Bristol played host this weekend to the British Shorinji Kempo Federation for a seminar for all members – from white belt to 8th dan black belt.
With people coming in from all over, it was a brilliant opportunity to meet old friends, make new ones, and get some top-quality teaching. We even had an instructor flying in from Switzerland!
The theme of the seminar was community and teamwork. There was a spirited discussion of why we practice martial arts, with some favourite quotes being:
After lockdown, I wanted to do something that wasn’t go to work or clean my house!
I made really good friends through Shorinji Kempo. We have a lot of fun!
There’s always something more to learn. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years and I am still learning. It never gets boring.
After spending some time honing our techniques, we also took part in some sparring practice. Normally sparring is one-on-one, but in the spirit of the seminar we teamed up and worked together in small groups. It was a useful lesson in how everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, but if we work together we can overcome difficult challenges.
When the seminar was over, we continued our community-building efforts by showing our visitors the local pub.
