College of the Openhand - 2003 Australian Seminar

by Tom Mursalo

The inaugural Australian College of the Openhand seminar was held on 21st June at the Ashburton Recreation Center on a typical Melbourne winters morning.

At 8.30 am sharp, Sensei Stan Schmidt and Sensei Rob Sachs kicked off the proceedings by introducing the various instructors and welcoming all the approximately 90 participants, some of who had traveled interstate for the course.

We were quickly divided up into 2 groups, (Black Belts and Kyu Grades) to maximize the use of the various training areas and to ensure that each group had a mix of similar skill levels.

The seminar began with a general session of Hatha-Yoga, led by yoga expert Arlene Kaplan. Wasting no time, Arlene took us straight into a ‘Salutation to the Sun' and various other poses designed to stretch and loosen the body in preparation for the day ahead.

The word YOGA means UNION, the union of the physical self with the spiritual self, a tricky concept to grasp and an even trickier concept to express physically as I was about to find out.

The ease at which Arlene managed to bend her body into ‘Downward and Upward Facing Dog' , ‘Half Lord of the Fishes' and various other animal shapes, left me feeling as though I was about as flexible as an aluminium baseball bat.

Needless to say, I never managed to find any of my ‘Chakras', but will continue searching for them diligently.............. And yes, in case you were wondering, we did a few basic mantras including an ‘Om' or two – just like in the Yoghurt ad on TV.

Feeling refreshed in mind and loose of limb, we moved over to training area B for an introduction to Shotokan Karate by Sensei Keith Geyer.

Sensei Keith put us through a strenuous session of karate basics and fighting sequences from simple Gyaka-zuki and Mae-geri combinations to more complex shifting & timing techniques for use in competition kumite.

Sensei Keith's lessons are traditionally tough and performed at pace and in no time at all I was sweating profusely and regretting the previous evenings ‘bottle of red'. 50 minutes later and completely toxin-free, I was all set for the rest of the sessions.

After a 5 minute break we were introduced to the Goju-Ryu style of Karate by Sensei Jonathan Sandler of the Kushido Association of Australia. Sensei Jonathan concentrated mainly on the Japanese long staff or ‘Bo' and started us off by demonstrating an Offensive Grip (left hand palm down, right hand palm up, staff divided into thirds). He explained that this common and useful grip is the starting point for a wide range of staff-based techniques.

He then went on to show us a series of basic vertical, horizontal and diagonal strikes and simple upward, downward and side blocks.

In no time at all we had partnered up and were enthusiastically hitting each other on the knuckles and elbows and generally causing a lot of noise and mayhem.

It was all in all a superb introduction to the ‘Bo' and even though I felt decidedly clumsy throughout the session, it left me with a desire to learn more about this useful fighting technique.

The next session was ‘Karate Strategies' with Sensei Stan Schmidt. We partnered up and were taken through a variety of different attack and defence techniques designed for specific confrontational situations.

Many of the attacks were performed with the defender holding a bag in order to get a feel for the correct distance and timing required to perform the technique with full ‘Kime'.

Sensei Stan also introduced us to various softer or deflective blocking techniques that, when used to defend against specific attacking strikes, are a good way to train and improve your reflexes.

After a break for lunch we loosened up with another short Yoga session with Arlene before moving over to training area A for our first exposure to the art of Aikido.

Sensei Mike Williams and his band of able-bodied instructors were on hand to introduce us to this fascinating style.

Aikido practitioners attempt to harmonize their Ki with both that of their partner and that of the larger environment and this is where Aikido gets it name: ‘Ai'– Harmony, ‘Ki‘ Spirit or Inner Power and ‘Do' – the Way. Loosely translated – the way of harmony of spirit.

Sensei Mike demonstrated this harmonisation by an impressive display of ‘immovable body' or ‘Fudo-tai'. I can still remember the sight of two large Aikido Instructors unsuccessfully trying to lift Sensei Mike off the ground.

A fantastic demonstration of throws and rolls by the ‘Aikido Team' followed, with Sensei Mike effortlessly tossing his two (much larger) assistants around the mats like a couple of dolls. The graceful and fluid way they managed to fall and roll was amazing to watch.

We were then taught a basic roll which looked simple enough. Unfortunately looks can be deceiving and every time my 115kg frame landed on my ‘not so immovable forearm', it felt like I was being hit by a sledgehammer. Obviously, I was not going to master Aikido today, so I contented myself with watching the experts.

A short introduction to some basic wooden sword or ‘bokken' techniques rounded off a memorable introduction to a fascinating Martial Art.

Next up was Sensei John Donehue, the head instructor of Extreme Jujitsu in Malvern East. In addition to his Jujitsu skills, Sensei John was also the submission coach for the RAW wrestling team and he mercilessly drilled us in various Grappling Techniques, Mount Positions and Head Locks as well as an extremely effective inner thigh throw.

Sensei John mentioned that most forms of physical altercation will inevitably end up with both people on the ground particpating in a ‘wresting match'.

As a result, it's extremely important for a Martial Artist to be able to execute a few basic headlocks and holds especially when dealing with a larger and stronger assailant.

I was sceptical as to how practical some of these techniques would be against a bigger opponent, but when Sensei John's assistant (who was probably 40 Kg lighter than me) managed to extract himself effortlessly from a hold I had him in, I was an immediate convert.

Sensei Stan next took us through some weapons work, specifically concentrating on techniques dealing with various knife attacks derived from Professor Thomas Sotis' AMOK methods and ex-Russian Spetsnaz Vladimir Vasiliev's ways of taking a knife off an assailant (based on the Russian 'Systema' taught to their special forces).

Both of these systems provide practical methods to deal with common knife attacks and are an essential skill for a martial artist wanting to improve his or her self-defence skills.

Unfortunately the 30 minutes allocated to Sensei Stan's knife segment was was too short for it to be anything more than a brief taste of the what could be learnt.

I hope there will more time allocated to these important defence systems in future seminars.

Sensei Keith then got our pulse rates racing with a short session of conditioning exercises and all too soon the seminar was over.

From my perspective as a Shotokan student, I enjoyed the day tremendously. All the Instructors showed great enthusiasm for promoting their martial arts to the group and gave us all something to think about and reflect on.

The seminar helped to address my ignorance as to what Aikido, Yoga, Jujitsu and Goju-ryu were about and gave me a healthy respect for the skills of the people practising these special martial arts – I look forward to next year's seminar.