Life lessons from the dojo
Feb. 18th, 2014 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassSo much review, so little time. Everyone in the dojo is quietly panicking for the group exam that's happening next Wednesday. As much as I try to be immune to the mass hysteria, it's challenging.
#193: When starting something new, start fresh
We had two brand-new white belts in class yesterday, both women. Sad to say, they didn't make it past the warm-ups. Yes, despite the fact that the sempai running the warm-ups promised he would "go easy" on us, we had to deal with everyone's favorite torture: suicide drills. (Note: I firmly believe suicide drills are God's way of saying, "Don't get too cocky.") Now, suicide drills are hard enough on their own, but it turns out that these two women had just come from a toning class and were already kinda tired. They couldn't finish. They left.
Which led me to the question: if you're starting something new, for which you don't know the relative level of difficulty, why would you start tired? Maybe they were just in it for the novelty. Maybe this was the most interesting class in the time slot and they had a few hours to kill. Maybe this is how things work for aerobics classes or yoga. Honestly, I have no clue. But it seems to me that if you're starting a new endeavor, you should give yourself the best possible chance of success. In that case, that would mean not starting a karate class right after a toning class. Then again, maybe that's just me.
#194: Even things you 'know' require the occasional refresher
As I mentioned, last night's class was mostly taken up with a review for next Wednesday's exam. Lots of katas, lots of bunkai. Now, I'm really solid on all my stuff. I feel like I'm definitely ready. That said, there are several of the katas I haven't practiced in a few weeks and, if last night's class was the exam and not just prep for the exam, I would have flubbed it. I missed a few moves and had to cheat off the people next to me. Not good. See, something I've learned from long years of singing and storytelling is that even stuff you're really solid on requires the occasional refresher to make sure it stays solid in your mind. Without that refresher, it'll fade and you'll need to re-learn it. So I really should sit down sometime in the next week and make absolutely super-sure that I know everything. It can't hurt, anyway.
#195: Constantly working with people less skilled dulls your own skill
Much as it would be nice to boast, this life lesson isn't actually about me but about a black belt I was training with during some "ran dori" (10-count) sparring. See, we colored belts have this bad habit of leaving our attack in place until the next count, which is a rookie thing to do. At the black belt level, you're expected to attack and draw back on your count, so as not to leave yourself in an exposed position. The black belt I was working with yesterday noted with some chagrin that he's been working a lot with colored belts and gotten into the bad habit of thinking the opponent will leave their attack forward. Last week, he paid for this habit and got clocked in a head with a kick from another black belt in the middle of a demonstration. While I couldn't necessarily work at his level, it did give me plenty of motivation to try... and to make sure I surround myself with people who are better than I am. It's the only way to improve.
#196: Always have a ringer
Every sensei runs their classes differently. And, while our normal sensei tends to do a very truncated opening and closing of class, the sensei who's replacing him while he's on vacation likes to do a more thorough ritual. What this means in practical terms is that he likes to have someone recite the showa (creed) at the end of class. The showa is a four-line creed which we recite in Japanese, English, and French. The thing is that even though we're supposed to know the showa quite early in our practice of karate, most people in the dojo don't, because the head sensei never asks for it. So yesterday, when we were kneeling at the end of class and the stand-in sensei was asking people to recite it, most people couldn't.
Now, there are three or four people in class who know the showa really solidly, and the sensei knows who they are. So after asking at least three different people to "volunteer" to lead the recitation -- all of them unable to do so -- he picked one of the people he knew could do it. (Hint: it was me.) Again, this is something I've learned from bardic: if you want to be absolutely sure something is done by people in the audience, you've got to explicitly tell certain audience members (hopefully your friends) beforehand. They'll be your "audience seeds" and get the ball rolling.
Of course, the sensei was quick to point out that the showa is something everyone needs to know. But until they do, it's good to have a few ringers.
#193: When starting something new, start fresh
We had two brand-new white belts in class yesterday, both women. Sad to say, they didn't make it past the warm-ups. Yes, despite the fact that the sempai running the warm-ups promised he would "go easy" on us, we had to deal with everyone's favorite torture: suicide drills. (Note: I firmly believe suicide drills are God's way of saying, "Don't get too cocky.") Now, suicide drills are hard enough on their own, but it turns out that these two women had just come from a toning class and were already kinda tired. They couldn't finish. They left.
Which led me to the question: if you're starting something new, for which you don't know the relative level of difficulty, why would you start tired? Maybe they were just in it for the novelty. Maybe this was the most interesting class in the time slot and they had a few hours to kill. Maybe this is how things work for aerobics classes or yoga. Honestly, I have no clue. But it seems to me that if you're starting a new endeavor, you should give yourself the best possible chance of success. In that case, that would mean not starting a karate class right after a toning class. Then again, maybe that's just me.
#194: Even things you 'know' require the occasional refresher
As I mentioned, last night's class was mostly taken up with a review for next Wednesday's exam. Lots of katas, lots of bunkai. Now, I'm really solid on all my stuff. I feel like I'm definitely ready. That said, there are several of the katas I haven't practiced in a few weeks and, if last night's class was the exam and not just prep for the exam, I would have flubbed it. I missed a few moves and had to cheat off the people next to me. Not good. See, something I've learned from long years of singing and storytelling is that even stuff you're really solid on requires the occasional refresher to make sure it stays solid in your mind. Without that refresher, it'll fade and you'll need to re-learn it. So I really should sit down sometime in the next week and make absolutely super-sure that I know everything. It can't hurt, anyway.
#195: Constantly working with people less skilled dulls your own skill
Much as it would be nice to boast, this life lesson isn't actually about me but about a black belt I was training with during some "ran dori" (10-count) sparring. See, we colored belts have this bad habit of leaving our attack in place until the next count, which is a rookie thing to do. At the black belt level, you're expected to attack and draw back on your count, so as not to leave yourself in an exposed position. The black belt I was working with yesterday noted with some chagrin that he's been working a lot with colored belts and gotten into the bad habit of thinking the opponent will leave their attack forward. Last week, he paid for this habit and got clocked in a head with a kick from another black belt in the middle of a demonstration. While I couldn't necessarily work at his level, it did give me plenty of motivation to try... and to make sure I surround myself with people who are better than I am. It's the only way to improve.
#196: Always have a ringer
Every sensei runs their classes differently. And, while our normal sensei tends to do a very truncated opening and closing of class, the sensei who's replacing him while he's on vacation likes to do a more thorough ritual. What this means in practical terms is that he likes to have someone recite the showa (creed) at the end of class. The showa is a four-line creed which we recite in Japanese, English, and French. The thing is that even though we're supposed to know the showa quite early in our practice of karate, most people in the dojo don't, because the head sensei never asks for it. So yesterday, when we were kneeling at the end of class and the stand-in sensei was asking people to recite it, most people couldn't.
Now, there are three or four people in class who know the showa really solidly, and the sensei knows who they are. So after asking at least three different people to "volunteer" to lead the recitation -- all of them unable to do so -- he picked one of the people he knew could do it. (Hint: it was me.) Again, this is something I've learned from bardic: if you want to be absolutely sure something is done by people in the audience, you've got to explicitly tell certain audience members (hopefully your friends) beforehand. They'll be your "audience seeds" and get the ball rolling.
Of course, the sensei was quick to point out that the showa is something everyone needs to know. But until they do, it's good to have a few ringers.
