve Rowe

Who do you train for? Is it yourself? Or your self? Do you train to please your Instructor? Are you good because he says you are? Do you ‘try’ to do your martial arts well? If you’re ‘trying’ to do something, You’re not really doing it, You’re admitting failure before you begin. If you separate yourself from doing your art, You’re doing the opposite to what you should. If you’re training to please a separate ‘self’ you’ll fail, If it’s to please any other person, you will always be vulnerable. If you stop ‘trying’, If you stop trying to please … Continue reading Who Do You Train For?

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Power For Punching

Steve Rowe

“Junzuki Hidari Gamae…….  Ich!”  The atmosphere changed to that of total awareness as the class took up left step and punch in forward stance posture with an audible snap of their Karategi. “Kette Junzuki……  Ich!”  Front kick followed by Junzuki punch again. “Yameee!  What was that?”  Delivered in Sensei’s immaculate take off of Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon….. “A finger pointing to the moon Sensei!”  Exclaimed one wag sensing that there was a bit of humour in the air. “More like a retentive hop with a finger in Uranus and mind in neutral…” mused Sensei. “Let’s look at the … Continue reading Power For Punching

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Training With Age

Steve Rowe

Leo was obviously trying too hard. He was no spring chicken, in his late forties he was trying to compete with the youngsters.  He had old, long term damage to his knees and ankles, he had a bit of “middle age spread” and here he was trying to leap around as if he hadn’t started shaving…… “Leo, take it easy,” said Sensei.  But this just seemed to aggravate him more. Well, it had to happen, his face got redder, his knees more wobbly, his movements more frantic and then one of the young bucks swept both his legs and unmercifully … Continue reading Training With Age

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The Structure Of Kata

Steve Rowe

It’s nice to get away on courses with Sensei……. He had been invited to teach on a course that includes many students and Instructors from different styles of Karate so it was interesting to see what their interpretations of the same movements that we practised were and also how they reacted to Sensei’s teachings.  It was also fascinating to watch Sensei’s diplomatic way of dealing with the differences…… Everyone was keen to share knowledge and were all patient with each other to get to the bottom of each interpretation.  Often with a lack of good instruction many of the attending … Continue reading The Structure Of Kata

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Move Like A Porsche

Steve Rowe

“Straighten the front foot, move from the Seiki Tanden, circle the foot through a line dropped from the hip, put the bodyweight through the power point on the foot, sink the chest to find the feet, tuck in the tailbone and stretch the neck as you would touch the opponent and apply the movement……..” We were working on Sanchin Kata and Sensei was working our “brain muscle” hard. “What’s the hardest muscle in the body to train?” “The brain muscle Sensei!” we all chorused, familiar with question. “Then why aren’t you using it?” “It’s too hard to think of all … Continue reading Move Like A Porsche

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Arrogance At Black Belt

Steve Rowe

“Hey!”  It was Manfred, we hadn’t seen him for ages, he passed Shodan several years ago and had trained only sporadically since, but he was a happy guy and it was always pleasant to see him. “How’s it going?”  I asked. “Not bad, fathered another rugrat since I saw you last, got promoted at work and been working out in the garage when I had the time, how’s things with you?” “Yeah, OK…..”  I hadn’t the time or the heart to even begin to tell him how much study and change he had missed. “Thought I’d get back to it … Continue reading Arrogance At Black Belt

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Soft And Slow Or Efficient…

Steve Rowe

Another visitor to the Dojo, as we were changing, the visitor explained that he had trained with all the “best” instructors for over 15 years and liked to “travel” around to see what each Sensei had…… He had heard of our Sensei “on the grapevine” and wanted to check him out.  He then went on to pull each senior Sensei to pieces and thought that the majority of them were overrated.  As he put on his somewhat “designer scruffy” (and smelly) Karategi we could see that it had “designer” blood stains strategically placed to impress….. He obviously did a lot … Continue reading Soft And Slow Or Efficient…

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Invest In Loss..

Steve Rowe

“OK, line up sparring.” My favourite.  We form two lines down the centre of the Dojo facing each other and then spar with the person that you are facing.  After a couple of minutes we stop and the person at the end of one line goes up to the other end and everyone in that line moves down one person.  This way you get to spar with every person in the other line. It was inevitable that John and Vince two of our 2nd Dans would end up facing each other. They just didn’t like each other, nothing was ever … Continue reading Invest In Loss..

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Martial Arts Are Defensive

Steve Rowe

Martial Arts Are Defensive ‘Budo’ and ‘Wu Shu’ mean ‘to stop the spear’. In Iaido we have a reluctance to draw the sword. ‘Satsu katsu’ means ‘life giving and life taking’, When forced to draw we kill. ‘Karate Ni Sentenashi’ means ‘there is no first attack in karate’. When forced to defend, we move decisively. The Martial Arts are defensive, But that does not make them weak. Martial artists train every day, Along with courage, resolve and determination, We foster patience, kindness and compassion, Martial arts training make us good people. If the Martial Arts were aggressive, That would make … Continue reading Martial Arts Are Defensive