What was predominately a male activity has slowly been changing over the last few decades. You now can go into any training hall where martial arts are being taught and often find more women than men practising. Their approach and spirit is often different and the challenges they face can be considerable if there are …
It is said that in order to draw the silk from a silkworm’s cocoon, you need to do so in a constant smooth movement. If done fast or jerky or changing direction too much, the silk will break. If too slow, it will tangle. So it is with the practice of silk reeling in Tai …
On the island of Okinawa, there is a cultural sport called bullfighting. It is quite different from bullfighting in Spain. There, the bull takes on a man. It is very flamboyant, but it can also be very gruesome. In Okinawa, they pit one bull against another. Two bulls are lead into a ring and put …
“I have been many years training in the Way of Strategy, Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time. “It is now during the first 10 days of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Kanei (1645). I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo, …
Breathing is probably the single most important aspect of the martial arts. We can all learn. Earlier, I wrote about the time and the area where Tai Chi is generally believed to have been formalized, and thus recognized, as what we practise today. Yet, in doing so we cannot ignore the fact that it did …
Chop wood, haul water … It was the very simple movement of mopping the floor that taught me the circular motion and energy needed to do a mid-level block. Like the famous scene in the original Karate Kid movie, I discovered the actions and intention of this movement through a non-martial-art practice. If my memory …
It is always enjoyable to write about an activity that is well-represented in the Yukon. However, to do some form of justice to Aikido and those who teach it, I will need to touch on the history of this amazing martial art and the founder of it before I explore what is offered here. Aikido …
I had fallen asleep while waiting for my test to begin. There were over 400 black belts at the week-long camp. Many had travelled thousands of miles from different countries to have the opportunity to attend. Over 15 instructors were brought in from around the world. We had just gone through a week of training …
Do you remember a little ad on the back of comic books? The legendary Charles Atlas had put together a promo about a skinny weakling having a big bully kick sand in his face in front of his girl. Off the skinny lad went and subscribed to the Charles Atlas training program, then came back …
I was 12 years old. I was facing a young girl, about my age, with a whole lot more experience in Judo than I had. However, I had the male ego in full swing and thought no way could this girl toss me. Moments later, I was flying through the air only to land on …
I was first introduced to Tai Chi Chuan by a karate instructor from Quebec. We had brought him to the Yukon to teach Karate to us and ended up spending half our time learn the long form of the Yang style. This has become fairly common with many of the Karate people I practised with. …
A few weeks ago, I was involved in a discussion about bread making. No, I do not mean those bread making machines you can buy at your local store, but bread made by hand. I remember as a child my mother and her sisters getting together to do the fall harvest. They would bake bread, …
