Work in Progress

[Lisa Clark]

The first class was tough but I made it out of sheer stubbornness. The first 15 basics were a memory test, despite making a mistake almost every time. Then there was yellow to aspire to... I spent hours kicking, practicing. Somewhere in the kicking marathon I realized karate was something I really liked. No! Loved. It became as fun as it was challenging.

Since that realization only 4 months ago, I have been learning the first kata. Every new section is just as challenging as each basic had been. It would seem karate is reminding me there is always more to learn.

What are you learning at your current level of training?

[Kathleen Lau]

I've found that karate is a reflection of life. It throws many challenges at you. Whether you choose to meet them or run from them is up to you. I've found that no one, but yourself, can get you through it. Sure there are those that guide us and even draw us a literal picture or two...but you choose what to learn from it. As you said, there is always more to learn.

[Mike Oliver]

Life and karate; both are contact sports. Some people live there lives, only growing when obstacles happen to come their way. If they are lucky they might learn something. What I love about the martial artist is that they are on a path of deliberate growth. The martial artist doesn't wait expecting the universe to teach them something. The martial artist strives deliberately to grow, to learn, challenging themselves. Well said ladies.

[Holly ODonnell]

Know what's the great thing about kata? Is that you can always get better and better. It never ends. You can always learn something new about it. You can study the history and how It's changed along with time. Kata is something sacred to us. One of the reasons we do kata is because back in the days, martial artists would steal your moves. So they began to make up ways of practicing, but also hiding the moves. So when your neighbor is poking over the fence they look and get confused.

Also about kata, there are several. I know Seisan, Seiuchin, Nihanchi, Wansu, Chinto, Kusanku.... And I still have so much more to learn! I love thinking of how much Mr. Oliver and Master Joslin know. I'm only a baby blackbelt as far as I'm concerned.

[Jonathan Schultz]

As I make my way through my first kata - seisan kata, I am learning the importance of 'doing the work'.

On the one hand, kata is proscribed and very well defined; there are a certain number of steps, and they should be done for a specific conceptual purpose, and they all fit into a polished and reliably transmitted whole. While on the other hand, as you make sure to place your feet in the proper relation to one another, and get your own brain wiring and body mechanics to conform to the specifics of the tradition, and learn all of it well enough to have synchronization between mind, breath, and action there seems infinite variations at least possible, if not actually explored through enough practice.

In that infinite journey, because it is to a destination and along a path you are soon unconsciously familiar what is important is being where you are in the kata, focusing on the moment and your body's place in it. The work is all that matters, it becomes a means and an end.

As a IT guy - read: professional nerd - I appreciate the focus that I am able to export from karate and place on my work, at work. Technology is ever changing, requiring study and practice of things that eventually fall out of fashion or get eclipsed by something bigger, better, faster. I must keep retraining myself to stay relevant, and can easily get disappointed in time 'wasted' learning things that are no longer relevant. If I instead consider that time like time I spend performing kata, doing the work, I realize it is to my benefit.

[Kathleen Lau]

You can never know enough or be perfect enough, especially when it comes to Isshinryu. Like Ms. O'Donnell said, it's never ending. The past, present, and furture...so much to know and learn! Eeek! Anyone else overwhelmed ?

[Lisa Clark]

Sensei,
Thanks for putting to words the things I have been thinking lately.

"Two things are required to succeed in any pursuit. One is a commitment to truth. As they say, denial ain't just a river in Egypt. The second is a belief in your self. "

Exactly.