Lost for Motivation?
Published by CraigBates on August 25th, 2008Motivation to train constantly can be easy or hard to come by. Everyone has different ways to push them to get to class, to train at home, to stay fit and keep the motivation high. I’d like to open a discussion for everyone to share with each other ‘what gives you motivation to train’.
For me I find a lot of drive in the following statement”
“Everyday is a training day; prepare yourself for the real thing, for tomorrow you just might need it!”
This does not mean that you have get out on the floor and mix it up; but you can train your mind, watch martial arts videos, think about what techniques you wish to add, which need to be improved etc…
Keep the momentum moving, keep improving, be better today than what you were yesterday, tomorrow is fast approaching.
Please feel free to add what ‘drive you on’ we will all be interested to hear it.
Regards,
Craig.
Small Moments
Published by Allan M on August 4th, 2008Recently I was driving home and listening to a designer being interviewed on the radio. His last name was Sato I think, and his company was called something like “Nendo”. He was describing how he designed things such that people would experience “small moments”. An example that was given was a bench to sit on that was ever so slightly shaped so that if two people were to sit - one on either end - they would eventually kind of slide together and thereby share a “small moment”. He also spoke of how he didn’t want everyone to experience these small moments, just some people.
This got me to thinking … within Karate training, I believe there are lots of these sorts of small moments. Some are personal, some are something that you share. I will try to share with you a couple of these moments that I have experienced, that mean something to me, and maybe you will be able to relate to what I mean.
One particular night I went to the dojo. I was one of the first students from my class there, but this wasn’t unusual. The night was neither hot nor cool nor humid. We trained for a while, but the Sensei kept stopping to explain some detail to the more junior students. I found my mind wandering a little, also thinking that I wished that the Sensei would kind of just get on with it rather than talking so much. Almost immediately the thought then occured to me, that you get out what you put in. So from then, when we were moving I really zoned in and got into the drill that we were doing. Suddenly I noticed my sweaty footprints on the wooden floor in front of me where I had just been moving forwards and back, and I also noticed that there were almost no footprints elsewhere in the dojo, although it was a moderately sized class. At that point I had a small moment.
I can think of another time, myself and two of my close friends met with Hanshi at a jetty to train early one morning. The weather was absolutley rotten. There were gale force winds, it was raining and cold. I didn’t even want to get out of the car, and was wondering if anyone else would show. Sure enough my two friends and I met up at the arranged spot and we wondered if Hanshi would come. Before long he walked up, a grin on his face. “Sanchin weather” he said. The kind of day normal people turn off the alarm clock and go back to sleep and we went out and had a ripper training session. We shared a small moment together.
This is part of what keeps me training, these small moments of realisation that I am doing something different, gaining some experience that is shared or understood by a relative few. What I also get a buzz out of (and what spurs me on) is sharing it with people who never practice Karate, but do their own thing, like a mother of three I work with who recently completed her first marathon. Different endeavours, but there is a shared understanding of purpose and desire that separates us from the rest. Talk with the people around you and I am sure that you will be surprised by what you find out.
How do you get “it”?
Published by Allan M on June 30th, 2008How many times have you watched a person practicing or performing and thought “that looks good” and how many times have you thought “WOW!“?
Often the difference can be hard to define, or even to the untrained eye, hard to discern. Usually when a person has “it” everyone can see “it“. So what is “it“, and more importantly, how do you get “it“? Alright, enough with the bolding and inverted comma’s. Let’s be honest, if I knew what it was and how to get it, I’d be making a fortune from the book, the DVD and my annual world-wide seminar tour.
One thing for certain is that it is not technique, plenty of people have good technique, but not it, however you can’t have it without technique. The same goes for strength, flexibility, aggression, calmness and anything else you can probably think of.
One of my favourite quotes comes from Yasuhiro Konishi, it goes something like, “Kata should be like water, it fits the vessel that contains it“. Certainly those who have it, seem to have thier own way of doing things, thier own style. When we start training, we unconsciously mimic our teachers and seniors, however if we are to one day have it, we must move away from imitation.
It is something I look for in a teacher. I want someone to inspire me, not just tell me the way it is (or maybe I am just lazy or un-motivated?). It must come from within, it can’t be taught, but a good teacher can bring it to the surface, even if for a fleeting moment.
So I come back to the title of my post, how do you get it? Well, as I stated below, I don’t know, but I suspect it has a lot to do with training hard - developing the physical and mental strength, training smart - constantly improving your skills and gaining an understanding of what you are really doing, training often and lastly experience. Probably this last one is the most important. Here I am not talking about just how many years you have been training. I’m talking about getting out of your comfort zone and being challenged by instructors with different ideas, by exchanging technique with someone more experienced, by “wearing a few” and confronting your fears or ego. It can be a difficult thing to wear a smack in the head and be philosophical about it, and quite possibly the more experienced you are the harder this is to face.
Train hard, seek out the best teachers, and maybe an onlooker will see you one day and turn to a friend and say “Wow, look at this person”
Al
Ideals of the Martial Artist
Published by CraigBates on June 16th, 2008Hi All,
I was thinking the other night; what ‘ideals’ or ’sayings’ have really stuck in my head. I’d like to put on forward for discussion, it is Chojun Miyagi’s Last Teaching.
“Do not strike others, Do not be struck by others, the principle is the peace without incident”.
To me it holds so much weight; we learn how to not only defend ourselves, but also we hone ourselves to become a skilled and potentially dangerous weapon. It’s about restrained power, using your knowledge with responsibility and control; if we can strive to never use our weapons, then we have learnt the true meaning of our way. Apply this above any individual conflicts, think as a society and as a nation.
We have a right to defend ourselves; but avoiding the situation altogether would be a better alternative.
So much can be read into it….
I’d like to hear all of your thoughts; on this teaching and secondly on any ideal that has influenced your life.
Regards,
Craig.
When is Karate not Karate?
Published by Allan M on May 4th, 2008Hi all,
I was just having a bit of a think and thought I would post it as a Blog and see if I can generate some discussion.
Some time ago I was talking with my Kobudo teacher who happens to also teach Shito-ryu Karate. The gist of the conversation was that he does not teach self-defence, rather he teaches Karate. I was interested in this line of thought. Many Karate teachers, myself included, promote their schools by saying they teach self-defence and / or fighting skills and / or fitness.
So how much “Karate” is taught in a Karate class. I guess it all comes down to your definition of what is and what isn’t Karate. Without getting into semantics or specifics, I think that the majority of what we practice is Karate … how much is Goju-ryu Karate? Well that’s another thing to consider. For the most part I believe that, fitness, self-defence and fighting skills are a by-product of Karate training. I also believe that we incorporate additional skills and drills to augment the fitness and fighting skills to compliment what would be considered mainstream “Karate”.
So when does a Karate class cease to be a “Karate” class and become a generic “martial arts” class? When the amount of Karate falls below 100%? 75%? 50%? What is Karate anyhow? What’s in a name?
My final thought - the organistation the UQ Karate Club belongs to is no longer the International Goju Karate-do, but the Kokusai (International) Goju Kobujutsu. A basic translation of Kobujutsu is martial art.
Looking forward to some other opinions,
cheers
Al
Social Event for 3rd of May
Published by Raymond on April 23rd, 2008Hi Everyone,
For our Bi-monthly karate club social event we are planning to have some ten-pin fun at Strike Bowling in the city on the 3rd of May (1st Sat of the month) at 11am, then after/during we can have some lunch as well. The rates are $13 for 1 game and $22 for 2 for this time frame (excluding student discounts).
We’re Hoping to get some RSVPs from everyone before April 27 either by Email or at class (talk to Kevin or Raymond) so that we can place a booking.
Thank you for your attention and hope to hear from you soon,
Kevin and Ray
Kata
Published by Allan M on April 21st, 2008Hi all,
I thought I would send in another post and hope to get another discussion going. I would like first to hear what some people think about Kata. I will firstly say that Kata is my most favourite part of Karate. I would have to also say that although I really enjoy practicing all the kata I have learned, my most favourite is a Kata called “Seisan”. Interestingly, pretty much every school of Karate has a Kata called “Seisan”, even though they vary quite a bit.
In particular I would like to hear a few opinions on how Kata relates to fighting skills.
looking forward to at least one reply 
Al
Charlie the Karate Chimp
Published by Admin on April 15th, 2008This chimp has some impressive fighting skills!
Congratulations!
Published by Admin on April 13th, 2008Congratulations to Sensei Al and Sensei Craig, who have successfully graded to 4th Dan Black Belt (Renshi)! Hanshi Tino Ceberano presented them both with certificates of rank at training today. Photos will be posted as soon as possible.
Initial Thoughts
Published by Allan M on April 7th, 2008Hi Everyone,
I thought I would kick-off this Blog with just a few comments that I would like some students to respond to. (gotta get the ball rolling somehow)
Something that I personally find interesting is to hear why people decided to start Karate training. As a start, I guess as a kid I was facinated by the stories an Uncle of mine told me about knuckle pushups on wooden floors and rough training, and I was later filled with the ideas of the invincible black belt from TV. Naturally I know a lot more of the differences between fact and fiction, but part of me is still fascinated by the possibilities and skills of the senior martial artists.
One other topic to generate a little bit of discussion, many people are drawn to the Asian martial arts because they are looking for some form of Philosophy. One of the best interviews I read years ago was with a senior Japanese Karateka, and when asked about his philosophy, his reply was “sweat”. What do people think this means?