Month: May 2009

Personal Safety Seminar at Greenfield High Shool for Senior Girls

Yesterday two JRRMAS Staff members JK and CG and I presented a Seminar on Personal Safety at Greenfield High School for a group of 20 girls who are preparing to leave for their first year away at college. This is one of the Personal Safety techniques that we introduced to them. Our main goal was to get them talking to each other about personal safety and get advice from their older peers on what they do to stay safe. We also encouraged the college freshmen to seek out resources on Personal Safety where they go to college and either join a Karate or Self-Defense class or take a specific class on like a ‘model mugging’ program etc. In order to ensure that you have the physical skills for self-defense they need to be practiced and rehearsed to be available and effective under the stress of an attack. There is NO substitute for regular practice of skills (any skills)! The main idea we presented to the group was awareness of your surrounding and the people that you are with. The importance of setting personal limits with yourself and others. Getting carried away during freshman year is common. Try to remember it’s your first time away on your own, and with the newness of it all, it’s easy to get carried away and possibly off track…. remember why you are there…to get an education. Stay committed to getting that! We stressed the importance of ‘self regulation’ and accountability for your actions. Know who you are going with before you go anywhere with them. Drinking, drugs and driving don’t mix…….Saying NO is not just about sex!

T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Pushing Hands, Master Cheng Man-Ching Method

This lesson includes some basics and a few of the finer points of Pushing Hands practice. This is the horizontal version of Pushing Hands, developed by Master Cheng Man-Ching, that uses the four techniques of push, press, roll back and cross hands, (ward off). An interplay of Yin/Yang, sensing balance, center line, body angle and positioning relative to each other. Positioning and angling is very subtle in both T’ai Chi Ch’uan and Bagua ZhangBig loss, big gainSmall loss, small gainSoInvest in lossDo not contend with their force JustGo with the flowThe main technique is to off balance ones attackerphysically and mentallyGive them more of what they wantAllow them to off balance themselves…….Then issue on the proper line with whole body power!

Little Dragons Class meditating

The Little Dragons being led through a lying meditation at the end of class. These students are the youngest students at the Studio (4-6 years old). Lesson: Regular meditation helps one to develop impulse control and teaches the use of Breath Control to adjust negative emotions, especially feelings of fear and anxiety during stressful times….and of course to control negative emotions such as anger and bad temper/attitude. A must for all serious Martial Artists…no matter what age you are! Adults Meditation Practice at JRRMAS is a Standing Post Meditation derived primarily from the I Ch’uan (I=Mind and Ch’uan=Boxing/fist) System. We have several ‘Sets’ that are practiced at the Studio from several of the different Masters that Sifu has trained with over the years. More on the importance of cultivating a daily Meditative Practice to come! “It all starts with the first breath”Sifu

Seisan Kata 2 – American Karate-Do Kata’s

This is the second take on this demonstration of Seisan Kata – taken by my friend and co-producer at GCTV JB – the first take below is with my little Olympus 7.0 on a tripod, someone did come along and pan left to get me back on the screen…thanks BL!Please refer to the text below for the ‘lesson’ about how to practice a form/kata while learning the sequence.

Seisan Kata – American Karate-Do Kata’s

Sifu demonstrates Seisan Kata the second form in the American Karate-Do System – this demonstration is performed slowly, without focus (Fa-Jin), with a slight pause at the end of each posture/gesture to make it easier to see the sequence and the detail. Lesson: When learning a ‘form’ always pay more attention to the detail of the final position of each postures/gestures than to power and speed. It’s like practicing a drum rudiment or a scale on a melodic instruments…if you do not know the ‘pattern or position’ yet….what exactly would you be speeding up?Going slowly and stopping momentarily at the end of each posture (up to a few minutes in each posture) will give you the time needed to become aware of what your doing and to adjust your body position accordingly. The main things that should be attended to are: 1. Balance 2. Structual alignment (Bones) 3. Muscular tension 4. Breathing. Pausing momentarily will also give your body and mind enought time to absorb the feeling of a more correctly positioned posture. Your body and mind are like hot tea water and the position/gesture are like the tea itself…your body and mind will automatically become ‘infused’ with the posture as you hold it. This method will give you the best results. As time goes on in order to ‘upgrade’ your Kata’s you will also need to be able to withdraw the power and speed and again return to going slowly and stopping at the end of each posture in order to have the time to ‘see’ and then change the old way of doing it and replace it with the ‘new’ upgraded version. The process of refinement continues …….forever!