Karate

Karate, is an ancient martial art with practitioners in almost all countries in the world, hundreds of thousands of athletes, teachers and masters around the globe, an endless number of sympathizers and fans, which is soon going to become an Olympic modality, and whose number of athletes increases every day. However, only a few worthy of reading books about Karate have been written until our days. In fact, there is a vast amount of material that displays the name karate in its cover, but whose content brings dubious, sensationalist information, that has nothing to do with real karate, its story, philosophy and purpose.It is for this reason, and for the wish of sharing the experience of more than 25 years of karate practice and teaching, that I have decided to put myself into the difficult job of writing a book. Although I am conscious of the challenge this represents, I consider it worthwhile because it is a way I can do a little for this art, which has been doing a lot for me throughout my whole life.In this book I will be talking about the amazing life transforming power contained in the practice of karate, a practice that goes far beyond a mere physical exercise. I will talk about friendships built through the art, about the lessons received from many masters, about the support received in the difficult moments and many other events that made me the person I am today, successful and content. In fact, Karate can be a real transformation motivator force, specially for young people. As an athletes' community, karate works as a healthy environment for social integration and interaction. As an opportunity for self-defense learning, karate does much more than just teaching how to block and to perform attacks, but it teaches how to avoid unnecessary conflicts. Finally, there is no debate that the practice of karate brings benefits to athletes' health. It helps improve physical strength, cardiorespiratory capacity, and the immune system. In sum, there are innumerable reasons that make me wish to share with others, a little of what karate has done for me.I hope readers can enjoy this book and get to know a little more about karate through this unpretentious and, at the same time, serious work, which is not the type "learn without a master" book. My desire is that athletes and non-athletes of this art can benefit of the reading of this material, and be able to comprehend a little more about this Martial Art, art of transforming lives!!!