Introduction
Shinseido translates as 'the way born of truth and reality'.
It is the culmination of over 25 years of study on behalf of the founder of the Shindo Trust, Roger Sheldon.
Over the years Roger has taught methods of managing aggressive behaviour to thousands of social services and NHS staff.
In doing so he has gained considerable insight into the nature of aggression and received much useful feedback from those staff who use his methods in their work.
He has also taught martial arts in the Sevenoaks area for 25 years.
The lessons learnt in these two endeavours have led to the refinement of the art which has come to be known as Shinseido.
What makes Shinseido different?
Shinseido is not a sport oriented discipline.
There are no competitions, no tournaments, no great
gymnastic leaping spinning kicks.
What you will find instead is a pragmatic system that is oriented to staying safe in real assaultive situations.
If there is any competition, it is against yourself.
The techniques of Shinseido, when correctly performed, will not damage the body of the practitioner.
Quite the opposite, they should have a therapeutic effect, helping people to stay fit, strong and supple.
Training takes place in small groups and is geared towards the needs of the individual.
In the Shindo Trust we recognise that every student is unique and so will have their own unique characteristics, their own strengths and weaknesses.
Shinseido is designed to fit the student, rather than student being forced to fit the art.
As a result, students with specific health problems are welcome to train. Children and adults classes are run seperately so that each group can receive the training appropriate for them.
As well as containing offensive techniques such as strikes and punches, Shinseido also uses more peaceful responses for dealing with violence without necessarily hurting the aggressor in the process.
Shinseido equips students with a range of responses of different severity, to enable them to cope with different levels of assault.
Shinseido teaches the appropriate body language and psychological skills to help students avoid assault. The best form of self-defence is to not be assaulted in the first place.
More than just self-defence
Correctly practised together with its companion arts, Shinseido is
therapeutic and will reduce stress, promote
physical, mental and spiritual well being and will
also increase longevity. Shindo represents a way of life, and the practitioner
who seriously penetrates its teachings will never
be the same again. It is an intricate subject,
and one which could quite easily take a life-time
to fully explore. It has many intimately related
components, none of which is complete without
the others. The more one learns about
Shindo, the more there is to
learn, not only about Shindo but
about oneself. In every day of one's life, there is a space for some form of training, either mental or physical.
There is a strong sense of continuity in training, and although you and your needs will change over the years,
Shindo will present a constant and absorbing challenge.
Shinseido as part of the whole
Shinseido is the cornerstone of the arts practiced in the Shindo Trust.
Students of the Project 5 Peaceful Response System learn a set of principles and techniques that are a sub-set of the Shinseido system.
Those who wish to learn the oriental martial arts taught by the Shindo Trust begin their training in Shinseido.
In reality, however, it is impossible to fully seperate out Shinseido from the oriental martial arts we practice. They are both simply slightly different aspects of the same subject.
Learning Shinseido
Shinseido training takes place in small groups. Generally each session begins with a set of warm-up exercises followed by practice of the basic techniques of Shinseido. Individual students may learn combination exercises to further improve their skill in the basic principles. Students often work together with a partner, either to improve specific skills or to practice responses to assaultive situations. The emphasis in partner work is on mutual improvement and cooperation, rather than competition. The principles and techniques of Shinseido are summarised in two shadow-boxing forms (or kata). These are sequences of a number of movements strung together for the purpose of solo practice. It is expected that students will practise these forms regularly at home. The two forms are: