Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year


So we have reached the end of another year.

To me this has been an exciting year as a fledgling lawyer and as a martial artist.



Approaching the age of 40 I can confirm that, although you may acquire a lot of knowledge over time, you never reach a point where you stop learning. I have indeed learnt a lot this year.


Before I go on to wish everyone a blessed festive season I first want to thank all my friends in the online martial arts communities who share lots of interesting stuff and who give people like us a place on the web where we can feel we belong.






This year I have seen a lot of posts from Karate people. This says a lot for a time when arts like Jujitsu, Krav Maga and the sport of MMA dominates martial arts posts.



One of the most awesome new Karate people that we have met on Facebook is Samir Berardo of the Muidokan school of Karate. His bunkai driven style is doing a lot to preserve the valuable teachings that are embedded in the kata of traditional Karate.


I am going to take a break from blogging as I do every year around this time.

Until I am back I wish everyone a joyful and refreshing holiday season. Let's take some time out to recharge, take stock of ourselves, spend time with loved ones- especially those that take the back seat when work gets at its busiest- and meet the new year with renewed focus.



Best wishes, everyone! :)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blindfold training

Image
Now here's something I have not yet written about. :D I have been interested in the Zen side of Japanese martial arts since the age of 16. It was about at this age when I began with Qigong as well. As a young karateka back then I did not have the confidence, strength or aggression of my classmates and looking back- I think it was a good thing. Because of that classes scared me. Now- had it not been to exposure to the mental training techniques provided to me by Zen- I would not have seen this hostile dojo environment as the ideal testing grounds for the things I have read. This is one major factor to which I attribute my development as a martial artist. One very important training tool that has always served me well and that continues to do so to this dat is Zen Meditation. This, in itself, has provided me with a number of benefits about which I can write in detail. One of those- was the development of intuition and sensory acuity. It is actually wonderfu
Read more

Tai Chi Movement #3- Wave Hands like Clouds

Image
I have just started searching for examples of this movement on the internet and realised that among all the people doing Tai Chi out there I might just be the only one who would apply Cloud Hands the way I do. I have found different variations of the movement itself as well. This makes my writing about my version and its application a bit unfair as you will be missing out on some really elaborate applications. Now- how I always did this movement is starting from a posture like the Lute Playing posture like the picture below- or the Spread Wings posture like this: From either one of these ready postures I then rotate my front foot and let my body follow while my leading hand makes contact with an imaginary thrust and I then complete the rotation by passing the attack while I guide its force past me with minimal effort and my free hand follows the blocking hand to wind up for an outward strike. When the rotation and step is complete I shift weight
Read more

Learning a Martial Art- some basic guidelines

Image
I think we have by now come across a couple of people who are studying some martial art or the other on their own. Back when I tried doing it at the age of 10 I used a book and later more books followed. Well- even after I did join an actual dojo more books followed even then... People are quick to say that you can't learn a martial art from a book. That is understandable. I for one know that you can't work as a lawyer if you have only gotten your law degree. In fact- few people feel as incompetent as a bright graduate starting out as a candidate at a law firm. The main reason why martial arts can't be learnt by reading alone is that experience plays a large part in developing the skills that any martial art has to offer. Knowledge is not enough. Nonetheless- self study is possible. We may argue about to which extent, but the history of Chinese and Japanese martial arts feature instances where people studied a scroll or a f
Read more