I’m NOT. . .
I am not writing about sparring tonight for the first time at my new dojo.
I am not writing about how I thought things went fairly well and that I was moderately pleased with how I sparred, despite my nerves, despite taking some kicks, punches and doing some stupid things.
I am not writing about how with 30 seconds left in the last sparring match of the night, I threw up a right snap kick and when I did, my left knee went completely backwards.
I am not writing about how badly it initially hurt and how my leg completely gave way and I found myself sitting on the mat.
I am not writing about how I stood back up because I thought I was o.k., because I wanted to finish the night off on a good note, only to find that my knee didn’t work right anymore.
I am not writing about how I held it together just long enough to take my pads off, and rei out, before the inevitable tears came because I CAN NOT BE INJURED AGAIN-NOT NOW-NOT WHEN I WAS FEELING SO GOOD-NOT WHEN I WAS FEELING LIKE EVERYTHING WAS COMING TOGETHER SO NICELY.
I am not writing about how I had to sit-scoot-boom like Lil C, down the dojo stairs because I didn’t trust that my knee wouldn’t give out on me.
I am not writing about how everyone in the dojo jumped to my aid, packing up my bag, offering to drive me home (not necessary thanks to having an automatic), and how my instructor let me put my sweaty, tired, defeated arm around his neck so he could help me out to my car.
I am not writing about what the endless webpages about hyperextending your knee say.
I’m just not going to do it, because tomorrow this is going to all go away. Whatever I did will be gone, because it has to be, because it’s not fair any other way.
Also, because I checked that little box with my ad company where I promised not to swear.
Edited to add: Thanks for all your well wishes and positive thoughts. I have an appointment at 11:20 with an Ortho/Sports Medicine doctor. Send all the happy thoughts you can for that time period and I’ll let you know how it goes. Unfortunately, no one waved a magic wand over the knee last night. I’m pretty bummed.
Back to Being the Pretzel Fall-Gal
Last night at karate class, we worked on kata and application, lots of kata, and lots of bunkai. I was partnered up with my instructor, a 5th degree black belt, and I spent lots of time being twisted up like a pretzel and tossed on the floor.
Today, my elbow is a little sore.
Did you notice I said "elbow"? I did not say neck. My neck is fine today! After months of not feeling right after that lovely whiplash injury, I was so relieved to wake up today feeling good. It was nice to be uke again as well. A couple week ago, one of my instructors asked me what "uke" means. I laughed and said, "Uke means hitting the floor." It actually means training partner, but hitting the floor is probably more accurate. It certainly was last night.
Being uke is great because even though it can be painful, you are learning first hand what a certain technique can do to someone, what it feels like. Although I could have done without the little wrist action thing my instructor did to me last night, I do know that if I can pull that technique off on an attacker, they will certainly be crying "mercy." I tapped the mat a couple times and declared "enough-enough!" Hey, I’m just glad I didn’t revert back to screaming. That’s what I usually do.
We worked on application for Pinan Yondan and Pinan Godan. We worked on lots of would-be breaks, many wrist and elbow joint locks and some back fist/side kick action as well. Unlike many times when I just try to keep up with bunkai being taught, I was actually coming up with some decent ideas for bunkai as well. My instructor seemed to like at least one of my ideas enough to stop everyone so that we could show the other guys.
Although I know I need to get faster, I feel like I’m definitely improving with bunkai. I’m starting to see things where I didn’t before. I’m able to throw someone bigger than I am, whereas I struggled to do it before. I’m learning that good technique is definitely the answer when you don’t have the power that the guys do. You don’t have to kick the back of someone’s leg hard to make them go down, you just have to be in the right position and work the small movements more efficiently. Since I am frequently the only girl in the advanced class full of bigger guys, learning this is crucial.
After working up quite a sweat on bunkai, we "cooled down" by running through a ton of kata. We worked O Nai Hanchi (I am not sure that I’m spelling the "O" part right, which means "great." I’m waiting on my fact checker to get back to me) which combines three Nai Hanchi kata’s into one. We also did O Pinan which I didn’t even know existed until last night! We combined Pinan Shodan, Nidan, Yondan, Godan and Sandan all into one. That was quite a work out. We also ran through Chinto, Sanchin, Seisan, Wansu, Ananku, and Niseishi. I was completely beat when I got home, the kind of good beat where you know you had a great work out and learned a ton of new stuff.
Best of all, that break fall lesson I had a few months ago came in handy last night, eliminating the need for a call to the chiropractor. It feels so good to be back to normal!
***The latest review is up at The BBM Review and is written by a writer across the great pond. If you’d like to hear his perspective on "Karate-Do, My Way of Life" go check it out!
The Great Kata Debate
There seems to be a constant underlying debate amongst martial artists. How relevant and useful is kata? It’s certainly no secret that many practitioners of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) find kata to be archaic and dated (and that’s putting it nicely). Yet traditional practitioners of the martial arts continue to learn kata, and place great value in its practice.
Being a martial artist that started learning kata during my very first karate class, it never even occurred to me that the martial arts could exist without kata. To me, it has always been the backbone of what I am learning; and as one of my instructor’s calls it, "the vehicle" to greater understanding of technique. It’s not just that either. Repetitive kata has the ultimate goal of the practitioner entering a state of mushin (mind no mind), which loosely translates into your mind being so free from thought that you just instinctively react to what’s going on around you. Simply put, mushin means "don’t think." One purpose of kata is muscle memory, another addresses the mental aspects of combat and just being. Kata, although not nearly all of my training, has constituted a large proportion of it.
Then I started hearing the debates, which are really more along the lines of "kata is stupid." Critics of kata say that it is only a "dance" and not a means to learn technique or self defense. Critics may possibly be equating kata to this:
I don’t post this video to make fun of this child. That is certainly not my intention. He is quite obviously doing what he was trained to do. What exactly he was trained to do, I’m not quite sure; but this is most certainly NOT kata as it was intended. Kata is not a kiai (spirit shout) sequence that emphasizes every single move. Kata is not getting into positions that make absolutely no sense. Don’t believe me? Just watch a video of any great karate master. Their kata looks nothing like this. Of course, one must keep in mind that this is obviously taking place during a tournament and many tournament participants are much more into putting "bling" into their moves than they are about performing a traditional kata.
In his book "Living the Martial Way," Forrest E. Morgan, Maj USAF says this about kata:
"Proper, traditional kata training provides a distillate of all the essential elements for developing kiai (which literally means to concentrate or focus the life force). It emphasizes the solid stances and correct movements that build haragei (the physical art of controlling and moving from one’s center). A qualified instructor will always stress moving from the one point, relaxing at key points, and lowering your center of gravity. With this kind of practice, you can’t help but build a strong hara (literally: belly, the area where one’s soul resides). Breathing in kata always centers in the tanden (abdomen). It is properly coordinated with the techniques, so kokyu chikara (breath power/internal power as opposed to external power) grows as each day passes.
But most importantly, kata is the quintessential exercise in kime (focus). It emphasizes coordinating and focusing physical energy in each technique, and teaches a student to concentrate his mental energy and focus it into the physical movement. Properly disciplined, traditional kata training even conditions the warrior to commit and focus his spirit through commanding the directions in which he points his eyes.
No, you can’t use a kata on someone who attacks you, nor will a properly executed, traditional form do much to win you trophies. But if you want to develop kiai, if you want to learn to destroy attackers utterly and completely, if you want to learn to defeat an enemy with a single glance, you’ll practice kata with utmost seriousness."
Kata may have been hidden in dances in the past. Kata may look silly to a beginner or to someone who knows nothing about it. Kata alone is certainly not an all-inclusive martial art. Traditional martial artists certainly aren’t going to break into Nai Hanchi Shodan or Chinto during an encounter in a parking lot; but those who train in traditional martial arts know how inherently important and fundamental kata is to their training.
**Stop over at The BBM Review for the latest review (complete with crazy pictures) on an upcoming DVD release called, "Shaolin Legend Live."
Thanks to E.M. for bringing my attention to this video.
Balance, Measurement, and Lots of Smiling
Before Big I went to bed tonight, she stood in the living room on one leg, showing me her improved balance. She’s been working on her balance whenever she gets the chance: at the bus stop, while I’m drying her hair, when she’s watching TV. The good thing is that the wobbly pre-schooler who started taking karate a few years ago, the one who couldn’t do a kick without ending up falling on her butt, is starting to really get it.
After she showed me her "amazing balance," her words, not mine, I told her to try a front snap kick. I watched her pull her knee up, extend her foot out with her foot flexed, retract her foot and then set her foot back down. I told her to try a few in a row. She did it. I told her to try it faster and to hold her fists out in front. She did it. She’s really starting to get it.
During class this week, there was a lot of emphasis on basic movements, kicks, blocks, etc. No matter what rank I’ve been, going back to basics has always been an opportunity to pick something back up that may have been lacking in my technique, something that got glossed over. Apparently Big I is having the same revelations.
After she was done showing me her kicks, she wanted to show me her kata. She has the basic pattern down (for the most part). When she was finished, we broke it down into small parts and I helped her with a couple different things. She really listened. She then asked me if I could show her the waza she needs for testing. She never does that. She never asks me to teach her anything when it comes to karate. She’d rather learn it from a 3rd party. She is definitely making progress in more than one department.
She’s not the only one. While Big I was working on the basics of kicking, the brown and black belts were working on kata. I am happy to say that I think I may have the first five or six moves of Chinto. If you know this kata, you know that statement is monumental. In the past, whenever I have been in a class where Chinto is being done, I have been discouraged. In my style, Chinto is needed for Nidan (2nd degree/dan black belt). Along with Chinto is Sanchin. I mean, I might as well just hang up my belt right after Shodan, right?
Not so fast. A couple of our Shodan’s are working on learning Chinto, so the black belt who was teaching today broke it down into smaller parts. There was lots of repetition. Although I used to love to learn advanced kata, I have found that the closer I get to Shodan, the more slippery the kata’s get that I already know, which makes learning a new one a daunting task. If I work on bo and tunfa, then bo and tunfa kata’s feel great. But when I go back to sai, AHHH! I wish I could go to Best Buy and purchase more memory for the brain. It seems impossible to hold it all in there, learn it so I don’t even have to think about it, and then come up with applications for all of it as well. I guess this is why good martial artists know that learning a martial art is not a race; it’s a journey, one that takes a lifetime.
Those couple Chinto moves might disappear over the next few weeks, but it felt really good to actually do a knee kick along with the crowd instead of sort of hopping around and trying to figure out what the heck just happened. In the past, I used to just skip the kick and meet the rest of the crowd after it at some point, usually while shaking my head and laughing at myself. Today, I got it. It’s probably not perfect. It probably needs work (lots and lots of work), but just keeping up was enough for me today.
After that class there was a black belt workout at the dojo. I stayed, along with another brown belt, and we worked out for a good hour and a half using four different weapons and about eight different kata’s. It was about half way through this class, that Hanshi mentioned that he should probably soon measure the brown belts for black belts since it takes a while to get them in (the black belt that I might one day be lucky enough to earn and receive will have my name embroidered on it in Japanese).
He went on to say, and the other yudansha (black belts) backed him up on this, that he likes to have them so that he can bring them out of the office on occasion, just to let the brown belts see it, be around it (like an oasis in the desert, a black belt with my name on it. . . ). Oh sorry, having a little daydream there. Anyway, the fact that I would even be measured sometime soon, and that a belt would be ordered in anticipation of me ME passing my black belt test. . . well, that right there is enough to make a girl smile. . .
a lot
profusely
ad nauseam
I think you get the idea.
Merry Christmas to me (early)
Class tonight was very cool. We worked on bo basics for a while. It’s always good to revisit basics every once in a while. I seem to always learn something new and am able to take something away to add to my kata. After going over basics, I spent part of the first class working with a green belt on Shihonuke. I noticed a couple little things he could do to improve his kata (like trying to keep his bo more level), told him, and he immediately put them in there. It’s amazing how kids just get it. It’s so much easier to learn when you’re younger. Yet another reason I wish I would have started this karate business a long time ago.
During the advanced class, we worked on three bo kata’s: Shihonuke, Chounokun and Suiyoshi Nokun Ichi. I already have welts on the forearms and will definitely have more bruising tomorrow. The bo for me is like a makiwara. Skinny arms are just not cool when it comes to weapons.
After bo, we worked on Odo No Tunfa Ichi. I was called up to lead the kata and "count it out." When you go to test for Shodan, the panel of Renshi kai sits in front of you. They take turns either counting in English, Japanese, or just doing a short kiai so that everyone stays together. I was ALWAYS worried about this since everyone counts a little bit differently. I found out tonight that it is not easy to count (kiai) and do the kata at the same time. Although I made it through the whole thing with only a small mistake at the end, I found I had to use a lot of brain power to make it happen. Yet another thing I need to practice-the list, it continues to grow.
With tunfa, I have always felt that I was at a bit of a disadvantage because when flipping the tunfa back, I could never make them stop right beside my forearms. Guys seem to have some extra meat there and the tunfa always rests so nicely. Since I don’t have that, I have to compensate by using major control to stop that weapon from continuing its arc. It can get very annoying and difficult to do.
At the end of class, Hanshi was discussing how important it is to have the proper fit when it comes to weapons. He showed how his custom made tunfa just fit his grip and his forearms perfectly. I took one look at my tunfa and knew they were all wrong. After class, he confirmed this for me. So, we went into his office and he got out this contraption that actually measures your grip and arm length exactly. The next time I’m in, he’s going to help me pick a type of wood to order and then I’m placing my order for custom made Shureido tunfa. I CAN NOT WAIT to get them.
Hanshi showed me his collection of tunfa, the different types of wood and finishes and I’m going to have some major decisions to make. I was telling Mr. BBM that I wanted to get new weapons, so I figured I’ll start with these and replace them as I go. When I got home tonight, I informed Mr. BBM that he bought me a Christmas present tonight. It will probably take them that long to arrive, so no time like the present to place the order.
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