Would you ever open a Full Time Dojo and teach Full Time?

 I get asked this question at different times over the years.

Would I open a full time dojo, teach full time?

It's not something I have actively looked to do, but not something I would be against.

The main issue is that Martial Arts classes are taught in the evenings. So if I opened a Dojo I would teach evenings, possibly every evening, though I would still need to do something during the day, so I would still work. Also, I would not want to rely on the Dojo as my sole source of income anyway.

This would be a business, and most smart successful businessmen have multiple income streams, maybe more than one business they own and operate.

There are full time Dojo out there in the UK

- Errol Fields Coulsdon Martial Arts, a converted old church which he bought and fitted out so he could teach every evening.

- Bob Breen's "Academy" in London, based on the US model, again with classes every evening.

- etc


So if I was to have a full time Dojo, it would be for that purpose, so I could train and teach every evening

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Maybe Friday
Saturday morning
Maybe Sunday

Just as we hire the hall now, this would simply be a hall that we own, or have the freehold lease on, making training possible every evening.

I would not do all this on my own, I would have a Business Partner. The partner would preferably be a Martial Artist themself, so understands what we are doing, has an active interest in the training, and probably attend one of more of our classes.

The Partner would most likely already be a businessman who already runs successful businesses - who literally "knows the business". They might own a garage, café, hair salon, bookstore - it really doesn't matter.

The Partner would take care of the leases, bills, utilities, advertising and marketing campaigns, websites, getting equipment for new members, all the admin, would be the Manager of the Dojo.

I would focus on the main role - turn up and teach.


Development of the Dojo in the future would be in Phases:


PHASE ONE

Initially this would just be an empty hall, like we have now, with the same training, just over more sessions. We may separate the sessions as we move on into the different disciples - Kickboxing, Kali, Karate, Jujutsu, etc


PHASE TWO

Re-invest the money from memberships and classes back into the dojo with some equipment

A punchbag
More punchbags
Speedball
A freestanding kickbag - or more

A wooden dummy

Mats

So we expand on the training with equipment - expand the classes


PHASE THREE

What do we do with the empty hall during the day?

Anyone who is a member of a gym will know they usually have a studio and put on classes during the mornings, and again in the evenings.

In our case the evenings are our Dojo classes, so the free mornings we can look to put on fitness classes

Aerobics
Yoga
Pilates
Dance
etc

There may even be the opportunity to take on a partner who is looking for a day place to teach, who wants to invest in the Studio and have their own place for their classes.


PHASE FOUR

This would be moving and expansion.

Buy a gym with a studio. The gym would still be used for it's usual purposes, and could well be a bodybuilding, fitness, or boxing gym - or become so.

Mornings would have the usual "gym" classes.

Evenings would be Dojo

Again, there are people who have used this model - Bob Breen, Austin Goh, and various incarnation of the Croydon Martial Arts Centre, (depending who is running it and what decade we are in)


So yes, in terms of a Full Time Dojo I would certainly be willing to be involved - if all I am doing means turning up in the evenings and teaching

So if this was ever to work it would not just rely on myself - it would rely on the Business Partner who would Manage that side of things

- and most important, it would rely on the members to turn up to the sessions, train, support the school, and keep coming back.

Chakras and the Godai

 The chakras, like the godai, are a model of consciousness

They are not to be taken too literally or too seriously
They do not actually exist in the sense they are organs or energy centres, which don't actually exist in the physical world

They are ways to manifest emotions into physical Kamae and then into technique

Following this basic guide to the godai

Element, oriental name, emotion, stance
Earth chi confidence shizentai
Water Sui fear ichimonji
Fire Ka anger jumonji
Water fu compassion heart hira

Void ku creativity

The chakras relate to the five godai, as energy centres in the body

Earth, the seat, bottom of spine
Water, the hips, the hara in MA
Fire, the solar plexus, Manipura
Wind, the heart, anahata
Void, the throat

The sixth chakra is the third eye, the agyan
The seventh chakra is the crown, the thousand petal lotus

The seventh chakra and sense is supposed to relate to the universal consciousness
The sixth chakra is the sixth sense, if it exists, some say the sakki sense, used for fifth dan

Earth smell
Water taste
Fire sight
Heart touch
Throat hearing

They also relate to the colours of the rainbow, notes in music and and days of the week

Earth, water, fire, wind, void, agyan, crown
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet
Doh, ray, me, far, soh, la, tee

The chakra relate to the endocrine system

Crown pituitary
Agyan pineal, third eye
Throat thyroid. And parathyroid
Heart anahata thymus
Suigetsu Manipura pancreas
Water adrenals
Earth genitals

They also relate to the manifestation of the body

Earth the bones and muscles
Water the liquids, blood, water the body is made of
Fire, the metabolism, burning of energy, body heat
Wind, the breath, oxygen in the blood and tissues
Void, the thoughts, electrical energy

The sixth and seventh chakra are interpreted differently
Sixth being ESP, so libidinal energy body, aura
Seventh would be the spirit or soul

In combat

Earth, confidence, standing in shizentai, neutral stance

Water, fear, defensiveness, moving back into ichimonji, karate kokotsu dachi, using distance and blocks, counter attacks

Fire, anger, aggressiveness, moving forward, attacking, jumonji, a boxer punching, krabi fighter with forward strikes, wing chun Jik chun choy, shooting to clinch

Wind, compassion, hira Kamae, moving, evading, trying not to hurt the opponent while stopping him hurting you, himself, or anyone else, gently subduing him

In STMA we relate the godai to the four elements, the four pillars
Weapons, Unarmed, Grappling, Kickboxing
The void being creativity

Shiro Tora article MA magazine September 2009

 My article on The Evolution of the MA Dojo appears in this months MAI magazine. I've loaded the article onto the blog and have posted it below.

I'll bring a copy of the mag to class. In the meantime you might like to purchase it.

I've used old footage of training sessions at my previous clubs, earlier versions of what is now Shiro Tora. And yes, that is me in the blindfold doing the chi sao sparring.

I'll be writing more articles for future issues as the editor, my old friend "Bad" Bob is interested in what we are doing now.

If any of you want to appear in the photos, and see yourselves in a real MA mag, then let me know and we'll take some pics at class. If anybody has a camera phone and can take pics and email them to me I will load them onto this forum.

I won't put any pics of you on the blog site and won't print any in a magazine without your consent.

I am not interested in promoting myself, just Shiro Tora, including those of you who will become future instructors in White Tiger and want to run your own clubs.

The Evolution of the Martial Arts Dojo


Have you ever seen the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice"?

Filmed in the 60s, Bond is stationed in Japan and attends Tiger Tanaka's "Ninja" training camp. This isn't actually a "Ninja" camp at all, but it's a perfect example of a traditional Japanese Budo dojo.

We see lots of Martial Arts going on at the same time - Karate, Judo, Aikido, Kenjtsu, Bojutsu. Rather than being in a dojo hall, the training goes on outside (it's a nice day after all). The point being there are not seperate classes for all the different disciplines. They are all being taught and practiced at the same time.

That's how it was traditionally at Japanese dojos. Everyone trained in every discipline, moving around in small manageable groups between the various Sensei present.

Also, all these "different" arts have a common origin.
Karate is taken from two schools of Okinawan Kempo.
Judo is made up of bits from various schools of Jujutsu.
The Jujutsu schools themselves have a variety of techniques from different sources.
Aikido is a mix of Jujutsu and Kenjutsu.

When Martial Art reached the Western world everybody started specialising in one art, then one style of that art. You "only" did karate, then you "only" did Shotokan, or "only" did Kyukushinkai. Students and clubs focussed on the differences rather than the similarities.

When the UFC, and it's subsequent inspired events, arrived in the 90s, it was originally art vs art. Karate vs Kickboxing, Judo vs karate, Kung Fu vs Jujutsu.
As the competitions evolved, people began "cross training". Kickboxers learnt some grappling. Grapplers learned how to punch and kick.

This gave birth to what is referred to now as "Mixed Martial Arts". Students are attending sessions which incorporate techiques and tactics from different systems again, and learning the similarities and the blends. Once again people are practicing integrated systems and pressure testing them in competition.

As we begin the second decade of the 21st Century, things have come full circle. People are practicing "everything" again.

At the Shiro Tora White Tiger Academy The core class is our Unarmed Combat-Self Protection - Threat Response - Street Fighting system.

This is a set of drills students practice with each other.

There is no punching and kicking the air, though we do incorporate shadow boxing.

There is no hard oriental "discipline", we train in a relaxed and friendly manner.

There is no bowing, we prefer a smile and a handshake.

There is no half hour "warm up", just some basic stretching.
This is not an aerobics class or a yoga class, it is a Martial Arts skills class. You spend your time building skills.

This is real time one-on-one CQC drilling, taken from our core arts of Karate, Jujutsu and Kung Fu (which itself is mainly Wing Chun).

There is karate style sparring and chi sao sparring for those who want to do it.
Nobody is forced to spar until ready, but those who want to can "get stuck in" on their first night if they wish.

There is no special uniform or gi, just wear what you feel comfortable in.

The class then bifurcates into Kickboxing and Kobudo (weapons) for those who want to learn these skills.

For Kickboxing you need your own protective gear for partner drills and sparring.
You can bring your own or buy from us at a reasonable rate.
There is some kit on loan for those who want to "try before they buy".
There is impact work on focus pads, Thai pads, and shields. Again, to get maximum benefit students are encouraged to buy their own pads, though there will be some provided.

For Kobudo students need to buy their own weapons depending on what they want to get involved with:

A pair of sticks and a knife.
A pair of tonfa.
A set of nunchaku, both foam safety and wood/chain.
Bokken, shinai, jo and bo.

There will be weapons provided for those who want to "try before they buy".

There is basic weapon sparring with sticks, nunchaku, sword and staff.
Later we will look into acquiring armour for full contact weapons sparring.

Then we put the mats down and practice our throws and takedowns, and spar “randori”. Then we practice groundgrappling, and groundfighting, which is not the same thing as “groundfighting” involves strikes.

Finally we put it all together and practice Vale Tudo from outrange, to kicking and punching, to vertical grappling, to the ground. We even have sessions where we incorporate weapons – from outrange to the ground.

In the 60s in LA, Bruce Lee came up with the concept of practicing techniques and drills from many different arts and called his concept "Jeet Kune Do". One of the key concepts was "Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation".

It's something we still aspire to today.

If you do decide to buy the mag, and I highly recommend it - you can get a copy from WH Smiths - there are some great articles in it this issue.

P18 has a feature on Pauline Bindra, owner of Blitz, the first woman in the UK to get a Karate Black belt.

P108 has a feature on the Dan Inosanto's daughter Diana.

And there is a great debate on Judo being drawn out on the letters page at the moment.

This is an article I had published in Sep 2009 issue of MAI magazine, both as a favour to the editor, and because it's something I was interested in saying at the time

it looks a bit like it's an ad for the dojo but of course it isn't as there were no contact details published

you will note there is no mention of Kali, in this early form of STMA we promoted all weapons training as simply Kobudo

the second incarnation of STMA was the Kali Kickboxing club with unarmed combat in the middle, and that evolved into where we are today


still relevant today and should be of interest to current members who weren't around when this came out

Four dimensional Martial Arts - the Tesseract

 Take six cubes.

Arrange them into the shape of a crucifix.

Take two more cubes

stick them either side of the crucifix

at the point where the cross is made.




Now you have a tesseract.




A tesseract is a 3 dimensional object.




A tesseract is also a 4 dimensional object

a hypercube

unravelled.




A square unravels to a line.

2 dimensions unravel to one.




A cube unravels to a cross.

3 dimensions unravel to two.




A hypercube unravels to a tesseract.

4 dimensions unravel to three.




You exist in three spatial dimensions.

In the same way that a one dimensional person

could not visualise a 2 dimensional square,

or a 2 dimensional person could not visualise a 3 dimensional cube,

you cannot visualise a hypercube.




A hypercube is a thing you are not equipped to understand.




You can only understand the Tesseract.




You can see the thing unravelled

you cannot see the thing itself.


The Tesseract is the kata - the hypercube is KarateDo

The Tesseract is the hypercube unravelled
the cube is the tesseract unravelled

The techniques are squares - sets are cubes
kata is tesseract
karatedo is the hypercube

Bunkai is kata unravelled into series of applied techniques
tesseract unravelled into a cube

Bunkai is kata unravelled into series of applied techniques
tesseract unravelled into a cube

Tai Chi in STMA

 Tai Chi in STMA

Tai Chi teaches us how to use the laws of physics to move an opponent

Archimedes stated
"give me a big enough lever, give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the Earth"

and this is applicable to all leverage based teqchniques, JuJutsu in particular is full of them

Consider Newton's First Law of Motion:

A body at rest or in motion will remain in that state until acted on by an external force

Consider the front stance, zenkutsu dachi, forward bow as a way of understanding, training, and applying this law

Pushing a car

1. the car is stationary and you want to get it moving

2. the car is rolling and you want to make it stop

use this stance, with the arms in front of you, to change the state of the car

Modern Tai Chi

never mind stroking a horses tail, plucking a lute, or looking for a needle at sea bottom

practice your tai chi in contemporary terms

Mug: "There are no rules in a Street Fight"
White Tiger "Yes there are, the rules of physics"