Month: December 2017

Now that the New Year is upon us just like so many of you I will take the time to quietly reflect on the past year. We all remember the great years and I hope that 2017 has been kind to you, but some years can be very unkind and negative towards us too, especially in years that we lose friends and loved ones. A sign to us really that we should always be grateful and appreciative of life and all that we have, including our health, loved ones, close family and friends. This is though a time to take a step back and re-evaluate our past and future directions as we try to guide our future for the better as we freshly plan for the New Year. The people of Okinawa have varying ways and traditions that they follow as they celebrate the New Year. They don’t of course just celebrate the traditional New Year as we know it, they celebrate the Lunar Chinese New Year too. But just as our life changes and fluctuates each year, so does […]

I have received more than my fair share of e mails regarding my last blog post titled “Is Your Karate up for Fighting”. Most are expressing sentiments that studying Karate has got nothing to do with fighting. One person even wrote this, Thugs look for fights so if that is the reason that you practise karate are you any different? Look let’s get to the point here! I don’t practise Karate with thoughts of confrontation or intentions of fighting anyone, of course I don’t, fighting is for fools. I am just like so many other decent people out there who have got far better things to do and be concentrating on than brawls, as in being happy and living life to the full, I see Karate as an art to enhance ones life. Like I said in my previous blog posting Karate as an art has so much more to offer. The island of Okinawa and its people are some of the most peaceful welcoming and vibrant people in the world, which all kind of exemplifies what practising true Karate […]

Over the years I have slowly seen peoples faith in Karate as an effective form of self-protection or as a fighting art someone diminish, and if truth beknown I generally tend to agree. Or on the contrary some are more than a little deluded when it comes to in fight reality. The thing is a lot of the Karate that is taught these days (not all by any means) has had its fundamental basis changed, or more simply it has been watered down and lost its craft. If the emphasis of a Karate and its Kata is on form not function, you make it in to a sport touch tag match, take out all of the heavy contact and hard challenges, plus lose crucial hands on training dills as you give out black belts to 6-year-old kids. Then of course you can’t expect your Karate to be an effective fighting art can you… I agree in that Karate as an art has so much more to offer its participants than just the ability to be able to fight, of course […]

“If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War One of things that I was taught and learned early on in my study of the Fighting Arts was that planning and percentages was of major importance and always worth considering and keeping one eye focused on. Even more so when it came to understand how to use ones skills in confrontation. The above quote by the famous Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu is well known and outlines the importance of such, but many Martial Artists often read his works and even quote them, but they then fail to use the lessons within so all becomes useless. Like it or not life is full of odds and percentages, the same with preplanning, some people do this well as they set things out for […]