Karla draws FIRST BLOOD!!!

I wasn't really sure if I was going to go to my class tonight, it was snowing for the majority of the day, not hard, but continuous. After dealing with two demanding toddlers all day I was heading out the door pretty much as soon as Rob came home. I needed my time to destress or I was thinking I was going to snap pretty good, very quickly... so off I went.

Getting to Appleton, I noticed the snow was more heavier, hopefully it wouldn't be too bad by the time I was to leave in an hour or so. Getting into the dojo I realized it was very cold inside. Normally I would stand by the heater and warm up but I needed some destressing time from my drive, so I went into the change room and sat on our couch picking up a karate magazine just to kill some time before class.

Time flies when absorbed in your thoughts. Karla came in as I was getting comfy, she didn't see me come in, so she was kind of surprised when she came into the dressing room and saw me lounging...LOL.

Our class started and Sensei, Karla and I exercised and talked our way through warmups, then Sensei asked us what we would like to do tonight. I wanted to practice Anaku... so of course, we did some review, then went into Anaku, repeated the section I was taught, discussed it, and then applied attacks to it, bunkai. Sensei added another section on and applied bunkai, then he wanted to know my input... was it working or should we go back to the old way of teaching kata. I gave him my insight that it was like, power learning... there's learning a series of movements, but when the application and theory is also introduced, you as the performer of the kata can grasp the why, the how, and the when of using these applications in a real life situation. I call this Power Learning. And I love it!!!! This got me another one of Sensei's approving smiles... and he said, "Good then we will continue doing this form of teaching/learning with you" After that, Karla was paired off with Tom to work on their Ippons, I was left with Sensei to work on my self defense releases and locks. Then we reviewed my Ippons 1-5 with attackers and then I was told to do my Kihons 1-5... Sensei, Karla and Tom worked the bunkai for Emmpi Sho. I have to say, I felt myself turning to watch... it was sooooo beautiful... all their techniques so crisp, all movements precise and with purpose, and they worked so well together. I did tell them all this when Sensei caught me looking at them and not practicing my stuff... I said I was watching them execute their movements and couldn't turn away. Sensei didn't chastise me, just said, you can watch as long as you learn something from it... and of course, he made me tell them what I learned. I love watching them perform, absolutely beautiful and definitely inspires me to be a better martial artist.

Then we moved into Kata Kumite... this was where Karla drew first blood... not on me, on our resident Brown Belt. Kata Kumite is basically controlled sparring, we don't wear any head gear, gloves or shoes, just empty hand... we execute blocks and strikes to our opponent, working slowly and then gaining speed... we're timed by a stop watch and once the timer goes off we move to the next person and continue our drill... very fun, gets the heart pumping, and we're learning the timing and distancing of our multiple attackers... Karla was working with Tom, not sure how it happened but we all ended up with blood on our gis.. Sensei noticed first. Karla had some on her gi, Sensei had a bit on his, and I was about to get some on mine, but Sensei noticed the blood. We all checked ourselves and it was Tom who had a long scratch down his arm. Doing Kata Kumite, you're doing alot of blocking and there is some body contact, not sure what happened, but that's why it's very important that everyone in a dojo respectfully keeps their nails trimmed and jewelry off, to ensure no one gets hurt by these things. We bandaged our fallen comrade and continued with our exercise. I must say, I love this new found part of my life. Absolutely takes the stress away from a day at home with my girls and lets me focus on what I love most in my life, being a part of something greater than myself.