Last weekend the annual shinsokai winter gasshuku was held at my dojo in Brentwood, with Richard Barrett Sensei visiting from Spain to provide instruction to the small group who had gathered to train.
The first session began with junbi undo, with Barrett sensei taking time to fully explain each exersise and how they related to kata movements. He stressed the importance of learning about the anatomy of the human body, and knowing what each exersise was trying to achieve. The cat stretch, otherwise known as the goju ryu push up, was given particular attention and the students were urged to look for the Go and Ju in each movement. This then progressed onto abdominal exersises with first the reverse cycle being revisited in detail, and then lots of sit-ups using the kongoken to provide added resistance.
With the practitioners now fully warmed up, we began to practice Sandan Gi – the three stage blocking practice performed in both a static and a moving form. We were urged to look at the differences between the static and moving set, and see what each was trying to teach the practitioner. Although on the surface both are fairly simple exersises, when you began to look for the deeper lessons you see just how much they have to offer and how important their correct practice is to developing a good understanding of the defensive principles of Goju Ryu. The rigid three stages of the exersise (jo, chu, and ge) were then broken up to a more random nature of attack, and the defender was forced to react in a more instinctive manner as he now could not be sure what strike would be coming. By applying the principles learnt earlier in the structured form of sandan gi, the practitioners were able to successfully defend against attacks of a random nature without any major incidents occurring. Following this, we were encouraged to add a counter technique, and the class was then gathered around after each technique to discuss the pros and cons of the techniques, strategies, and target areas used, and how they related back to the classical kata of Goju Ryu.
The second session of the day began with Sanchin training. Barrett Sensei has many theories regarding the practice of Sanchin which were discussed and practiced in depth. It is often said that Sanchin is the most important of all of the Goju Ryu kata, but it appears that often this kata is only paid lip service, and the limited understanding that we have of this kata now reveals this. Often you hear that in the old days students would learn only sanchin for three years. Just think how much further developed your Sanchin would be if you were lucky enough to have practiced only this for three years to the exclusion of all else!
After Sanchin we worked on linking the feelings developed through the training, with the practice of Kakie. The students were encouraged to find ways of breaking their opponents balance and structure without pushing or pulling. This required a great deal of sensitivity to the opponents movements, and a good knowledge of how your own bodyweight is affected by your offensive movements.
The following day we began once again with junbi undo, and then moved straight onto kata practice. Each student was assigned a kata to study on their own, and Barrett Sensei was on hand to assist with correcting technique. One of the key points of the weekends training was looking at how everything related back to Sanchin, and the students were encouraged to question every area of their art to look for answers in order to progress their study. To just turn up and train is not enough, a conscious effort must be made to actively study the art and try to learn the lessons that it atempts to impart. By training in this manner karatedo remains an art, a science. This is the difference between sports karate and martial art.
The final session of the weekend worked toward combining everything that we had covered previously into one practice. We looked at how Sanchin, ashi and tai sabaki, kata, sandan gi and kakie are all related to the act of self defence. To think of each exersise as a seperate entity is wrong, they are all one and the same. Each relate directly to the defensive principles and strategies of the Goju style and should be practiced to the point where they become instinctive, working in the same way as the human bodies natural flinch response. The students were asked to defend against random combinations of straight punches, hooks and kicks, and to counter against an uncooperative opponent using techniques from the classical kata of Goju Ryu. This exersise revealed the level of urgency needed in the counter attacks in order to prevent the opponent escaping to launch a further attack.
As always it was a great weekend of training, and I think that everyone in attendance came away with a better understanding of the defensive principles of Goju Ryu, and lots to work on for over the winter period.
A big thank you goes out to Richard Barrett Sensei for taking the time to visit us again in the UK, and for all of his efforts teaching over the weekend.
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