Next week, on November 8, it will be 11 years to the passing of my teacher, Sensei Nishiyama. He was like a second father to me since we spent most of our days together. Sensei Nishiyama was very pragmatic and a philosopher at same time. His greatness was that he merged the old wisdom of […]
Sensei Nishiyama, The Practical and The Philosopher Read More »
The other day my student Brian Palmer and I were sparring for about 20 minutes. Afterward Brian, who is one of the smartest people I know (and therefore, I always listen to his comments carefully), told me that he feels that karate is a great way to learn to keep his attention and focus, when
In karate we know how important posture is for effective movement, and that posture has psychological effect as well. When In good posture, it is easy to control body dynamics, transfer ground reaction forces through body center to technique, all muscles are in optimal length for function, and have full potential for contraction/expansion. In good
In Karate through many generations, the wisdom and the tools were developed and transmitted to achieve harmony in oneself and with opponent. Those are not beautiful theories only, in karate harmony within oneself and than with the opponent is a necessity. You will get an immediate feedback when facing a good opponent, if you are
Form is limitation, a necessary limitation, therefore ultimately we should be free of form. Being free of form mentally and physically will allow us to flow, adopt, and apply our techniques within any space, angle or instant in time, and from any starting position. With that said, if a beginner starts training without form, they
(David Schames is my student for the last 10 years, since he was 16, very smart and also powerful, we have had interesting discussions about karate principles, so I asked him to put his thoughts in writing, and here is part 1) Nature often follows predictable paterns. Here is a formula that describes “The Big
Body Mechanics, But First A Little Bit of Physics: By David Schames Read More »
My good friend from Lithuania, Modestas Tursa, sent me an interesting article about the brain activity of soccer star Neymar during complex movements. In karate we constantly talk about “bypassing the brain”, using the breath to make decisions (along with past experiences and proper wiring of the nervous system).We stress that the brain has to
One of the characteristics of karate training is repetitions of basics, Sensei Nishiyama used to start the class with hundreds of kizami/gyaku zuki followed by hundreds of kicks. Some researchers believe that it takes about 10,000 repetitions in any art or sport to achieve mastery or expert level of technique. Repetitive practice makes the difference
The way you move and align yourself will influence whether or not you will have musculoskeletal pain as you grow older and how severe. It is also important in how good of an athlete you will be, you cannot put yourself in weird alignments and expect optimal performance. Dr. Shirley Sahrmann (Washington University Physical Therapy.)
This is one of my favorite Budo quotes, describing the optimal mindset for fighting/self defense. One must keep the mind calm and the spirit strong, however the mind must not be carried away by the spirit and vice versa. The other day in class, during a timing drill I mentioned the importance of this mental
