Shoto Budo

Practice Areas

As Shoto Budo is an organisation that is in a constant state of development and growth, this list of practice areas should be viewed as simply a taste of what is practiced, than a prescribed and rigid list of areas.

• Avoiding and evading
It is always better avoid or evade conflict. There is value in becoming aware of the signs of conflict to allow you to recognise when to walk away, find an alternative route etc., in order to avoid the conflict in the first place. However there are times when you get caught out and, under these circumstances, you need to develop different skills that allow you to evade attacks while you look for opportunities to strike back, dodge or run.

• Striking
In order to learn how to defend yourself, it is necessary to have people who are very good at attacking. As Shotobudo wants everyone to be capable of defending, everyone also has to be proficient at striking and attacking in general. This is done by using various practice methods to develop this essential skill effectively.

• Ground practice
There is always a possibility that if you are attacked, you could end up on the ground. Therefore, it is essential that students are schooled in this.

• Kata
Choreographed sequences practised by most martial arts although called different things such as forms, shadow boxing etc. With close consideration, it can be shown that the vast majority of the skills used in martial arts, can be found in Kata.
Kata is also a tool that can be used to develop the muscles, balance, stamina, timing etc. Furthermore, if it is practised in a dynamic way with others, it can also build appropriate skills such as eye and body response to threatening behaviour and the like. However, it is essential that these skills are also practised in other ways such as engagement type practices.

• Partner exercises
When you are looking to develop skills such as self defence it is essential to do so in a dynamic way and this must involve other people. In Shotobudo, a variety of practices are undertaken to ensure these skills are both learned and developed to a suitable experience level.

• Kumite
Kumite means engagement. In Shotobudo we seek to develop a variety of engagement practices which includes hand parrying, kick parrying, grappling, wrestling and sparring. All of these are gradually developed from light touching to full contact where skill and aptitude allows, but only in a controlled manner under the guidance of experienced teachers.

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