A Beginner's Journey

Yes, I’m on a roll, folks.  So to review, I was challenged to document lessons learned during one month.  I broke down my journal entries according to theme.  This week I’m exploring my own learning process.  Today’s sub-theme is about what happened with my sparring in February 2016…

2/9/16 – Home Dojo

Innovation and asking for specific help pays off.

The senior student outranks me by 1 belt and has helped me tremendously all throughout my training.  He is taller than me and I think of him as my “big brother” even though he’s young enough to be my son.  We meet for about half an hour before class to get equipment out of storage and for him to teach me.

Tonight I brought masking tape to the dojo.  My feet are roughly ten inches long, so I did a rough measurement of standard tournament starting positions for sparring and marked them with masking tape.

We’re not allowed to spar without the presence of a black belt – that’s both by the rules of our Karate organization and the YMCA.  I asked Big Brother if we could simply run through some scenarios without making contact – just moving ourselves around, no throwing any techniques.

The problem I was solving is this.  In class, we’re in neat little lines and we’re closer to our opponents.  We don’t have all sorts of space around us to play with – our initial movements are usually straight in towards each other.  Starting six feet apart in a nice wide open space with no one else around gives one all sorts of possibilities.  I have a bad habit of not utilizing those possibilities when I’m in the ring.  Because I’m used to the constraints of neat little lines, I often go charging straight in.  In the ring, six feet feels like an enormous distance, especially if my opponent steps backward from the starting position.  Then I end up eating something because all anyone has to do is stick out a fist or foot and wait for me to run onto it.

Big Brother talked and walked me through all sorts of possibilities for starting sparring.  Without Sensei, that’s all we could really do, but it helped.  The masking tape I put on the floor gave us consistency in our starting positions, just like in a tournament.  So then I was able to really see the distances involved when my opponent does this, that, or the other.

The most wonderful thing is Sensei came in early – usually his work and traffic combine to get him to us either on time or late.  He was tickled to see what we were doing.  Then – boo yeah – action!  Not full out sparring but more like hands-on demonstrations with either Sensei or I attacking depending on what Sensei wanted to show me or have me do.

I feel much better prepared for tournament now.  All because I thought to put masking tape on the floor and ask my big brother to teach me in a specific way that I’ve never seen anyone else do before.

Innovative teaching was always my trademark during the years that I home schooled my kids.  I should continue this not only when teaching others, but also sometimes when I need to be taught.

 

2/14/16 – Tournament

3rd place Ladies’ 45 and Older (I was the “older,” LOL) Kumite.  Observers commented I was stiff and my reaction time was slow.  I’ll write about the hero of the tournament…

About three weeks prior to the tournament, I got in trouble with Sempai Drill Sergeant at College Dojo.  I cut a young lady some slack when she got tired while sparring with me, and Sempai Drill Sergeant didn’t like that one bit.  A few days ago Sempai Drill Sergeant got through sparring with one young man and then handed him over to me.  Sempai Drill Sergeant told me, “He’s tired, so kick his ass.”  The young man was exhausted, I reluctantly obeyed Sempai.  I didn’t want to do push ups, after all. I got the kid up against the wall, then he rallied and proceeded to really give me a run for the money.

Today that young man faced two – count ’em – two huge brawny monsters in tournament today.  One right after the other.  That young man is maybe an inch or two taller than I am, slender build, and he won against two football player types.  The second of these giants punched him a good one in the ear – Monster Number Two probably lost points for that but it doesn’t matter – the young man rallied and won the match.

DAMN I’m proud of that young man!!!

Oh, and after I stripped off my fighting gear I watched the fight for first place.  I positioned myself behind one of the corner judges so I could see things from her perspective.  I played a game with myself – what would I call if I were in her chair?  I also looked at the other corner judges to see what they called.  It was a very interesting exercise!

 

Feb 23, 2016 – Home Dojo

I found this journal entry to be more about the attitude I brought in to sparring than about the specific things I needed to work on.  I’ll include the full text later this month.  To summarize: Sensei had a talk with me about what needed to change.  Now let’s see what I did with this the next chance I had to do some sparring…

 

2/27/16 -Affiliate YMCA Dojo

I can turn things around.

We finished class with everyone getting a chance to spar tournament-style.  Unexpectedly, the dojo Sensei gave me a choice of sparring partners.  I chose the highest ranked (2nd kyu).

My goal was to work on loose shoulders and clean techniques no matter what.  No matter what she threw, no matter if she totally beat me up.  I chose the highest ranked because I knew I had to be pushed and pushed hard.

I won.  But even if I’d have lost, I’d have still won if I’d reached my goals.

 

2/29/16 – College Dojo

I have a bunch of homework from yesterday’s training.  Today while sparring I pulled off something Sensei drilled extensively into me yesterday.

I have an old bad habit of charging in and all someone has to do is stick out a fist or a foot and let me run onto it.  Yesterday, Sensei showed me how I can turn that weakness into a strength and drilled me on it.

Basically, I come charging in as usual, but I anticipate something will be thrown at me.  So I clear the road with the hand that’s on the same side as the back leg – cross the midline of my body and guide whatever’s being stuck out away to the side.  Simultaneously jab and then follow up or get out.  This works especially well with people who are used to my “charging bull” act.

So I had a chance to try it out today.  There’s a guy one rank below me who knows very well that I often come in like a charging bull, and he’s good at stopping me.  Hee hee hee.  I bounced in as usual, but – surprise!  I got him 🙂

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Yes, I learned a good bit about kumite and made some progress in that aspect of Karate, but I also learned some deeper lessons.  I learned that innovation and asking for specific help really pays off.  From pushing that young man hard and watching his subsequent tournament wins, I saw someone else discover his own capabilities.  During the tournament I hit upon a way to teach myself a little bit about judging.  The last few days of the month, I observed myself turning my back on bad habits and going on to improve my skills.  What a month!

 

Surprise!  I’m publishing outside my normal pattern for awhile.  Stay tuned throughout the week – I’m on a roll!  February 2016’s biggest lesson was about my own learning process.  I’m going to break this down into sub-themes.  Today, let’s trace my progress with Bassai Dai kata by looking at my journal entries…

2/2/16 – Home Dojo

I performed Bassai Dai kata in front of the class.  I’m not nervous in front of my classmates, but it’s still good practice to perform kata when/where there’s no place to “hide,” LOL. I learned the first half of my performance is “all there.”  Second half – I need to be way more confident and really show I know exactly how I’m destroying my enemies.

Tournament in 12 days!  Gotta really buckle down on that!!!  I can do this!!!

2/10/16 – College Dojo

“The dwarf breathes so loudly we could have shot him in the dark.”
– Haldir (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien)

Every once in awhile College Sensei likes to show the newbie white belts (vast majority of the class every quarter) what Karate looks like at different belt levels.  This also gives us colored belts a chance to practice under simulated tournament conditions.  Today, Sensei had the three of us who are competing on Sunday perform our katas solo in front of the whole class.  As a bonus, we got feedback after.

College Sensei warned me to not get into the bad habit of using loud breathing as a crutch or a substitute for generating power with my body while performing kata.  He’d like me to tone it down, as it’s frowned on by tournament judges.

I had no idea I was doing this.  Nobody’s pointed it out to me before, and it never occurred to me to listen to myself 😉

2/14/16 – Tournament

Third Place Ladies 35 and Older (I was the “and Older,” LOL) Intermediate/Advanced Kata.

Now that I’ve memorized the Pinan series of kata and Bassai Dai, I had a lot of fun watching folks from other styles of karate perform their katas 🙂

 

2/18/16 – Home Dojo

Given that I’m going to be the highest-ranked student at College Dojo (our brown belt helper moved away), I approached my Sensei before class tonight with a question I traditionally ask when I think I might be ready to test for my next belt, “What do I need to work on with an eye towards testing for my next belt?”  Usually I ask this question closer to the date!

I could tell by the smile on Sensei’s face that he was tickled pink.

Every single time, the answer has been, “You’re good to go.”  But this time was different.

“Relax your shoulders.  Get your speed up.”

Argh.  Things that have been plaguing me for-ev-er…

How many black belts over the course of about a year have said to me, “Relax your shoulders?” I reckon close to twenty.  It’s so bad that at Gasshuku (camp) last summer one black belt sneaked up behind me and grabbed me by the shoulders – he started massaging instantly to prevent me putting an elbow in his gut.  But the point was well taken.  I wish I’d had a massage from every black belt who’s told me to relax my shoulders, LOL!  I’ve been to seminars on body mechanics.  I’ve been to classes under three black belts where the focus was on body mechanics.  I’ve been very slowly improving.  But not as fast as I’d like.

But Sensei wasn’t going to stop at just telling me what he wanted before class.  Early on in class, he lightly tapped the tops of both my shoulders simultaneously and said, “Relax.”  He continued, “There, see?  Your shoulders went down.  Tight shoulders are scrunched up.”

OH!  Light bulb!!!

Throughout class Sensei threw me bones both personally and with tips to the class at large.  Everything I’ve ever heard before.  We moved up and down the floor with sparring basics.  Then we did flow drills involving each of us moving between two rows of people holding the big foam shields and we took turns punching or kicking each shield.  We finished up with a basic kata, then we broke up into kata groups.

Sensei told me to work by myself because the others my rank don’t know Bassai Dai even though they’ve been training much longer than I have.  He took charge of them himself.

I’ve had fleeting moments where I’ve felt fluid and what I can only describe as “free.”  But never throughout an entire kata.  I think that’s why Sensei didn’t have me teach the others – he wanted me to apply what I’d been working on all class to the kata.

Sensei’s wife was with us in class again, and she does a wonderful job with the new white belt kiddos 🙂  So neither my Sempai nor I had to worry about teaching.  She will be coming in once a week from here on out, and she will be part of our advanced training.

I’m immensely grateful to both Senseis for making tonight’s lesson happen for me!

2/28/16 – Home Dojo:  Advanced Class

Big brother has a cold, so he couldn’t make it today.  I had two black belts all to myself for 90 minutes of butt kicking fun.  Oh. my. gosh.  What an honor and a privilege!

So…  Picking the biggest of the many takeaways… Gosh it was hard to choose, but I’d have to say it’s something everyone’s been telling me to do and I haven’t done it.

Make and watch a video of yourself.

And everyone’s right.  It’s an eye opener.  That worked both for seeing the things I need to work on and the things I’m actually doing pretty well.

So  – Bassai Dai kata needs work.  But there are some things I’m doing pretty well 🙂

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And I’m continuing to learn.  My techniques are faster due to my looser shoulders, but now I’m working on making distinct stops in between each technique so that the kata as a whole doesn’t look rushed.  To do that, I’m learning to use my breathing to drive the cadence.  Of course I’m also working on form, showing bunkai, etc. etc. etc.  I’ve another tournament coming up soon, then I’m hoping to be allowed to try for a pretty new belt at the end of the month!

More than improving my kata, I also learned some deeper lessons.  I was able to take a barely-learned advanced kata (Bassai Dai) to tournament and did OK with it.  I noted that I had enough experience with a few kata to have fun watching people from other styles perform them.  I started getting in touch with the internal goings-on with my body during kata – namely with breathing and unnecessary tension.  And I learned to listen to the experience of others and do it even if I’m skeptical (ex: make a video).  There’s more to this Karate stuff than meets the eye!

An online acquaintance challenged me and others to look for and document the new things we learned from each class during the month of February 2016.  We were to write about our personal “takeaways” from every class we attended – whether it be a new technique, finally getting a handle on something, or even something more nebulous like a new appreciation for a classmate’s talents.  Not just takeaways, but something that distinguished that class from all the other time we’ve ever spent on the mats.  This was a very time consuming exercise for me because I love narrative.  I’m sure it was also time consuming for my online audience ( +James Bullard and +Jackie Bradbury ) to have to read all that!  I am very grateful for their support.

Because I trained 25 out of 29 days I wrote quite a bit.  This is a good thing because now I have plenty of material for this blog.  So I was thinking about how I can edit down this narrative journal into four to six blog posts.  Further thought led me to an interesting exercise.  “Distill” the material.  I created a very simple spreadsheet and read through February’s journal.  As I went along and after I finished reading I created labels for the themes I saw.

Here’s how 25 learning opportunities (classes, seminars, and tournament) broke down…

My personal process of learning: 11 lessons

Relationships between me and other karateka: 7 lessons

Attitude: 6 lessons

Teaching other students: 5 lessons

Oops, that’s 29 lessons and I only trained 25 out of 29 days (leap year).  I can explain the bad math – it’s not due to multiple concussions!  I allowed myself leeway for the tournament weekend, which included a good bit of physical labor all three days, four hours of seminars on Saturday and the tournament itself.  Special events like this really do give one a boost.

So by the numbers, February 2016’s biggest lesson was about my own learning process.  I am on my own timetable – I might learn some things faster than others or slower than others.  But that’s OK as long as I’m making progress.  I saw how I was stretched and pushed and shaped by my instructors.  I recorded triumphs over old weaknesses and discoveries of new strengths.  And yes, new weaknesses cropped up.  I started trusting more and more that I have the capacity to grow in skill and knowledge.  I’m also grateful for the guidance along the way.

When I first started this challenge I had no idea that February would be such a pivotal month for me.  I am very glad I have these lessons and events recorded.  To summarize:  I’m moving better, I’m now Sempai to College Dojo, and Home Dojo Sensei started an advanced class.  Quite a month for me!  I’ll share more in future posts, grouping journal entries together by theme and sub-theme to show my progress in a particular aspect of Karate over the course of a month.

“Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.”

― Bruce Lee

I hear the groans and see the eyes rolling.  Yes, you.  You’ve read and heard this quote so often that now you just want to stun me with a kick to my jaw, follow up with a sweep and punch me a couple of times for good measure as I fall to the mats.  Well that’s already happened to me, so too bad – you missed your chance to be the first to wipe that smile off my face 🙂

So now you’re sitting back and thinking you’ll waste a few minutes of your life reading yet another trite and sugary analysis of a cliché.  I hope not to waste your time because I have stories to tell and connections to make.  I freely acknowledge some elements of this post won’t be unique.  But I promise some elements will be.

Probably around the same time the man who would later become the head of the Karate organization I now belong to was exchanging teaching Karate for English lessons, I was about three hundred yards away attending preschool.  I haven’t verified this but it’s quite possible there was at least a few months of overlap between my time at the community college’s preschool and when he got started there.

One day the preschool teachers and interns took us wee ones on a field trip to the ceramics class.  We watched some of the ceramics students mold and shape clay.  I was particularly fascinated with the pottery wheel.  Imagine my joy when I was handed a lump of clay!  I was appalled when my classmates hurled theirs to the floor as hard as they could.  I had somehow missed my teacher’s instruction to do so and didn’t know that was part of the plan.  I had already turned away by the time the other kids put their hand-prints in the flattened clay.  I took my little lump of clay and quietly asked the nearest adult if she could teach me to use the wheel.

She sat me down at the stool and put her hands over mine.  As the clay spun in my hands I watched my little lump change shape.  Then I bent my thumbs in response to my tutor’s pressure, and a dimple appeared.  The dimple grew to a hole.  I was satisfied when the lump became something that resembled a volcano and I asked to stop.  My tutor asked if I was sure – she thought I could do more, but my four year old child’s soul said the work was good just the way it was.  My tutor had enough artistic sensibility to recognize that any more shaping and it would be her work, not mine.

I have a hunch both from home schooling my children and from teaching brand new beginners their earliest lessons that there are many times in which a Sensei will have to say, “This student is good for their level – s/he is not ready for more guidance.  Any more input from me at this point will mean this person will not learn how to push him/herself or recognize when to ask for help.  At some point in the future, I can give more input.”

Unfortunately my little clay volcano was never fired and so it did not survive the ravages of time.  If I remember correctly it lasted only about ten years.  So fast forward roughly 42 years to an adult me working at that very same community college.  The college is a very lively place so I get tons of emails about campus events.  Imagine my joy when I read that some of the ceramics students would be selling their work!

I knew what I wanted to purchase.  An Asian-style cup.  Yes, because of Bruce Lee’s quote.  I knew I had a good chance of getting one given the 500 some-odd International students who  I serve in the International Student Programs office and given the many more American-citizen students who have ethnic backgrounds from around the world.  I found the “perfect” cup.

I deliberately chose an imperfect cup.  There are places where the glazes are patchy or where they dripped and ran.  I like that.  It shows a real human being made it, not just some machine that chugs out thousands of look-alikes.  This cup reminds me nobody’s perfect.  Of course a master potter could’ve done a better job.  But the whole idea behind Bruce Lee’s “empty cup” is for us to always be students. This cup is obviously the work of a student, and so is a perfect reminder for me to keep on learning – not just in Karate, but also in life.

So now at least five days a week, my Karate is being molded and shaped by Senseis who learned from Yoshida Sensei, the man who, while I was shaping my little lump of clay, might have been a couple hundred yards away teaching Karate or learning English.  Certainly my little preschool self would never imagine the things I think about when I look at my cup every morning when I get up.

When I look at my empty cup I remember the kindness of the Ceramics teacher or student who sat me down at the potter’s wheel.  I remember that she recognized when to stop.  I remember telling the story to the people who took my money and wrapped my cup in newspaper, and how one of them said I could always pick right up right where I left off 🙂  Maybe some day I will.  I do know someone who has time for both pottery and Karate 🙂  When I look at the cup I purchased from the college I remember that once upon a time there was a young man with a dream about coming to America, a man whose Karate students are now teaching me, a man whose story inspired me to apply for the job I now have helping the college’s International students.  And yes, of course, I remember what good ol’ Bruce Lee said and I try to approach every single day with an “empty cup” mindset – being open to whatever lessons the day has to offer.

Because one never knows what connections are being shaped and how even the simplest acts of kindness and generosity can affect others.