At the request of rhean, I thought I'd join the blogosphere and post a few details about my visit to the Berkeley Isshinryu dojo last Wednesday. Sensei Daniel Heath was out of town, but Senseis Justin, Don, and Brendan were there to lead a class of ~10-12 students (including me). Class was from 7-9pm (just like ours), and the itinerary included: warmup, partner work on bunkai for the beginning of seisan, and some slow freeform sparring (using hand techniques only). It was very intriguing to see how this club performed their versions of charts (including a crunching roundhouse kick to the front, open hand palm heel block roundhouse punch x2 from seisan dachi, and open hand side block followed by a shuto strike to the throat, among others). I also picked up some interesting new warmup exercises, as well. All of the senseis and students were extremely nice and accommodating, and it was really a terrific experience. Any further q's I'd be happy to answer in class!
