Supergroup7 is headed to Quebec!

In the first weeks of June, I'll be making my appearance in Quebec. Hopefully, within the busy activities of visiting friends, and family, I'll have time to train in karate at various dojo. I'm looking forwards to this short, but sweet vacation from the everyday.

When I get back, I'll be sure to post up some photos, and give you some stories about my trip.

Until then, Aloha, everybody!

Seienchin in the snow

Wow! Just WOW! Beautiful.. Awesome kata done in what looks like freshly fallen snow!!

That's Kyokushin training! OSU!

I haven't had to do a kata in snow, but I have trained in it. It's a totally different sensation entirely! I haven't seen the snow fly around me like puffs of cloud before.. Oh my goodness that looks so beautiful!

I'm grateful that Sensei Steve has allowed me to embed his video on my weblog.

Thank you so much, Sensei Steve!!!

There is sport, and then there is something else...

My latest posting on tournaments brought up some thoughts about different philosophies while training in Martial Arts. I am grateful to Steve for planting the seed of this discussion in one of his comments.

As one trains in a Martial art they will find themselves attracted to the various avenues that is provided by this time consuming activity.

Some center themselves in life and death applications that could save them in a violent encounter. Their own lives depend on how well that they know their Martial art. Usually we'd see these as soldiers, or police, but there are others who chose to focus their training in this direction. This kind of training could never be performed at a tournament as the main rule is that there are no rules, and that all actions are fair in the heat of battle. These people seek to turn themselves into effective weapons of quick decisive destruction as is a necessary skill in the demands of their lives. I would call this as "survival" oriented.

Others enjoy the thrill of competition. They train in order to become the most skilled at their Art. They improve themselves with the goal of winning the most medals, trophies, and acknowledgement for their abilities. Each new challenge motivates them to look for better ways of expressing their Art at a higher level. I would call this kind of philosophy as "sports" oriented.

Some train in Martial Arts because they have noticed that it helps their bodies to stay in shape. They've noticed that training in the Arts has had a positive effect on their flexibility, stamina, strength, and even their ability to think. They faithfully come to the dojo each class knowing that they are investing into their future. I would call this kind of philosophy as "health" oriented.

Then, there are people like me. I understand, and appreciate all of the philosophies that I've listed so far, but my focus is different than that.
How can I describe this in words???

I am "spirit" oriented. I look towards the development of my character into a more positive me. I use the tools that Karate training offers to help me learn patience, perseverence, humility, courage, wisdom, etc. Through my efforts to improve myself, I find that I gain the benefits of learning self defense skills, expressing my art at a higher level, and increasing my health. The benefits are not my focus, they are like a wonderful by-product. Karate is part of "me". My lifestyle, my spirituality, my daily work, my mothering, my interactions with others, etc. all of these things fuel my journey in the Way of Karate. Street effectiveness of a movement is not as important to me as the performance, and understanding of the movement. Winning medals is not as important to me as how the person wins. Health improvement is not beneficial ( in my eyes) if the person treats others with disdain, and disrespect. For me, Martial arts are centered on courtesy, and respect for oneself, and for our neighbour. I see that it is the lack of courtesy, and respect for others that has been the cause of every single confrontation, war, and negative event in the history of humanity.

Is one philosophy better than the others? Well.. obviously, I prefer the one that I am walking upon or I wouldn't be so involved into it, but that doesn't mean that there isn't goodness in the other paths. I know what I want from myself, and my training, and I seek my goals. This is what I'd desire for everyone else.

Kata concepts caught in animation

Beautiful! I love it! I love the symbolism! I love the movements! I love the animation! I love the music! I love the message! I love the impact of the whole scene!

Fantastic standing applause to all those who helped create:

Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3: Ep 13: The Firebending Masters.

Spring is here!

Thank heavens for the warmer weather! I've been able to get outside and train with my Bo. In fact, I've gotten more training on my Bo in the past 2 weeks than I've managed to scrounge up in a winter month!

The only downside is sometimes the strong winds will blow grit and sand into my eyes as I turn in my pattern. So I've had to learn to compensate by closing my eyes whenever I turned into the wind. This is not a good habit to develop. I could just see myself performing my pattern in class in this way. Luckilly the wind isn't always from the same direction each day.

I love training outside. I'm so glad that spring is here.

Tournament support

I attended my daughter's tournament this weekend, and I witnessed things that I feel inclined to give my impression. Of course, I will not mention all of the wonderful, positive moments because I could fill the weblog with those. I appreciated all of the good things that I saw, and I want everyone to know that my daughter walked away from the experience with great memories. However, there are a few things that I would like to mention that I feel could be done with more focus on the positive. Please understand that my following thoughts come from the various tournament experiences that I've had in general, and not from this specific tournament that my daughter attended. Attending this tournament just brought forth some personal considerations in my mind:


A)Noise behavior: It astounds me that the crowd feels that roaring at the competitors helps them perform. Personally, I couldn't understand this need to scream "GO.. Hit HARDER! KILL them!" at the people sparring... so instead, I stood quietly, and witnessed the moment with a deep respect to the effort, and courage of both competitors. As I stayed there with that deep silent calm filling me inside and out, a picture flashed in my mind. I remembered the movie "The Karate Kid" when the character, Sensei Miyagi, was a still presence of power amongst the noise of the crowd watching Daniel-san fight. It felt so proper to do this, to be silent and to witness with every ounce of energy, and showing both fighters the same respect. When the encounter finished, I exploded in applause, and sound cheering both for their performance. I valued the skill shown by the ones who had trained for this moment, and I encouraged them to continue working on their efforts.

B) Parental/Instructor behavior: I witnessed positive support, and cruel pressure. I have to state that I disagree with threatening a child with punishment if they do not win a medal. I also have to state that there is no justifiable reason for treating a child badly before, during, or after the tournament.

C) Competitor behavior: I watched a negative scene where the winner crowed in triumph, high fived his fellow students, and showed no respect to his opponent. I can understand feeling the thrill of winning, but in my opinion, we are martial artists, not football, or soccer players. There is a different philosophy, and meaning to what we do. I turned to my daughter and spoke to her in severe warning. I said "If I EVER see you treat your opponent in such a manner, I guarantee that I will refuse to allow you to receive your medal, we will leave the tournament immediately regardless of where you rank, you will receive a lecture all of the way home, and probably will hear of my displeasure for the rest of the year. Karate centers on "Rei". Without courtesy, and respect then you are not doing Karate, and I would be greatly embarrassed by your actions."

D) Judge behavior: Perhaps it is my youth in Martial arts that is speaking, but I feel that being a judge in a tournament is a honor, and a responsibility. No matter the age, or skill of the person performing in the ring, it is his/her expression of her ability. A judge should give an honest, and unbiased assessment of the competitor. In my eyes, this is a moment of truth, and that needs to be respected. Points should not be given based on friendship, compassion, or other reasons. Reality is that such things do happen. I can only state that if or when I am asked to judge, I will live up to my values as best as I can. Perhaps, in the situations that I have witnessed in the present, it would be better that I avoid being a judge at a tournament.

Personally, although I am aware that it was only a movie, I want to imitate the honor, respect, and courage that I saw portrayed by the characters of the Karate Kid movie, Sensei Miyagi, and Daniel-san during the tournament scene. I feel that the Cobra Kai dojo portrayed in the movie reveal all of the attitudes, and behaviors that I would ashamed to see in myself, and in my children.

Shihan Hanshi John Taylor, and his newsletter

Shihan John Taylor is an Icon in the Kyokushin Karate Martial Arts World. Words can barely describe all of the progress, and evolution that he has created within Kyokushin Karate. Last year, he was promoted to 9th Dan under Kancho Matsuchima in recognition of all of his contributions to Kyokushin. He mentions this wonderful occasion in his frequently released newsletters called "Shin" where he describes the admirable attributes of Kancho Matsuchima. I will quote just a few words from his article:

"Kancho’s movement among the students and his attention to detail, as well as his humour, gave students a glimpse of the profound impact that Sosai Oyama has instilled within him. Kancho’s technical excellence and immense power confutes the fact that he undertook a serious neck operation several years ago. “I had felt pain in my back and sometimes I couldn’t walk normally.” Deterioration in the neck vertebrae had caused numbness in the hands and required immediate surgery. “From two months after the operation, I started to teach Karate. The training of Karate Kihon was good for rehabilitation.” If Kyokushin can be credited with the power to assist healing, one must also acknowledge the power of an individual to mentally overcome adversity. Kancho’s swift return to training portrays the measure of the man’s physical control and mental tenacity; is it no wonder that Sosai Oyama chose Kancho to appear in his now priceless 1970 Karate manual, “Advanced Karate.” For a man with such a revered history in Kyokushin, Kancho’s admiration for his Australian Branch Chiefs and the standard of their students is evident. “All Australian Branch Chiefs are Senior Masters from Sosai Oyama. Their teachings are the same as Japan.” In fact, it is Kancho’s lack of ego and support of his Branch Chiefs that inspires such confidence in him. Being the only Kyokushin 9th Dan in the World, Kancho Matsushima deemed it necessary to honour Hanshi John Taylor with the same rank last year, acknowledging his contribution to Kyokushin. With the assistance of Hanshi John Taylor, Kancho Matsushima has been responsible for the growth of Kyokushin in the last ten years, amassing 60 countries and 120 Branch Chiefs."

This "Shin" newsletter also contains various items of interest such as different exercises which can help with training goals. The April newsletter explains, in diagrams, and words, how to perform an inverse pull. The February issue shows how to do a Romanian Dead lift. March offers a variety of stability core exercises.

Shihan Taylor offers the reader experienced information, and guidance on important ideas such as Karate Breathing techniques, or which type of bath is better when suffering with sore muscles, a cold or a hot bath?

In every newsletter, there is a touch of humor to make the reader smile, and even break out into a laugh.

It also keeps our Australian Karate Ka aware of the latest happenings in their part of the world.

If you would like to download the April/2008 issue you can just click here.

If you would like to look through the earlier issues of this newsletter from Shihan's desk, follow this link:

http://www.akka.com.au/newsLetter.php

There is so much wonderful information to look through in this collection of thoughts, and guidance from the mind of Shihan Taylor! There is so much to read, and a great amount of the guidance crosses into the general range where any Martial Artist could take advantage of what is offered, and improve their training methods. The newsletters are short, easy to read, and very efficient in getting the message through. Perhaps this might be an indication of what facing Shihan Taylor in Kumite would feel like..

The mousetrap

I am hoping that I have found the author of the following prose so that I may give proper honor to the right person.

"The mouse and the trap
Sis Katibah

Friday, March 28, 2008

A MOUSE looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

It was a mousetrap. So, retreating to the farmyard, he proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked. "Mr Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

He turned to the lamb who sympathized but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow who said, "Wow, Mr Mouse. Im sorry for you, but its no skin off my nose." The mouse turned back dejected.

That night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. She was rushed to the hospital and returned with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But her sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the lamb. Still the farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came to her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for every guest. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

Mutmainnaa

My latest employment experience

Today I did some temp. work at:

http://www.retailmanagementsystems.com/

I was extremely impressed with the staff at this business. They were friendly, available, knowledgeable, and supportive.

As I learned about the product that they sell, I instantly thought about those Martial Artists that may frequent the internet and who sell Martial arts equipment. This program package with available hardware, software, support, etc. would be great for them. To make the package a great investment, one's business would have to bring in close to $300,000, but for them, I could see investing into this inventory control package as such a great move for their business. It helps them to keep track of the high sales, and reduce losses.

This company services world-wide.. it's amazing to me. One second a person is helping someone on the phone from one city, and the next minute there is a call coming from a totally different country.

I couldn't help but think how similar the business world is to the philosophy of Martial arts. The Art of War, Sun Tzu said, "If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Well.. the first step is to know oneself. If you can get a good solid idea of what you have, what you don't have, what you need, and what you should get rid of, you can make your future more profitable no matter what direction you chose to go.