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Otagai Ni-Rei
Aug. 22nd, 2007 07:16 amI wasn't going to talk about this stuff on LJ. I wanted to have fresh news to tell people when I met them in person.
But fuck it. My rules. I can break them if I wish.
For the last two and a half months, I've been learning Seido Karate.
On Saturday, I had my first grading.
It was... intense. Doing-pushups-while-blackbelts-sit-on-your-shoulders-until-your-muscles-stop-working kind of intense.
And I loved every second of it.
It's weird. I'm constantly amazed by how much I love karate. I'm amazed by how much it feels like home.
I mean, I suck. I'm old, I'm gangly, I have the reflexes and co-ordination of an epileptic sloth. But then I read this, in an essay where Grand Master Tadashi Nakamura explains his reasons for founding the Seido school:
It should not be a karate where we fight each other to become strong, but karate where each person can become just a little bit stronger each day than the day before. A karate where each person cooperates with those around him or her, everyone working together to become strong.
And I just thought... yes. We grow stronger not by beating each other, but by helping each other grow stronger.
The atmosphere in the grading was amazing. Everyone cheering and yelling "Osu!". Encouraging each other to push themselves to new heights.
And when, at the end, Sensei asked me to kneel and remove my white belt, and as he tied my new blue belt in its place, my heart just swelled. I felt calm. Proud. Not just of myself, but of all my fellow students.
We had to sit a written exam before the physical grading. The last question was deceptively simple: How have you changed since you started Seido Karate?
I don't remember my exact answer. But it went something like this:
I used to study Tai Chi. It's a beautiful art. But it's very inward focused. And I'm a very inward focused person too. After a while, it started to feel like I was disappearing inside myself.
Karate has its own grace and beauty. But it's focused outward. We grow stronger by help others to grow stronger too.
So that's how I have changed. More outward focused, keener to help other people.
Also? A lot more muscly.
But fuck it. My rules. I can break them if I wish.
___
For the last two and a half months, I've been learning Seido Karate.
On Saturday, I had my first grading.
It was... intense. Doing-pushups-while-blackbelts-sit-on-your-shoulders-until-your-muscles-stop-working kind of intense.
And I loved every second of it.
It's weird. I'm constantly amazed by how much I love karate. I'm amazed by how much it feels like home.
I mean, I suck. I'm old, I'm gangly, I have the reflexes and co-ordination of an epileptic sloth. But then I read this, in an essay where Grand Master Tadashi Nakamura explains his reasons for founding the Seido school:
It should not be a karate where we fight each other to become strong, but karate where each person can become just a little bit stronger each day than the day before. A karate where each person cooperates with those around him or her, everyone working together to become strong.
And I just thought... yes. We grow stronger not by beating each other, but by helping each other grow stronger.
The atmosphere in the grading was amazing. Everyone cheering and yelling "Osu!". Encouraging each other to push themselves to new heights.
And when, at the end, Sensei asked me to kneel and remove my white belt, and as he tied my new blue belt in its place, my heart just swelled. I felt calm. Proud. Not just of myself, but of all my fellow students.
We had to sit a written exam before the physical grading. The last question was deceptively simple: How have you changed since you started Seido Karate?
I don't remember my exact answer. But it went something like this:
I used to study Tai Chi. It's a beautiful art. But it's very inward focused. And I'm a very inward focused person too. After a while, it started to feel like I was disappearing inside myself.
Karate has its own grace and beauty. But it's focused outward. We grow stronger by help others to grow stronger too.
So that's how I have changed. More outward focused, keener to help other people.
Also? A lot more muscly.
