I’ve experienced my greatest advancements as a result of living through times of significant pain. To be honest, most of the time I didn’t actually ask for this growth, I knew I needed it, but for the most part I was kinda happy for things to just “happen”, at least when I was younger. Underneath everything though, I am highly […]
Today is registration day, that means that over 1,000 people need to arrive to the Karate Kaiken and collect their individualised registration pack. I’ve been trying to stick to my training regime and so because we needed to be at the Kaiken at 09:00 I headed off for my morning run at 06:30. I was so confident that it would […]
I’m calling Sunday my first day in Okinawa, in truth a lot of us arrived on Saturday and despite getting to the dojo and training, the rest of the day was a blur. That welcome mix of not having slept for almost 2 days and the excitement of being back in my spiritual homeland. So I decided to drag myself […]
I don’t know how many messages I’ve had in the last few weeks and months about this years Gishiki! I’m still getting used to calling it that and not Budosai by the way… I think it was in Denmark that people started saying “see you in Okinawa” and it all started to become real. So yes getting very excited now […]
I often hear people talk about sparring—Kumite- and often they identify a range of emotions… for some it’s fun and challenging ( I like to think of it as a physical game of strategy ) but for others it a serious no-go. Some see Kumite as a necessary evil for gradings, but never even an option for them in competition. […]
I don’t really remember my first Karate class. It was so long ago, I do remember being dragged along more or less against my will. My Dad knew someone who knew someone and we were told we were going. We started in the summer when it was really hot, I remember that, in a community hall with one changing room… […]
So I hear that there is a threat of snow from home… at least that’s they were saying on the radio, in between talking about how perhaps Prince Phillip might have been blinded by the winter sun. They went onto talk about the state of the road, interviewing an advanced driver and someone who was a coach driver at 74, who said he was always in control of his coach… safety of his passengers and all that, mind you he started the interview at 22.30 in the UK, with “good morning” which I have to say didn’t inspire confidence. There was much talk about the Prince and his age, but no one talked about the other driver… Then you put yourself in Okinawa… different story… Yesterday I didn’t run, it was just too wet, I woke at about 5.30 but all I could hear was the rain hitting the balcony, the same balcony where all my karate suits were out to dry. I just about rescued one before it disappeared over the side and into the small space between mine and the building next-door! That would not have been a good news story. The added time in bed was very welcome, we’re getting to the business end of the week and the body is starting to get tight, so I used the time to call home. Higaonna Sensei arrived to the dojo as we were working through kata with various […]
