There was a very interesting program on Nat Geo recently called' The Samurai Sword.' It highlighted only on the making of the Katana in the true old way, right from the Casting the steel in the foundry, the forging process at the forgemaster and finally the sharpening of the sword by an expert. It also briefly explained the way Samurai used them. A few Kenjutsu masters too came on the program.

Early morning a few days ago, Prathiba, our student at Hive was jogging to class. A street hero felt macho and suddenly charged at her with an open arm, trying to intimidate her. In a reflex action, she swung both arms in a blocking motion [that comes after opening form] and sent him sprawling on the road. The deflated hero panicked, picked himself up and ran away as fast as possible.

Check this link for more info on painless running:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-painful-trut...

there's a nice photo of a taramuhara indian as well.

For years, I have been watching students who run long distance succumb to every possible injury from back pain to ligament damage to heel spur. It had reached a point where I had advised them to give up running completely and stick to martial arts training.

Balance is a key component in Tai Chi (or for that matter in all martial arts). Whether its the form or the stance, emphasis is always on making sure that you are well balanced. The other term used for this is staying "well rooted". The idea being that the more balanced you are the more relaxed you become, which in turn helps you think clearer, therefore you act/react faster.

Tai Chi is one martial art that not every one is familiar in our country. After quite a search, i've been able to find what i wanted to learn. Earlier i was learning Karate for almost six years till laziness got the better of me. There was always the regret that i carried. Also, the mastery of any martial art depends on the learner's interest as also the integrity of the instructor.

Please read this excerpt from an interview of Madam Hanae Sawada, Grandmaster of a Martial Art school in Japan.

This is a bit of an odd question, but what is your objective in training? After all, there is no one above you. The same was true for your teachers, Mitamura Sensei and Nishigaki Sensei.

Most of us have asked this question at one time or the other and hence this post. I did a bit of research and am summarizing what I found. By the way I have shown this to my master and got it validated before publishing it, so you can rely on this information :). Hopefully this should answer some of the questions you may have about the art.

The martial arts are as old as man. First, man fought with bare hands, next he learnt to use a stick, the stick became a stake, the stake a metal rod, the metal rod a sword and its derivatives, spears, arrows and so on. The instinct to fight is inherent in man. When body cells are attacked by bacteria,etc; they fight back to repel the invader.

I have always been fascinated by martial arts and it was one of my wishes to learn one some day.