National Lottery Wellbeing Event – Karate

Our latest Wellbeing Get Together was something a little bit different with a group of Coalition members and staff enjoying a session of inclusive karate with the fantastic Les Bubka.

We started by warming up our bodies and minds! Some gentle circling of wrists, arms, shoulders and heads warmed up our muscles. Then a fun and surprisingly difficult counting exercise warmed up our brains. We got into pairs and took it in turns to count to three eg. person A says 1, person B says 2, person A says 3, person B says 1 and so on. Seemingly a simple exercise but we all got mixed up as we got faster! Then instead of saying 2 we said “yes” which made it even harder and the next level was to add in a clap instead of saying 3! By the end of this warm-up we were all laughing and ready to go!

The next part of the session was starting to learn Tensho a sequence of flowing arm movements or “revolving hands”. Les was great at explaining and demonstrating the movements adapting his teaching for out VI members and wheelchair users. He also showed us how this movement was not only useful for the meditative quality but also formed the basis of self defence moves. We then used the pads to throw some punches and learn how to defend ourselves, again with adaptations for each individual.

It was a really fun session and we worked hard without realising it! If you would like to try a session with Les, he runs various groups in the Guildford area some of which are free of charge! Get in touch with Katy to find out more. katy.hubbard@surreycoalition.org.uk/07434 865062

Our Wellbeing Get Togethers are funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.