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The war of the stances, Part 2 – Aikido…

With the ‘harmonising spirit’ mindset of the Aikido student, a stance won’t be to hold on to the ground, or hold the territory they stand upon. Theirs is the art of continuous movement. Although the shapes they put their legs into, when learning a stance, can appear very similar to the shapes the Karate student’s learn, there the similarity ends. Aikido is very much the art of transitions. The student moves through stances, (footwork.) but Read more…

By Tim Dickerson, ago
Wisewarrior Training

The war of the stances, Part 1 – Karate…

Teaching students in Aikido, Karate and Japanese Sword can sometimes get confusing, their syllabus differs greatly but all 3 disciplines rely upon stances and good posture to achieve their aims. For the Karate student a stance is all about the power. A better, stronger, more rooted stance adds weight and power to a strike and enables a block to receive a greater force. Locking legs, bracing knees, driving the hips and straightening the spine are Read more…

By Tim Dickerson, ago

The Word From The Seminar…

Great to see so many of our students along for their free seminar last Monday night, good to have the full range from beginner to black belt! This seminar was our ‘Self Defence Part 1’, a core subject to all of us who study and teach martial arts in all its various forms. It’s why most of us joined in the first place! We wanted, as always, to give something extra. In our main lessons we Read more…

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Self Defence Seminar Monday 11th May

Self defence seminar coming soon – Monday to be precise!! Not your normal, run of the mill “if your attacker does this, then…” type event!! Be prepared for a shift in perspective and a different take on our usual line of training. Basically its not going to be a series of moves that you’ll learn. These are all well and good but tend to “stay in the dojo” that is to say they work great Read more…

By Tim Dickerson, ago

The Advantage… 2nd March

Great seeing so many of you at the weapons seminar last night! The change from a weekend date to the Monday night for our free workshops seems to have been a good decision, that suits many more of you. We love the idea that a weapons Seminar is always so popular, as sometimes we hear from a student that they can’t see any advantage to them learning or improving weapon work. They may say they Read more…

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Workshops Galore!! 19th Feb.

We now have the years dates for your ‘workshops’, published on the website, for you students to peruse at your leisure!   There is a change to the workshops format this year, we hope it will make attending them easier for everyone. As we are all leading busier lives and weekends have become a little more precious, our 4 workshops this year will be for 2 hours on Monday nights at the Dean Close Dojo! Read more…

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Back to it!!!

Well that’s Christmas done and dusted. A great break and an opportunity to come back refreshed and ready to, quite literally, kick start the New Year. Training resumes at the Dean Close Dojo on Monday January 5th, 6.45pm – Don’t be late! With the new year comes a new look to our web site plus the full launch of our Cheltenham Martial Arts Class and our Sword Class. Check the web site for the details. Read more…

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Combative Body Positioning Seminar (9th Nov)

Our body position in relation to an attacker is what our next Wisewarrior Workshop on the 9th of November (1pm) will be about. As you can imagine, this fundamental principle gives us huge scope to cover some great ideas and concepts, no matter what grade we have attending. The martial arts that people study; and at what level, is defined by this concept. Is their style aggressive and confrontational, passive and deflective, quick and manipulative, Read more…

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Eureka Strikes…! (8th Sept)

By Tor Laurel. “…And then it hit me!” Normally this phrase is used to describe some sort of  revelation, and certainly it has been. However on a far more literal level over the last fourteen years I have indeed been hit (and thrown and locked up and occasionally strangled) by Richard Trafford who has been my Sensei during this time. Ok not my normal pitch on how to sell a martial art to people, but Read more…

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Working Backwards… (20th Aug)

When we learn a technique we start from the beginning of that movement and progress to the finish – hopefully culminating in some profound effect upon the opponent. But this is all because we are learning the technique ‘second hand’ – that is, from someone else. But if we were the creator of some new fantastical technique things would be a little different. As a creator we would begin with the effect that we want Read more…

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