The Dojo Family
I am frequently asked how a beginner should go about choosing a dojo. I've written about it in the past and you can find those tips here. But while you can certainly research the lineage of a style, hang around for a couple classes to observe and ask people who go there and who've gone there in the past, there's really no way of knowing if the people at your dojo are going to be merely people you see a couple times a week while you train, or if they'll become more than that-part of your dojo "family."
I consider myself extremely fortunate to train at an awesome dojo with a great dojo family. While the green belts and above obviously spend more time together, there seems to be no separation between ranks when it comes to helpful attitudes and friendliness.
A couple weeks ago, I organized a hibachi dinner followed by dessert back at my house afterward and the guest list kept growing. The amazing thing about everyone is that we have a drastic age range but it doesn't seem to matter. We have the single 20-something guys, the married 30 and 40 year old crew, and our instructors whose ages will remain quiet because I'd like them to still talk to me.
I've heard of dojos where the instructors won't associate with the students outside of the dojo, but in our dojo, that's simply not the case. Our hibachi dinner a few weeks ago ranged from 1st kyu brown belt up to 9th degree black belt; and we had a blast. I hope our next event (we're thinking tiki bar) will be even more well attended than last time. (I seem to have become the social coordinator so I better get on that before I lose my role.)
Now that I am back and my knee is feeling strong, I am even more grateful for my friends at karate. I truly do believe that they helped get me through my injury. I looked at one of our green belts who was going through chemo and still coming to the dojo each week; and I thought, "Wow, if he can come back, I can come back too." He's now cancer free, on the verge of becoming a brown belt, and serves as a training inspiration to us all.
When I was having a particularly rough time after my surgery and feeling like I would never feel better, I had a visit from a dojo friend that gave me new determination and motivation to get better. Simply being around these people makes you want to be better and work harder.
During my time away, I kept in touch by being in the dojo from time to time and via email. Before I came back and during my first few weeks, there were times when I felt like leaving karate was going to be my only option. It felt unnatural and like I was taking an unnecessary risk with my newly reconstructed ACL. But one of the main things that kept me going is that I didn't want to lose that connection with the people who've gone beyond being my training mates-they're my friends.
Last night, I worked with four different people on various bunkai I've been working on. Each one of them helped and contributed in a different way and I've been more than happy to help them right back. We seem to have an incredible group dynamic where everyone just wants everyone else to succeed and get better at what we're doing. The competitive aspects that you sometimes hear about between individuals don't seem to exist in our dojo.
So what's the point of this post, other than to put something up because I've had some serious writer's block lately? I guess it's to say "thank you" to all my training friends at the dojo. I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for your help.
It’s In There-17 Months Post ACL Surgery
I've been making a concentrated effort to spend more time at the dojo the past few weeks. I usually attend classes twice a week, but I've been adding an extra class here and there. I've been on the cusp of recovering all the kata and knew that the more I worked on it, the more cobwebs I'd be able to shake off.
This week, I've been at the dojo every night so far. Big I had ju-jutsu last night, so while she attended class downstairs, I went upstairs and ran through all of the kobudo kata. I think I have finally reached the point where I'm able to stop beating myself up mentally for putting kata on the back burner during my injury recovery. It's in there. It's really, finally, in there again.
I'm back to that familiar place where I'm falling asleep each night after running through a couple kata in my head. I'm talking about karate to Mr. BBM non-stop. I'm excited about how my bunkai is coming along. Despite the fact that a couple moves are still a little difficult for me (probably always will be), like the jump in the one tunfa kata and the kneel down in one of our open hand kata, I'm finally at the point where I've run through things enough times to know that my knee is holding up. It is no longer a stopping point, at least in kata (as long as my teachers are willing to accept the fact that I'm probably never going to be able to land on my left leg after that one jump). I'm even running on the treadmill now without swelling up.
The first couple weeks back were rough. I felt undeserving of the belt wrapped around my waist. I felt awkward and uncomfortable. It would have been really easy to throw in the towel. I won't deny that I thought about it while driving home after a few rough nights at the dojo. But I was determined to get back to my pre-injury state. I gradually accepted that I wouldn't be the same ever again; but I wanted to get as close as possible.
My knee is far from pre-injury state. It sometimes feels stiff and awful after a workout or a night at the dojo. When I stand up from sitting, sometimes I limp a bit. I can almost always tell you when it's going to rain; my knee is more accurate than the Weather Channel. But I feel like I am settling into the post-injury me and it's going ok. I've accepted the fact that I'm not going to ever be able to sit in seiza without terrible consequences. I think I'll probably always have some tendonitis that makes kneeling down uncomfortable. I'm probably always going to mind long car rides when I go to stand back up again. I will forever be extremely cautious with both of my knees; but I am slowly but surely putting the ACL ordeal behind me and getting back to doing the thing I love.
It's about time.
Rolling Down the Mountains
This week's heat wave brought with it some major waves on the dojo floor. It seems that whenever the heat rises, the foam flooring seems to rise too. Last Monday night was insane. The bumps and lumps were everywhere and it was difficult to avoid them. Because of the on-going knee issues, I try to avoid them like the plague. There is nothing worse than coming upon one of them when you're not expecting it. On Monday night, they were hard to miss though. One of our Shodans remarked that the body of Jimmy Hoffa had been found.
It was well over 95 degrees when we started working out on Monday night. One of our shodans decided he would do what he could about the rising mountains of foam and started working on his break falls and rolls. Watching him roll and smash out the peaks felt surreal. I remember practicing those rolls exactly once in my training. I had no doubts I would kill myself or enter permanent paralysis if I tried along with him.
I haven't been one to fall in the correct form in the past. Falling can be scary, especially for someone so seemingly injury prone.
On Wednesday night, Big I was attending ju-jutsu class. Although she's getting better with her rolls, they're still not great. She's slamming down on her back with quite a bit of force and that can't be good long term. She's supposed to finish in a side break-fall position. She's just not. Her Sensei and one of his helpers spent quite a bit of time trying to get her to roll the right way. It just wasn't happening.
Over the past few days, she's been wanting to practice at home. It's difficult to tell her how to do something, much easier and more effective to show her, so I figured it was time to get back on the rolling wagon and give it a shot.
Surprisingly, I didn't hurt myself and I actually did it right. I'm not willing to take it from a running start quite yet (doubt I ever will be quite honestly), but I did it well enough to consider myself worthy of helping Big I. The past few days have been full of rolling at our house. Lil C wants to get in on the fun and Big I is slowly but surely getting it. I think that if she could just do one correctly and feel the difference between the crazy business she usually does, she would get it.
The good thing is that her Sensei doesn't let her off the hook. Each week is practicing and reinforcing the skills learned in the weeks prior before moving on to anything new. This building block approach of learning has been good for her and she's been very receptive to it. The skills she learned in the first week are getting really good; the rolls are coming along nicely, and this week they even began working on their first throw.
The bonus for me is that I get to watch class, help her learn what she needs to learn, and I get to learn new things too.
Maybe next time the heat rises, I can help our stellar dojo roller with some haphazard rolling of my own. And hopefully, before too long, Big I will be joining in as well.
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Making It Work In The Dark
I had to drag myself to the dojo tonight. I spent most of the day outside in temperatures that were around 90 degrees, working on my yard and gardens. What else is new? By the time I had finished eating dinner, I was ready for a nap. Instead, I dragged myself to the car and arrived at a sweltering hot dojo.
Our dojo is not one of those strip-mall places with central air. There's nothing fancy or high-tech about it. We have window air conditioners that sometimes cool things off (or not). Mostly not. We have flooring that bubbles up when it's hot. When the temperatures rise in there, on the second floor, it's definitely unpleasant.
One of the most important lessons I've learned from my dad is this one: hot air rises, cool air sinks. So, I sunk onto the floor and did my stretches in a horizontal position. I don't tolerate heat well and when you stack that on top of the exhaustion I already had, I was pretty miserable.
I tied my hair up on the top of my head and the four of us in attendance, decided that the lights were staying off. We didn't need anything else heating things up. At first we could see just fine, but as the night wore on, the darkness was as heavy as the heat. It was the perfect time to build up to having a night time attacker.
Without being able to see facial expressions, and only being able to see a shadow coming at you, it felt realistic. I sometimes have a hard time following through on techniques and let people out of things before I probably should. But I didn't tonight. Each of the two guys I worked with saw the ground a bunch of times and I was proud of how I responded and what I did. It wasn't always pretty and things didn't always work the way I wanted them to, but I found myself trying to work several techniques instead of just trying one that doesn't work and giving up.
The darkness added a veil of scariness to the whole drill. You wanted to finish your opponent. The other woman and I each took a turn with each of the guys, and then we took turns attacking each other too. It was a very realistic drill that taught you something about yourself. It starts out being something you think will wreck your confidence, and then you find out it's done just the opposite.
After class, I was talking to the other woman in the locker room about the drill. We were discussing the issue of self-defense. As a woman, people tend to side with you if you're attacked and you happen to take out your attacker. But what if you're a trained martial artist, you're attacked, and you break some bones or cause other serious damage? Then what? What exactly is a woman allowed to do to defend herself in the world and how does that change when that woman just happens to be a high ranking martial artist?
It's an interesting question and it made me think about a conversation I had with one of the builder guys the other day. He was fixing something on the exterior of my house and I was planting some flowers. He noticed I was kneeling funny and asked me about my knee. I told him about my surgery and he asked me how I had injured myself.
"Karate. I was sparring at the time" I told him.
He asked me how long I have been training and what rank I was. I told him my next rank testing will be for Shodan and he asked me with complete seriousness, "So, when you get your black belt, you'll have to go get your hands registered with law enforcement right?"
I laughed out loud. I think he was a little embarrassed, so I contained my laughter and told him I had heard something about that somewhere (Where did I read that anyway?), but that I didn't think I was required to do that upon getting a black belt. Am I wrong? I guess I always thought that was a joke.
It does raise an interesting question though. If a man attacked a woman on the street, and she (a trained martial artist) fought back and broke an arm, ripped a ligament, poked out an eye, and sent the family jewels packing? Would she be in trouble?
Personally, I think the guy is asking for it if he's a stranger on the street and he grabs me. Of course, there's the issue of appropriate force; but when it comes to it being a stranger on the street? I'm not taking any chances. It's my life we're talking about here.
What would you do if attacked on the street by a complete stranger? How would you feel as a juror, on a case where an attacked woman beat the living daylights out of her attacker or even killed him? These are interesting questions and I'm going to do some research of my own and see what I can come up with on this topic.
Just Breathe
Breathing is supposed to be natural. Most of us know exactly how to do it when we're born. We are able to continue breathing throughout our life, without thinking too much about it. It's just natural, the way it should be.
Then there's karate breathing.
If you're not a karate person, or if you don't do breathing kata, it's kind of like this:
Inhale like you've never inhaled before. Breathe in through your nose until your sinuses shake and your body can take in no more air. This sinus shaking business is visible from the outside. If it's not, you're not doing it right.
Then, punch and breathe out. When you do it though, growl with the back of your throat so you feel really uncomfortable and weird. Breathe out until you have no more air left and the only thing left for you to do is cough awkwardly.
This, people, is karate breathing, and I can't seem to do it to save my life.
The other night in karate class, we were working on various waza. We have 10 of them and they're small series of moves. For example: step back and block up, punch, punch, clear down with kiai. Done. That's waza one.
Waza are the most difficult things to remember. They just don't stay in the head because they all tend to blend into one another. One of the shodans was helping me get them back in my head the other night and afterward, we took turns picking a number and then doing that waza.
When it came time for one of our 3rd dans to do his, he took waza three and did this breathing business with it. He did it a couple times. First slowly, then faster. Personally, I'd never seen anyone do a waza like that before. When he was finished, the shodan teaching that night asked me and another 1st kyu if we had any comments.
"Yeah, I thought we told him to do waza three!" I said.
The 3rd dan looked at me funny and said, "That was waza three!"
I said, "Well, it didn't look like my waza three. It didn't look like any waza three I've ever seen before."
Everyone laughed. They all know I have issues with the breathing. That's putting it lightly.
I came home that night and was telling Mr. BBM about class. I showed him how waza three had been done. I think I did a fairly good impersonation. The problem is, I can't do it in class. It's simply that right now, an impersonation, whenever I do that breathing. For now, I can't seem to make it my own.
I'm just going to need to practice at home, with music blaring or something, until I get comfortable with my own lungs and with the growling.
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