Want to learn karate? Don’t know where to start? This video introduces you to the very basics of Goju Ryu, the building blocks upon which everything is built.
Tag: Karate
Video: Productivity Hacks for Martial Artists
If you’re running your own dojo business, or trying to juggle black belt grading with school, or an overwhelmed karate mamma just trying to find time in the day, then we have the video just for you!
Video on How To Clean Your Gi
If, like us, you have invested in a good quality gi and you want it to last, follow our short, simple guide to keeping it fresh, clean and snappy.
Video on Why We Wear White in the Dojo
The karate gi has a longer (and shorter) history than most people realize. We trace the famous angry white pajamas to their origins, explore the logic and history behind the use of white fabric, and the modern stylings of keiko-gi, and cover it in 10 minutes flat.
It’s not us, it’s Zoom: How To Teach Karate Online
Until you can open again, here are some ideas on how to make Zoom classes better, and to maintain that vital connection between you and your students.
But Still. I’m So Sorry.
Karate has survived two world wars, Spanish flu, numerous recessions and the worst McDojos in the world. It will survive this. I’m not worried about karate – I am worried about you. The student. The instructor. The dojo parent. Wherever you land in the constellation of people that make up a dojo, I worry. I hope you are okay. I hope you have your health and your livelihood.
Why we wear white
It is the bane of every dojo parent’s existence – the white karate suit. Why dress children in white? Of all the colours, why choose the most unforgiving, most difficult to maintain, most revealing colour of all? Why something that will get dirty 20 minutes before a grading?
Tameshiwari: Boardbreaking
I remember a kid asking me once, “when do we learn to break boards?” and I responded with “when trees attack!”
(Shut up, I thought it was funny.)
For the most part, that usually settles the discussion, but tamashiwari (translated as ‘trial by wood’) keeps cropping up in my reading and research.
Sensei Mom
Anyway, now I juggle two titles: Sensei, and Mom. And like all mothers before me, I am going to offer unsolicited wisdom, as revenge for all the unwanted advice I got from family, friends and complete strangers in the queue at Checkers (because nothing inspires condescending advice from randoms like a baby bump. The same f*ckers won’t offer you a chair to sit on, but they will ask about whether you plan to have natural birth or not. Rude.)
Karate in the Age of Instagram
I worked as a social media manager in my past life, before I ran away from corporate to become an instructor, and it was a constant battle of shiny, happy updates and vapid copy, my English degrees weeping on the wall while I used hashtags and SEO-friendly babble to sell books, or book launches.
Zojo Dojo 