{"id":342,"date":"2014-11-18T18:51:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T18:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chojinkai.x10host.com\/?page_id=342"},"modified":"2026-01-24T11:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:22:17","slug":"mark-heaton","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/?page_id=342","title":{"rendered":"Mark Heaton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Doug James, 9th Dan presenting Mark with 6th Dan<\/em><\/p>\n

I first started karate in 1999 at the age of 13, after coming home from school one day with a black eye. My dad told me about a poster he\u2019d seen at the Sands Centre advertising Chojinkai Karate, so I went down to read it and get the details. Before I started, I was quiet and lacked confidence. I wasn\u2019t sporty and hadn\u2019t found anything that really inspired or motivated me, but there was something about karate that immediately drew me in.<\/p>\n

At my very first session there were only three students. By the second session, I was the only one left. At that time, new beginners only started every few months \u2014 you couldn\u2019t just turn up and join whenever you felt like it, you had to wait for the next beginners\u2019 course. Sensei Doug James continued that class with just me, one-to-one, when he could easily have told me to come back in a few months. Years later he told me, \u201cI saw great potential in you and didn\u2019t want you to stop training.\u201d That\u2019s something I\u2019m still grateful for.<\/p>\n

Those early classes were very traditional and demanding. The focus was on hard basics, repetition, and discipline. Sessions were tough and strict, and that environment laid strong foundations \u2014 both physically and mentally \u2014 that have stayed with me throughout my training.<\/p>\n

I trained three times a week at the Carlisle Club. I started lifting weights after Sensei Doug James told me I needed to be stronger, and I also trained at home on a heavy bag. During this time, Sensei Ray Hind was one of the other main instructors and regularly took sessions when Sensei Doug James wasn\u2019t there. Ray has been one of my instructors ever since. We are of a similar build, and because of that, much of the karate we do naturally overlaps. That shared physique influenced how I moved, trained, and applied techniques, and it played a significant role in shaping my karate. Once I learned to drive at 17, I began travelling around different Chojinkai clubs so I could train even more. In the early days there was a strong emphasis on competition \u2014 inter-club, club championships, and national events \u2014 so I competed in both kata and kumite until around 2008, before realising that wasn\u2019t the direction I\u2019d originally started karate for.<\/p>\n

I earned my 1st Dan in 2004, gaining my black belt in around four years, which is relatively quick within our association. As I progressed, I followed Iain Abernethy around, attending his seminars as a helper. I also attended many other seminars, particularly within the British Combat Association, and was introduced to the work of Peter Consterdine and Geoff Thompson, leading figures in reality-based self-protection, through their videos and magazine articles.<\/p>\n

In 2009, aged 24, I became an SIA door supervisor. My time working the doors exposed me to a wide range of high-stress, unpredictable, and often volatile situations involving many different types of violence \u2014 verbal, psychological, spontaneous, alcohol-fuelled, premeditated, and group-based. These were not controlled environments, and situations could escalate rapidly with little warning. The role demanded constant situational awareness, strong communication skills, and a clear understanding of the legal framework surrounding the use of force.<\/p>\n

I was fortunate to have good instructors and colleagues, and I worked hard to pressure-test what I\u2019d learned in the dojo against real-world behaviour. That meant constantly refining techniques, tactics, and decision-making under stress. Martial arts teaches that the highest aim is to avoid violence wherever possible, but in that role there were occasions where it was unavoidable. Due to the number of years I worked and the volume of shifts I covered, I experienced this many times. Those encounters stripped away theory and highlighted what genuinely worked under pressure, later forming the backbone of many of the lesson plans and principles I teach today.<\/p>\n

Around the time I first started working the doors, I became involved with Darren Longstaff, who was teaching at the Haltwhistle Karate Club. We also worked the doors together, and he gave me some great pointers in the early days. I quickly realised that we shared the same views on training and self-protection based on our experiences. Over the last few years, we\u2019ve worked together teaching joint seminars, bouncing ideas off each other, as we both take a similar approach to karate, blending traditional techniques with practical application.<\/p>\n

Even after stepping away from door work, I\u2019ve kept my training firmly rooted in reality while continuing to develop and improve. I still train six days a week, training appropriately and with longevity in mind. This includes three weight-training sessions, a dedicated cardio session, and a heavy-impact session each week. I remain actively involved in all classes, keeping most of my karate training technical during class time, while also regularly sparring with students of all levels. I believe it\u2019s important to stay connected to the realities of training at every stage. I also still travel each week to train with what I consider to be some of the top instructors in the UK. The aim is simple: to keep doing what I\u2019m doing, at a high level, for as long as possible.<\/p>\n

Consistency has always been central to my progress. If there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve naturally been good at, it\u2019s simply turning up. That consistency played a huge role in my development. I reached Rokudan (6th Dan) at a relatively young age, and I never take that for granted \u2014 it\u2019s the result of being fortunate enough to walk into a great club right from the start.<\/p>\n

I am now a full-time instructor, teaching around 300 students across five clubs in five locations, some twice a week: Carlisle, Brampton, Wigton, Warwick Bridge, and Penrith. In addition to regular classes, I also run seminars, gradings, and courses throughout the year. Even though I teach full-time, I still work a few days a week because I never want to see karate as a \u201cjob.\u201d It\u2019s something I genuinely enjoy, and it\u2019s hugely rewarding seeing students I\u2019ve taught for years continue to progress.<\/p>\n

My experiences, both inside and outside the dojo, have helped Chojinkai continually develop and refine its syllabus as it moves forward. I feel privileged to still be part of Chojinkai after all these years, and I\u2019m proud to help it grow while continuing to develop my own training and the training of the students I\u2019m fortunate enough to teach.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doug James, 9th Dan presenting Mark with 6th Dan I first started karate in 1999 at the age of 13, after coming home from school one day with a black eye. My dad told me about a poster he\u2019d seen at the Sands Centre advertising Chojinkai Karate, so I went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[8,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3483,"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions\/3483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chojinkai.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}