tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7361443425638782419.post4494604369770341253..comments2023-10-22T16:13:55.130+01:00Comments on My journey to black belt: Maai! Maai! How difficult this one is to learn.Sue Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16008609198511182782noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7361443425638782419.post-74562240570592962412014-10-18T20:17:19.539+01:002014-10-18T20:17:19.539+01:00Sue:
IMO, your statement about understanding &quo...Sue:<br /><br />IMO, your statement about understanding "maai" requires "union of mind and body," is the key to this concept. In fact, you could say the key to tapping the potential of all of traditional karate.<br /><br />To illustrate my point, IMO it's not distancing that controls the fight... it's you who control the fight with all of karate. Karate skill is not equally mental & physical, as you propose. Traditional karate is a mental discipline that exerts control over the physical body at all times. Mental discipline is the dominant skill.<br /><br />---------------------------------<br /><br />So how is this mental discipline learned? There's an MMA journalist & author who practices Shotokan karate who has written extensively on the uselessness of traditional karate training, particularly 1-Step Sparring. He's says it's fixed, passive, wooden and dead compared to actual fighting. The physical moves are pre-determined, simplistic, rigid and fixed. He complains this is only exercise--and has no bearing on the random nature of PHYSICAL fighting....<br /><br />My answer is that 1-Step Sparring isn't supposed to be actual fighting--its' to prepare you MENTALLY for actual PHYSICAL fighting.<br /><br />When that Shotokan uke steps in with a straight right punch & stops, you are faced with multiple decisions. First, what techniques are you going to employ? In what combination, if any? What stance are you going use? More important, how are you going to position yourself in the face of the assault? How do you allow for a follow-on by the opponent? Where do you strike the opponent, what target? How do you put your techniques into a tactical package that's effective? How do this relate to your your overall karate strategy for fighting?<br /><br />The mental challenge is the discipline to will your physical body into the right place, at the right time, with the right technique to overcome the assault launched at you in the "simplistic" 1-Step. Under this mandate, the equation of distance is solved mentally through repetitious practice. And as I've pointed out, distance is only one of many, layered decisions....<br /><br />All traditional karate practice addresses the sphere of defense through heightened body awareness--the position of your body to the sphere of space around you. It's the addition of the opponent in 1-Step Sparring that forces you to specifically concentrate on your position relative to your opponent, hence distance.<br /><br />The MMA Writer / JKA Shotokan Karateka arrives at the wrong conclusion about 1_Steps because he is transfixed on fighting as a physical process--he's transfixed on the physical form.<br /><br />In contrast to the MMA / karateka journalist, when you look past the heavy physicality of Shotokan karate, I believe it excels at showing the precision, mental discipline of "mind-body union" is what you're after.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7361443425638782419.post-60387721121102701102010-11-12T22:57:10.330+00:002010-11-12T22:57:10.330+00:00It never ceases to amaze me when I'm working o...It never ceases to amaze me when I'm working on a technique I've done hundreds and hundreds of times and my Sensei introduces me to a new and higher level of skill. This happened recently with the wrist throw, a constant throughout our system of study. Minute details had a huge effect on improving my skill and understanding of a technique that for all intents and purposes I thought I had mastered.<br /><br />Maai is interesting. I have worked with people who so effortlessly kept me at bay that it seemed like they were clairvoyant. I continue to work towards this level.Journeymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00146093025259375890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7361443425638782419.post-82325786700755151112010-11-09T15:26:11.513+00:002010-11-09T15:26:11.513+00:00Hi Sue
You know from reading my blog that I'm...Hi Sue<br /><br />You know from reading my blog that I'm constantly doing battle with these tiers of learning at the moment. Just when I think I've got something a whole new world of opportunities for suckage open up to me! <br /><br />Embracing these opportunities for learning is what helps us advance, so I'm learning to see them as a positive.<br /><br />As for the Maai... oh my! Kumite is without a doubt the worst element of my karate. Of all the things we do it still feels the most alien to me and although I know I must have made progress in this area I struggle to see it sometimes. I love the music analogy though - that made lots of sense to me.<br /><br />Good luck harnessing the Maai!<br /><br />xMx.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03272574764983174076noreply@blogger.com