Saturday, November 10, 2007

Joslin Kata Contest

The Joslin's East/West Karate In-house 2007 Kata Tournament was held today in the Auburn dojo.

I entered in the adult male beginner/intermediate class.

Good afternoon. My name is Jaya Carl. With your permission I will demonstrate Seisan Kata.

Since I have not been taught the full kata I stopped after 12 of the 13 attackers. By the end of the month I will learn the complete kata.

It is interesting how some students resemble their teacher. The better Granite Bay students definitely train with Sensei Bennati. Sensei Bennati has picked up some his Sensei's mannerisms and public speaking style.

8 Pieces of Brocade

Standing feet shoulder width apart, arms at side. The standard rules apply.
  1. Two Hands Reach Skyward ― tonifies the whole body
  2. Open the Bow ― tonifies Lungs
  3. Raise Each Arm ― tonifies Stomach & Spleen
  4. Looking Behind ― stretch elbow to wrist
  5. Bending Over, Wagging the Tail ― tonifies Heart
  6. Reaching Down ― tonifies Kidney
  7. Punching with Angry Gaze ― tonifies Liver
  8. Toe Dropping ― gets rid of tension

Notes from my training with Sifu Fong Ha and his Fundamental Yiquan and Qigong DVD.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Yellow Belt, Fourth Stripe

Tested the my fourth stripe tonight, demonstrating Seisan Kata to Master Ron Joslin.

Seisan Kata develops the Isshinryu Karate fundamental stance, seisan. After the exam I took a minute to work on my stance, working on keeping the feet parallel. Mr. Oliver came over and once again told me that my feet need to be farther apart, shoulder width.

Aha, "shoulder width" in Isshinryu means the inside of the feet are shoulder width apart. Mr. Oliver always showed the spacing correctly but the words mean something different to me (Wu Chi stance is what I do when "shoulder width" is specified.) To confirm that I finally got it I said it was like standing outside the [train track] rails where I was standing on the rails before.

This wider stance is not comfortable for me, makes my hips hurt a bit. Feels like my feet are stuck in snow. It is such an effort to pick them up from this stable stance.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Cooling's Self Defense Techniques

My notes from Master Cooling's clinic in August. The names and nomenclature are my own. Founder's passport name was Shinkitse Shimabuko.

Front Bear Hug Escape
Ishinryu fist with the first knuckles into uki's sternum, cover the palm of the fist with the free hand so both arms can push into the sternum.

Momo Jime From the Rear Escape
Master Cooling has had to use this a couple of times as a police officer.

Bite Defense
Push uki's cheek between their molars with your thumb so that when they bit the gnash down on their own flesh. Not a Karate waza, learned it from a cat vet.

Kubi Kuki Shime
Inside hand does electric touch medial thigh half way between the hip and knee.

Rear Carotid Hold Escape
Held with right arm, grab the bicep and forearm clamp to chest, drop to right knee then left knee and throw over back.

Kasumi Dori
Index finger on top of the middle finger. In and down.

Clear Path Through Hostile Crowd
A backhand to the chest look like a gentle pat on the chest with the back of the hand. Tense to hit then relax.

Handshake
Present your palm down makes it difficult for Texans to get a strong grip.

AZ Intensive I

Halau O Oho Mana Dojo

The first Intensive held at Prof. Hudson's new home in Apache Junction Arizona was attend by a dozen invitees (Nidan, Sandan and Yodan). I flew into Phoenix on Friday October 26 and left Sunday evening. The yurt is the dojo where the martial arts classes were held. The qigong training was done out in the wilderness. The blog entry contains my notes from the weekend. I may expound upon some of the idea in later entries.

Internal investigation is the first thing. The second thing is external manifestation. (Paraphrase Okazaki, "ten years to master yourself then ten more years to master others.")

In the Wu Qi stance the Qi is in the lower Danden. But if you come up on your toes the Qi goes. A subtler point is that in Wu Qi one opens all the pores slightly. Tension and relaxation are only meaningful in relation to each other. (See page 87 of The Tao of Yiquan.)

Sig tod Bob, at the 1993 Okugi, to stand like this at which point he took the post stance.

Yawara is, in no particular order, sticking-evading-following.

"Everything in the desert either sticks, stings or bites."

Release fist like an arrow. Strength used like drawing silk. Twisting like pulling apart cotton. (See page 95 of The Tao of Yiquan.)
Self-defense means combat. It should be understood that in actual combat, moving violently is not as good as moving slightly, which again is not as good as not moving at all. It is stillness that is constant movement, just like a flywheel which, when turning extremely fast, looks static. A visible movement is actually nothing but a reflection of weakness. The motion that resides in stillness and looks like stillness is really powerful....
Kuzushi-putting/keeping opponent on the edge of a cliff so that they attempt to get back to solid ground.

Tenjin Shinyo Ryu, Okugi (See Koryu Bujutsu, page 121.)
  1. Be suppleness-don't overuse strength
  2. Maintain good posture
  3. Off balance opponent

Prof. Hudson said in so many words;
Belief enables you to choose a path. Knowledge is at the end of the path. You can't use knowledge to choose a path.
He read some from a coffee table book called The Martial Arts Picture Book by Michiel Random. Tom S. found a copy in a used book store, he had been searching for years.

The cactus outside Shanti Jujitsu Dojo in San Jose is a night blooming cactus. Bob and Carrie have one outside their living room window.

Praying is talking to God. Meditation is active listening (to God).

Continued development includes:
  • Do your Qigong
  • Do your meditation
  • Read (satsang)
  • Do seifukujutsu
  • Personal commitment (No time then make the time, we always have time for what we want.)
Qigong set we learned.
  1. Bring down the heavens. Fill you challis and pour into upper dantien, middle dantien then lower dantien. Three times.
  2. Triple burner. Three times
  3. Five organs cosmic charge. Kidney little finger, Liver ring finger, Heart middle finger, Lung index finger, Spleen thumb. Arms over head overing the finger nail of the organ for two breaths then move the hands down to the sides and tink the points a dozen times.
  4. Stand.
Master Maui Saito joined us for Sunday morning's jujitsu class. It was cool the way he emphisized the principles that Prof. Hudson had been focusing on all weekend without knowing that was the purpose of this weekend's intensive.

Connect center to center.

Knife defense; watch and learn the attack. Wait relaxed until the attacker is committed to the attach before taking action. Take the attacker's focus, away from your belly, with a flick to the eyes.

Isami-earth/mana is your friend. Call for help, strength and energy.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

MYB Week 2

Weight 230
BMI 29
BP 128 / 91

After the gourmet food at Prof. Hudson's Intensive I continued on the MYB program with the metabolic jump start program Monday - Friday.

Off the caffeine :)
Chocolate only when I can savor it. mmmmmh
Stomach is smaller, what I use to eat without getting full now feels like way to much.

MYB Week 1

Weight 231
BMI 30 %
BP 128 / 77

After 7 days of the express program. Dropped most of the weight (6.5 pound) the first day while drinking quite a bit and peeing even more.

No caffeine, no chocolate, strict adherence to the program.

MYB Week 0

Weight 241 pounds
BMI 30 %
BP high 143 / 92

Mind Your Body Program

Mind Your BodyTwo weeks ago I started the Mind Your Body (MYB) program offered at the Karate dojo. It is working for me so I have decided to continue the program.

The way I am thinking of the program is as follows:
  • Consume fewer calories
  • Shrink size of the stomach
  • Good nutrition
  • Herbs to regulate body chemistry
  • Protein carbohydrate balance to stabilize blood sugar
  • Proper exercise in shorter bursts (20 minutes as opposed to 90 minutes)
  • Positive thinking and meditation
  • Body mind intention/integration
  • "Eat well" 5 days a week, no worries 2 days a week
  • Eliminate unconscious consumption of sweets