General

 “Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life.” *Charles Dickens I just couldn’t resist humorously noting the passage in time in a Martial Arts club where…

Some time ago, I warned about the dangers of advertising yourself as "the strongest", "the biggest", "the best", "the ultimate" and so on. In the first place you should never proclaim your abilities in the Martial Arts, proper etiquette demands that this should be left to others and secondly, you leave yourself open to "testing" and "challenges"....Let me tell you a story.....

It was typical locker room talk…. There’s always one black belt that just can’t control his arrogance.  Duncan was typical of this kind of person; he’d moved in from out of town and therefore hadn’t grown up in the spirit of the dojo.  He couldn’t keep his counsel and had to pontificate on everything.  He was a typical ‘snake oil vendor’ – in that what he said almost made sense until you realised that it was only a game of ‘one upmanship’ and he was shaping his words to gain acolytes and admirers and in fact, existed only in the…

“Chakras? What are they all about then?” Ray was always the sceptic.John answered “the word ‘chakra’ means ‘spinning wheel’, and it refers to the spinning wheels of energy on the microcosmic orbit.”“Microcosmic orbit?” Ray jeered, is that out of Star Trek? “Is it further than the Milky Way?”“As far as your understanding goes,” said John, “it might as well be…”“Fill me in dude, fill me in…” Ray wasn’t going to let go, “I need to know about ‘chakras’ and the ‘microcosmic orbit’..” Ray changed his finger ‘quote marks’ to the ‘live long and prosper’ sign from Star Trek with a…

John was bristling….  He’d been watching all the latest ‘no holds barred’ tournaments, shaved his head and left the obligatory UFC lines of hair, shaved his goatee into the ‘Chuck Liddell’ style droop moustache and had the ‘buy your cola here’ in Chinese tattooed on his arms and Maori designs on his shoulders. He’d also hit the weights - but in the wrong way, he’d been bench pressing and ‘pushing’ big time, this had lifted his rib cage and separated the internal connection between upper and lower body, the shoulder development had also broken the arm to body connections –…

“Cover up guys and sit down….” Despite the efficient warm down, everyone ‘squelched’ as they sat. When you’ve had a really hard work out and everyone is drenched in sweat, every bit of clothing, underwear and skin is soaked.  Even using covering track gear and towels, you can see the steam rising from everyone’s head and shoulders. When they get up, they leave wet bum prints – almost like ‘rear end personal fingerprints’ on the floor. We’d had a ‘classic’ session, starting with standing basics, working on the skills of making a proper fist, use of wrist, elbow and shoulder…

There are times when you’re talking to someone and you suddenly realise that they aren’t listening to a word you’re saying.  They are only waiting for an opportunity to speak. The guy had come in for a free ‘guest’ training session and actually worked quite hard.  The only problem was that he hadn’t heard a word of the instruction given to him.   The words ‘using a sledgehammer to crush a grape’ sprang to mind - everything he did was simply full of effort with surprisingly poor results.

I looked down the line of students ahead of me waiting to go out and perform their grading, their karategi trousers were quivering as a result of shaky legs... Out on the floor I could hear the call of the Sensei, “ich, ni, san, shi, go, rokku, shichi, hatch, kyu, ju!” “EEEEYYYYAAAH!” the responding kiai came from the students already out there strutting their stuff under the watchful eye of Sensei and other club instructors officiating.  I could just glimpse Sensei’s impassive face occasionally between some of the students nervously awaiting their turn to grade.

Anyone who had anything to do with the highly successful MAF festival last year will have had contact with Kwoklyn Wan.  He was everywhere at the event, from the gate at the entrance to making sure that every exhibitor had the opportunity to have their photo taken with his famous fashion guru brother Gok Wan.  What started off as a local ‘fairground’ fun exhibition turned into a ‘happening’ with people from everywhere swapping techniques and telephone numbers in a fun filled, friendly atmosphere. Running a successful kwoon with 700 members in the middle of Leicester and successfully teaching JKD both…

Sometimes those ‘special’ sessions just seem happen spontaneously, more so with the senior classes.. Sweat was running down the walls, everyone moved as one and the communal spirit was that of determination. This felt like a club in the true sense of the word, our mentor was giving the call and we moved in harmony to it.  The senior class had all trained together for a minimum of 5 years and some as many as 30.  We knew each other better than our own families; we had struggled, sweat and bled together in the cause of self improvement for an…

“Learn from the experienced, not from the learned” - Anonymous Since the nineteenth century, streets have been patrolled by organised police forces employed to uphold the laws of the land designed to protect the innocent. Yet the civilised human being is still drawn to combat whether it is as a system of self-protection, a form of stress relief or a method to keep healthy. There is something appealing about the visceral look and feel of ordered violence. Such a feeling can be seen in our gestures from a celebratory punch in the air to a playful wrestle with a close…

"The fool wonders, the wise man asks." - Benjamin DisraeliConfucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and other religious and philosophical ideas have been melded with the practice of martial arts in modern times. However, I would like to suggest that we apply another so-called philosophy. It has some very ancient and respectable roots in the philosophers of ancient Greece and its process is the very definition of objective philosophy. What I am describing is something I believe underlies the thinking of some of the greatest shakers in martial arts history. It is the process of questioning and testing. The philosophy is unique…

If you can get it, free publicity is the best.  Local newspapers are usually looking for good stories and the Martial Arts always make good reading.  It’s good to get to know the sports reporter or editor on your local paper and send in regular well-written news pieces and press releases with good high quality photographs.This way your club appears in the news section of the paper and not the advertising section giving it a much better chance of being seen and read.

“I saw you beat him like no other man’s been beat before… and the man kept on coming after you. We don’t want any part of a man like that” – Rocky II (1978)In the epic medieval poem Le Morte D’Arthur, King Arthur battles his treacherous son, Mordred, who has tried to usurp his throne. Arthur confronts Mordred and thrusts his spear through his son’s body. However, before falling to the ground dead, Mordred strikes a fatal blow to his father’s head. Two great men fell at Camlan: one was the prophesised and rightful king of a united Britain; the…

Ring ring…. “Warriors Heart Martial Arts School.” “Hi Sensei, this is Sam Jones’s Dad, I’m calling because Sam seems to be losing interest, he was very happy to get his first grade but his peers seem to have gone up and he’s left behind, I don’t want him to give up but he seems to have lost the ‘buzz’ that he had before…” “Have you seen the feedback forms that I’ve given to Sam?” “I know he’s had some – but to be honest I haven’t read them.”

“I went to a business guru meeting over the weekend, it was really motivating!”  Dan was telling the other black belts as they sat on the floor stretching, waiting for the Instructors class to start. “How to win friends and influence people eh?”  It appears that Geoff was not so impressed. “And get rich quick!” Francis decided to join in the fun. “No, no, no,” said Dan, “that’s all very 1960’s!” “Not if you read the martial arts magazines and my spam emails it ain’t” said Geoff. “Seriously,” said Dan, “these people have grown since the early days, it’s all…

Go onto any martial art internet forum and undoubtedly one of the most hotly debated subjects is that concerning the use of pressure points within fighting systems. The supporters are wholeheartedly passionate about the effectiveness of using these “vital” areas within their own particular art whereas the “non believers” tend to echo their sentiments in a completely opposite way. There seems to be no grey areas where points are concerned, no one seems to want to sit on the proverbial fence.

Day 1 In the 16th century people came to the Jizera mountains in search of precious gems. It seems rather fitting that 400 years later I’d be making the same journey up to the mountain village of Jizerka, some 1000m above sea level, in search of the jewels contained within the Martial Arts. The Jizera mountains are said to be amongst the oldest in the world, and the primitive and timeless energy of the place made it feel like the perfect location to transmit the ancient wisdom contained within the fighting traditions of the East.

Written Circa 2006 If there was ever a term that was guaranteed to cause wide spread confusion, ignorance and hostility, it’s chi. It’s a simple little word that if used will generally spawn a host of endless pointless debates where people either demand proof or claim to be able to cook pot noodles without the aid of a microwave. What many fail to appreciate that it is simple and elegant way of describing and observing the complex interactions of our universe. Nothing more, nothing less. Now it’s no secret that I’m a student of chinese medicine and tai chi, both…

MASA is a lead body in the Martial Arts structured as a non profit making company limited by guarantee with no paid employees and no expenses paid to it's directors.  All give their time voluntarily because they believe that standards in the Martial Arts are of vital importance.

Youth.........  the comedian Dave Allen says that it is a time when young men’s brains turn to haemorrhoids........  The sudden rush of hormones deepens their voices and deadens their brain.  The happy, smiling children that love their Karate and train with so much enthusiasm suddenly become obstreperous and truculent spotty youths with longer bones and haircuts that look like their dad used a pair of nail scissors and a pound of gel......... Two years ago he had uprooted and gone.