On Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd, I attended two days of training with Sensei Velibor Dimitrijevic in Tewkesbury. This was my third time training in person with Sensei Velibor Dimitrijevic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Over the two days, we covered some drills and exercises on the breathing methods of Shotokan Ryu Kase Ha, but also how to link these in with our movements and techniques. We also spent quite a bit of time looking at the mechanics of the stances with a very specific combinations. Sensei used the analogy of a car chassis, that the chassis is the framework of the car, what holds it together. Just like our internal structure, skeletal structure needs to be all in line and connected for our stance and techniques to work.
Usually I record everything but I took a different approach this time and just wanted to train the principles and remember them because I believe that the principles, feelings and connections are more important then the actual moves.
The thing I enjoyed most about the course was, that I've noticed not many other instructors do this, that Sensei Velibor Dimitrijevic is very mindful about the body, so every 20 minutes or so we would do some movements or stretches to make sure we had no niggling pains but also so that we were all mindful about our bodies.
In my opinion this is a factor we all neglect. We all tend to focus on how our karate looks. Is our kata crisp? Is our kumite flashy with fancy techniques? Is our kihon faster than the rest of the students? However, we should focus more on the feelings and connections within our bodies.
If you ever have the chance to train with Sensei Velibor Dimitrijevic, I think it would be worthwhile, especially to give you another perspective on Shotokan Karate.
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