Notes from the knife defence day – March 16th – Poole

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Knife Defence Course‘Not what I expected.  It was better’ – Rob Newton.

 

‘This is an excellent course taught with a fresh outlook on dealing with any attack: Excellent for any martial artist’ – Grant Mason

‘Sensei Matt teaches with a calm fluidity which keeps the learning at an easy pace and means you take away far more than expected’ – Daniel O’Rourke

Dear all, firstly thanks for coming along on Saturday.  It was great to see old faces and to meet new ones.  Especially on big match day which I am happy to talk more about if anyone wishes 😉

Ok as promised here are the keynotes from the day.  If anyone wants clarification or to a better understanding of some of the drills please feel free to email me.

Theme – knife defence – basics.

General points:

  • We worked on four principles:
    • Breathing (Kokyu)
    • Movement (Sabaki)
    • Relaxation (Raku Suru)
    • Structure (Kuzushi)
  • When faced with a knife of course run away if you can – but this is a lot more difficult than you think.  With someone intent on hurting you and not just scaring you you will be lucky to see the knife before the attack.
  • Knife work builds tension and nothing will hamper your ability to respond spontaneously more destructively than tension in the body and psyche.  We did a lot of work on breathing, moving and relaxing.  This is the most sure-fire way to stay calm in a stressful or dangerous situation but it takes regular, deep practice.
  • Train the body to move and not tense on contact.   A life saving skill.  Work to train the body to move with and not resist the first contact.  To ‘ride’ the strike if you like.  Especially when you don’t see it.   Train from all angles and attacks with eyes open and closed.
  • Don’t disrupt his attack.  Let it pass you by and use their energy and momentum to unbalance them.  Blocking or moving them too much will alert them to the fact that they have missed and they will brace and steady themselves to attack again.
  • Deep Practice.
    • This is the best type of practice for dynamic skill acquisition.  It needs to be:
    • Slow enough so that you can learn, see errors and correct them.
    • Deliberate practice where you are reaching for a skill that is on the outskirts of your capability.  You get it wrong more than you get it right but you are grooving the skill circuits with each attempt.
    • Your cycle of practicing the skill is short giving you lots of attempts at grooving the skill.  Obviously the more times you practice the skill with awareness the better you get. If you remember you were probably attacked several hundred times during the day, with instant feedback on whether it worked or not.
    • Slow deep practice will make you swift and graceful without you realising it.
    • Deep practice is typified by words like, attention, connection, building, whole, alert, focus, mistakes, repeat, wiring, exploration, edge, awake, alive and tiring!
  • A sense of playful exploration in the practice – just like when cubs are learning to play fight with each other.
  • Important not to fight against him trying to make a technique work.

Practices:

Familiarity
We practiced walking around drawing the knife and putting it away to get comfortable and familiar working with it.  We then worked with going to ground, rolling and getting back up whilst drawing the knife and putting it away in a ‘hidden’ manner so that you would get used to how a ‘hidden’ attack looks and feels.  We then progressed to drawing and stabbing someone else in the same motion in a crowd.

Structure
We practiced breaking the partners structure after moving out of the way of a strike along their balance points with finger tip lightness.  Firstly really taking our time and then smoothly in motion.

Striking
We then looked at striking in precise areas to break up their structure and take them down.

Sensitivity
We worked from you grabbing the knife hand and then relaxing the body but still keeping a firm grip.  Allow them to stab guiding it past with minimum interruption and then using this movement to take the balance and take down.

Slashing drill

We worked on three phases of slashing

  1. Slow
  2. Fast and aggressive
  3. Attacking

The partner had to stay relaxed through breathing and moving and moving decisively through and past the slash.

Fix then attack.
We worked on the attacker grabbing you and then attacking with the knife.  We worked from:

  1. Wrist grabs
  2. Elbow
  3. Arm around shoulder.

You can and should of course try from any grab.

Pressure Testing
We then finished with a pressure testing drill with a short time in a circle with an attacker to see what had been picked up during the day and to highlight areas of strength and weakness.  Most importantly you ability to stay calm under pressure.

What the participants had to say:

‘Take time to go to this knife seminar because you never know!’ – Keiran Best.

‘This is the reality of knife attacks; non-technique based defence’ – Mykola Kuntyn

‘I enjoyed the course and think that it could improve my chances in a knife attack’ – Steve Gardner

‘This was a great introduction to knife defence suitable for martial artists of all styles’ – Nigel Hymas

‘Well taught, very effective applications for inside and outside the dojo’ – Jon Flannery

‘A well structured course highlighting the underlying principles of coping with a knife attack’ – Tony Waknell

‘I would recommend this seminar to anyone involved in martial arts’ – Nicky Charles

‘This course has made me feel a lot more confident about my ability to defend myself in a real life attack situation’ – Isabelle Vinet

‘I enjoyed this course very much’ – Tony Clement

‘A well instructed and enjoyable course’ – Chris Ireland

‘Let this course help in your learning and understanding of your own martial discipline’ – Phil Figg

‘Great course that stretches your understanding’ – Andre de Mendonca

‘It’s a very worthwhile course for all martial artists to attend’ – Dale Harris

‘This is a fantastic day which taught me lots of new techniques – I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to learn knife defence skills’ – Kelly Palmer

‘Smashing – I’ll do it all over again!’ – Kemuel Spence.

‘A fun way to learn about a very serious topic.  Hopefully I wont need to put into practice what I have learn’t’ – Glen O’Leary.

‘This is my first seminar with Matt Hill.  I have learn’t so much that I will keep with me.’ – Dave Hartley

‘A great opportunity to learn with people who study many different martial arts’ – Danny Bailey.

‘Self defence for all’ – Mark Borley

‘Have  a fun day and stay alive!’ – Jeremy Taylor

‘A well instructed and enjoyable course’ – Chris Ireland.

‘The whole course complimented itself’ – Lewis John Foote

‘The course was fun with lots of useful points’ – Andy Channer

I have also been asked to run the course again as a refresher/next step by several people.  I will keep you posted.

 

Sensei Tim Buswell Rememberance Course – Knife Defence – Matt Hill 16 March 2013

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Knife attackKnife Defence Seminar with Matt Hill – More than just knife taking techniques




 

Most of us have an innate fear of knives.  Ever since we were children we have been told by our parents not to touch knives because they are sharp and dangerous.

Last year in the UK there were 29,613 knife or sharp instrument attacks.  This constituted 39% of all homicides.

knife work seminar

Your ability to move and act when faced with a knife is infinitely more important than your proficiency with a technique.  We will be covering this in depth.

We will be covering:

  • The distances involved with knife attacks – out of range, in range and close.
  • A broad range of physical and psyche training tools and and exercises will be used designed to assist with fear control when facing a knife or knives.
  • Progression from slow basic exercises all the way up to pressure testing exercises
  • Defence against all kinds of knife attack including slashing and covert attacks

We will build safely and logically and in a way that generates confidence.

This is an Ideal course for all experience levels from complete beginners to advanced students as the main focus is not reliant upon technical proficiency.

Location: St Mary’s Catholic Church  Hall , 211A Wimborne Rd Poole BH15 2EG

Registration: 09:00 – 09:45

Contact: Sensei Andy Channer – 07747 481121

Click below to secure your space.  Prices are £30 on the day or £25 if you book in advance through Paypal below.




Notes from Sweden Seminar

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“A weekend session with Matt Hill is a definite must for anyone who wants to call themselves a martial artist and who wants to explore the infinite ways of Takemusu“ – Mats Stromgren

 

The course in Sweden was  a joy as always.  Warm friendly people and honest, fun, sincere training.  Add to this some very nice Italian food and maybe a bit too much wine and you have the ingredients for a great weekend. 

The main themes of the course were:

  • Relaxation
    • Always be looking to relax in your movements.  Real speed, power and spontaneous Takemusu can only come through calm, relaxed movement.
    • Exercises for this are the push-ups, sit-ups and squats along with continual focus on relaxation through the progression stages of both the technical and the free work.
    • Also the focus on the weight or heaviness in the hands when applying kokyu, extending and striking will help to develop this.
  • Principles over Techniques
    • “There is no purpose in wanting or pursuing many techniques.  To master a technique, one needs to make each technique, one by one, his/her own.” – O’Sensei, Budo.
    • “I don’t fear the man who has done 1000 kicks once, I fear the man who has done 1 kick 1000 times.” – Bruce Lee
    • Begin with the end in mind: We should not lose sight of the fact that our aim in aikido is not to master techniques but to master the principles of Aiki through the techniques.
    • My key principles in Aikido are listed below.  We practice embodying the principles of Aikido through the techniques.  These are in no-order of priority.
  1. Awase
  2. Hanmi and Hitoemi
  3. Non aggression
  4. Posture
  5. Kokyu
  6. Timing
  7. Relaxation
  8. Leading
  9. Understanding of the principle of Aiki (when pushed pull and pulled push)
  10. Non resistance
  11. Multi attacker awareness
  12. Psychological grounding (the ability to stay balanced, focused and aware during a combat situation)
    • In Aikido we have in excess of 600 techniques, variations, applications, etc.  When you add the weapons to this it takes it to around 700.  The focus of the seminar was to go deep into a small number of techniques to work on the principles rather than to gloss over many techniques shallowly.
    • However, in Aiki one of the main ways in which we learn the principles is through the techniques.  These are where we find O’Sensei’s magic laid bare in the design and blueprints.  So in essence it would be fair to say – the techniques are not an end in themselves but the practice of the techniques is very important.
    • Training must strive to balance practicing the principles through drills and exercises so that training stays fresh, alive, real and current (use current attacks also not just the traditional aikido ones).  This brings the principles to life in their infinite variety and allows you to make them your own.  You should not always know what attack is going to come as you will NEVER get this luxury for real.
  • Takemusu Aiki  
    • Takemusu Aiki – ‘Take’ means technique and ‘musu’ means to give birth.  So literally if you are practicing Takemusu Aiki you should be giving birth to techniques and this by its nature means original techniques.
    • You may have heard it said that Takemusu Aiki has an infinite number of techniques.  I interpret this in that the way in which we could be attacked is infinite and therefore so is the way in which we respond using Aiki principles – creating a new technique every time.  This can then be extrapolated more easily to all manner of situations outside of combat really bringing Takemusu to life.
    • We went through drills that built up the practice from basic, through awase, to ki-no-nagare to Takemusu.
  • Atemi.
    • “My Aikido is 90% atemi.” O’Sensei
    • Atemi is one of the ways of dealing with an attack in Aikido:
      • Atemi
      • Avoid and escape
      • Throw
      • Pin
      • De-escalate before the attack.
      • Infinite combinations of the above.
    • Atemi is very rarely taught in Aikido, most people’s experience of it is through training in other martial arts.
    • Aikido doesn’t engage in standing toe-to-toe and trading or blocking blows.  We have to think about the attacker behind us.
    • We need to make sure that it does not interrupt the natural movement of the response or technique.
    • We need to be able to have precision in the target areas.
    • A strike is a good placement then a push – just done fast.  We did lots of exercises to practice this – push-ups on uke’s body, fist walks on uke’s body and striking uke’s body in order to find out what felt good.
    • We also need to think about the psychology of receiving a strike.  You can’t let it rock you or shake you.  This is managed through the breath, relaxing and being comfortable with being hit.  You build this by getting hit in a training environment.
  • Three Levels of progression – During training be aware of the three levels of training progression and what you are looking for at each level.  To maximise your gains don’t mix the levels.  When doing kihon just do kihon, when doing awase just do awase; dont dilute.
      • Kihon – Basic level. Kihon is where the big gains lie and no matter our level we should always be doing lots of this.
        • Don’t use speed and strength.  But you do need to put effort and energy into it.
        • Look for precision.
        • Study the angles
        • Study structure – ours and our partners
        • Thoroughness
        • Accuracy
        • Precision
        • Slow, big movements
        • Correct order in the movements
        • Training is from static, so your partner moves first in the strike or grab.
      • Awase – Blending level
        • This is the level at which you check whether you know the movement at a basic level.  If you can do it slow and smooth without stopping in awase it is a good indicator that you know the technique at a kihon level.
        • Again you don’t need speed and strength.  But you do need to put effort and energy into it.
        • You are looking for fluidity from start to finish.  You don’t have the stops that you have in the basic level.
        • Smoothness
        • Big movements
        • Training is in motion, so you move at the same time as your partner moves.
      • Ki-no nagare – literally energy in motion.
        • Now you can insert speed and power  (not strength, there is a difference) – make the application of the techniques martial – big kiai’s, lots of energy.
        • Techniques wont be as precise at this level
        • Small, fast movements.
        • Morihiro sensei said ‘aite no ki o yobidasu’ Call our your partners ki or energy.  You start the interaction at this level and take command from the start.
        • Think about leading and openings – create the illusion of support and then take it away.
      • Remember that if nothing changes in your training then nothing is changing in your development.  In every practice you should look self critically at what you are doing, not just train mindlessly.

     

    • Training Focus and Goal Setting:
      • Remember to bring focus to the training.  We get what we focus on.  If our focus is on nothing, guess what we get.
      • Thought and effort, intelligently applied, will bring huge rewards in our training.

Here’s what the participants had to say about the course:

Lots of energy in a very relaxed manner – Daniel Heed

Matt is a brilliant Instructor and very inspiring to train with! – Patric Noordstrom

Good, physical training and lots of fun – Karin Keereweer

Dont be afraid! – Malou Klock Stromgren

Matt will leave you thinking about your Aikido for the rest of the year – Robin Karlson

Finding a connection between what you want and what you need – Alula Kassa

Its like taking your understanding of Aikido and adding a jetpack to it – Mikael Zall

Self defence for Aikidoka’s – Henrik Nilsson

Relax, it wont hurt! – Kaj Hanzic

The power of relaxation – Henrik Andersen

A seminar worth attending – David Gottlieb

From Kihon to Takemusu – how to practice it – Andreas Welin

It was wonderful to train with you all.  Happy training and if you have any questions please feel free to post them below.

In aiki,
Matt.

 

Malaysian TV Chooses Wiltshire Martial Arts to shoot TV programme

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Malaysian TV Show CropFor three days in February a Malaysian TV show came to Wiltshire Martial Arts to film two of thier own Martial Artists on a crash course in Aikido and Systema.

All guests and beginners are always made very welcome and it was no exception for our Malaysian guests.  They trained hard going through warm ups, conditioning, Aikido basics and an introduction to Systema, a new experience for them.  On the third day they were tested in an arena to put thier new found skills to the test.  They both fared well.

The programme is due to be aired in July and I will put a link to it on the website.  Made me think about Saito Sensei’s comment about Aikido and the martial arts being a way to bring the world together in peace.  What a beautiful oxymoron.

Yours,

Matt.

The use of weapons and changing form in Aikido – Printed in Aiki Journal Feb 06th 2013.

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I am often asked questions during my teaching about the use of weapons and why the form changes when it is supposed to be, ‘preserved exactly as O’Sensei taught it.’

O’Sensei brought his study of the spear, sword, knife and aiki jujitsu together to form a martial system that he called Aikido. Some ask why we practice with weapons. There are many reasons ranging from the practical fact that as O’Sensei lived in a world where there were such things as swords, knives and spears and therefore we have to learn to cope with them. Weapons Also reveal aspects of our Aikido that practicing empty handed alone cannot.

Some of these aspects are:

  • The different distances involved that we need to automatically adjust to
  • The sharp clarity of utilising hito-e-mi and hanmi
  • Calmness of mind when attacked with a sword, knife or spear (ease with other weapons will be a natural consequence, but it is still good to try other weapons)
  • The sharpness, focus and precision that comes from facing these weapons

The kumijo, kumitachi. Ken tai jo and katas have changed and developed over the years because they were not meant to be rigidly set. As with all of our Aikido, it is the principles that are important not the order in which we practice the movements. Take a mason as an example. First he has to learn how to make a solid building block (this is our suburi). Once he has mastered this with the correct moulds and mixes, etc., he has something robust that he can use to build with. If the bricks are not made well they will crumble under pressure.

Once his basic building blocks (aikido’s suburi) are correct, and the aikidoka understands the importance of the principles of construction: deep foundations, angles, supports etc. (aikido’s hanmi, awase, ki-no-nagare, kokyu, treat many as one, train hard fight easy (i.e. sincere, strong attacks) etc. The master mason can then build any form that he wants to. We can see this evidenced in the glorious cathedrals all across Britain. In aikido, these cathedrals are mirrored in our end goal of Takemusu. Takemusu (literally take – technique and musu – birth) is the stage attained where aikido is so much a part of us that our every movement (martial or not) is spontaneous and just right, where you transcend mastery into being a maestro.

So one should not be concerned that form changes, to mix maxims, ‘form is temporary; principles are permanent.’ Indeed, they are still changing. All through O-Sensei’s life, Saito Sensei’s life and now his son Hitohira Sensei’s life, their form has developed. (Please excuse me here for only using the Iwama tree, but it’s the only one about which I can talk from experience) The principles however, have remained constant.

Some examples of this are the 31 count kata movements numbered 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 that are recently all practiced as one continuous movement. Similarly numbers 15 and 16, 20 and 21 and 25 and 26 are already linked together without any pauses to form one flowing movement. Of course, in reality they were only separated to make learning them easier. This can be found throughout our aikido where we ‘chunk’ movements down to make learning simpler.

On the 1st kumitachi some practise cutting the body in the first defensive movement whilst other sword schools cut to the wrist as the sword strikes. Which is correct? Answer both and neither, it is whatever works in a situation. In mastery of the basics we must be rigid, in real time application flexibility is all important.

I hope that this goes someway to answering the questions of why weapons are practiced and why form changes.

Sweden Seminar Gothenburg 2-3 March 2013

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‘Exploring Takemusu’ with Matt Hill hosted by Mats Stromgren
Gothenburg 2-3 March 2013

From Kihon to Awase to Ki-no-nagare to Takemusu
This seminar is all about making sure that SOMETHING in your aikido changes.  We are all on the road to mastery and one thing is certain – if nothing about what you do changes then you are not growing. In conjunction with basic techniques we will be taking you through the levels from solid kihon, through smooth awase to devastating ki-no-nagare and then finally onto Takemusu.

Working with Atemi and awase drills to liberate your technique
I am not sure about you, but in general many dojo’s neglect the regular practice of atemi waza, & jiyu waza.  We will be covering both areas in depth on the seminar.

The training will be sequenced, logical and methodical moving through empty handed and weapons techniques so it is ideal for practitioners of all styles and all levels from beginners to advanced.

Focus on Making 2013 your best Aikido year yet
There will also be a focus session on making 2013 your best Aikido year yet.  It has been said that the secret to getting good at aikido (or anything else for that matter) is to ‘just practice’  As Woody Allen said, ‘90% of success is about turning up.’  However, we are going to look at taking that one step further.  We are going to look at training intelligently.  One way to maximise the time you put into Aikido is to give it some real focus.

Energy flows where attention goes….  A laser like focus on what you need to develop will lead to more enthusiasm which in turn cannot fail to give you progress.

If you find yourself struggling with the motivation to train (as we all do), or find yourself feeling as though you are not progressing (yep guilty of this one too) then this approach can revolutionise your training.

We will start the session with some work on setting goals for the seminar and then close by extrapolating these goals to your year ahead in Aikido to really strive to make it your best year yet.

I look forward to training with you.

Yours in Aiki,

Matt.

Important: Spaces are limited to 40 due to the dojo size.  Please click below now in order to secure your place at this seminar.

Dont Mess with Us! – Self Defence at Atworth Youth Club

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On Saturday 26th January, Wiltshire Martial Arts (Seend Aikido Club) delivered a self-defence course at Atworth Youth Club.

The course was organized by Dawn Rossi, delivered by Matt Hill and ably assisted by David Stacey.

The participants, aged between 11 and 16, learn’t the simple principles of self-defence, practiced applying the principles in confrontational situations and learn’t the most important factor of all, how to avoid dangerous situations altogether.

The use of force is always a last resort, and the participants understood this point well.

Dawn Rossi, the Youth Club leader said, ‘Matt’s self-defence course exceeded my expectations.  Judging by the laughter and questions all of the children were completely engaged from start to finish.  I sat in on the whole course and it is so beneficial in teaching people to stay safe and avoid the danger of being attacked that I think that it should be mandatory for everyone!’

Matt says that Self Defence is mostly about being smart, staying aware and learning some simple principles that will stay with you and keep you safe for the rest of your life.

Matt is fully CRB cleared, A Nationally accredited Self Defence Coach and 5th Dan Aikido Instructor and Systema Instructor.

Matt teaches self-defence awareness and skills for organisations, schools and Individuals and teaches regular Martial Arts classes at Christie Miller Sports Centre in Melksham on Monday, Thursday and Saturday Mornings.  For further Details contact Matt on 07584025206 or hillmattc@gmail.com.

Here is what the participants had to say:

‘It has really helped me’ – Sophie Bailey

‘It is a great course to learn the best ways to disrupt, disable and escape from an attacker’ – Holly Leake

‘This is great for your own safety and it follows the law’ – Gabriel

‘It is so easy to learn and you have a lot of fun’ – Lily De Malpas-Player

‘It was great fun very useful and an interesting course’ – Tom Yateman

‘Its really easy and fun’ – Tommy De Malpas-Player

‘It was good and I will use what I have learnt’ – Simon Hornby

‘Fun, exciting and you get to protect yourself from anything!’ – Tabitha Williams

‘Very useful to have in your mind’ – Maisie Leake

‘The course was very interesting, it was useful and I have learn’t a lot’ – Jessica Rendell

‘This course really helps you to defend yourself it is a great way to learn.  Amazing course!’ – Abby Pearce

‘A fun non-violent way to become threat-free in the open free world’ – Harry Heptinstall

 

Stonehenge Experience 24th March 2013

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SORRY BUT THE EVENT IS NOW FULLY SOLD OUT.  However we will be having more events like this, please subscribe below to hear more about unique, great events and experiences to train, explore and uncover your potential.