Life lessons from the dojo
Tonight, after immersing myself in tai chi for two years, I returned to my first love: karate. I went to a trial class at an all-female dojo about a 20-minute walk from my apartment. The style practiced at this dojo (Yoshukan) is an offshoot of the style I most recently studied (Chito Ryu), so it was fairly familiar to me. I went with my white belt - again - but with luck, if I stay, I’ll progress pretty quickly and won’t find myself back and the bottom for too long. In the meantime, though, more karate means more life lessons!
234: Know when to compromise
As the time stamp on my karate posts might indicate, it’s been four years since I last did karate. And in that time, I’ve gained some weight. Enough weight, in fact, that when I tried on my gi (uniform) it was… pretty snug. So snug that I was worried about ripping a seam in the pants if I tried to use it for actual karate practice. So while I very much wanted to show up in a proper gi, I decided I’d have to compromise: I wore my gi top, my belt… and black yoga pants. Because I figured it was more important to be comfortable than to look the part. Believe me, I would definitely not have looked the part with my underwear showing through a ripped pants-seam.
235: Orient yourself before applying force
I was working with the white belts tonight, doing a series of moves called tiodoki no waza, i.e. defences against wrist grabs. The very first move involves opening your (grabbed) hand, turning it so that it’s oriented towards the gap between the attacker’s thumb and fingers, and then yanking it away and counterattacking. It works pretty well, assuming you’ve orientated your hand correctly. Of course, if you haven’t turned your hand, all you’re doing is straining against your opponent’s still-clamped hand against your wrist. A few of my partners did exactly that: either they tried to turn and yank at the same time, or else forgot to turn at all. And while my husband could tell you that my grip strength is laughable, I was able to hold on perfectly fine as the attacker in these cases. Just remember: get yourself in proper position, then apply the force. Otherwise all you’re doing is straining against the forces that are holding you in place.
236: Stay on target
Another move from tiodoki no waza involves maneuvering yourself so that you’re pushing with both hands against the opponent’s arm. The goal is to fling them backwards and away from you. In doing this, it’s important to push towards the centre of your opponent’s body mass. One of my partners kept trying to push obliquely, throwing my arm away from my body but otherwise not accomplishing much. I could stay exactly where I was and throw another punch, grab another limb, or pretty much do any counterattack I wanted. As with so much in martial arts - and in life - the important thing is to make sure you’re aiming at the proper target. It doesn’t matter how hard you push if you’re pushing away from your target.
234: Know when to compromise
As the time stamp on my karate posts might indicate, it’s been four years since I last did karate. And in that time, I’ve gained some weight. Enough weight, in fact, that when I tried on my gi (uniform) it was… pretty snug. So snug that I was worried about ripping a seam in the pants if I tried to use it for actual karate practice. So while I very much wanted to show up in a proper gi, I decided I’d have to compromise: I wore my gi top, my belt… and black yoga pants. Because I figured it was more important to be comfortable than to look the part. Believe me, I would definitely not have looked the part with my underwear showing through a ripped pants-seam.
235: Orient yourself before applying force
I was working with the white belts tonight, doing a series of moves called tiodoki no waza, i.e. defences against wrist grabs. The very first move involves opening your (grabbed) hand, turning it so that it’s oriented towards the gap between the attacker’s thumb and fingers, and then yanking it away and counterattacking. It works pretty well, assuming you’ve orientated your hand correctly. Of course, if you haven’t turned your hand, all you’re doing is straining against your opponent’s still-clamped hand against your wrist. A few of my partners did exactly that: either they tried to turn and yank at the same time, or else forgot to turn at all. And while my husband could tell you that my grip strength is laughable, I was able to hold on perfectly fine as the attacker in these cases. Just remember: get yourself in proper position, then apply the force. Otherwise all you’re doing is straining against the forces that are holding you in place.
236: Stay on target
Another move from tiodoki no waza involves maneuvering yourself so that you’re pushing with both hands against the opponent’s arm. The goal is to fling them backwards and away from you. In doing this, it’s important to push towards the centre of your opponent’s body mass. One of my partners kept trying to push obliquely, throwing my arm away from my body but otherwise not accomplishing much. I could stay exactly where I was and throw another punch, grab another limb, or pretty much do any counterattack I wanted. As with so much in martial arts - and in life - the important thing is to make sure you’re aiming at the proper target. It doesn’t matter how hard you push if you’re pushing away from your target.