On the 20th February 2016, 6th Dan black belt and karate
instructor Iain Abernethy returned to Bristol to lead a seminar for Zenshin
Dojo and other clubs. Zenshin green
belt, Emily, reports on her experiences and what she learned. It may have been a chilly February morning
outside, but the atmosphere inside the Grange School gym, in Warmley, was full
of warm smiles, friendly greetings and eager anticipation of the upcoming
session.
We were about to
begin the second of Iain Abernethy’s
seminars hosted by Zenshin Dojo – a trend I’m personally hoping will become an
annual staple. With a similar format, but different content to last year, Iain
taught real-world applications (bunkai) of Heian katas, interspersed with
fascinating historical insights and practical self-defence tips.
One of the things I really appreciate about Iain’s teaching
is how he keeps karate ‘real’. He frequently refers back to the realistic (but
hopefully unlikely) situation of being threatened by an aggressor. To this end,
he offered the following three word mantra for any self-defence activity:
Him. Down. Now.
Allowing for gender alternatives,
of course, this was one of many examples of Iain giving a clear and memorable
perspective on a multifaceted issue. According to Iain, karate kata and bunkai weren’t
designed to be a Mortal Kombat style chain combo where only the final move gets
to ‘Finish Him’! Instead, in a self-defence
situation you should perform each and every move with the intention of
finishing the fight. If that fails and your adversary is rude enough to remain
upright, the next move is your contingency. Intend for that one to finish the
fight. Once again: Him, down, now. This is important to remember because it’s
very easy to simply relax into the routine of a familiar sequence, especially
when practised repeatedly. Treat every move in every practice like it really
matters, because one day it truly might!
Iain communicated other messages that have stuck with me,
helping shift my perspective. He explains kata is not about fighting off eight villains
arranged perfectly at points of the compass relative to you, just waiting for
their time to attack. Instead, you can think about kata as instructions for how
you ought to be oriented, relative to your opponent. The ideal situation, just
like a gangster or cowboy standoff (and who doesn’t have those every once in a
while?) is to have your opponent in your line of sight, but to be well away
from theirs.
An aspect we
revisited from the 2015 seminar was the importance of tactile awareness. To
take someone down, you need to get close – properly close, not a polite six
feet away. Keep an eye, or more importantly a hand, on them at all times during
your defence. If you’ve got hold of my arm, you instinctively know, to a pretty
amazing degree of accuracy, where the rest of my body is (including the squishy
bits that’ll hurt most!), and also where I’m trying to go if I attempt to pull
away or initiate an attack. So don’t let it go unless there’s a clear benefit
or follow-up!
Between learning practical moves, Iain imbued us with
historical insights that helped to satisfy my increasing desire to find out
‘why is that done this way?’ Of course, there is much lost to the vagaries of
history, and Iain never claims otherwise. However, he still enlightened us with
his deep knowledge, ability to extrapolate from historical contexts, and from
what simply makes common sense.
While I got a lot out of actively putting his principles
into practice during the seminar, I believe I could listen to him just talk
about karate for hours. Thankfully I have recently discovered his extensive set
of podcasts running back to 2006, so I intend to start putting this to the
test! This is to say nothing of the hundreds of articles available for free on
his website.
The messages may have
been serious, perhaps even life-saving, but the session was relaxed, friendly
and accessible. From chatting with various people after the session, it’s clear
Iain has something for the whole spectrum of grades and interests. And, as
ever, it was lovely meeting and training with people from other clubs, both
within Zenshin Dojo and externally.
Thanks again to Iain for coming to Bristol, and also to Rob
for organising the day. I’m already
looking forward to next time.
