念Advanced Training Page
Our 念Advanced Training page has info relevant to members and practitioners with ten years of training or more, but everyone is invited to take a look and use it. Yambayashi training is built on a foundation of self-defense skill: strength, speed, flexibility, endurance, experience and precision tactics. The pressure and risk required to develop these is as […]
2022 Fifth Annual Summer Seminar
Mountain Karate’s Fifth Annual Summer Seminar will be held from June 1 to 5, 2022 in Saluda, NC. Registration is open to all Yamabayashi Shorin Ryu Karate practitioners of all ranks and ages. At multiple dojo and mountain training locations. Seminar Training Topics: Techniques Body Mechanics and Energy Transmission Kobudo Tactics Applications Endurance and Conditioning […]
Do as Jitsu
Do 道 arises on the basis of jitsu 術. Do and jitsu are not separate or alternative paths. They are one. Without doing the hard work needed for technical mastery talk about spiritual aspiration remains talk. Disciplining the mind, strengthening the will, overcoming obstructions to the skillful use of the body, are all required for […]
True Karate Do
Written by Jeffrey Brooks Translated into Japanese by Sakiyama Sogen, Roshi, Shuri, Okinawa, a Goju Ryu karate practitioner, as well as the Zen teacher of Shoshin Nagamine, founder of Matsubayshi Ryu. In the translation Sakiyama Roshi named this essay True Karate Do. Many people feel they are missing their lives, that real life is going on […]
Threats and Miracles II
Most of our training time is spent getting the skills we need to deal with a possible assault. We get stronger, faster, more agile and more skillful in the use of our body and mind. We train in threat awareness to alert us to the presence of a threat, before an assault can begin. We […]
Stable Equilibrium
As we train, without quite realizing it, our lives take on the character of a stable equilibrium. That does not happen automatically. But if you practice well it will happen. It is essential for every able person. A stable equilibrium system tends to return to stability when it is disturbed. Imagine a ball at the […]
Contemplation of the Body for martial artists
An intruder in your home. Chaos on the street. An escalating confrontation on the road. An assault, a raid, a kumite match, or a quiet conversation that could determine the path of your life all demand intense focus. In the course of daily life, under seige by threats and promises, cons and seduction, we need […]
Look Out
It is easy to hurt people. It is difficult to protect them It is easy to burn. It is hard to build. It is easy to trick people, bother people, seduce people, frighten people. It is easy to weaken and humiliate people. Intoxication is easy. Slander is easy. It is easy to fall. It is […]
A Different Ken Zen 拳禅
The expression Ken Zen Ichi Nyo – 拳禅一如 – Fist and Zen as One – was derived from Ken Zen Ichi Nyo – Sword and Zen as One 剣禅一如. The Fist version was adopted by Shoshin Nagamine (1907-1997) as his motto. The Sword version was famously used by Zen priest Takuan Soho (1573-1645) while teaching Zen or swordsmanship […]
正念 Mindfulness in Kata
We practice mindfulness of the body from the day we begin karate training. Our physical skills, sharp awareness and practical self-defense ability are built on the interpenetration and fusion of the body and mind. The Greatest Warrior They say that the greatest warrior masters himself. This mastery might refer to impulse control – i.e., achieving […]
The Other World
Dojo life is different. For some it is ideal. Dojo life is dignified, collaborative, strong and devoted to freedom. Different from a world of coercion, deception, isolation and dependence. In some places, where our friends have trained for many years, dojo life is over. Classes banished to cyberia. No more daily renewal through training with groups […]
Mind Training in Kata
Mind training begins as soon as physical training begins. If you make an error, you notice it, fix it and move on. We cannot get stuck on the error, regret it, announce it, or have an emotion about it. We learn to instantly fix it and forget it. Continue In a combative situation we may […]
Fourth Annual Summer Seminar
Five days of good training, inside and out. Mountain Karate, NC and Castro Valley, CA Yamabayashi Ryu Karate Do – 山 林 流 空 手道
山林 Yamabayashi Shorin Ryu Karate
Our style is Yamabayashi Shorin Ryu Karate. Yamabayashi means Mountain Forest. It can also be pronounced San Rin. Name In 2017 I formed Mountain Karate Dojo, where we practice Mountain Forest style karate. Our dojo is in a region of mountains and forests; their strength, stability, endurance, adaptability, vitality, variety and resilience inspire us. Sources Yamabayshi […]
Renzoku 連続
There is a karate myth that Renzoku only means “no count” – that it is nothing more than a command to perform kata without a verbal count for each move. The moves are still performed as if there was a count to separate them – moving from one posture to the next, with an intentional […]
Sweet Dreams
Sugar is an addictive drug. It makes you fat, sick and depressed. It has many forms and names. It is in most manufactured food. It is easy to get addicted to it. It is difficult to quit. But once you do quit it is easy to do without. And when you do without it you can […]
空
Our hands have no fixed form. They change, as we use them for different tasks. Their form is “empty” of a fixed nature. Hand is written “手”and pronounced “te” in Japanese. Kara “空” means “empty.” Our hands, as we use them in karate practice, hold nothing. They do not grasp any implement or object or weapon. […]
Training and the Milgram Experiment
The fist about to smash my chest was traveling close to the speed of sound. I sent it past me and it disappeared. I had done it a thousand times. I was barely able to do it this time. But I did it. Then I did it again. And again. The fist was my training […]
欢迎 Spring Outdoor Training
欢迎我们的中国游客 – to the MountainKarateNC website! So good to be able to share perspectives with you, and with all our visitors from around the world. Photo copyright © 2021 Tarleton Brooks
Moral Kata
Martial artists develop powerful concentration in training. In bursts, under pressure, and for sustained periods of endurance training, our ability to focus goes far beyond the capacity we would have if we were untrained. That deep focus comes, little by little, naturally, as we make effort to meet the high-performance demands of our training. We […]
Threats and Miracles
In the dojo we train vigilance as a tripwire for defense. In every class we work to maintain awareness continually. We do that in class formalities, hojo undo, kata practice, two person drills and kumite. Compressing the perception-response interval – the speed to action in a combative situation – is decisive both in training and […]
Competence and Freedom
Our first line of defense is to know the difference between right and wrong. But staying out of trouble is not enough. We need to build our ability to do right. Doing things well gives us freedom. Here’s why: If you do not take care of yourself, if you are unable to do much that […]
Resistance is Futile
To increase speed we create conditions in the dojo where speed is essential: kumite is one way, speed drills on a bag or on hand-held focus targets are another, two-person choreographed contact drills, with accelerating pace, are another. We can also do speed work in kata. Using kata and other solo drills – times when we can focus on our own body […]
From the Start
Welcome. Here is how the process works. At first you don’t know what to do. Then you do. That’s the two-part version. Everyone experiences it. At first it is uncomfortable and it feels difficult. But it is exciting and it feels like it is worth the effort. As you condition up it starts to feel […]
Successful Training
“Do each task for its own sake and everything you do will succeed.” How can it be? In the dojo, if you do the technique you are doing, right then and there, with full commitment, then you will succeed at that technique. It may not be perfect. Your work may not be complete. But you […]
The Sharp Edge of History
A guy walks into the dojo and says: “I just want to learn to fight.” He paused for a second. “I really don’t care about all that other stuff.” He didn’t say what other stuff he meant. We didn’t ask. He wanted to learn to fight. We teach that. He started that day. What he […]
Having a Practice
Having a practice is not the same as doing an activity or learning a skill set. An ‘activity’ is interesting or pleasant or distracting or edifying or fun. We enjoy it. It might make a lasting impression, but it probably won’t. Go to dinner or a movie, play a game or go for a walk. […]
How to Encourage Mushin or “Flow” in the Dojo
Researcher Steven Kotler writing in the Harvard Business Review, listed four conditions that produce a flow state – intense concentration, goal clarity, feedback as to how well you are doing, and a properly matched challenge to skills ratio. We use these continually in martial arts training. If the challenge level is set lower than the […]
Senior Karate Training
Our Senior class is for people 65 years old and older. Sometimes classes for this age group are watered-down version of “the real thing.” Older people are sometimes treated as less competent versions of younger people. They sometimes think of themselves that way. New technology makes old technology seem obsolete, and irrelevant, and sometimes ridiculous. It […]
Mountain Karate is Outstanding
Every student in our program builds fitness and flexibility, with a level of challenge that’s just right for them. We teach a complete, authentic martial art, for practical self-defense. The atmosphere is friendly but serious. What we don’t have: high priced belt tests, big egos, a cult-of-the-founder, or long term contracts. Our instructors are experienced […]
Takuan’s Solution for Practical Combatives
Combat training simulates conditions of high stress. It works that way now and it worked that way in Tokugawa era Japan. Under hyper arousal we experience changes in sense perception and physical performance that can hinder our effectiveness: Our field of vision contracts to a small circle right in front of our eyes, an effect known […]
The Dojo and the Crime Scene
Amid all the shouts of f*ck the police there are millions of people who call the police, every day. For help. Most of them are calling because they are afraid or have been hurt, or their stuff has been stolen. They are calling for help. Often, they call for protection from drug dealers […]
The Kansha Controversy
If you do a word search on the titles, keywords and quotations in the articles I have written over the last few years you will see, month by month, who has been inspired by what I have written: who has republished it, or who has changed some words, reordered the ideas and posted it as […]
Mountain Karate 