Get in to shape! (13th June)

Thoughts on shapes (By Richard Trafford)

This week has definitely been a focus on weapon work for me, the Jo staff playing a big part of course; with some of our students hoping to grade in it soon. Of course this theme was started of by the usual Monday nights sword session. I must say like a lot of students, when i first started to learn weapon work, i struggled somewhat to find the joy. Be that staff work, nunchuka, baton or even sword. It seemed an awkward skill set to learn, so difficult controlling an object outside of oneself. I’m even sure the thought that it was perhaps a distraction from my main lessons in Karate, might of crossed my mind!

But so often the mind of new martial artist (like mine!) fails to grasp the truth being taught to them, and weapon work, if pursued; has many truths to reveal.

What focused my attention this week was ‘shape’, so often overlooked and ignored by you students in your absorption with task at hand, but never by your watching instructors! But within weapon work it is brought vividly into focus. Its not just about swinging a piece of metal or wood about, but the symmetry and artistry within the shapes you create, between the weapon and yourself. Its an old truth…but a good one; if it looks right it is right! As some of the students this week, (I think,) started to grasp this understanding within their Jo or sword work. They just looked so much better in shape. Less awkward, the lines of their body extended, posture and fluidity improved. Stances flexed to withstand the impact of the weapon they carried, they relaxed and fused with the Jo staff or the sword they held. A relationship was formed.

So maybe our new weapon students, can grasp an idea that us high grades make work for ourselves…Don’t try to just remember the movements, or imagine hitting and cutting people, but instead make shapes between yourself and the weapon that feel good and feel right. Then you may experience the art within the martial arts.

Martial Arts Revisited (By Tim Dickerson)
During my lesson with the black and brown belts on wednesday we got into a neat little concept that I think shows we can all revisit something we thought we knew well only to find we can always know it better. Reflexes was the starting topic which took in a variety of drills to encourage greater awareness. But where we ended up was worth the meandering path. Reflexes are one thing but to have a rough plan for personal defence is a must. So we finished with a remarkably simply “3 strike drill” that got the thumbs up all round. Its great to see people grasp what you teach but its even better when the class cottons on and quickly moves from “I got this” to “hey this is easy – I can really use this!!” Simply put, it encapsulated the element of surprise with the idea of not beig a victim. Great work guys and when we revisit this again in the future we’ll all be even faster 🙂

Weapons Seminar ahead! (May 23rd)

Now almost half way through 2014 and the year is flying along! We all feel that the year so far has been very busy and successful. We’ve had a fair few people come along and join Wisewarrior to study Aikido, Karate and Sword. Many of our existing students have passed National and Wisewarrior gradings. We have at least three brown belts that are now looking good to be grading for Black Belt this year. Also our once a month black belt evening is going from strength to strength.

However there is one aspect that we’ve not been very good at….So far we have not managed to organise a single seminar! This is now due to change and we will be running our first 2014 seminar next month on Sunday 15th June. So this is an important date for your diaries! The subject is weapons, which seemed to be the favourite choice of workshop when we asked you.

It gives us plenty of scope to offer you all kind of goodies; Jo staff, Tomfa, Nunchuka or the black belts currant favourite…Baton! So bring along any of these weapons if you own them, we can also supply most of them, also there will be a special weapons order going in soon if anybody wants to stock up!
As usual this is a free event for all our students, if you know of anybody who might be interested then they may attend this 2 hour event for £10. All we ask is that you register in advance if you are intending to turn up. If you would like any more details then just speak to Richard or Tim San.

Also a quick reminder that another Black belt only session will soon be upon us! (2nd June) So if you wear the belt try and get there! As we have a weapon seminar coming up soon, we will be leaving weapons alone for this session and concentrating on ‘very’ close quarter advanced combat drills!

Lastly….just a reminder Wednesday nights at Deanclose is now booking only! This helps us maintain the standard of personal tuition, by making sure we have the right instructors for the numbers of students turning up. Which of course benefits you guys!
If you are going to miss Wednesday night, then simply let us know so we may offer your place to another student. Remember you can arrange a lesson on another day with Richard San, or come to the Monday night session at Deanclose of course.

See you in the dojo!

Back in the room! (April 29th)

And… we’re back!! After a brief leave of absence (for the blog!), what with Easter Bank Holidays and all, but here we are again doing what we love most – Teaching Martial Arts!!!
Since we last posted about the cracking grading results from our grading students we have had a busy few sessions, with an awesome Black Belt night, that had a really great mix of stick work and unarmed combat drills that all the black belts really got stuck into! Plus we enjoyed Tim San’s demo routine and Richard San’s kumite lesson of Wednesday just gone, as well as some great bokken sparring on Monday sword nights!

Also time to mention that its Seminar time again soon!! Yes watch this space, Richard San, Tim San and Tor San are busy planning a seminar for May, so watch this space for date, times and subject! Will it be sword, or maybe the new baton work, or a mixed combat style session…wait and see!

With the pressure of gradings a distant memory (for a short while at least) the 1-2-1 sessions and other lessons are free for us instructors to focus on other skills including focus, dexterity and spirit. Its this time of year the instructor team gets to experiement with new training methods and concepts that can be integrated into normal training.

Other than basic fitness and self defence, the martial arts have a great deal to offer those wishing to develop themselves. First and foremost there is a tremendous potential for personal growth. The training is obviously physical, presenting the student with adversities which give a great sense of achievement when conquered. But also the greater ones skill becomes, then the greater our sense of personal security and well-being also develops. This type of growth goes with you beyond the dojo, and begins to filter into your everyday life. You talk to people differently, hold yourself differently and people will notice that your outward persona has changed. Increased fitness gives you more energy which in turn can be infectious…

So where ever you are and whatever you’re up to… keep up the practice, it has more far reaching benefits than fitness alone.

See you in the dojo 🙂

(9th April) Making….and taking the grade!

Another busy and productive week of grading frenzied 1-2-1 training last week with lots of great work done both Monday and Wednesday. All in preparation for the big day on Sunday.
And we are pleased to announce it was another great day for our Cheltenham Dojo students, with all in attendance making their respective grades. Some really great performances and great spirit throughout from the Cheltenham gang. A special mention must go to D.Tam who achieved her Blue belt in Sword, a great warrior comes back after some testing years of injury and set backs. A very special grading to watch, Brown belt next!

A grading is one of those rare things that every student loves to hate! Nobody particularly wants to take one but they know they should. And when they do and they are successful they get this tremendous feeling of accomplishment having come face to face with their fears and come out on top.

Being tested is an important step in any form of personal development. Adversity brings out our spirit to rise to a challenge. Without these tests and challenges the student has little sense of what they are practicing for. A grading helps to focus the mind and bring our personal efforts into perspective.

Congratulations to all. See you in the Dojo…!

Take a bow…! (2nd April)

In our sessions this week we saw more great 1-2-1 stuff done with the students of all levels from beginner to black belt, from Karate to sword. It is always rewarding to see students grow as they grasp a new technique or concept, there is that little glint in the students eye when, as an instructor, you recognise that they ‘get it’!!

In particular one of the main things discovered by students this Monday and wednesday was the huge difference timing can make to a kata performance. Its really quite amazing how just a slight pause of barely a second can totally change the look and feel of a sequence. Students are forever trying to add weight and emphasis to elements of katas and wazas, but more often than not they resort to adding ‘more power’ or ‘more speed’ or even just ‘more kiai’ in an effort to give the impression of Spirit.

But just a simple pause before and after a movement is usually all it takes to draw attention to it, making the next move that much more profound. Even something as simple as the bow can be dramatically enhanced by changing the timing. During a sword kata this is extremely important, the pause (and control of the space within this pause) is what separates the sword grades.

Also the bow is the beginning and the end and this is an important point to remember…

When you see the quality of the bow it sets in the audiences mind the level of quality to expect for the sequence that will follow. That is to say a crap bow doesn’t bode well for a great performance.

Equally at the end of a kata, the final bow reflects the students feelings about their own performance. And in this instance a poor bow suggests they didn’t rate their ability, and that it is nothing for them or anyone else to be proud of.

So…get the bows right, and the rest begins to fall into place. You have framed the kata for the audience and, more importantly, for your self. The initial bow in particular fosters the mindset that the performance rests upon.

See you in the dojo!

The ‘Dao’ of teaching! (25th Mar)

Both Monday and Wednesday night was private lessons all the way through with Tim San, Richard San and Tor San polishing up the guys going for gradings. And on Wednesday night even Nick San got in on the act this week, helping Richard San with a new Sword student!!

Nick San

Kevin San was there also helping by taking the Aikido students through Richard Sans new partner training exercises. (Richard San promises to have his blog explaining this new training format out by the end of the week so stay tuned for that!)
While Dohigh Nick was under the watchful scrutiny of Tim San this week as they went through the more artistic elements of kata performance and Tor San was having a whale of a time teaching Lucy San some more of the great open open hand stuff that we will be doing in greater detail on the next Black belt night!

The Dao of teaching!

Wednesday night in particular this week was a real joy to be a part of, with private lessons running left right and center. I think what we like so much as instructors, with personal training, is that it gives us time to really understand the student. Then to be able to best explain the subject of martial arts in a way that he or she can best understand it. Although we teach only a set number of subjects the way we teach can be as infinite as there are types of people, regarding; fitness, body types, attitude and ultimately what they wish to get out of the martial arts. So when one someone clicks and has the ‘Eureka’ moment in their training – its a great moment for the student…..and it doesn’t really get much better for the instructor!

See you in the dojo!

Experience the difference! (18th Mar)

The week kicked of as usual with a great sword session on Monday night, with three of our students (including Mark San & Kevin San) hoping to take a national sword grading very soon, it had a distinct edge to the night! Richard San was in charge  and making sure every Kata and Waza would be polished to perfection by the big day.

Sword Practice

Its always a treat to see high grades pursue new belts in other subjects, especially sword. Although its a different subject for them they do bring their Black belt understanding and focus to the table, the results are always a joy to watch! Plus their original skill sets whether in Karate or Aikido always improves when they come back to them. Each moment on the mat deepens your understanding of each subject, so the more subjects you try, the more potential there is for creating understanding!

All those in attendance on Wednesday night certainly got some great martial arts value and understanding from some excellent 1-2-1 tuition. Our latest addition to the instructing team; Lucy San, did a marvellous job instructing Kohigh Heidi and improving her syllabus work. Kohigh Heidis’ performance has dramatically increased after Lucy Sans’ input. A new black belt never fully understands how much they have learned about their subject until they have to teach somebody, the results always surprise them…because of course teaching is a new subject!

Meanwhile Richard San was exploring a new Aikido training system (stay tuned for his latest blog post!) which really got the Dohighs and Sempais working well together and adding to their interpretations of the syllabus katas. Tor San too gave some cracking input to the Karate Dohighs going for gradings, you can’t beat experience when it comes to insight!

Although there really is no substitute for diligent practice there is a huge amount to be said for having great pointers and tips offered by experienced instructors. It’s those little details in any performance that make it into something special, a little tweak here and there and a student’s kata or technique can go from  mediocre to marvellous in minutes. Focusing in particular is an element of syllabus performance that is always best explained and demonstrated by an instructor. Sometimes a subtle turn of the head or use of the eyes can make the world of difference.

I’m sure most of you know of the @_wisewarrior twitter account, but if not check it out, every day we are offering advice, insight and thoughts about this amazing subject of Martial Arts tweeted straight to your phones! Every little helps!

See you in the dojo!

The short end of a stick!(11th Mar)

Another Black Belt Only Session last monday and we continued our Stick and Knife work with a recap of the great work done on the previous months session.

It was good to see that everyone had done their homework and were ready for the next level.

This type of training is very different to what our students normally study and it is really great to see them rise to the challenge of both a different syllabus and a completely different feel to the training, letting them really become natural on right and left sides of the body, plus bringing in a fluidity that is so important for advanced combat work.

Working with last sessions now familiar patterns we were able to push the boundaries and take things forward and experiment with the tempo and power. It is quite surprising just how versatile a simple baton pattern can be.

Both single and double stick work covered again this week and some cheeky knife work too. Tune in for next months session. In the meantime you can catch some photos of this months session HERE…

Wednesday night had the students getting more quality 1-2-1 training towards their upcoming gradings, always good to see how a grading concentrates the mind and focus of a student! Suddenly it all starts coming together.

See you in the dojo!

Performance Night (Feb 26th)

Another great ‘Grading and Performance’ night in the dojo this Wednesday! Usual drill – if you were there then you would be doing something in front of the class! We were a few guys down with work commitments, holidays and sickness but still a good turn out! We also managed to get some great 1st part gradings done for the national gradings coming up this Spring, so first let us congratulate these students; Dohigh Jon for passing his Brown belt Aikido, Dohigh Matthew on his Blue belt Aikido and Dohigh David for Blue belt Karate, all put in super performances and showed great knowledge in their chosen subjects plus the all important spirit. So keep on working this hard for your 2nd parts coming up real soon!

But of course the rest of us were not just spectators on the sidelines, we all took our turns on the mat. First up our Yellow belt ladies Kohigh Emma and Hedie who performed a Wisewarrior Orange belt hand waza with great technical ability and spirit for their grades. Graeame San and Sempai Wills did a storming display of take downs and floor holds.

While Lucy San brought an amazing sense of composure and grace as she demonstrated a Reflective Aikido Kata, less composure for Sempai Will of course who was been thrown around as her partner!

Tim San and Richard San finished up the nights proceedings by performing their displays, Tim San put on a great Karate Kata show and Richard San a sword battle Kata, in double quick time!

Looking forward to the next night in July, see you in the dojo!

P.S the pictures from the night can be seen by logging on to the members page.

Spiral Staircase?…(25th Feb)

Things have changed a lot during our humble time spent in this game of martial arts. Training methods have improved. Our knowledge of this great subject has deepened. And with every new understanding comes a different slant on current creativity. Each week this furthering of knowledge, understanding and skill benefits our students directly as we make a real effort to ensure ‘no two lessons are the same’.

A good analogy for this style of development is a spiral staircase. Although sometimes it may appear we have revisited a subject or topic, we come to it again with a raised understanding.

This attitude of continually working toward improvement is typical of martial arts. They are often refered to as paths or ways (‘do’ – aikido, judo, kendo, karate do)

Thats kinda the buzz really of martial arts training. There’s always something new to learn and always room for improvement in our own performances and skills. Next thing you know you find yourself asking….’hey, just how good at this can I get!?’