- Children and adults will find
themselves in a Karate studio for generally the
same reasons. Children almost always will be much
less able to articulate those reasons than will
an adult. Neither will be able to articulate all
of the reasons that have motivated them to study
Shorin Ryu nor will either be able to anticipate
the subtle changes that Shorin Ryu will bring to
their lives. In both a child's life and an adult's
life there is often no one whom the child or
adult can approach who is trained to assist them
in dealing with the entire spectrum of concerns
they have about their physical well-being. They
generally have access to medical care but medical
care can address only a portion of the physical
concerns of both children and adults. The
concerns that children and adults have regarding
their physical well-being are similar; both the
child and adult will describe their concerns in
terms which are relevant to their immediate life.
The child wants to learn a way to grow up strong
and healthy like her mother and father. The child
wants to be able to test himself during this
endeavor and receive some feedback from someone
he respects regarding his progress ("Roughhousing"
with other children is a child's way of
accomplishing this type of testing when no other
means are present). The child worries about both
her physical ability to deal with intimidating or
potentially violent situations such as what she
should do if she is pushed in a school yard or
confronted by someone bigger or stronger than
herself. The child will struggle to develop the
physical and emotional discipline necessary to
deal with these concerns. A parent will often
have difficult in assisting the child and may
seek assistance in helping a child deal with
these concerns since they involve the development
of an integrated response to complex issues in
diverse fields such as child psychology, exercise
physiology, sociology, motor skill development,
and unarmed combat techniques. Conversely, a
child will generally derive great comfort from
having someone in their lives to whom they can
address these types of issues. The adult comes to
Shorin Ryu with the same set of concerns cast in
a different setting. The adult wants to maintain
his health as he grows older and seeks diet
control, physical conditioning, and improved
strength and flexibility, and sees training in
Shorin Ryu as a means for accomplishing this.
Instead of worrying about being pushed in a
school yard the adult worries about being robbed,
raped, car jacked, or mugged and often has
concerns about her ability to protect other
members of her immediate family (the old
Okinawans probably couldn't get car jacked but
had all of the same concerns). An adult will not
struggle to develop emotional discipline but will
often struggle to develop a physical release
mechanism for emotions such as tension,
frustration, and anger which may affect their
physical well-being. The Tao of Shorin Ryu deals
with these concerns in the following ways:
|
- HEALTH - The child needs to
strengthen himself and to improve his ability to
withstand the trials of childhood. The adult
often needs to undo the detrimental effects of
lack of exercise, poor diet, stress, and loss of
flexibility due to aging. Shorin Ryu classes
always begin with 15-30 minutes of graduated
exercises which involve both strength and
flexibility training. As a student improves her
physical fitness she is moved into more advanced
classes with more strenuous exercise requirements
where endurance exercises are more evident. This
increased emphasis on physical fitness in an
adult's life will, over time, produce changes in
the adult's stress levels and dietary patterns.
Thus, emotional training and the three
ingredients of physical fitness, strength,
flexibility, and endurance, are addressed as the
student progresses in Shorin Ryu. This approach
assists the student in improving his emotional
character and teaches the student that exercise
should be an integral part of their life at any
age.
|
- CONFIDENCE - As the student
progresses in Shorin Ryu, he is given an
opportunity, within the confines of a protected
environment (the Dojo), to achieve belt ranks (Kyus),
win trophies, and be placed in situations where
he must deal with difficult physical challenges.
The student learns to perform a beginning set of
exercises called the Kihon Kata. Next, the
student learns to perform a more complex set of
Kata called the Ping-an Kata. Finally, the
student is taught the Chinto and Passai Kata
which contain complex combat techniques. As the
student travels this path, she comes upon
events which are designed to test her skill.
These events may be physical tests of skill or
they may be tests of emotional mastery, such as
performing Kata in front of others. Some of these
events, such as the promotion in belt rank, are
stressful for the student and teach the student
that he can achieve under stressful conditions.
Like life, students sometimes fail under these
conditions but most often they succeed. As the
student gains experience and expertise in dealing
with these situations, their confidence in how to
deal with demanding situations improves. This has
a vast impact on the student's life outside of
the Dojo.
|
- PHYSICAL SKILLS - Shorin
Ryu is not a sport; it is a self-defense
technique. The Shorin Ryu Kata are the most
complex set of human dynamics ever invented by
man. The Kata were developed on the island of
Okinawa in the 18th Century to teach
an unarmed individual combat skills for use
against a sword-wielding Samurai. The Shorin Ryu
Kata have been combat tested and the deaths of an
untold number of Okinawans has guaranteed that
what remains in Shorin Ryu Kata are effective
combat training techniques. The Shorin Ryu
instructor (Sensei) emphasizes control and
discipline in order to ensure safety in the Dojo.
The student begins her study of Shorin Ryu by
learning history, stances and basic moves. In the
early phases of their study of Shorin Ryu only
very limited and carefully controlled physical
contact is allowed between students. In fact,
most people who observe a Shorin Ryu class would
see a class that emphasizes physical conditioning,
flexibility, and motor skills. As the student
gains in physical conditioning and skill, he is
introduced to more complex Kata and more subtle
uses and meanings (Bunkai) of the Kata moves
which he has already learned. As the Sensei
observes the student demonstrate physical and
emotional discipline, the student is taught
increasingly more lethal and difficult physical
skills. The First Degree Black Belt (Shodan) test
is a difficult physical and emotional challenge
given to students after many years of training
and is a symbol that the student has become
proficient in many of the basics of Shorin Ryu
and is ready to undertake a study of the more
complex skills involved in Shorin Ryu.
|
- EMOTIONAL DISCIPLINE - When
the students begin their study of Shorin Ryu,
they are taught how to bow to each other, to the
Dojo floor, to the Sensei, and to the past
Senseis as a show of respect. The student is
taught that this physical act carries with it
emotional responsibility. The student must not
get mad, must conqueror his fear, must always
remember to show respect to others, and must
concentrate to learn the skills being presented.
As the student progresses, she is given
progressively more difficult tasks to perform
which demand both physical and emotional
discipline. Often, the student is asked to
perform in an environment which has both physical
and emotional demands. These tests of emotional
skills allow the Sensei to assess the level of
emotional discipline of the student. The student
learns to deal with emotions such as fear, pain,
exhaustion, and anger; and in learning to deal
with these emotions the student gains control of
their effect on his life. The student learns that
the discipline that the Dojo imposes on her
actions allows her to learn and grow in a
structured environment. It is not difficult for
the student, whether child or adult, to see the
benefit of this type of discipline.
|
- The above discussion is only a
brief look at the Tao of Shorin Ryu. Shorin Ryu
embodies the best of what the Martial Arts has to
offer. To understand what that is, one must
undertake the study of Shorin Ryu.
|
- "The purpose of Karate training is to
improve the mind"
- -Chosin Chibana
|
- "The ultimate goal of Karate is the
perfection of character"
- -Gichin Funakoshi
|
- "The less effort, the faster and more
powerful you will be"
- -Bruce Lee
|
- "Above all else, I love Honor"
- -Steven Segal
|
