Build Karate

West LA Seido Karate-do embeds its personal protection program into its on-going classes. Private instruction in this aspect of Seido can also be arranged with Kyoshi on an individual basis. Personal protection, i.e. self-defense, at Seido uses a model of escalating stages of ...more

At the beginning of every class, or almost every class, we do a series of exercises. The Japanese word for this sort of calisthenic exercise isundo. These exercises derive from the Goju style of karate created by Miyagi Sensei in Okinawa in the early part of the 20th Century. ...more

Life has always been complex and challenging. The challenges today are just different than what they were in the past. Nowadays instead of hunting and scavaging for food and living in the elements we’re bombarded with suggestions and demands from our highly sophisticated socie ...more

The famed chessmaster Capablanca was once asked how many moves ahead he saw when playing a game of chess. His answer? "I see only one move ahead, but it is ALWAYS the right move." Such confidence! How did he get it? Cognitive scientists and neurologists have long been fascina ...more

Competition and cooperation are two modes of interaction that engage us throughout our lives. West LA Seido Karate recognizes the need for being skillful at both. We channel the cooperative instinct in the dojo in a variety of ways, ritual courtesy being the most visible. We a ...more

Take It On Many critics of Traditional Martial Arts (TMA) base their criticisms on the training methodology of the “old school.” Kata and pre-arranged partnered sets, they say, don’t prepare the trainee for anything “real.” The approach of TMA, they continue, is based on assu ...more