Try this at Home!

Here are 3 ways to practice your kata today...First pick a kata to practice...next find a good place with enough room...

1. Graceful. Do the kata slow motion, almost Tai Chi like. Coordinate your breaths with the movement. Don't force the power. Don't use your shoulders to make the power in your punches. Just coordinate the top and bottom halves of your body through the connection in your center. Don't stop and go, stop and go....just flow. Relax. Let your bones align in an arched way. Don't lock your joints at the end of each technique. Slide your feet. Move naturally from one stance to the next. Let your technique and your step happen at the same time.

2. Powerful. Tuck your koshi. Now Keep it tucked. Squeeze a little tension into your lats. Don't make them tight, just rubbery...like a tire. Now start your first movement in the kata. Step to the halfway point. Squeeze your koshi down tight. Compress your hips in the opposite direction to where you are stepping. Connect your elbow to your lats. At the same time bring your hikite hand into the center near your other arm. Squeeze everything a little tighter. Feel like your center is like a big spring. Like a car spring. Strong and hard to squeeze, but bound to release a lot of energy when it does release. Squeeze a little tighter. Now let the spring release and move to the end of the technique. Let the strike happen with all the power of the spring releasing. Don't let the spring completely un-spring, though. Start again at the beginning of this paragraph for the next move and repeat.

3. Speedy. Get ready to begin the kata convinced that you will move quicker from one move to the next than you ever have before...convinced that your punches will be faster than Bruce Lee's...that your kicks will be like lightning. Now, do the first move. Don't wind your techniques up or make any wasted motion. Just fire your punch out at the same time as you step. Get to the end of the technique fast, recover and move on to the next technique. Transition quickly from one move to the next. Don't worry too much about making power or looking graceful, just be fast.

Have fun!

Control your emotion, or it will control you

I can't remember where I first saw this saying, but I remember I liked it and sort of latched onto it as one of those "Rules of Karate", if you will.

As karateka, we train in a potentially deadly martial art.  Our art should never be used to harm someone out of anger or really for any reason other than dire self defense situations or times when others are in need of defense.

In the dojo we train to use "kime" or focus when we perform techniques with a partner. This is because our technique could really hurt someone if we actually hit them with it.  If karateka hit each other full force in kumite practice, someone could go to the hospital or worse!  In addition to kime, we also stress that people keep their anger in check and remember they and their partner are training together.  It is not a competition and there is no room for an emotional response, no matter what.

Controlling emotions is also important in daily life.  The stakes may not be as high as physical harm, but once a bridge is burned, it may not be possible to rebuild it.

As karateka we are committed to improving ourselves physically, but it is also equally important to have emotional "Kime" if we are to become really good at Karate.

New website

Looks like the website is no longer being hosted at kishabajuku.org, so I created a new site:

http://tallahasseekarate.kishabajuku.info

"Old School" Karate

Thanks to the miracles of YouTube, I was able to make this video I shot last week look really old.  Fun tech!

Getting Ready for Demos

We're getting ready to do a couple demos at local middle schools for the Asian Coalition.  I'm looking forward to sharing a little about Okinawan Culture and our Karate class with folks from the community.

This video clip is of some of our students practicing Pinan Shodan and devising a multi-person bunkai application for the demo.