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BAMA Advanced Class, Mondays 7.45pm
Scissor take downs and a fiendish kick sequence were just some of the exciting additions that Tim San taught as part of the new 1st kata this Monday! Its a great kata, not only on a technical level but also hugely physical! Well done to our 1st Dan’s Hayley San and Mark San who with their experience made the kick sequence look straight forward!
Ken-Kai-Ryu, Mondays, 7.45pm
With a full sword class this Monday, Richard San taught ‘Kodo’ type sword training patterns, this is where the whole class had to train and move together as one, executing cuts and re-sheaths on the exact beat of a drum soundtrack. Once the whole class got into the rhythm it was an awesome feeling, and really helped the students confidence in performing sword in front of the class.
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Holistic martial Arts Class, Tuesdays 6.30pm
Back to the physical conditioning of ‘Hard form’ in this weeks session, with the addition of slow motion kicks added to our deep stance work. This as you can imagine became quite a work out! So it was lovely to relax down afterwards with the gentle artistry of the sword based ‘art form’.
The whole class are feeling the benefits of this type of training, so different from the usual up-tempo loose coordination of some of the normal ‘calorie burning’ sessions in the gym. This class works as much on mental discipline as on the physical disciple, quite a challenge to the non martial artist!
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Reflective Aikido, Tuesdays, 8.30pm
How to remain focused yet passive, to be balanced yet be fluid, achieve stillness but embrace movement? Well with these types of questions it can only be a Tuesday night, and so must be a ‘Reflective Aikido’ session! These were the questions posed in this weeks class, and we hope the students who attended took some steps towards answering them in their own minds, well done to you all, and a great session!
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Japanese Sword, Tuesdays, 9.30pm
Finally no gingerbread, birthdays or overrunning Aikido sessions got in the way of Richard San running his sword class this week! To celebrate he taught a sword lesson called ‘within the lake’. To enter its cool depths as the sword is drawn, and not resurfacing again until the sword is re-sheathed, the mind and body as one. Its good to be back!
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BAMA Karate and Aikido Te Class, Wednesdays, 6.45pm
Rather a slow start to our September BAMA grading campaign in the Cheltenham dojo, but this week we finally kicked off! So well done to Kohigh Matthew on his 1st part Orange belt Aikido Te grading. Not only performing his applications for both katas, he also demonstrated in front of the class a range of arm locks from 5 different attacks!
This was a great end to another busy Wednesday night, and we are hoping to finish all 1st part gradings next week, and maybe start to answer some of the questions on what is ‘project Mayhem’!
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Always a pleasure to include some writing from one of our philosophy groups students, and this like all good koans sets as many questions as it answers! Enjoy….
If we could but see, and not look,
Listen, not just hear,
Feel, and not just touch,
Then we may discover all that is called Zen,
Everywhere and everything all the time!
If anyone wishes, to contribute some writing or even take part in the Philsophy group then please speak to Richard San
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