Meditation and A Purposeful Practice at West LA Seido
Life has always been complex and challenging. The challenges today are just different than what they were in the past. Nowadays instead of hunting and scavaging for food and living in the elements we’re bombarded with suggestions and demands from our highly sophisticated societies. How is it possible to find harmony amidst what are often contradictory messages?!
The purposeful practice of Seido karate-do offers you a simple method for removing the “mental clutter” that accumulates in life. The program helps you achieve the clarity and effectiveness you’re looking for on your journey toward self-fulfillment and a meaningful life. These are big claims! Seido backs them up.
The Seido program works on many levels. The simple but powerful movements serve to organize your thoughts, focus your body and, ultimately, connect you to your best self. The kata (forms) present a rich platform for individual self-discovery, while the partnered work establishes a basis for learning with others. Our meditation program encourages a form of “mental housekeeping” that works with and amplifies the movement practices to produce more effective and efficient thinking.
While the Seido program requires physical exertion and mental alertness, the real power of the practice grows without asking anything from you but consistency. Done on a regular basis, transformations start taking hold below the surface of your everyday awareness, where they nurture and sustain an ever-deepening connectedness to life. The transformations aren’t to be believed. They’re to be experienced!
On the physical level you’ll grow stronger and your movements more integrated. You’ll begin to develop a recognizable “presence” that surges deep from within. This presence alone will invite connection with others.
Mentally, you grow skillful at discarding ineffective habits of thinking and, through skillful focusing of your attention, devote your energy to those things in life which you value most.
Spiritually, the connectedness that infuses your actions opens you to the energy around you, allowing for an authentic appreciation of all that life has to offer not only for you, but for everyone.
In a culture that can embrace irony at the expense of authenticity, Seido’s purposeful practice offers you a direct path to your own truth and supplies you with the confidence to embrace it.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
West LA Seido's Approach to "Self-defense"
West LA Seido Karate-do embeds its personal protection program into its on-going classes. Private instruction in this aspect of Seido can also be arranged with Kyoshi on an individual basis.
Personal protection, i.e. self-defense, at Seido uses a model of escalating stages of conflict resolution starting with avoidance behaviors, advancing to verbal de-escalation skills and finally, if no other option is left, introduction of high impact physical measures. In the first two stages, your intention is to defuse the conflict quickly and resolve the misunderstanding in a non-violent, effective manner. Only when these avenues have been exhausted would one resort to physical engagement.
Any “self-defense” program worth its salt starts by having the student develop increased awareness of their surroundings. There’s a good reason for starting here. Avoiding predators is the most effective, safest approach to self-defense in existence. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. But in order to avoid the “bad guys”, you need to know how to look for them. The West LA Seido program places a high value on this "widget" in your personal protection toolbox. Our program trains you in simple but effective practices that heighten and hone your surveillance skills to keep you out of harm’s way.
Almost as important as the awareness of your surroundings is the awareness of yourself. Some people present themselves to the world in such a way that they attract a predator. These people are the proverbial “mugger’s target.” The personal protection program at West LA Seido teaches you how to present yourself in the world so that the predators lurking among us see you as a “hard target” and walk away from you without incident.
If you are to be selected as a target, for whatever reasons, predators often use verbal interactions as “stepping stones” to gain access to your personal space. Using the highly acclaimed work of Gavin de Becker, Marc MacYoung and William Fairbairn, West LA Seido will introduce you to the concepts of “closing" and "entering”, terms that describe how a predator approaches his prey. Our methods will show you what to do about it.
Fighting is always the last resort. As the law enforcement community says, “If you’ve come to the point of fighting, you’ve done a lot wrong already.” Fighting is an indication that your “tip of the spear” self-defense skills, awareness and verbal de-escalation, need improvement. Be that as it may, stuff happens. When it does, keep it simple. West LA Seido will train you in a simple but brutally effective approach to physical combat. Our program also informs you of what the legal consequences of violent behavior are in our society. Beware. They aren't pretty! And they’re just one more reason to develop a diverse skill set to deal with uninvited aggression. Seido’s program will give you those skills.
West LA Seido Karate-do embeds its personal protection program into its on-going classes. Private instruction in this aspect of Seido can also be arranged with Kyoshi on an individual basis.
Personal protection, i.e. self-defense, at Seido uses a model of escalating stages of conflict resolution starting with avoidance behaviors, advancing to verbal de-escalation skills and finally, if no other option is left, introduction of high impact physical measures. In the first two stages, your intention is to defuse the conflict quickly and resolve the misunderstanding in a non-violent, effective manner. Only when these avenues have been exhausted would one resort to physical engagement.
Any “self-defense” program worth its salt starts by having the student develop increased awareness of their surroundings. There’s a good reason for starting here. Avoiding predators is the most effective, safest approach to self-defense in existence. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. But in order to avoid the “bad guys”, you need to know how to look for them. The West LA Seido program places a high value on this "widget" in your personal protection toolbox. Our program trains you in simple but effective practices that heighten and hone your surveillance skills to keep you out of harm’s way.
Almost as important as the awareness of your surroundings is the awareness of yourself. Some people present themselves to the world in such a way that they attract a predator. These people are the proverbial “mugger’s target.” The personal protection program at West LA Seido teaches you how to present yourself in the world so that the predators lurking among us see you as a “hard target” and walk away from you without incident.
If you are to be selected as a target, for whatever reasons, predators often use verbal interactions as “stepping stones” to gain access to your personal space. Using the highly acclaimed work of Gavin de Becker, Marc MacYoung and William Fairbairn, West LA Seido will introduce you to the concepts of “closing" and "entering”, terms that describe how a predator approaches his prey. Our methods will show you what to do about it.
Fighting is always the last resort. As the law enforcement community says, “If you’ve come to the point of fighting, you’ve done a lot wrong already.” Fighting is an indication that your “tip of the spear” self-defense skills, awareness and verbal de-escalation, need improvement. Be that as it may, stuff happens. When it does, keep it simple. West LA Seido will train you in a simple but brutally effective approach to physical combat. Our program also informs you of what the legal consequences of violent behavior are in our society. Beware. They aren't pretty! And they’re just one more reason to develop a diverse skill set to deal with uninvited aggression. Seido’s program will give you those skills.
West LA Seido's Approach to Competition
Competition and cooperation are two modes of interaction that engage us throughout our lives. West LA Seido Karate recognizes the need for being skillful at both. We channel the cooperative instinct in the dojo in a variety of ways, ritual courtesy being the most visible. We also give our competitive nature its due. In weekly sparring classes and periodic tournaments throughout the year, the West LA Seido program provides the eligible student with sufficient opportunities to “test” her or himself in controlled but intense contests.
The word competition comes from Latin, where it meant “to seek with.” In Seido Karate-do, when we compete we remember that we improve quicker and surer with our opponent or training partner’s challenging presence in the dojo. Competition seen from this perspective becomes a way in which we, with our training partners, “seek together” to improve. We use each other in this intentional, mutually acknowledged process on our way to attaining our separate goals. Such a conscious process creates a deep bond with others and from that bond we can feel respect for them as well as for ourselves.
Competition and cooperation are two modes of interaction that engage us throughout our lives. West LA Seido Karate recognizes the need for being skillful at both. We channel the cooperative instinct in the dojo in a variety of ways, ritual courtesy being the most visible. We also give our competitive nature its due. In weekly sparring classes and periodic tournaments throughout the year, the West LA Seido program provides the eligible student with sufficient opportunities to “test” her or himself in controlled but intense contests.
The word competition comes from Latin, where it meant “to seek with.” In Seido Karate-do, when we compete we remember that we improve quicker and surer with our opponent or training partner’s challenging presence in the dojo. Competition seen from this perspective becomes a way in which we, with our training partners, “seek together” to improve. We use each other in this intentional, mutually acknowledged process on our way to attaining our separate goals. Such a conscious process creates a deep bond with others and from that bond we can feel respect for them as well as for ourselves.
West LA Seido's Approach to Improving Your Fitness
The point of any workout is to stress your body and initiate an adaptive training response. Period.
What are appropriate levels of stress necessary to achieve the adaptive response? In terms of the cardiovascular system, studies have shown that it usually takes about two minutes to get the heart rate into the training zone. Once there, the heart shows an adaptive response after five more minutes of training in the zone. Total minutes needed to get an adaptive response from your heart? Seven.
That’s the floor of the adaptive response component. What’s the ceiling, meaning, beyond what point is any additional work not producing an adaptive response? Twenty-five minutes, according to the sports physiologists.
So a workout in your training zone (anywhere from 60 to 100% of your maximum heart rate) lasting anywhere between 7 and 27 minutes is sufficient to maximize your heart’s adaptive response. Do this twice or three times a week and your fitness will soar without eating into your already crammed schedule.
At Seido we use these parameters to guide our conditioning program. We employ variety in our training sessions to keep it interesting and to keep stimulating adaptive responses. In some classes we use the Tabata Protocol, which calls for maximum exertion for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, repeat for 5-8 sets. Basic calisthenics like the squat thrust + knees raises + multiple punches serve to raise the level of exertion to maximum. These movements are easily learned but very demanding on all the major muscle groups. Done “all out” it’ll leave you gasping for breath. Doing the “20-10s” twice a week is enough to get an optimal adaptive response, meaning it costs the least in terms of time spent on it and produces the most in terms of physiological benefit.s.
Of course, we also train basic karate techniques, such as punches, kicks and grabs, as well as all the forms and partnered drills. Once the adaptive response portion of a class is finished we move to these karate techniques and do them at a slower, more meditative pace. The purpose of going slow with the technique practice is allows the trainee to model biomechanical efficiency, which then transfers to “real life” action. We also train on the heavy bag to model biomechanical effectiveness. We want you to feel that any technique you practice will have some pop in it while going about it in a way that will enhance you mastery and elevate your spirit.
The point of any workout is to stress your body and initiate an adaptive training response. Period.
What are appropriate levels of stress necessary to achieve the adaptive response? In terms of the cardiovascular system, studies have shown that it usually takes about two minutes to get the heart rate into the training zone. Once there, the heart shows an adaptive response after five more minutes of training in the zone. Total minutes needed to get an adaptive response from your heart? Seven.
That’s the floor of the adaptive response component. What’s the ceiling, meaning, beyond what point is any additional work not producing an adaptive response? Twenty-five minutes, according to the sports physiologists.
So a workout in your training zone (anywhere from 60 to 100% of your maximum heart rate) lasting anywhere between 7 and 27 minutes is sufficient to maximize your heart’s adaptive response. Do this twice or three times a week and your fitness will soar without eating into your already crammed schedule.
At Seido we use these parameters to guide our conditioning program. We employ variety in our training sessions to keep it interesting and to keep stimulating adaptive responses. In some classes we use the Tabata Protocol, which calls for maximum exertion for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, repeat for 5-8 sets. Basic calisthenics like the squat thrust + knees raises + multiple punches serve to raise the level of exertion to maximum. These movements are easily learned but very demanding on all the major muscle groups. Done “all out” it’ll leave you gasping for breath. Doing the “20-10s” twice a week is enough to get an optimal adaptive response, meaning it costs the least in terms of time spent on it and produces the most in terms of physiological benefit.s.
Of course, we also train basic karate techniques, such as punches, kicks and grabs, as well as all the forms and partnered drills. Once the adaptive response portion of a class is finished we move to these karate techniques and do them at a slower, more meditative pace. The purpose of going slow with the technique practice is allows the trainee to model biomechanical efficiency, which then transfers to “real life” action. We also train on the heavy bag to model biomechanical effectiveness. We want you to feel that any technique you practice will have some pop in it while going about it in a way that will enhance you mastery and elevate your spirit.
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