The origins of Yin-Yang go back almost 5000 years when people observed that by day the sun would shine and farmers would work on the land, and by night, the sun would seemingly disappear and everyone would sleep. Yin was equated with day time, light, heat and activity. Yang was equated to night time, cold and passivity. Continue Reading →
Already PrimedDid you know we are already primed for self-motivation? Within the first 9-15 months of life most human beings are already walking tall – many running all over the place. We learn to speak and understand at least one language within the first four years of life, and we figure out ways to get lots of things that we want. Let’s face it; humankind is quite a demanding species and has no issues with motivation. The question that arises is not whether or not we can be bothered, but what we can be bothered to do. Continue Reading →
It seems that everywhere I look at the moment, I keep coming across the Insanity workout. Whether it is being hailed as the next best thing on someone’s Facebook status update, or someone I train with is telling me they are getting great results from it. I am probably one of the only people who haven’t seen the official advertisements for it as in my research on the subject I am told these are hard to miss. I guess I am too busy working out to spot the working out advertisements.
So just what exactly is Insanity, how does it work and why is it different from other workouts? Well, when I have researched this on the internet it has been pretty hard to come across anything that wasn’t advertorial in nature, selling the product rather than really reviewing it. The telltale signs were all there, telling the reader where to get the product, making sure readers avoid the pitfall of buying fake copies. One of the few reviews that seemed to critique the workout was pushing another cheaper alternative. I haven’t experienced the Insanity workout so I am not going to pretend to be an expert but this is what I found out. Continue Reading →
As anyone who has ever talked to me about martial arts and kobudo will know my mantra is always the same; flow like water, be sensitive, feel more and work with the forces around you for best results. That’s all very well but is that really how we progress in any discipline? Do we just sit down, meditate, use feeling and the whole training process will happen by itself? Of course not!
Let’s get something straight. There is no such thing as plain sailing in the pursuit of excellence, regardless of the discipline. Hard work is always necessary. For example, I was trawling the internet recently for snack foods that would make me feel full without putting the pounds on. The first article I came across declared that while some foods are better than others, we need to accept that if we are serious about changing our eating habits to lose weight we have to accept some feelings of hunger will be necessary. I’m not a food expert so I am not getting into a debate about how accurate that particular author’s point of view is – but it is certainly true with most things that ‘you get out what you put in’. Hard work and effort bring the best results. Continue Reading →
It is often said that for an accomplished martial artist, the weapon becomes an extension of his own techniques. If a martial artist has poor form, this will show in his kobudo. That much is true but, in reality, we must first become an extension of the weapon before we can effectively project it as an extension of our technique. That means sensitivity training.
Weighing UpWho has not picked up a pen and tossed it in the air only to catch it moments later after it has spun once or twice? If you haven’t done this yourself, you will have witnessed somebody else doing it or even been disturbed at a public gathering when somebody else has dropped the pen they were playing with. What are they actually doing there? Well, firstly they have to weigh up the pen; that means assessing its weight and weight distribution. From there, they get an idea of how much force will be required to throw it up in the air, and they can estimate how much turning force is required to make it spin in the air. They don’t work that out in a lecture theatre or with a pen and paper. The maths would be horrendous, I am sure, but the human mind and body working in harmony together can just intuit such things in a blink of an eye. Continue Reading →
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