Ruven Sharf who is European and US Champion and trained and taught at my dojo for 10 years is visiting from Israel to train here. Ruven told me this great analogy between F-16, karate and high level movement, that he heard from his Alexander technique teacher (Meir Amit) who I took a lot of lessons […]
People practice karate for different reasons, there are those who like to master it as a martial art, others for fitness, or sport, some like the character cultivation aspect of it and some simply enjoy it. All these reasons are true and of great value. The original role of karate was to destroy opponent’s offense
Sensei Nishiyama used to tell us that often when we spar: “Once you go, give everything, don’t stop till finish”. I think that because we focus so much on finishing technique (todome), karate people have tendency to stop after one technique, but it is not always possible to catch the opponent with one action. Sometimes
We work hard to develop good, effective weapons in basics and kata training, but it is equally important to learn how to use those weapons, and it is through using timing and distance properly that can make effective use of our techniques. Try to be at a distance that you can give threat to opponent,
Distance – Principles are Simple Applications Endless Read More »
Sensei Nishiyama once told me that we refer to training karate as Keiko rather than training as in other sports. The word Keiko is comprised of two characters that mean ‘to think’ and ‘the past’, and together they mean to train and study the teaching of the past. this is profound in meaning, we need
Firm and soft/fluid are complimentary not contradictory. Firm to allow energy transfer. We have to be firm for the energy to transfer smoothly through the kinetic chain. Rigidity will block the flow, being too loose will cause us to be disconnected and also interfere with the flow of energy from segment to segment. We are
Whenever Sensei was teaching a seminar he used to describe karate technique: “the whole body must cooperate to one direction”, or “even (if) one finger moves, feet make top technique.”, than he used to say “total energy must be delivered in shortest amount of time”, or else he used to say: “karate is not arms
Requirements for “Whole Body Cooperating to One Line of Energy” Read More »
Kata Look inside and not to the outside, of course, the outside form should be correct, but people have different body types, and the point is not to judge how fancy and beautiful but rather how effectively one uses their bodies, how the whole body cooperates into one purpose, using ground reaction, proper body action
Embracing the old as a foundation from which to seek unlimited, infinite growth and development. This is what traditional is to me, the word “traditional” might imply to some people stagnation, sticking rigidly to some meaningless rituals and kata, so maybe I don’t love the word traditional but I don’t have any other. But to
Ruven Sharf told me another great analogy that he heard from his Alexander technique teacher, Meir. In a military Bunker there were 10 soldiers and they were always exhausted because they were almost always on guard around the bunker. A new commander came, and he put a high observation post, so one soldier was in
Increase Sensitivity and Awareness to Reduce Effort Read More »
