I’ve known Lorraine Box for many years, I’ve watched her successfully follow her dreams, progressing from top world class competitor and World Karate Champion to Chief Instructor of her own 350 strong association and then moving from sport karate on to our Shi Kon traditional training in Wado karate and Yang Family Tai Chi. During that period she has got together with her partner Paul, become a mother of two and they have both now completed the monumental task of building their own full time, professional training centre in Corfe Mullen in Dorset.

Lorraine’s tournament record is:

This article was written in 2008 and Pauline Bindra has since passed away.

The Martial Arts are primarily feminine.

Many would think this a strange statement until they start to look a bit deeper. 

By nature men are linked to the sun (yang) and women to the moon (yin).  Women have a 28 day biorhythmic cycle and their emotions change to reflect where they are on it, their range of emotions tends to be on a far wider spectrum than men.  Some say that this would make them unsuitable for martial arts, but if they can use this range of emotions in a positive way they have the ability to become better martial artists than men.

Men are on a 24hour biorhythmic cycle. It’s often said that men are like dogs and women like cats.  Dogs are generally the same each day, as long as their basic needs are looked after on a daily basis, they are usually happy.  Cats can be moody, one day they respond to you with love and affection, others they are aloof and on some days will hiss at you and are liable to scratch you.

Working or training with a group of men is much the same on a day to day basis the usual banter, jokes and conversation doesn’t change much, working or training with a group of women is not, the moods and conversation can be very diverse depending on the emotional level, it’s also said that when women are together on a day to day basis their ‘moon cycles’ will gradually harmonise.  So women are capable of greater emotional depth and if that can be tapped in to and controlled, it will increase martial ability.

By Martin Gatter

“Junzuki….ichi….ni….san….”

I’m making the right shape, but the stance just isn’t working. My front knee is bent over the foot and my back leg is straight, but I can still be pushed back really easily.

“Root”, the instructor says. But what does that mean, and how do I do it?

I take the stance again and a hand is pushed against my punch. I find myself leaning forwards and tensing my arms and shoulders to push back, but that just seems to make things worse.

“You’re standing on the floor instead of using the floor”. Another really helpful comment.

Back to school physics and Newton. When I try to push down into the floor to root the stance, I get an equal amount of force travelling in the opposite direction – upwards, which takes me out of the stance. So, the harder I try to push into a deep, strong, stance the more I push myself out of it and the worse it gets. Got it.

A tree gets stability by spreading its roots outwards, so there is no “uprooting” force upwards. OK, that means I need to use my feet to push outwards across the floor instead of down into it. But how? They can’t grow out like roots.

“Twisting pressure”.

“If you want to learn how to fight, don’t study kata.  The only way to learn how to fight is to engage in the ‘real’ thing.”  

This opinion is often expressed by those who hold Karate in low regard.  Their opinion is often formed from movies, online videos, or some out of context training. The statement is as naïve as thinking that a boxer goes into a ring to fight with his skipping rope.

You could say that a martial artist is not a ‘fighter’ as ‘fight’ intimates a struggle between two people, a martial artist is a ‘peacekeeper’.  His function is to re-establish a peaceful environment through long and arduous training.

Peace is earned, if your mind and emotions are weak, you are more likely to cause violence or respond negatively to it.  People that have to respond to violence on a regular basis such as police officers and security personnel are taught to remain calm and to deal with a situation ‘appropriately’ to re-establish and keep the ‘Queens Peace’ and a martial artist’s response should be the same.

The problem with people that constantly create ‘aggressive and violent situations’ in which to train is that they are still not ‘real’ – you know it’s your mate acting, and if anything engenders fear of the ‘real’ thing, and makes people neurotic by focusing solely on ‘reality based’ training.