Life lessons from the dojo
Tonight was my first “real” class at the new dojo. I’ve already paid my fees for the first three months, so I guess it’s time to dive in head-first again…
237: Logistics are sometimes the hardest part of starting
I was surprised to find that the hardest thing about starting again isn’t so much the karate itself, but all the little logistical details I now need to figure out. I need to get a new gi (uniform), since my old one doesn’t fit me. I need to figure out what I’m using as a karate bag. I need to decide if I’m gonna stay at work before class or go home for a minimal amount of time before heading out again. I need to plan when and what I’m going to eat. There’s a lot of mental work to do before even stepping foot in the dojo. Once it’s done, it’ll be routine and habit. But ramping up to that point can be difficult!
238: With skill comes flow
As was the case during my trial class, we were working on tiodoki no waza (defences against wrist grabs). Because we were mostly white belts, the sensei was careful to go slowly, breaking down each move so that everyone could follow. When she was observing us individually, however, she made a point to me that at my more advanced level, certain moves should flow together as one fluid motion. As with so many things in life, once you know what you’re doing, you can really find your rhythm and flow with the movement. Hopefully I’ll actually reach that point soon.
239: Be prepared to update your terminology
Before class, one of the other students was showing me her technical manual, and specifically the kata that they’d worked on at Tuesday’s class. The kata, she told me, was called kihon kata ichi. Now, I know this kata. But the version I know looks like this. And the version she showed me looks like this. Obviously quite different. The funny thing is, I do know the kata she showed me. It’s a white-belt kata in kyokushin karate (my first style), where it goes by the name taikyoku sono ichi. It’ll be a bit challenging to recalibrate my brain, so that when people ask for kihon kata ichi, I perform the correct kata. But sometimes when stepping into new-but-familiar milieus, that’s what you’ve gotta do.
237: Logistics are sometimes the hardest part of starting
I was surprised to find that the hardest thing about starting again isn’t so much the karate itself, but all the little logistical details I now need to figure out. I need to get a new gi (uniform), since my old one doesn’t fit me. I need to figure out what I’m using as a karate bag. I need to decide if I’m gonna stay at work before class or go home for a minimal amount of time before heading out again. I need to plan when and what I’m going to eat. There’s a lot of mental work to do before even stepping foot in the dojo. Once it’s done, it’ll be routine and habit. But ramping up to that point can be difficult!
238: With skill comes flow
As was the case during my trial class, we were working on tiodoki no waza (defences against wrist grabs). Because we were mostly white belts, the sensei was careful to go slowly, breaking down each move so that everyone could follow. When she was observing us individually, however, she made a point to me that at my more advanced level, certain moves should flow together as one fluid motion. As with so many things in life, once you know what you’re doing, you can really find your rhythm and flow with the movement. Hopefully I’ll actually reach that point soon.
239: Be prepared to update your terminology
Before class, one of the other students was showing me her technical manual, and specifically the kata that they’d worked on at Tuesday’s class. The kata, she told me, was called kihon kata ichi. Now, I know this kata. But the version I know looks like this. And the version she showed me looks like this. Obviously quite different. The funny thing is, I do know the kata she showed me. It’s a white-belt kata in kyokushin karate (my first style), where it goes by the name taikyoku sono ichi. It’ll be a bit challenging to recalibrate my brain, so that when people ask for kihon kata ichi, I perform the correct kata. But sometimes when stepping into new-but-familiar milieus, that’s what you’ve gotta do.