About us:



Shoshin karate club is a local traditional shotokan karate club, We are made up of two main instructors Aaron & Richard - who have over 60 years experience combined in karate, with Richard starting his journey in 1984 and Aaron in 1997.At shoshin we focus of practical karate not the ''sports'' kind you may see advertised in modern times.We are passionate on focusing on the art, discipline, technique and mental approach to guide the way for meaningful training.





OUR INSTRUCTORS:





AARON.


Hi I'm Aaron! I'm 34 years old and I have been studying karate since I was 7 years old leading me to attain 27 years experience. I started studying the style wado-ryu karate for a couple of years where I reach 5th kyu, shortly after this school and exams stood in the way of continuous training, this forced me to take a break for a coupe of years however, when I decided that it was time to return to training I heard of another local club that studied shotokan karate, I went along to watch and instantly was fascinated in this other style! I joined this club where I stayed for some time working through the grades and becoming an aid to teach within the club..... then unfortunately work commitments stood in the way of continuous training - which forced me to take a 12/18 month break however, I was still determined to maintain training from home in an ad hoc manner. Shortly after this period I was able to make changes to return to training on a continuous basis, this has been the case for the last 16/17 years.


On return to training Richard and I met when we were training together and travelling around the UK attending various courses, it imminently became apparent we shared the same views on training, methods and beliefs on what karate is to us and what the key focus should be. I believe that karate is not only training of the extremities but karate has a inner journey, a journey that focuses on the elements of mental strength, situational awareness and mental focus which gives us the tools to be the best version of ourselves. Off the back of these shared beliefs and vast experience we decided it was time to start our own club, we had so many thoughts and ideas we felt were worthy of exploration which we could share with others that wanted to take up karate - we also had made a promise to ourselves and those that wanted to train, that we would only teach traditional and meaningful - practical karate.


karate has given such life experience due to the fact I have had the opportunity to train and teach many people over the years, I have taught people of all ages, walks of life, backgrounds, nationalities all with different reasons for wanting to train. Karate is a passion and fascination of mine - I enjoy the life long study it can provide, with this I have spent countless hours studying - sometimes the smallest of details and elements and bio-mechanics of the body which leads me to endless content for planning lessons and courses.

I have made some life long friends through the years to be able to share this with - karate is definitely a major and pivotal part of my life.






RICHARD.


Hi I'm Richard, I am 65 years old and started my karate journey in the 1984, like many others in the 70s I grew up watching Bruce lee movies .... I instantly wanted to try for myself, however, my first lesson was in 1984 with a Wado Ryu style karate club, I trained with two instructors - sensei Mike & sensei John in the YMCA in Weston-Super-Mare, however, sadly due to work commitments and having children I was forced to take a break from training. this was only a short period but when I was able to return to training a friend of mine suggested a new local Traditional Shotokan karate club had opened up, so as a pair we went along to see - and just like the feeling when seeing Bruce lee in the movies I thought ''I have to try this'' so we both signed up to the club. I stayed with the club for many many years to come.


I felt that this club was able to give me the tools to become a serious student of Shotokan Karate, as I continued to train within the club and becoming a senior grade I naturally found myself teaching what I had learned in the years before, this furthered my passion in karate - driven by the opportunity to teach I was able to play a pivotal part in helping a new student follow their passion as I once did back in 1984 to become a well established practitioner of Karate.


During recent years Aaron and I found ourselves training together at the same shotokan club where we travelled around with our sensei's and other enthusiastic students from the club attending courses and seminars, we built a good friendship over this period where we would agree on many points of karate and ideas - as I had many years to develop my ideologies and thoughts that were very similar to Aarons it was obvious it was time to embark on a new chapter of karate and look to start a club. Aaron & myself were training together in our spare time when others we knew from training wanted extra training asked if they could join us - naturally with delight, we said that would be great as a few people training together Aaron an I decided we should take this further and become a more established club and that was the start of the new chapter of my karate and the start of shoshin karate club.





H