“Shoulders down! Shoulders down!”, my old Aikido instructor, Kimura Sensei, used to bark at us regularly. I remember being constantly reminded of the importance of the “One Point” (tan tien, hara, or the center of gravity located 2 inches below the navel), the fallacy of relying on “Chikara” (too much strength or tension), and his familiar “Shoulders down!” command. Today, over 45 years later, in a different training hall, teaching a different martial art, I often talk about one’s hara and the problems with over-tensing the wrong muscles at the wrong time. You will often hear me tell students not to let their shoulders “float”, especially at the point of impact while executing technique. Man, I hate to write too much about technique because one cannot avoid getting too detailed or analytical; as in boring, haha. The best way to learn to technique is always through practice, practice, practice…though it’s gotta be done correctly and with purpose. However, it is possible to enhance a foundation of good, focused practice by a (small) serving of the sensei’s perspective – even if it means I have to write a few paragraphs. I like to use the rather mundane image of squeezing a [...]

Back in 1963, when I was just twelve years old, my dad had decided that I should learn the art of Aikido (not well-known then). I asked dad if I could invite a friend. After he said said yes, I quickly called up my best friend from school and told him how neat it would be, to start training and learning a martial art together. In the few days before we joined, we sat in the living room of his home and weaved all kinds of fanciful scenarios of how our new-found skills would wow the girls in our class and awe any bullies in the cafeteria into submission – this is how twelve year olds think;) Aikido turned out to be more than we’d hoped for; though there were no fawning girls or awed bullies. Over the next few years, we learned throws, falls, rolls, holds, the bo and the bokken; not to mention a little bit of Japanese culture. By the time we got involved in other activities and had gradually ceased our training, we had completed intermediate school and graduated from different high schools. I only got to see my childhood pal on special ocassions or during [...]

As most of you know, this is my favorite time of year – I love spending Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year with family and friends. It’s a time of renewing relationships, reminiscing, and preparing for the year to come. For those of us in the workplace (or schoolplace), it’s the only time of the year where a slew of mandatory holidays and liberal leave policies allow most of us to spend time away from the usual grind. Like that old Coca-Cola advertisement saying, it’s….”The pause that refreshes.” Of course, in addition to being the season of good cheer and bowl games, this is also prime cold/flu season. For many karateka, it also happens to be the time of year that contains the most interruptions to the annual training routine. Hence, we’ll be missing practice on three out of four Saturdays in the coming few weeks (11 Dec, 25 Dec and 1 Jan). For most of us, that’ll be a good time of refreshment and reflection. Unfortunately, there can also be some negative effects of the holidays which don’t normally show up till some time later. For example, ever notice how a bad cold will creep in following these good [...]