You Get Out What You Put In
You will notice that I frequently mention two concepts. The first one is journey. To me, the martial arts are a journey, a process. Something that is on going, never ending. The second one is of differing views. Every one has different life experiences and different physical attributes. This colors your perceptions. I know this […]
Finding Center
I am sure, by now, you have heard Jack Sensei mention the center line. I originally learned this concept from another instructor who had studied the art of Wing Chun and so I thought it was a Chinese martial arts concept. I have seen it mentioned over and over in the writings of Bruce Lee. […]
Dojo-itus
Jack Sensei always talked about ‘Dojo-itus’. It is not something that only our school suffers from. You may have heard the phrases “Phoning it in”, “Head in the clouds”, “Not even trying”, and a whole host of others. It is a combination of “going through the motions” and not really trying. It can be brought […]
A Different View
There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same ~ Chinese Proverb Different Paths, Same Goals I recently had the opportunity to photograph a Naginata workshop. It is a Japanese martial art in which you spar with a partner using a polearm. It is essentially a […]
Everything is a Hammer
Have you heard the phrase “To a beginner everything is a hammer, to a craftsman every tool has it use, to a master everything can be a hammer‘? I have observed in class during ‘circle drills’ a beginning student will almost always do one or two techniques, usually an inner parry block and a straight […]