Pretty much, every martial arts class I ever attended took place at the end of my day. After work, when I was already physically and mentally tired. This is true for a lot of my students as well, whether young

Kenji Tomiki developed the Junana Hon Kata (Seventeen Fundamental Forms) based upon the countless aikido techniques that he'd been taught by Ueshiba. These seventeen basic aikido moves form the core of Tomiki aikido in most clubs in the Tomiki lineage.

Ki" (body and mind coordination). If the origins of nearly every traditional martial art in existence today were explored, one would find that the theories and principles of 'ki' training are in existence in the original teachings. Many martial artist

Generally speaking, the T’ai Chi industry pushes ridiculous fantasies about martial-prowess and healing-powers. We won’t do that here. Instead of fantasies and other bits of mystical garbage, we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of how to practice (and live) for real.

It's very important that people begin to understand all the elements of defense, most importantly those things that come before what most people teach as "self defense". I hope people will be able to use this chart to help understand

One of the most traditional elements in karate training is the practice of Kata. This repetitive practice of patterned movements is almost universal throughout the martial arts world. They have been used for generations as a teaching tool both in

Martial arts are a lifelong endeavor, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve how well or how quickly you learn things. I always preach patience when trying to develop techniques or kata, but I’ve noticed that there are a handful

In re-evaluating the ground defense portion of the Can-ryu curriculum, it is important to think long and hard about the key tenets of our style to ensure that the core curriculum I propose fits with those tenets. I will review

I put together this bunch of clips so I could get a look at how different forms of karate executed a basic take-down (nage- waza in Jananese). When I started training (many, many moons ago), it was in Shotokan Karate.

The human activity of learning has over the decades been thoroughly analyzed by many Great Minds to include many noted Martial Artists. One excellent example was Dr. Jigoro Kano, Founder of Kodokan Judo. He was also a very famous educator

One of the interesting peculiarities about our particular scope and sequence _ our method for teaching Tomikiryu, is that between Ikkyu (1st brown belt) and shodan (1st black belt) there is a huge amount of time but a relatively small

Don’t believe me? It’s true I tell you! The Okinawans had both grappling and wrestling. They called it tegumi, and if you do karate you do it too (whether you know it or not).What Was Tegumi Originally? Tegumi has often

is essential to effective self defense. "The ultimate goal of the warrior is to learn to end the fight with a single blow" this was stated by Miyamoto Musashi in his famous text "A Book of Five Rings. So how

There are so many benefits to be gained through Martial Arts ranging from increasing Confidence and Self Esteem, to encouraging Discipline, Self Discipline, Respect, Focus and Excellence. The increase in strength, coordination, balance and flexibility.

So here is the Karate analogy. Teaching students who previously learned another style is like recarpeting an office -- you have to move all the furniture before you can install the carpet. The furniture is good, it just all has

From conspiracy theorists to profiteers to well intentioned, committed students, all karate-ka (it seems) have a take on the mystery of kata application and relevance. Ideas like: "Only a few select people are still alive who know the REAL bunkai

I have been thinking a lot about the subject of being a black belt. Last week in the dojo, my husband had an excellent discussion with a 1st kyu student about the process of being a black belt. Yes, there

The prevailing wisdom with kicks is that for most kicks (especially the basic traditional kicks) once extended, the leg is recoiled back along the same path. This means that you don't send the foot out and then change angle in