Philosophy, The Open Hand Notebook, Page 87

It’s not how much you know that counts, but how much you can recall under stress.

June 15, 2021

It’s not how much you know that counts, but how much you can recall under stress. . Most effective self-protection practitioners, have a ‘main toolkit’ which gives them something they can use in most situations, plus a larger collection of more specialized techniques that they may use if the right circumstances present themselves. . It […]

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Are there “cults” in the martial arts?

June 14, 2021

Are there “cults” in the martial arts? . I regularly have interactions with people who refer to their style or school as the strongest or the best, a genuine fighting style. They insist their style or school is authentic, and that it follows a lineage back to the creator of that style. It led me

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Does every martial art teach respect and discipline?

June 13, 2021

Does every martial art teach respect and discipline? . Something that most people do not realize is that the discipline and respect that comes from martial arts, does not come from the style they train in, but the teacher they have. . In martial arts, students will develop those virtues because their teacher is good

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Is there a blind adherence to tradition in the martial arts?

June 11, 2021

“I like practicing and teaching karate to others – especially teaching the people who think they can’t succeed when I can see that they can.” – Morio Higaonna 10th dan Goju Ryu . Is there a blind adherence to tradition in the martial arts? . In Okinawa, the traditional martial arts still have their cultural

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Is a high IQ a requisite for martial arts skills?

June 10, 2021

Is a high IQ a requisite for martial arts skills? . In my opinion (we all have one), it only matters for the most elite, which is probably irrelevant for over 95% of martial arts practitioners. . Determination, discipline, and “just doing it”, outweighs IQ to most people in modern society practicing martial arts. .

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Train hard, yes; ….. but train right.

June 9, 2021

Self-defense is defined as the right to prevent suffering force or violence through the use of a sufficient level of counteracting force or violence. This definition is simple enough on face value, but it raises many questions when applied to actual situations. . For instance, what is a sufficient level of force or violence when

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What motivates fake martial artists?

June 8, 2021

What motivates fake martial artists? . These so-called “instructors” earn a fair amount of money by simply lying to their students. In every class, they are selling a fake story about how great their fighting skills are, while in reality, they don’t know how to throw a punch the right way, and they move with

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Karate IS effective!

June 2, 2021

Okay… I will get the rant out of the way first… Why, are there so many stupid people commenting about the martial arts, and karate in general? . Let me explain. . There are endless comments…. no drivel, about karate can’t do this, and karate can’t do that. Throws in karate are taken from Judo,

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The quest for the original kata.

June 1, 2021

The quest for the original kata. . In modern times it seems to have become important that students learn kata “as it was taught originally”. . But what is original?….. The fact is we don’t know what the original kata looked like. And which original do you seek? . As an example it is known

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“Karate has many stances; it also has none”.

May 28, 2021

“Karate has many stances; it also has none”. – Genwa Nakasone (1895-1978) . In the dojo there is so much time spent perfecting a static stance, almost to the nth degree. But a common complaint about karate, and its kata, is that the stances are impractical, that one would never use such stances in a

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“Don’t practice until you get it right… Practice until you can’t get it wrong!”

May 27, 2021

“Don’t practice until you get it right… Practice until you can’t get it wrong!”… Roger Gracie . Training is how you get stronger or fitter. Practice is how you get better. The saying is “practice makes perfect”, but the truth is that; “practice makes permanent”. Simply doing something over and over, doesn’t make you good

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“Kata is Karate.”

May 26, 2021

“Kata is Karate.” – Naonobu Ahagon 10th Dan Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate & Kobudo, holder of the Okinawa Prefecture Cultural Merit Award. . Kata is a library of self-protection techniques in karate. Each kata creator encoded their specific knowledge into each movement of the kata they made. Kata are not simply a record of techniques; rather

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