THE ENGLISH Shotokan Academy annual residential course was held at Lilleshall National Sports Centre near Telford in Shropshire, and was a great success with over 100 karate students attending from all over the country and as far away as Belgium.
Tamae Shotokan Karate Club based in Grimsby, Rasen, Lincoln and Gainsborough had 26 members training on the course.
Gradings were held on the Saturday afternoon and two of the younger members, Chloe Allen (14) from Louth and Luke Bothamley (14) fr
om North Willingham, passed their cadet (under 16yrs) black belts examinations in front of two 6th Dans and a 7th Dan grade pannel.
l CAISTOR based karate and fitness instructor Roger Hooton, has just returned from a month long yoga teacher training course in Goa, India.
The course was based on Roger’s favourite style of yoga - the Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga system.
Ashtanga means eight limbs and when these limbs are studied it gives you certain guide lines to try to live by, the asana or postures of yoga is just one of those limbs.
Vinyasa means breath with movement. In the West people tend to think of yoga as very static, which some styles are and this suites a lot of people, but the style of ashtanga is very flowing and builds strength as well as flexibility and breath control and you also tend to sweat a lot which is part of the cleansing process releasing toxins from the body.
Roger said some people may be put off trying ashtanga because of its dynamic reputation.
“It can truly be practised by almost anyone,” he said. “I have been teaching ashtanga for a number of years and both men and women love the practice.”
“The course in Goa was fantastic,” he added. “We trained and studied for a minimum of seven hours a day. It was very intense with only three days off in the month plus there was a four week pre-study course to complete before going to India.
“I always try to study at the source of what I teach and in 1991 I also spent six weeks studying karate in Japan. It’s just a great experience and usually very character building.”
Roger already teaches yoga classes in the Grimsby and Gainsborough areas and is considering teaching Ashtanga in the Caistor and Market Rasen area if there is enough interest.
l If you are interested you can contact Roger on 01472 852370 or roger@tamae.freeserve.co.uk
The full article contains 418 words and appears in Market Rasen Mail newspaper.
