Campbell River

Watch these 2 videos:

• Inspiration
• A tribute to Suzuki Sensei

Karate BC held its annual Provincial Championships at BCIT on January 23, 24, 2010. The tournament was open to those who qualified through their Zone tournaments and it is open to all competitors from Novice through Black belt from ages 5 years through 65 years of age.

One of the highlights of the tournament is the recognition of male and female outstanding athlete. The female Grand champion is Andrea Maikawa from Vancouver while Campbell River's Jeric Ross earned the Grand Champion award for adult men.

The 18 year old Ross, who competed in both the Junior Men as well as adult Black Belt divisions had a four medal day. He won a Bronze medal for Junior Men kata and a Silver medal for Adult Men Kata and on the fighting side he won Gold for Junior men Kumite (free fighting) and Silver for Adult Men Kumite.

The photograph shows Karate BC President Dan Wallis, who is also Jeric's karate instructor, present him with the Male Grand Champion Award.

Other members of the Campbell River Wado Karate Club who earned medals at this tournament were:
Sebastien Gagon who won Silver medal for the 14/15 year old Brown/Black Belt Kumite division, Jon Poirier won Gold in the intermediate Kumite division for 14/15 year olds, Lisa Bavis won Bronze for 14/15 intermediate kumite.

Mokuso is part of the training of the mind called 'Mushin', which comes from Zen Buddhism. One must attempt to return to the mental state of a new-born-child that is without a sense of fear, not conscious of distress, pain, cold etc. A baby cannot anticipate these things and therefore has no fear and does not hesitate before moving. An adult knows fear and is afraid. When attacked they feel tense and are often useless against the assailant because movement is restricted.

If one sees a beautiful flower, normally the mind concentrates on it, but with an empty mind (Mokuso) the mind is aware of everything else as well as the flower.

So when one fights an enemy, attacking and defending, if only concentrating on blocking techniques, the mind is restricted to that movement, but if the mind is empty (and blocking practised enough) the body is able to do the next movement automatically and movements will always be natural.

If the body is tense it is wasting energy and restricting speed, it is essential to move without being conscious of it. That feeling is called Mushin.

Mokuso is part of the training for Mushin

• Sit in Seiza position
• Back straight, chin pulled in, eyes half closed.
• Look at a spot on the floor 2 metres in front of you.
• In the beginning it is difficult to empty the mind so the first step is to practise SUSOSUKAN, that is, control of the mind.

To do this, count from 1 to 10 slowly, repeatedly.
Breathe in as you count 1 and breath out as you breath 2 etc. Do not concentrate on any thing but counting. If you can do this for 30 minutes then you can control your mind.

The next step is to empty your mind. If you have to think about emptying your mind, it is not empty. There should be no effort involved. When you can do that you will find a great difference in your free fighting.