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MEMORIES AND MY WAY
The new year began and I was finally booked in for my first session of a martial art i had never heard of.
I step into a hall I am familiar with but it looked different today, it was much cleaner.
I met Sensei Graham and we have a brief discussion about the morning training we were about to undertake, I am pleased to hear about the bit where you sit down and meditate.
On to a brief but thorough warm up, little did I know but many of the basic movements (kihon) are incorporated here, so we are certainly warming the muscles we are going to be using. I was very fortunate to be the only one in this early January class as I had sole instruction, which was very useful because a lot of new words (Japanese words) were being thrown at me.
We covered alot of blocking and striking as well as correct foot movement and body movement, I would later learn that these too would have names. Before I knew it 2 hours had past, I was warm and a little sweaty but also feeling very proud of myself because I had learnt something called Ten Chi Ken.
I was so happy with the progress I couldn’t wait to try the next session and see what else there was to learn, that was 5 years ago and there is always something to learn.
After that first session I found out about the international reach of Shorinji Kempo and alot of what it stood for. The bits that stood out for me are the emphasis on co-operation and justice and no matter where you are in the world there will usually be a friendly face willing to train. I have met many friends and training partners since that first day and every day since then I count myself lucky to have found them and Shorinji Kempo
THANKS HOWE! When I started this website, I was not sure where we are going with it. Of course, I had some basic visions what I wanted on it; what information I wanted to convey to others, but I was full with self-doubts as how to do it. The first website, as you can see it today, is the first one I’ve ever done. It is trial by errors, I would say. Whilst I was at the design stage there was one element I wanted to be here, a blog. Short or long, does not matter but related to us, kempo and/or the club. I asked everyone on our chat room to contribute, and within days we had the first two ready. Since I published them, I was constantly battling with other issues (membership; training; work; family, etc) and I was putting off writing a new post, but by now we (the Shibu) reached a turning point, I wanted to share it with you. A few weeks ago, I put out a short ad - REALLY A CRY FOR HELP - (on WhatsApp and Twitter) for the design of our logo. I wanted to have something which will put the club on the map; will be easily distinguishable and one that artistically pleasing. Now, those of you who knows me well, it is clear that I was not intended to be one of the contenders, based on the last requirement. However, I tried. Downloaded countless programs (don’t ever believe in free dinner or free programs anymore) and spent hours pestering my wife to write Chinese characters on every piece of papers I was able to lay my hands on it. Well, it did not work. This is the best I managed to get out. Some part of it just all right. According to Minesh, I am underselling myself, but I beg to differ.
Minesh became the first blogger
