Does a university education make any difference to your ability to learn a martial art?
More and more, I see how learning a martial art can educate us – far beyond just learning to punch and kick . . .
On looking for secrets within your martial art study
“With something like a song, or a martial arts form, you go in and there’s more. It’s not that you go in and you dominate it and it closes off and then you have it – you’ve mastered it. Something else always appears . . .”
Are “flirtatious” women in the dojo a threat to serious female martial artists?
There’s one interesting issue that I keep on hearing about from female readers of this blog. And it’s one that many of them feel embarrassed about.
It’s the feeling of resenting another female student, who seems to be more interested in getting male attention than in actually learning anything . . .
Five martial arts secrets that women know
It’s not always easy being a woman in a heavily male-dominated dojo.
But today’s article is not a critique of the disadvantages women can face in martial arts training (although I’ve written about this elsewhere).
It’s more of an exploration of how being female – or socialised as feminine – might actually give us some secret advantages over our dojo brothers . . .
A closer look at the three kanji in “Aikido”
The word Aikido 合気道 is pretty much impossible to translate into English precisely. We tend to say things like:
– The Way of Universal Harmony
– The Way of unifying (with) life energy
– The Way of harmonious spirit.
In trying to understand this complex word, it may help to know a little more about the three kanji that make it up . . .
Do Japanese people and Westerners experience Aikido the same way?
Can a Westerner ever truly understand the art in quite the same way as someone who has grown up within the Japanese culture . . . ?
Ten ethical reasons you should exploit martial arts myths to promote your school
“Attaining a black belt is the ultimate martial arts achievement.”
“It’s better to learn Tai Chi from a Chinese teacher.”
“All fights go to the ground.”
When we hear myths like this being bandied around, how are we supposed to fight them, and make people see that they are false? Well for Neil Hall, co-founder of LCTKD (formerly London Chinatown TaeKwonDo), this is actually the wrong question . . .
Is it possible to recreate a lost martial art from old training manuals?
Interest in the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) is growing. And one of its big questions is whether it’s possible to rediscover a lost or disrupted art, by studying and copying the techniques depicted in the old fightbooks (training manuals) . . . ?
Reader question – Should I tell my sensei about my traumatic past?
Emma (a Karate beginner) has written in response to the article: Ten ways martial arts training can help survivors of abuse:
“I found this a very insightful article which reflects my own experience – thank you for writing it. I wanted to ask you what you think the benefits of sharing a personal history with my sensei might be. I don’t want to burden them with unnecessary information, and am also quite private, but if there is anything that might be of use, I might want to tell them . . . “
Five ways sparring can change you as a person
As a training tool, sparring has loads of physical / technical benefits.
But according to Professor Janet (Jay) O’Shea – who is both an academic and a martial arts practitioner – sparring has all kinds of sociopsychological benefits too.
Here are five key points from a lecture she gave on this last week . . .