How to avoid, slippers, armchair and a pipe!

Our other ‘great’ John San has written this article for the dojo, a wonderful perspective from a martial artist way into his sixties, and a great inspiration to those younger than him about the gift this amazing subject gives to us all! Richard Sen

I took up karate rather late in life – at the age of 58 in fact. At first, I simply wanted to learn some self-defence as I was frequently required to collect my two daughters from the centre of Cheltenham on a Saturday night when the bars and clubs were closing. Sitting in my car at two o’clock in the morning, I often witnessed fights and, on one occasion, I even had to eject forcibly a couple of inebriated youths from my car who thought that it was a taxi. Fortunately, I never had any major problems, but I was always aware that something serious could happen and I wanted to be ready just in case it did. Up until that time, my life-style had been more or less sedentary. I had always worked in an academic environment; with no interest whatsoever in sports or physical exercise, except perhaps for the odd keep-fit class. Consequently, I had to summon up a lot of courage merely to enquire about self-defence classes.

And that is how it all came about. In late 200I, I contacted Richard-san – my future sensei – to arrange a lesson in what was then termed ‘modern combat’. I vividly remember the first thing that he asked me to do at this session. “Punch this pad!” he said. So I clenched my fist and punched it. “No,” he exclaimed, “I said “Punch it!” I thought that I had and wondered what was wrong with it. Now, after ten years or so of karate – and a black belt – I know precisely what was wrong with it!

I gained my BAMA black belt in 2009 when I was 64 – something that I would never have thought possible when I started out. Now at the age of 68, I look back over the last decade and see clearly what karate has given me – confidence, motivation, fitness and speed of action. All this has arisen through a greater understanding of the power of ‘kime’ and ’zanshin’, achieved as a result of the private training, encouragement and guidance provided by Richard-san.

While – despite my ‘advanced’ year – I enjoy most of all the combat sessions with Richard-san and any other grades that turn up on a Saturday afternoon! I have also come to appreciate that ‘kata’ and combat are in fact one.

The road towards a black belt has been hard, but it has been worth all the effort (and bruises) along the way. I am only sorry that my long-term training partner, Roy-san, was unable to accompany me on this journey due to a continued injury – that absolutely had nothing to do with me! 🙂

And now that I have achieved this level and honed my combat skills, my daughters are married and no longer go clubbing – well, at least not in Cheltenham – but I should certainly be happy in the future to provide a taxi service for my grandchildren. No, better still, I’ll start teaching them how to defend themselves before then because by the time that they are old enough to go to bars and clubs on a Saturday night, I shall be in my eighties – but hopefully still ‘combat ready’ !

Sensei John

Wiggle Your Big Toe!

“Time for some powerful insights in to the art of sword from one who is really passionate about the subject!

Over to you Dohigh Tam!”

When asked by Richard Sen to write an article on sword, I didn’t know where to begin. So where best to start for me than – “Wiggle your big toe!” Those that know me well will know the significance of this quote from Kill Bill on a number of levels.

The path of Ken Kai Ryu is a long and winding path and has many levels to it. As well as developing oneself physically and mentally, the sword also develops the student on a spiritual level. In some respects the old mythology of a sword being part of the samurai’s soul remains true to this day. For me it has been a means of becoming aware of my original face and getting to know who I am and who I can be. It has given me strength to carry on and wiggle my big toe when at times in the past I would have given up. It has instilled a samurai spirit of never giving in, no matter what the battle of life may throw at me. “You can always die. It is living that takes real courage” – Himura Kenshin

When I talk to people who do not understand the nature of Iaido, I often reflect to them that the sword is not so much about the perceived violence, but about being able to be still whilst moving. The sword requires the student to learn to become at one with it. Until the blade is held, it is a perfect work of art and physics. It will glide through the air with precision and beauty. As the martial artist you have to learn to move as the blade requires you to move in order to maintain its precision and beauty, not the blade move to your requirements. You have have to become one with the blade and you become an extension of its spirit, strength and grace. Sometimes, training can feel like the sword is putting you through the same process that it had to go through to be so perfect. One must be fired, pounded and folded a thousand times, but it is and will be worth it.

Sword, as with any martial art, requires mindfulness when practicing it. However, the sword is a greater teacher at this. If one does not practice mindfulness and lets the mind wander when handling the sword, it will bite you and redirect your mind to where it should be, in the moment and no where else. It is also an art which requires great strength in body and mind in order to achieve the grace required to reflect the beauty of Iaido.

I find a lot of zen philosophy is reflected in practicing sword and in practising sword a lot of zen philosophy is learnt. Some zen philosophy can only be truly understood through experience. One such example was the great grading / demonstration night we had in July.
The whole evening was best summed up by Sun Tzu, “The dance of battle is always played to the same impatient rhythm. What begins in a surge of violent motion is always reduced to the perfectly still”. In each demonstration there was a explosion on strength, knowledge and grace, but each started and ended with a perfect stillness.

I think everyone who worked on their demonstrations with Tim Sen learnt that “To a real warrior, power perceived may be power achieved”. The way we perceived ourselves in our mind has as much an effect on our performance as our physical abilities. Through Tim Sen’s guidance and unusual techniques, I felt able to reach artistic heights I thought unattainable in such a short period of time.

For me, my last zen lesson became reality (I think) during the demonstration. The lesson was about is what we experience reality or not? It all depends on the story we write. I became so lost in the moment of the demonstration of Kim Kiri, that after the session I was unable to recall what did and didn’t happen, just like for Chuang Tzu, “I do not know-

whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man”. For that moment, reality became blurred, I did not know whether I was Dohigh Tam dreaming I was a samurai or whether I was a samurai dreaming I was Dohigh Tam. Either way, for that moment I perceived myself as a samurai and was a samurai.

We all have to ability to experience our own reality, but it is up to us to chose whether we do or do not “wiggle [our] big toe”.

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself” – Chinese proverb.

D.Tam

Life After Blackbelt

Here is a thoughtful article submitted by one of our newest blackbelts; Ben San, about what Blackbelt now means to him.

‘Life After Blackbelt’ by Ben Sen:

Because I have reached the age of 25, and have now been a student of Aikido-Te for 1/5 of my life, I feel it’s now an approripate time for me to share with my fellow students what inspired me to start martial arts in the first place, and talk about what I consider to be the very beginning of my journey. (also Richard San asked!)

I had just completed a one year music course in Guildford, and decided to come back to my native Cheltenham. When I returned, I was thinking about either learning how to drive; something that would’ve been quite practical for me to do at that age, in order to meet ‘social expectations’. Or to begin taking lessons in martial arts; something that I had always been fascinated in at a younger age, but never had the confidence to actually pursue. While I’d imagine quite a few people would probably scorn at my decision, I can certainly say that I made the right one regardless!

As a teenager; the kind of image that I developed of what a blackbelt should be, was one that I always aspired to. I imagined a blackbelt as someone with an complete sense of confidence, self-security, the power of invincibility! (and most importantly; be followed by an endless supply of hot women!)

(Several years later…)

Well, In December 2012, I finally achieved my dream of actually attaining a black belt in Aikido Te. Although I am very proud of this achievement, actually holding a black belt in a martial art has made me become more aware that there is a sense of responsibility involved, and also – I am not
superhuman, at all!

I can thankfully say that I am NOT invincible, and that there are still plenty of situations in my life that I am still trying to develop upon. (Women especially…!)
The biggest difference is that I am gradually becoming a bit more open in accepting many kinds of new challenges.
For example; all the lessons that I have had in the dojo or zen-room, since my blackbelt grading, have required me to push my abilities to the next level, by making me incorporate them to not just the dojo, but also into my personal life. While I still don’t fully understand all of their implications yet, or even have the ability to explain exactly what these are right now, I am able to sense a progression starting to take place.

Which leads me to ask this question for all of you…
Over the time that you’ve spent taking lessons, how have you found your own perceptions of what a martial artist represents changed for you, if at all?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the new ‘members area’ of the website or personally when next we train together.

See you in the dojo,

Sensei Ben 🙂

The Black Belt Seminar, by Sensei Kevin

When Richard San asked me if I’d like to submit a write up of the recent Wisewarrior Black Belt Seminar, I have to admit, I thought it would be easy. I’m convinced that it still should be easy though that conviction is rapidly fading – hence this sentence of filler whilst I struggle to convey exactly what it was that happened on Saturday afternoon. The thing that is probably making this harder is the fact that I do not wish to give too much away.

Perhaps I should just be open and say that we spent the afternoon plugged into The Matrix using The Force? Or I could say that we took a meander through Particle Physics and Quantum Mechanics literally grasping the fabric of the universe. I could also say that we melted into a haziness of consciousness and moved like ripples on a pond. It’s more likely that you’d be more inclined to believe me if I said that we brought finesse and creativity to our ability to inflict pain upon any foolish enough to ‘have a go’. The interesting thing is that they’re all exactly what happened. Except for the last one.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Richard San and Tim San could apply the seminar to a myriad of devious Kumite winning tricks, but that was far from the point.

The thing is, the more I re-read the passages above the more I’m convinced that I’ve let too much slip already, or have I? I think perhaps I should look at this in another way and I propose that we work through this together.

Ready?

Ok, here we go…

First, turn off your music or the television, look away from the screen and ignore any incoming tweets.

Next, pause. Relax.

Now move through your surroundings. There’s no rush, take you time.

Next, pause. Relax.

Now move your surroundings. There’s no rush, take your time.

3,2,1 and your back in the room! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. 🙂

Well there you have it. You’ve done it haven’t you? It was just as though you were there with the Black Belts and you now know exactly what I’ve been talking about. I’m sure you’ll also agree with me when I say that really we should cease with this secrecy and caginess and simply say that if you want to plug into The Matrix, use The Force, grip the fabric of the universe or push a ripple through space, keep working on that finesse and enjoy the creative ways of inflicting pain on any foolish enough to ‘have a go’. Once you’ve done that, tie your Black Belt around your waist and prepare to become one bad-ass Yoda/Neo-Samurai. Enjoy that feeling. It’ll be everything you expect; right up until you attend your first Black Belt Seminar and realise that it’s time to put that White Belt back on again.

Kevin San

Fate or Karma?

This month in ‘The Lounge’ it nice to have a piece of writing from Roy San, who has been a student of ours for over 10 years, wether in health or in sickness (for he has been both) he always has lovely words to say.

I left school and joined the Royal Engineers at the tender age of 15. During my 25 years service I had several occasions to fear for my survival. However I do recall the soldiers philosophy that of…what will be will be – ‘if the bullet has got your name on it then it is just your time.’ To some that may seem to be just trusting in fate, but to a soldier when all seemed doomed it was a way of coping.

Because of injury my training has been considerably disrupted during the last five years and non-existent for the last two, this being a legacy of my army career – the body has had enough. I have however been fortunate enough to have many life changing philosophy lessons with my sensei during this time. During one of my earlier lessons I asked what the difference between Fate and Karma was. Although I could understand the concepts of karma, so often things in my life appeared to just happen, as with all Zen lessons my sensei refused to answer the question, but helped explore the answers within myself, and they have been developing ever since, if i may share the story so far….

As we travel along our journey through life we are confronted with many obstacles and therefore have to make choices, the choices we make will ultimately determine how we progress along that journey. Every choice or decision we make will have a consequence – be it good or bad. It is therefore important how we decide what choice is correct. Some may say that it doesn’t matter what we decide because “what will be will be”. However, wouldn’t it be exciting if in fact nothing has been decided, our journey has not already been determined? The choices we make do still have consequences and are ours to make. So the path we are on is down to our choice and can be changed as and when we like.

A wise man once said, “If you can find a path without any obstacles it probably doesn’t lead anywhere!”. I don’t think that is supposed to mean we should seek out the most difficult path we can find, but a realisation that every journey will have obstacles and therefore we should be prepared to deal with them. I have changed paths on several occasions throughout my personal journey making many decisions along the way – some I know were of my own choosing others I am not so sure. For instance when an event happens – be it catastrophic or one of elation – with no obvious reason, should we just accept it and move on or should we try to understand why? As I get older and hopefully wiser I try very hard to make decisions based upon lessons learnt, when my actions do not comply with my expectations it is no longer so painful or distressing, for it is yet another lesson learnt!

“We should try and learn from other people’s mistakes because we don’t have time to make them ourselves”. Oh to be perfect, if only.

I believe life isn’t just about where I am now; the most important part was and IS the journey.
Luckily we never really know what the future holds, so lets just enjoy the journey.

Sometimes things are not quite what they may seem, so let us just leave the comfort of fate to the soldier, and the wisdom of karma…to the warrior.

I have been both.

Roy San

‘Gentilesse’ and Aikido by Kohigh Matthew

Gentilesse

Here we have a lovely piece of writing by Kohigh Matthew who shares here his passion for an ancient ideal that he has long been interested in and admired.

 

Gentilesse is a concept originating in France nearly one thousand years ago. There is no equivalent concept in English, but its meaning heavily overlaps with the medieval concept of chivalry.

There are many modern translations, such as:

‘The concept of a sort of nobility of spirit through which a person lives a virtuous life of steadfastness, chivalry, and the fulfilling of obligations’.

Or more succinctly;

‘Nobility, gentility and graciousness’.

Strictly speaking, the word directly translates into modern English as kindness – but this doesn’t do it full justice; – gentleness better encapsulates its original meaning. Gentleness in outlook, in deportment, in thought, in word and in action – achieving these is to conduct oneself with gentilesse.

Learning a martial art gives you a slow, creeping self-reliance and confidence in your own mental and physical ability to defend yourself, even if that’s only for a few seconds longer than before you started.

To me the journey is about learning how to conquer potential enemies that you might one day encounter, but far larger, more real and more debilitating than those are one’s own inner doubts and fears.

This slowly growing confidence is not an overt, arrogant thing, rather a gradual lessening of self-doubt and fear being replaced by a subtle sense of ease.

To conduct oneself with gentilesse is a conscious act that requires courage and inner strength.

Gentleness and gentilesse are at the heart of Aikido.; a non-violent, non-confrontational martial art in which you ‘absorb’ into the actions of your opponent so that they can be directed away.

The combination of inner confidence and self reliance coupled with a gentle disposition and outlook should emanate from you and discourage, diffuse and deflect a potential opponent from tackling you.

But if this fails and your gentle words have fallen on deaf ears…If you have ignored their aggressive stares, absorbed the angry words and deflected the punch or push, it is the confident and perfectly timed gentle pull, push or deflection that will enable you to achieve resolution.

Seeking to achieve the highest standard of conduct; choosing not to be combative, but rather waiting for the optimum moment and point to apply gentleness, this is the secret to effectiveness; this is gentilesse.

To finish, here are some words below by Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote beautifully about the ideals of ‘Gentilesse’ during the medieval period. To make sense of the words below, say them as they sound out loud and you should find that its more understandable.

Kohigh Matthew.

The firste stok, fader of gentilesse —
What man that desireth gentil for to be
Must folowe his trace, and alle his wittes dresse
Vertu to love and vyces for to flee.
For unto vertu longeth dignitee
And noght the revers, saufly dar I deme,
Al were he mytre, croune, or diademe.

Geoffrey Chaucer 1340 – 1400
Source link: http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/Gentilesse_by_Geoffrey_Chaucer_analysis.php

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Mark San; ‘The Martial Artist’

I have always thought that a Martial Artist must embody both the Martial, combative elements of his style, and also the Artistic side.

We learn Martial discipline by standing on the line with our fellow students, by showing our Sensei and fellow travelers of ‘the Way’ proper respect and care-when they put their bodies on the line to partner us, and by turning up on time to the Dojo. We also put in the hard physical work required during training sessions, and the ‘donkey work’ – practicing our basic techniques at home, so that when we return to our Sensei we have improved.

The Artistic side of Martial Arts is one that many students find strange to begin with. Students often think they are here simply to learn to defend themselves, or to get fitter. But Martial Arts is also a metaphor for our own life, as any experienced student will know, and progress in the Dojo often mirrors progress out in the world.

The most obvious Artistic side of Martial Arts is found in the katas we display, and the interpretation we add to our performance. Though we have not written these katas, we must learn them intimately, and make them our own. We betray our innermost being in our every action, and this too is something that Martial Arts encourages.

Though the Artistic and Martial sides of Martial Arts may seem completely different, with some students comfortable with one but not the other, for an experienced student they come together, until at last they are the same thing. This is when we spontaneously create good Martial Arts solutions to combative problems, or follow our own impulses to create new katas. Bringing Martial and Artistic ability together requires a change in the mind, and this enlightenment is the link that once found, allows a continual process of self-improvement and exploration, as our perspective on Martial Arts and on life itself evolves. This process is what changes the student forever.

Dohigh Lucy: “Flow and the martial arts”

Here is our next article for ‘The Lounge’, from another of our wonderful ‘Wisewarrior’ students!
Dohigh Lucy talks here about her twin passions for science and the martial arts, and how they both connect in the dojo…
I do not believe in chi, (ch’i, qi, spell it however you want). I do not believe that there are invisible channels of force running through the human body that can enhance our health and abilities if we just learn the right Way. I believe in muscles, nerves, bones, hormones and neurotransmitters. However, unlike many of a rational bent, I don’t think that the concept is worthless. Chi is central to many Asian philosophies and therefore to the practice of their martial arts. Here is how I came to accept my chi without losing my mind.
I started studying Tai Chi not too long before I joined Bushido. It was recommended by my physiotherapist as a treatment for an old leg problem, and the gym was head-versus-brick-wall boring. To begin with, I simply tried to memorise the form but it didn’t take me too long to realise that treating it just as a sequence of movements was a mistake. A sensible and logical error but still wrong. Like phlogiston (look it up).
Each movement in Tai Chi has a dramatic name. ‘Waving hands like clouds’ means ‘rock from one foot to the other while making flattened oval shapes in the air, don’t forget to breathe’. ‘Pillars in the sky’ means ‘with your weight on one foot, point the same palm to the sky and the opposite palm to the ground and push them apart, don’t forget to breathe’. ‘Opening heaven’s gate’ is the rocking movement that you might have seen me do at the start of the Wednesday night warm-up. The point is that these names are not just a product of translation, they are an aid to visualisation. Suddenly, it started to click. The combination of movement and visualisation takes up all the available grey matter. Add the icing of coordinated breath (essentially bringing the autonomic system into the equation) you have a true moving meditation.
Meditation is known to do all sorts of wacky things to the body. It reduces muscle tension and increases the production of all those happy brain chemicals we love so much (as well as, for some reason, saliva). It can also induce the poorly understood and controversial mental state known as ‘flow’.
Flow is a paradox. It takes a great deal of effort to achieve, but in it any number of things become effortless. Maths, art, athletics… you can instantly improve at practically anything if you can just go with the flow. I first read the term in this context in a New Scientist article but I recognised it straight away. I often reach a state in my Tai Chi class where it feels like my limbs are moving on rails and it takes barely a nudge from me to send them off into the next movement. When I get to this point I am simply better at Tai Chi, each movement is more precise and I feel alert and relaxed at the same time.
I’ve had a harder time replicating this in Bushido, especially in combat focused classes, but thanks to a little trick courtesy of whoever wrote that article, I have had some limited success. A short-cut to achieving flow is to focus on a point outside of yourself. If you want better handwriting, concentrate on the pen instead of your hand. If you want to be better at bojo, make the ends of the weapon your whole world. If Tim-san is playing sensei-says with an increasingly long combat sequence, focus entirely on him and trust that your body will know what to do.
I may be just arguing semantics here. I think I have experienced flow through my study of martial arts and I hope that as I move up the higher belts I will be able to make better use of it. Whether it is the chi flowing or delicious brain juices is probably unimportant, but the lesson I have learned is this: In this world of empirical data where science is the new religion (and religion the new science) we of rational minds ignore the fancies of the past at our peril, these ideas have lasted thousands of years for a reason. Science has given us many wonderful things but it is barely five hundred years old and the old guard might have something to teach us yet.

Dohigh Lucy

Art of Kata Workshop, Dohigh Wills Jenkins…

More thought provoking ideas, this time from Dohigh Wills…

How do you demonstrate you know something? How does a Sensei tell when you know a Kata (the patterns we learn in our tuition)? It’s all in the eyes…. we’ll come back to that. A hot stuffy dojo greeted us on Saturday afternoon, and whilst the unenlightened were basking in the sunshine, we had elected to learn something new about ourselves and how we can overcome nerves and self doubt. We laughed when we were advised that unless we wanted a class on the art of passing out we’d better have a glass of water and after about 90 minutes of concentration, on top of the physical exertion, boy were we glad of it. We began with a simple lesson – before you can learn how to show you know the kata, you need a kata that you know well already, so I picked my purple belt aikido-te kata, which is full of flowing moves and expression. 20 minutes later and we had all practiced our chosen patterns, and we were ready to learn the art of the kata.

This began, as with all lessons, with a demonstration. We each took it in turns to take to the performance area, and perform our best kata. Now the thing with katas is we don’t want to let our tutors down, so it gets very serious, and you can see the nerves take hold, a slight error is magnified ten old, and the eyes drop, and the focus is lost.
So the next step was a revision of focus, which we are so often reminded, is key to all martial arts. It’s not like concentration, it’s more of an outwards projection. A trick we looked at was direct and indirect focus, which can make for a powerful kata as was demonstrated by Tor San. Some partner work where we experimented with different use of focus in a short pattern helped to illustrate this.

The next trick was to trust our own ability, you can not demonstrate confidently if you don’t believe in yourself. It’s like a TV Chef who deosn’t taste his own recipes. However that is easier said than done, and it feels like a hurdle you have to get over before it suddenly clicks, I’ve felt this before, but couldn’t remember how I got there. The secret is letting go, and our instructors used powerful metaphors with music and the ocean to achieve this. By the end of the afternoon you could’t keep us off the performance area, and each performance drew you in more and more.

At the end it was great to see our Sensais thrilled with what they had achieved as well, you could see it in their eyes too!

‘I thought I was developing discipline for the body….
                                       …but really I was learning about a state of mind’

The Art of Kata By Dohigh Chris Lloyd

The Wisewarrior Art of Kata Workshop ran in May this year seemed an inspiration to many of our students, here are the thoughts of Dohigh Chris Lloyd a Green Belt in Aikido-Te…

The art of Kata

or … I fight my mind – although mostly it wins, sometimes I do.

 

Reflections on a cracking Wise Warrior workshop.
It is impossible to fully convey in words how far one can travel in two hours, on a hot Saturday afternoon, without ever leaving the room. And like so many journeys, you think you know where you are going, but boy are you in for a shock! Although it’s hard to remember the journey in detail, the destination is unforgettable!

It starts the way any other practice session does… ‘pick a kata, any kata, find yourself a space and perform it’. So, with national gradings in two weeks, you pick one you know, the one you think you do least well (kata 3 anyone?) and relish a chance to practice it. Simples.

Well, not quite.

By now you know to focus on the attackers rather than the attacks; and with gradings coming up attention soon shifts more to the the mistakes – left foot should go there, keep your thumbs in. Then making it slicker – placing my foot a little more to the left on this move move makes the next move easier.

And so it goes until Sensai throws in direct & indirect focus… Keep looking at this attacker, don’t look at the next one go straigt to the one after! OK. I can do this… a chance to look really cool :-). Deal with a grab to the wrist without even looking at the guy. Yeah!

And then, just when you are sure you are brilliant (a legend in you own lunchtime), you are first to take ‘that spot’ on the floor*. It is the moment of truth – performing the kata for the others; all higher grades that know every move and will spot every error. So just how brilliant are you then eh? There is nowhere to hide now!

You do your bit. Goes OK… well apart from that slip, oh and when my stance was wrong, and changing pace at the wrong time and… Everyone goes in turn. Damn they are good. Some are just brilliant – how do they do it?

Sensei then explains the real ‘art of kata’; the light goes on. Only now do you see the real ‘attacker’. The toughest. The one who knows your every move before you make it, every weakness you try to hide, every mistake you are gonna make! He is the reason you want to do it ‘right’! He is the one to defeat. He has no mercy.

Unfortunatly he is not in front or to the side and, unlike traditional pantomime, he is not behind you either (‘oh yes he is…’). He is instead, inside your head. No, not the voices the doctors said would quiet down with these nice ‘sweeties’ :-). He is the one in the dark corner, armed with impressive array of weapons. Weapons more effecive than Jo, nuchucks or tonfa. He uses fear, self-doubt, criticism, ego, pride etc. The list never ends and any, and all, can be called into service at any time.

So, what is this ‘Art of Kata’? What separates a Dohigh from a 2nd Dan?

It is hard to sum up a 2-hour journey in words. You just had to be there. It seems insufficient to say it is perhaps the courage to face the toughest enemy and (in the words of Bruce Lee)… ‘express yourself honestly’; too cliche to suggest you must take the palatte of BAMA’s kata and make your own unique picture!

Maybe the answer is that we should ‘be the kata’ and not just ‘do the kata’… We are, after all, ‘human beings’ not ‘human doings’.

Which started my wondering… Is this also “The art of living”?

D.Chris
-*|-

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* Those who were there will all know that spot 🙂