The Second Clap

Thought I'd offer a few thoughts on the opening of the class for some beginners or even seasoned vets, who can easily train for many years without being privy to this information.

To clarify; as long as you show the proper respect through the bows and patience to your instructor and the Shomen, then etiquette is served. However that is not the extent of our opening at the Shudokan Black Belt Academy.

Most Yoshinkan Dojo have a very simple opening, whereby the students line up in wait for the instructor. This is done in the seated position. once the instructor is seated the Dojo 'captain' calls the bows to Shomen and then to the Sensei. Then training begins.

At SBBA we have a slightly different approach. I am given to understand that this comes from Soke Eddie Stratton's personal study with other schools, and also of Zen meditation (it is worthy of note that he was good friends with, and the Aikido instructor of Tony Doubleday, co-author of 'The Elements of Zen' [read it]).

So, like all our practises, this is a legacy. Therefore, like all our practices, it is important to understand the process. For what it's worth then, here's my understanding of it;

Lines

It is good etiquette, but not widely practiced, to perform a seated bow when stepping on the mat for the first time and stepping off for the last. After the warm up the assistant instructor should call 'line up' or something similar. In our dojo, which is long and narrow, we create multiple lines structured quite militarily. This is the first difference between us and other Dojo of Yoshinkan lineage.

The assistant calls 'Seiza Ho, Seiza!', which means '[using the] sitting method, sit'. For assistants it's worth taking note here that the command is 'sit' and not 'method', so 'Seiza, Seiza Ho!' doesn't make sense as a command and emphasising 'Ho!' sounds good to the English speaker but probably silly to Japanese.

Bows

Once sat, the assistant calls 'Shomen Rei' ('bow to front wall' where the pictures of past [and notably passed] instructors are, out of respect) and then once the instructor has turned; 'Sensei ni Rei' ('bow to the teacher' who reciprocates). You may notice people shouting 'Osu' during these bows. It's not necessary but is good etiquette to say this to the instructor, I don't think it's correct to shout 'Osu' at the wall, which cannot shout it back.

Meditation and Clapping(?!)

Then the instructor turns back to the Shomen. Here he may say some more Japanese. Some instructors shout simply 'Misogi', which means 'cleanse' but I like to add 'Mokuso' ('mok-so') which means 'eyes closed'. This is to initiate the meditation which I will walk you through.

If you don't give a monkeys about the spiritual aspects of training (which I totally get) then please understand that when I talk about Zen, and feelings I am merely describing a physical practise that is difficult to describe without such analogies and metaphors. I have found over the years that 'Ki' is revealed to be a true combination of timing, distance and balance and not a mythical and magical force at all. However to get to that point I had to allow myself to (at least partially) buy in to certain paradigms and beliefs. These are just part of the path.

The hands should be in Za-Zen. The fingers of the left hand laid atop the right, with the thumbs touching, in front of the belt knot. It is important to have a straight back. The right big toe should be laid just over the left. I believe the theory is that this creates a circuit.

The breathing is similar to Yogic breathing. In through the nose and out through the mouth. The first three breaths are the 'mosogi' bit. Start off by breathing out fully. We make the sound 'ar' with the breath so we know when it is at its natural end.

To breathe in, place the tongue on the roof of your mouth and draw the breath in through the nose by pushing the stomach away from the spine, thus opening the diaphragm. Do not suck from your throat, or sniff. Repeat this process twice more, ending on the inward breath. Then continue to breathe normally, in through the nose and out through the mouth.

The end of the meditation is signalled by two claps. This is an old tradition from O'Sensei, which is ostensibly spiritual but actually I find it triggers important responses from my sub-conscious. By the end of the second clap, you should be mentally prepared for training. If you can get your head around that, soon you won't need it any more. I still like it.

I hope that for some of you this has disambiguated an area that is often glossed over to get to the 'good stuff'.

Keeping the Back Foot Down

People (including myself) struggle with the back foot in yoshinkan styles. I'm not going to go deep into the reasons for it, but I will share some tips.

Before we go any further, are you keeping the front foot down as you slide? If not then that needs fixing first.

The key to keeping the back heel down is to use it to push from when sliding forward.

Once you have started to move and extended to a deep position, if you are projecting forward correctly your back foot will start to slide. Keep your upper body locked with your lower, extend your back leg so the 'blade edge' of you back foot makes contact with the ground and continue that feeling through your body and out of your head and fingers.

Make sure that your feet stay in the same '10 and 2' position from basic stance or you will start to push your back knee in the wrong direction.

 Just a few pointers. I'll try and get a vid up soon.

video ideas

I made a channel for this blog:

here

I have been a bit stuck with vid ideas lately. Any Aiki stuff people would like covered? I will offer my take (for what it's worth) on whatever people want. Comment, fb, google or tweet me:

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Tangential forces

Was just musing while I had a work out at the dojo.

If you try and use your arms (lets give them a value of a) then your Ft (Total Force) = a for all a. If you bend your knee, whilst making the near right angle triangle, you create 'free' power from gravity. Resolving horizontal and vertical;

[ignoring friction and considering the back leg a fixed point]

m(your mass[what you call your weight]) * G (gravity, giving your true weight in Newtons) * tan (the hypoteneuse of the triangle created from upright position, the floor and your throw angle) theta  (the smallest angle of that triangle) + b (vector sum of the horizontal component given from back leg pushing, can't be bothered there's enough maths here already).

For those of you who understand all that you can see your arms need to meet your partner 45 degrees from the horizontal relative to the enclosed systems height. For everyone else hopefully you can see that this is clearly going to give you a far bigger number. And the best thing is when you get good enough you can add 'a' on the end of all that.

So lets assume that your weight is bigger than your arm strength. A maximum power Aikido/jujutsu throw that's not down, will give you many times the value of your strength, plus your strength added on the end.

I just thought that was awesome.

A Piece of Fake

I'd like to talk about reality. 

What a croc of wossname! Honestly the phrase 'reality' is overused, over sold and completely abstract. All martial arts/self defense/mma/competition fighting is utterly contextual and bound by rules. So for one to say; "My contrived practise and rule based paradigm is superior to yours because its more like reality" is three fold wrong. 

1. It is unnecessarily rude

2. It presumes more knowledge of the other persons art than they have. There-fore it is arrogant

3. It is a moot point. Unless you are going to fight each-other (to the death) the discussion is pointless. 

That is not to say that martial arts training does not prepare you to defend yourself. But the whole martial arts versus other martial arts argument is usually based  on 'reality' arguments. The problem is when you look at someone else's martial art you should do so with humility. Look at it with a desire to learn what it has to show. Then if you find that what it has is not for you, cast it aside. If not then take it in. This is not a speedy process. I reckon at full pelt and full time training you would need two years to make a fair assessment of Aikido. So I would say probably four to eight years for an average student. For the sake of argument, we should apply a similar period to any style to have a genuine intermediate level of understanding.

I once tried to talk about history with my girlfriend. History has always been an interest of mine, but she found it incredibly frustrating because my lack of formal training meant I could make sweeping (and probably ignorant) statements without feeling the need to even remember where I read it, let alone whether it was primary or secondary source or confirmed elsewhere. I didn't back up what I said with evidence or the opinions of scholars. I merely voiced my ignorant opinion freely and without the restriction or responsibility of proof.

For a formally trained person to respond in a satisfactory manner takes research, objectivity and a lack of opinion. So the ignorant person feels they have won that round. How bat-shit crazy and counter-productive is that?! 

The same happens in 'fightin'' talk. Especially inter-martial arts trash talk. Look at the reams of youtube comments from people who for the most part have never even stepped on a mat and I imagine couldn't punch their way out of a wet paper bag.

As a bouncer, I was mocked all the time for being a "proper martial artist". Most others were MMA practitioners, Krav, just muscle men or Muai Thai. The only thing that stopped the piss taking was when it kicked off. Not against each-other, but next to each-other. 

All the conversation in the world cannot say what can be said by finding a rapport with people from vastly differing backgrounds toward a common goal. You could graph the proportional relationship between the level of the threat (from lone nob head to football riot) and the amount of innately communicated information about the people you are with (on both sides of the ruck).

The ultimate intellectual conversation about the 'reality' of martial arts, then, is a fight to the death! 

So I urge you, all of you old and young, fresh black belts, krav maga, MMA, Karate, Kung fu, jaques doublard, meat-head, skin head, yoga combat, take my doe and american academy black belt super karate double dark black 15th Dan practitioners alike; don't be a dick about it!

Flipping Hell!

There are a lot of people having trouble with flip falls in the dojo at the moment. I'd like to try and help.

First of all some general tips:

Ukemi (break falling), like any good structure, is built on good foundations. For the techniques we have Kamae and Kihon Dosa. These exist in a sense for falling too. Kamae is just as important for rolling and flipping as it is for techniques. But here's the thing; if you want to be good at flipping, get phenomenal at backdrops (koho kaiten ukemi).

Practise sequentially through backdrops, rear side falls (backdrop shoulder pivots), basic rolling, advanced rolling and landing position, standing from rolling, multiple rolls on a line and THEN move on to flipping. Especially if you are nervous this sequence should be followed to prepare your body and mind for the practise of flip falls.

If you are outside of normal training have a partner to 'spot' you. There are lots of exercises that are done with a partner that take a large amount of the danger out of the action of flipping.

Now for something a bit more specific:

Keep that back leg straight and in line with the shoulder on the same side. That is the lever that turns you over. The most common mistake in this area is to curl up the upper body and flap your legs around. Like throwing a ball with a piece of string attached and a top spin applied to it.

On this subject, remember the fußbal analogy. The player cannot change his shape, and to avoid his head hitting the floor he doesn't rely on speed as he rolls. The point of turn is higher up so when he is upside down his legs are higher than the original position of his head. 

So don't throw yourself down. Following on from rolling, think forwards. Even though the flip should be on the spot this is a much more accurate feeling than to throw your arse over your head which you're in turn throwing at your testicles. 

Don't flip sideways or backwards. Learn to turn into the flip; not too far but just so you are not quite flipping absolutely square. The phrase 'element of side' is used here to good effect. Your hips should be open just enough that your shape makes the landing position when inverted. That means that on a right handed flip, your left shoulder should remain facing the front with a continuous line of site to said (relative) front.

Don't over do the breaking hand. So often people get hyper theatrical with the hand that breaks the fall. This is not only counter-productive, it is downright dangerous and a waste of energy. Your body is providing almost the exact amount of energy required to break the fall simply by being of the exact mass and velocity of... well of itself. So only a tiny amount of extra energy need be put into the arm to effectively break the fall. So think of it as 'placing' the arm not 'hitting' the mat.

Hope that's useful. Have a video:

Reposted from facebook: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

When you walk into the dojo you get a sense of history and of tradition. When you step on the mat there is tension between you, the place, the other students and the teacher. Not a negative tension, or a bad atmosphere. It is the impulse to improve yourself. It is the memory of a memory of traditions that were born in dangerous times and remembered in times of peace to better ourselves. 

That is our strength. That is how a dojo should feel. It should sharpen your instincts as you make the first rei and not let up until it is done. That is what makes you feel good. That is what helps you in life. It's also what hones your self defence skill without you realising it.

It is a journey towards sensitivity you would not expect of other people. I think ultimately if you can translate that sensitivity to all of your relationships, all of your actions and all of your perceptions, you are winning at life. That is an enormous task fraught with misconception, with youth, with mistakes and with ego along the way.

Where does this tension that seeds such a huge boon to ones life stem from?

It stems from you. If you feel it slip, look to yourself. Stand taller, run faster, train in earnest, give more and observe etiquette. There in lies the bits that are hard to unravel with our minds so fixed on ourselves. So then; fix our minds on the needs of others.

Without you our budo is lost and it is a precious thing that the world will need. It teaches love and, contrary to appearance, demands no allegiance or servitude. It asks what you will give freely.

So fellow budoka, let me take this opportunity to thank you as we head into a new year together; stronger than ever.