First Class Review

The inaugural Martial Way group session was a highly energetic and successful one, for those who missed out here is a review of what was covered:

1. Warm-up Period: Began with jogging on the spot while loosening up the limbs and joints before going into intervals of push-ups and push-up claps (this really wakes people up!), then going back to jogging on the spot with bursts of sprints on the spot.
2. Stretch Period: Basic full body stretch focussing on keeping a natural breathing rhythm and relaxing the muscles through each stretch.
3. Body Awareness Period: Began by looking at the "9 directions of movement", before pairing up a going through a body evasion exercise against a partner armed with a 3 foot stick. This was done first with the hands held behind the back, then progressing to using hand and arm movements to check and redirect the oncoming opponent.
4. Self Defence Skill Period: The topic was defence against a wild king-hit punch. First we explored doing realistic attacks against an unsuspecting opponent, then went through elemental self defence scenarios against the attack. This covered Earth, Water, Fire and Wind elemental representations.
5. Warm-down/Freeform Period: Students first paired up and went through a freeform exploration of the 4 elemental defence techniques. Then to finish everyone got together to perform a group attack scenario with one defender against a multitude of attackers.

I was very impressed with everyones high energy and intent but also control and communication with ones training partner, it produced a great group buzz. Hopefully the following sessions will continue that feeling.