Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Chujun Miyage Sensei said that Karate was not created for injuring people rather for defending oneself from being Injured. Throughout our traditional practice of the art we see this message repeating itself in a number of ways. One such way is Kata, it starts with a block and ends with a block.

Kancho Deena Naidu

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Some students have often asked me for ways in which they can improve their character. I say to them that without looking into the mirror we cannot see ourselves, so it is others who see us more than we see ourselves. One of the best ways is to listen to what others are saying about us without letting pride or ego come in the way because more often than not they are right and we are wrong. Being open to listen prevents us from continuing on the same vein of fault that is not good if we serious about improving ourselves. This is very much like when we want to improve our Kata. It is only on a video playback that we can see our mistakes or what others tell us.

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Gain power by improving your Character
- Everyone loves those who are pleasant and kind.
Gain wisdom by listening to others and learn from their experiences
- a great way to progress, why make the same mistakes as others.
Gain freedom by not harming others
- the natural law of cause and consequence is always operational.
Gain merit by doing the best you can
- this will lead you to have success in all areas of your life.
Gain wealth by saving and not wasting.
- Make the best use of all the resourses you have.
Kancho Deena Naidu

Sunday, May 16, 2004

One of the greatest lessons one can learn in karate is that during kumite one must never injure ones sparing partner.However, use this opportunity to develop high skills of perfect control of self on all levels; physical, mental and emotional level. Not many can do this without letting the ego get drawn in, even in a friendly kumite session. A deliberate attack on a sparring partner is never warranted. On the physical level we must do our best to control our body movements and be able to pick our targets and hit it at will without injuring ones partner, with as less impact as possible. The mind has to work in conjunction with the body. We have to learn to know what we doing as there must never be a time when we say I did not know what I was doing. The third level is the emotional level. It is so easy for us to our actions by saying, 'I hurt him because he hurt me.' Maybe we need to work more on our blocks or learn to stay out of the way. If the sparing gets to hot, or causes anger stop immediately, bow out and find another that is less temperamental. This gives yourself the chance to cool down. We have to learn to control all three components of self. This is a great step forward in mastering the art. A karate person must learn self control. Bad intensions leads one to have lack of control and has a devastating effect on ones life on the long term. Be careful and take control of yourself always. Kancho

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

A skilled defender will use verbal persuasion to avoid conflict or reasonable force to deter any attacker. In order to become a skilled practitioner of the art we need to understand the complete form of the art as well as know what is workable and what is not, in other words the real mechanics of defence and not make believe techniques that we so often see many other practitioners practice. We do this by correctly studing and practicing the basics, the intermediate and the advanced.However, in our practice we also need to learn how to control the mind. Then with these right tools we are able to contain the attacker.

Thursday, May 06, 2004

There is a Japanese karate saying, “Karate ni senti nashi”. This means karate does not have a first attack. It is totally a passive defensive art and not for aggression. The positive side of Human is to act and live humanely. Within us are the wonderful traits of love, compassion tolerance etc. However, throughout this life we may be subjugated to negative influences, much of which are beyond our control. Our good art constantly teaches us the virtues of right living that whatever the bad influence of the past slowly disappears. Ultimately we will learn self control and to never attack first and be the ideal type of karate person that masters dream of.
Kancho