Quite recently I took part in a martial arts demo to help raise funds for the club where I train. The dojo floor badly needs replacing so we decided to organize a fund-raising night and as part of that night we all put on a little show for the people who turned up. We eventually compiled a show that we thought would be entertaining and educational at the same time. So taking what I have learned from that experience and the experience of seeing other demos, here are five factors that will pretty much guarantee a successful martial arts demonstration.

My instructor uses Gumby as an analogy to explain the flexibility, relaxation, whipping motion needed in Okinawa Kenpo Kobudo techniques. What are some of the benefits of a flexible mind in the martial arts? Understanding flexible movement sounds like a relatively simple concept.

One of the less spectacular feats in the martial arts, and yet one of the most important, is candle extinguishing. Interestingly, almost anyone can put out a candle with just a little bit of practice, it is that simple. Unfortunately, most people stop with the simple accomplishment being able to do it once.

An aspect of Kokikai Aikido that I deeply appreciate is its focus on innovation. Sensei emphasized this idea a few months ago at Winter Camp. There, he stressed that “Correct movement means growth.” In fact, from the very moment I stepped onto the mat I had been told that it was our responsibility as students to not only learn techniques, but to understand why these techniques work

Okinawan Kobudo has a diverse array of weapons. Gathered from everyday farming implements (but sometimes not really, shhhh), the Okinawans developed an impressive life protection system through armed combat. The kama, or sickle, is one of the fierce and intimidating weapons they developed. The sickle is a very commonly developed tool and most cultures came up with something similar. The Okinawans, due to necessity, took things one step further and adapted it into a weapon.

The quickest way to get hit by a good fighter is to block them. During basics training, we move up and down the dojo floor practicing our blocks. Left hand blocks high, right hand blocks high, left hand blocks low, right hand blocks low, etc. This drilling is critical to learning good technique, but can also leave practitioners disjointed if they never learn how to integrate it into more natural movement.

Ok - you have stuck with your training and achieved a black belt in your chosen style. Perhaps you have really stuck it out and made it to 2nd or 3rd degree black belt! Many times we as martial artists get to a point where we think we know it all. In this post I will talk about what the different levels of karate (the martial art I am most familiar) mean and how one progresses when they know it all.

There are a few things you need to isolate and cultivate this ability to see time as it happens. One of the most important things is to experience CBM, or Coordinated Body Motion. CBM is when you move all body parts at the same time, and stop them all at the same time.

From the Budoka’s perspective a weapon can actually be deemed as limiting and dangerous, and we therefore must strive to cultivate the mindset and freedom that allows us to not be bound by the concept of a weapon, or controlled by its form. We must cultivate the understanding that in the space, anything can be used to our advantage and that an actual weapon is surrounded with common sense that could ultimately can be used against you, creating a risk that should be considered.

Fear is something that every martial artist has to confront at some point, usually early on in their training. In terms of physical confrontation there are two types of fear: fear of getting hit and fear of hitting. Let’s look at each in more detail and how to get rid of them.