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Jasmine and close

Jasmine put the opium pipe on the glass table and closed her eyes.. “Just for a minute” she told herself . Any longer than that and she would risk going under and missing her act again. That wouldn't go down well. She would really like to re-load the pipe and smoke until she passed out, but for now, that would have to wait. She would finish putting on her fancy clothes, wig and headscarf, she would put on a full face of make up, put in her ridiculous earrings and wear her best smile, go out there and give them a show. She would gaze into their dewy eyes and read them like books. She took another puff on the glass pipe. The Ringmaster had told her that the Opium would kill her one day. Not that it mattered now. She was as good as dead already. Yes, she would look into their sad, pathetic eyes and she would see what they longed for the most. She would go through the old charade of looking into the mysterious crystal ball and she would make an open statement like “You have always thou...
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Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

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Hello, and greetings to you all. I hope you have been well? It's been over a year since my last blog post, and for that I apologise. I said from the outset that I wouldn't write out of obligation; I would only write when I had something I consider to be of value to share. I have had a very difficult year in terms of my personal, work and family life, and I kind of lost my Dojo-Mojo somewhat.  Laat year (2024) was an amazing year for my martial arts development. I started the year having recently passing my black belt in Karate, I was training twice weekly in Karate and doing a Kickboxing class once weekly. I had some personal training sessions under Raushan Sandhu at IMA in Leeds, and fought in my first Karate competition. I attended a few seminars, started writing a martial arts blog and finished the year by getting first place in a club points sparring tournament. At 48 years old, I felt unstoppable.  This year (2025) started off much the same, and, additionally,...
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The benefits of external training courses

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 I was going to call this entry "The importance of external training courses" but after some deliberation, I decided to replace the word 'importance' with the word 'benefits'. The reason being, if I emphasise that external training courses are important, this implies that if you are not taking part in external training courses/seminars, then you are missing an important part of your martial arts training. This is not necessarily the case. As I have said in previous blog posts, everyone has different reasons for training, everyone has different expectations and different desirable outcomes. If you are happy and content training in one style, at one club, and that satisfies your craving for knowledge, provides you with the training that suits your individual needs, and you have no desire to seek out any further learning, then external training courses/seminars are not important to you. If you have a wider interest in learning different skills, taught...
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The bumpy road to competition training

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For many years I have trained in martial arts, across different styles and disciplines. I've always been drawn to the traditional side of things, the self defence side. Competition has never been of interest to me. Even during the short stint I had at a Kickboxing club in 2013 a small group of us would spar for the last part of the session, but I had no desire to ever compete, at any level, be it a small interclub or regional competition. The only person I've ever been in competition with has been myself. As a cyclist, my long rides have never been about speed, always about taking in the scenery and enjoying the ride. As a runner, running 10km organized runs with my wife, who has a naturally slower pace than me, I prefer to run alongside her for company than to run ahead and get a better time. When taking on the Yorkshire Three Peaks, I waited for the slower members of our group, even though that meant missing our target time of 12 hours. Even when I took part in a ...
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Four martial artists walk into bar...

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Two questions I often get asked as a martial artist are: 1. What is THE BEST martial art. And 2, if 'such and such martial art' is so good, why do we never see it in the UFC?  Okay, so let me start by saying that there is no 'best' martial art. No single discipline that trumps all other disciplines. If there was, we would all just be doing that, wouldn't we? All martial arts have their strengths, and they all have their flaws. What can be seen as a strong point in one style, can be the chink in the armour of another. Let's use this analogy... Four martial artists walk into a bar. One does MMA, one does Karate, one does Aikido and one does BJJ. The MMA guy says his martial arts style is the best, because MMA have taken all the best bits from all of the martial arts and combined them into one discipline, that includes striking, kicking,  grappling, takedowns and groundwork.  The Karate guy, paraphrasing the old Bruce Lee quote as best he can remember i...
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How often do you practice?

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'How often do you practice karate then?' asked Dale.  It had been a long a long morning, tattooing my client. During that time the conversation had flowed, from music, to TV, to holidays, favourite foods and hobbies. I might have mentioned that I do karate, once or twice. Now we had stopped for a long overdue lunch break. I'd offered him an apple, he had politely accepted.  'How often do I practice karate?' I repeated, ' Every day.' 'EVERY day?' He sounded surprised.  'Every single day. In fact, I'm practicing karate right now.'  Dale looked at me with a smirk, like he was waiting for the punchline. There wasn't one. 'No you're not' 'What am I doing then? 'Eating an apple, same as me'  'No,' I protested playfully, 'you're just eating an apple. I'm practicing karate!' Dale's smirk took on a quizzical look, as he looked at me through narrowed eyes.  I let him stew for a min...
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Introduction

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Hello, and welcome to Eye Of The Storm Martial Arts blog. My name is Rich Hobson, I'm 47 and I live in Bradford, West Yorkshire. I've read many martial arts biographies over the years, and more recently I have been listening to various martial arts podcasts. Often, when listening to people being asked questions about their martial arts experiences, this triggers my own internal monologue as I start to think how I would answer those questions, should I ever be asked. It lead to me thinking that, if I start to write some of my own thoughts, ideas, stories and experiences in a blog, then it is out there for other people to read, should they wish. This is my first entry, please keep an eye out for future posts. Why Eye Of The Storm? I was recently teaching some Kyu Grades defence against Mawashigeri (roundhouse kicks) and how to move into the attacker, rather than to step back. By stepping back, you may be placing yourself in the path of the foot, which is the part of the kicking l...
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