Go-no-sen, tai-sen and de-ai – 10/29/09 – Thursday Karate class

Great class again!

Working on those basics kicks….

Sensei Cieplik had us start our kihon with three each, forward and backward, of rising block, downward block, inward  block and outward block.  After that, we worked on back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and front stance spear hand.

After that, we worked on knee strike with front snap kick.  To make this movement work, after the knee strike you need to pull the hip back before doing the front snap kick.

Next, we worked on stepping across from a horse stance with side thrust kick.  After that we did side snap kick and then one step across with both kicks.

Go-no-sen, tai-sen and de-ai…

I hope the spelling above is correct since I found different spellings on Goggle.  Sensei had us get a partner and start working on go-no-sen.

Go-no-sen is a where person attacks you, you block their attack first and then counter attack them.  For example, your partner attacks you with a front punch to the head, you step back and execute a rising block, pause for a very short time and then return a counter punch or other attack.

Next, we worked on tai-sen.  This is where a person attacks and you block and counter attack at the exact same time.  For example, your attacker throws a punch at your stomach, you turn your body and use one hand to redirect the punch and hit them with a counter attack at the same moment.  I often us this when doing one-step sparring and it works really well for me.

The last concept that we worked on was de-ai.  This is the more difficult concept to work on.  The idea is you attack your attacker before they attack.  For example, you and your attacker are face to face and before they get to throw their attack, you see their intent and attack them first.  Most people show a tell when they begin their attack such as shrugging their shoulders or widening their eyes but some people say they can feel the energy of their opponents attack before they actually do them.

Many kata’s….

Sensei had us spend a good amount of time working on kata. We started with Heian Shodan all the way to Heian Godan.  We did Tekki Shodan three times and then spent the rest of the class working on Jion, about four times, and Bassai Dai.

One thing that Sensei has often told us, when working on our kata, is that we should have good posture when we do our kata.  Even though, Sensei has said this many times and I thought I understood it, I think tonight I was able to actually do it.  I focused on keeping my chest out when I did my kata, instead of trying not to lean forward when doing them.  Putting my mind in that other place made the kata feel like it came together.  It felt really different and when I looked on the mirror, I noticed that I was only leaning a very tiny bit forward.  I am not sure if it is competition winning kata but it felt really good and it didn’t put the strain on my lower back like when I would try to force myself to have an upright posture in the past.