Nidan test

 Martial Arts, testing  No Responses »
Mar 192010
 

On February 28th, 2010, I took the test to become a second-degree black belt.

Here is a summary of what I had to do, besides the calisthenics:

  • All my empty-hand forms, opposite side. There are eight of them. This meant that if the first step was with the left foot, I had to do it with the right foot. I suppose you could also call that ‘mirror’. The names are : seisan, seiuchin, naihanchi, wonsu, chinto, kusanku, sunsu, and sanchin. I admit we did not do sanchin opposite side, but that’s not too surprising. It’s not a complex form, but there’s nothing to be gained from being able to do it regular and opposite side.
  • My first weapon form, opposite side. This is a bo (long staff) form. The name is tokumine no kun.
  • My third weapon form. This is a bo form. The name is urashi bo (sometimes called urashi no kun).
  • My fourth weapon form. This is a sai form. the name is chatan yara no sai.
  • The fifth weapon form. Note that I said “The” and not “My” … Because I hadn’t learned it. I was told to stay with the group and keep up. I did. That is my proud moment. :) It is a tonfa form. The name is hamahiga no tonfa.
  • Self-defense, including bunkai (analysis) from the various empty-hand forms.
  • Knife defenses
  • Sparring. This was actually rather fun, about thirty people in line and we (everyone testing for nidan) fought them one after another.

It was tough, but it was mostly a mind exercise. I must admit not remembering any thoughts or feelings during the test; I heard the instructions and executed them, and waited for the next instructions.

I passed.

Phew.

Alright, let’s work towards the next steps.

Teaching kusanku to sankyu

 Martial Arts, teaching  No Responses »
Mar 112010
 

Last night, after some kicking drills and sparring, sensei entrusted the adult class to me and told us to work on kusanku. The ‘adult class’ yesterday consisted of three sankyu.
I looked at the clock, rubbed my hands together and said “Alright everyone, we have twenty-five minutes’ worth of kusanku. Let me know if you have questions or doubts.”
When we had finished walking through it, I looked at the clock. I’d spent twenty minutes on the form, and they all looked happy. I don’t think I really stood still for more than a few seconds at a time during those twenty minutes.
It reminded me of the first time I led the adult class, and I spent twenty-five minutes on seisan kata. I distinctly remember that it did not go quite as smoothly. It is usually hard to convince ranks under shodan that seisan is a very important, subtle kata, full of knowledge to be examined ;-) It’s a realization they must come to by themselves.

My favorite moment of those twenty minutes (besides the part where they all had a big smile, at the end), was one of the signature kusanku moves (koza dachi, right hand shuto to the throat, left hand behind your head like in seiuchin). I knelt by each one, adjusted the position of their rear foot with my hands, then stood up and watched their faces light up as the lesson sank in – in the proper stance, the legs and hips are looser, and thus the hips can turn more and still be more comfortable!

I _like_ teaching.

Monday night training

 drills, Martial Arts  No Responses »
Nov 262009
 

I received an email from sensei on Monday (sent to every student) – if you’ll be here tonight, bring your fighting gear. Uh-oh. Her sensei was there and taught a few classes, including the adults. The entire class turned out to be pretty much a blur of drills. I’ll be able to dredge them out of my body memory, I think.
A drill about basics – chain two basics together, using shifting. Then up to six basics together, by series of two.
A couple of kicking drills. A few fighting drills – these are important. shift, step back, kick, finish, disengage.
Come in and jam, elbow, finish.
I am obfuscating these on purpose.
This was a harder training session than I’ve experienced in a while, as evidenced by the appearance after 40-some hours of a slight tightness in my upper abs and shoulder muscles.. Oh, and the fact that my lower legs were one solid body, instead of having a freely moving calf muscle.

Of course, I was supposed to the student in the best shape, so I wonder how the others did feel. This wasn’t particularly hard on my mind, just a little bit past my comfort zone.. I do feel like I am more aware that I can stand more than I think. Was my willpower muscle flexed? It seems like it was.

Another awesome training evening

 body, Martial Arts, sparring, teaching, testing  No Responses »
Sep 172009
 

So tonight, I went to train 35 minutes away from home, at the dojo where my sensei’s sensei teaches. Warmups / stretches, kicking drills, calisthenics, sparring, then fighting drills.
Sensei’s sensei has a son who is now 48. Now — I am fast by normal people’s standards. This guy is really fast by my standards. He also has a really positive energy – very friendly eyes, a great disposition.. And he can dislocate your jaw before you can blink or think “oh sh..!”, so don’t piss him off.
Anyway, as much as shihan (sensei’s sensei) is amazing, tall, skilled, talented, dedicated to his art, as much his son inherited many of the traits, has been training under his dad a long time, and has learned a lot from a ton of sparring and tournaments and just .. being there.
So now he imparts his wisdom and skills, and it’s WONDERFUL to watch him in action, and learn from him, and listen to his way of explaining things. Just like in Dune, “A process cannot be understood by stopping it”, he explains action and reaction within the context of a moving match, which is AWESOME.

I breathe hard when I’m in this class. It’s a bit of a work-out, and excellent cardio.
Oh ! So shihan’s son hit me twice, and I managed to shift out of the way of the third strike, like I felt his movement and reacted. It was sweet. Now I only need to make that happen ALL THE TIME.

Dojo tonight

 Martial Arts, teaching  No Responses »
Sep 162009
 

I had a good time in the dojo tonight. Managed to bring a kid back from the verge of tears to feeling good and performing kata with solid focus and intent.. And then good sparring. Kid’s 6, by the way.
My class wasn’t that good, though I got a compliment on my push-ups from sensei. Went through my kicks.. Then sparred..

I fleetingly get a grasp of efficient body movement, and then it disappears, and then I have to train a lot more to make it happen again, and then more again, etc etc, until I can make it happen effortlessly.

I really, really love teaching martial arts. There’s something about the student-teacher relationship, in the study of something which involves both body and mind – and you can’t lie or fake your way through that. It’s all about the truth, and being naked and exposed. It forces you to examine yourself and your relationship with others.

Spending energy uselessly

 body  No Responses »
Sep 012009
 

I live on an island. It only took me until last week (10 years and change) to take my dad’s advice to go to the beach when I felt like it. So I did that, last week and today, and went swimming. Good for the muscles, good all-around body work. Great stretching. Different way of using the muscles.

Besides the fact that I could really only swim for 10-15 minutes before I was tired and a part of my arms started to ache (indicating, clearly, that I’d been ignoring it), I noticed on my way home that even just 30 minutes at the beach drained me of energy. The ‘new’ situation was interesting, I was very aware of everything, and I spent a lot of energy on focus which did not need to be spent. It’ll be a learning curve. It’s a shame autumn is upon us.

On another note, I am finding sand in my hair, and am reminded of my childhood. It is a good feeling.

Who follows who?

 food for thought, Martial Arts, sparring  No Responses »
Mar 262009
 

In the past couple of weeks, I’d gotten to spar progressively harder with a blue belt who is twice my age, but has been in dojos where sparring and self-defense were more important than kata. As a result, I consider him somewhat dangerous to spar with.. And, well, I let myself get caught up. I stopped being the watcher..
I hid behind the excuse that I was just sparring as hard as he wanted to spar, and so it just escalated.
Yesterday I took a different approach; I resolved to work on what I wanted to work, which turns out to be distance/range evaluation and shifting.. And I sparred at half-speed. He followed my speed, only speeding up a little as he got into it. I did not.
I asked him after sparring what he thought of the first minute or so of sparring with me, and he said he didn’t remember much.. But it enlightened me to hear “At first, I always take a few seconds to see if we’re going hard or soft, and then I get going”.
Here I was, thinking I was following him, and here he was, thinking he was following me! It sure is a good thing I took a step back from the vicious cycle.

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