Hosted by Shotokan Karate New Zealand

It was a real pleasure for me to be hosted by Lyall Stone Sensei and his organisation SKNZ (Shotokan Karate New Zealand). I hope that what I demonstrated, and taught, was technically beneficial for everyone there!
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Primarily softness and natural energy were the key points I emphasised (via the fundamental techniques and some special drills that Asai Sensei advocated). Another aspect I stressed was their understanding and optimization of their chushin. The students were clearly shocked by how much power they could gain!
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In addition to my own teaching, I also joined in, and trained along with everyone in the general class. As karate is fore mostly about one's own training, I also wanted to 'just train'. I thoroughly enjoyed Lyall Sensei's lessons, as the sheer simplicity of each practice gave them even greater depth. This is the essence of traditional Japanese karate-do... Truly reliable (confidently functional) techniques can only come from hundreds of thousands of repetitions... And these repetitions must be technically exact! Lyall's classes perfectly reflect this point.
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Thankfully, by the work of Chief Instructor, Lyall Stone Sensei, and SKNZ, authentic Shotokan karate training is still accessible, for those living in Christchurch City & the Canterbury region. I thoroughly look forward to teaching and training at the SKNZ HQ again in the future.

OSU!
© André Bertel, Japan (2009).