More Shades of Black: The Traditional Path from Black Belt to Master

By Gavin Mulholland

THE WAY BEYOND BLACK BELT IS CONTAINED IN THE KATA In his first book Four Shades of Black , Gavin Mulholland explored the first four kata of Goju Ryu Karate showing how each represented a complete area of study. How, taken together, they create a logical and realistic training progression from stand-up fighting to no-holds-barred grappling, expertly designed to take the beginner to Black Belt and far beyond. More Shades of Black is here to address the 'far beyond' and sets out to achieve two things: Firstly, to put an end to the notion that a Black Belt should be training in the same way as a Kyu grade, and to outline how every Dan grade should represent a new area of study, designed to push the practitioner to ever greater levels of martial skill and personal development - both inside and out. Secondly, to pick up on the progression that Four Shades left at Goju's fourth kata, Seiunchin , and carry it all the way to the master's level and the ultimate kata of Suparinpei . More Shades of Black outlines how the higher kata guide the training program of the Black Belt student towards Master level, every bit as much as the lower kata guided the novice to Black Belt. And explores and explains the purpose of each post-black-belt kata and the training areas they are directing us to. While each one will serve to enhance the practitioner's fighting ability in a very practical way, the kata progression will also increasingly turn the student's attention inwards to the much-misunderstood realms of the internal arts: chi, meridians, vital-points and internal energy flow. All contained within the kata, and all finally uncovered for the student to reach far beyond becoming the best fighter they can be, and towards becoming the best person they can be. The ultimate goal of the martial arts, not just spoken about, but demonstrated and mapped out for anyone to achieve. And all encoded and mapped out for us by the founders themselves, all those years ago.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0D3BYZRQ7
• ISBN13: 9798884611900
• Release Date: May 2024
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 195 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.7" x 0.5" x 7.4"