No EXCUSES!!!

Saturday morning, up and early, 6:30 am, am I frigging nuts?? Those were the first thoughts in my head this morning. Downstairs to the downstairs bathroom to take my shower, trying to be quiet as to not wake up my slumbering family. And off I went, hair still wet, and the garage door sliding shut as I pull out of my driveway. No reflection, no preparedness, just trying to get my bearings because I was still sleepy. By the time I reached my destination, it was 7:45, enough time to go to the bathroom quickly and then dawn my gi for my 2.5 hours of Saturday morning bliss.

The first 1.5 hours went by quickly... we worked the bo, doing our warmups with that, did Tsue Sho kata, bo theory for punches and blocks, and switched to sai. Since the last few classes we didn't do sai, Sensei gave us a quick review on theories for blocks, and punches, pretty straight forward and then he had us do Tae Kyo Kyu Ichi, Ni and San... that would be the low block/low punch, mid block/mid punch and high block/high punch versions. Executing all in the I Embusen formation. Then we switched to nunchaku. Warmed up quickly, executing some figure 8 formations, and catching in the weapon under my arm, executing blocks and some strikes, all set to do the nunchaku portion. We went through Kihon Nunchaku as a group 3 times, then each person had to lead the class, so that would be an additional 5 more times. Repeating the movements and asking any questions as we went along, finding out easier ways manoevering the nunchaku. Tom and Karla worked other intermediate forms while Josh and I worked theories and worked out any kinks we had. That was over pretty quickly. Then the mixed class began at 9:30, adults and youth blended.

We have a few more students that joined recently, Josh (who's in my weapons class ) and his daughter, Abby (who's 6 years old), then there's Shawn, a boy of 11 who joined the kids class as well throughout the week. Sensei had the adults pair off and work on Ippons and some blocking drills. Sensei had a more extensive exercise regimen for the kids, something fun but all martial arts based, every once in a while I'd sneak a glance to see what they were doing. I must say, Sensei is very sneaky in his methods. What appears to be child's play is actually useful exercise that targets specific principles used in the martial arts. The kids were doing leap frog over some training gear, then Sensei would move two and pile on top of the other making the jumping height bigger for them, and then he would add more, by the end, little Abby was pretty much as tall as the piled up equipment that the kids were successfully clearing when jumping over. This teaches jumping and of course, training their bodies to clear the obstacle as well as balancing as they landed on the other side... tricky tricky Sensei. Then another one I noticed him doing was having the kids walk with their hands across the dojo floor, having their legs on the cylinder part of a wavemaster (foamy part of a punching/kicking equipment).. developing muscle strength and endurance. Then of course, after we were done our thing, we were invited to do a training exercise with the entire group, Sensei had tied a skipping rope to the dojo bannister and had us use our timing to run under the rope as it turned, each person did their turn and went around to line up to go again. Then of course, Sensei does things in baby steps, so we all had to run into the rope, jump and run out... pretty much like how we would do it as kids in a play ground. As each person did their round, there were personal hurdles to overcome, mine being a gallery of people watching us, when my turn was to come about, I was very self conscious because of being on the heavy side, but as the class progressed, I ignored them and focused on myself and doing the best I could. Little Abby's hurdle was that she was so new to these experiences and didn't really know how to jump rope yet, so with a bit of coaching, and some encouragement from her dad and I, she was able to make it through, get a few jumps in here and there, and we were rewarded with the cutest smile ever. As I mentioned earlier, Sensei does it in baby steps, and likes to challenge his students, so he had use jump once, touch the floor but always keeping our eyes on the rope so that we dont' get hit... yes I was able to do this... shocking huh??? I sure was, it's amazing what you can do when challenged. Then of course, Sensei cranks it up another notch, jumping, touching the floor, jumping again, touching the floor again... end of our turn... we did this until we jumped three times, and bent down to touch the floor 3 times... all of this with the ultimate purpose in mind, being better athletes regardless of our body shapes, physical conditions or limitations. This exercise worked endurance, timing, focus and of course balance.

I have to say, I am truly blessed to have found this dojo. Seven months ago, if someone were to ask me if I would ever get back into the martial arts again, I would have surely laughed at them, saying something negative about myself... but now if someone were to ask me if I wanted to become a black belt in the martial arts, I'd say, I'm well on my way!!!




Inspirational Note: Never use an excuse for not doing something, always challenge yourself to be greater than what you're capable of, always strive for the stars because when you have great expectations, you get great results and gain enlightenment. There is no such thing as failure if you give it an honest try.

Sensei... my mentor, my teacher, my friend

A week ago I had a bit of time before my class. I was waiting for my class to begin and I was standing by Sensei's office. On his office walls he has many certificates, some japanese calligraphy framed, but what caught my eye was a poem. What it means to be Sensei. I wish I had the actual poem, but unfortunately at this time I do not. Once I do, I can add it to this blog or a later one. The jest of the poem was that when people start out in the arts, there could be 100,000, as the first month goes by, a great many number drop out, by their first anniversary date there's this many and so on and so forth.. and by the end, only this many remain to make it to black belt, but it's 1 in 100,000 that make it to Sensei. Then of course it had other stuff within... stuff about character, what it takes to be a Sensei. Well tonight I dedicate my blog to Sensei.

I got to my class and after a VERY awful day fighting with myself and my own mood, I confided in Sensei, I was fortunate to have him all to myself during the warm ups. Letting him into my world as a stay at home mom, a daughter living in a different country and an overstressed wife. He listened as we did our warm up, lending a nod here and there, a look of concern there, and finally all he said was, "I'm glad you realized that you needed to talk to someone about it to get it off your chest before the negativity started to fester." That was all he said, and it made me feel better. He didn't add any advice, just lent me a ear to vent on, and was silent as I figured it all out for myself. I've read somewhere, that wisdom comes from not saying a word, just observation... he didn't have to add any words of advice, he just stood there, listening.

We carried on with going right into Anaku, where we somewhat left off on Tuesday night. We went through the section he had just taught me, then added another section on, we did the bunkai (application and theory part) and discussed any issues I was having. For the most part, there weren't any issues, I thanked Sensei once again for this new learning opportunity because it was surely working in my favour, I was definitely comprehending this new approach, more so than what I was previously to the old way of his teaching. After going through the bunkai with Sensei, I can confidently say that my comfort level with these new sections of Anaku would be like taking all my time practicing Wansu kata and combining it together. I do have some timing issues, but this power learning is definitely speeding up my progress. At this point, Tom appeared out of nowhere, I had heard the door open, but didn't look behind me, I was too busy learning this new piece. Sensei acknowledged he was there, bowed him in quickly and asked him to warm up while he finished up with me. We went through Anaku Bunkai together one more time, and Sensei left me on my own to gain revelation as I practiced.

Being that the class is an hour long, Sensei spent pretty much the remainder of the class with Tom, going through Dannen Sho and the Bunkai. He did ask me if I had any questions, which I did, he answered them and went back to Tom. I had decided to slow down a pace so I went over to the wall, and practiced my front kick alongside the dojo bannister, the railing that runs along one side of the dojo, shifting my weight to my back leg, in a slight bent knee position and executed my front kick so that my head didn't bob upward as I kicked, trying to keep my body parallel to my starting stance, very hard, but doable. Switched to the left side and doing the same for some repetitions, training my body how my body should be aligned for this kick in this form. Sensei looked over and gave me a nod.

Bowing out, Sensei had asked me how I was feeling, I told him a whole lot better than when I first came in, he smiled and said good. As we walked from the dojo mat, he said I did great and he sees much improvement.

Simple gestures, a non-judgmental ear to vent on, encouragement by example, strength of character, integrity, humility and having a positive purpose, these all are evident in Sensei. I had met another man in the last few months with the same qualities and its no surprise that he was my Sensei's Sensei. Hanshi Ridgely Abele.

I have a far way to go to even come close to being Sensei, but that is definitely someone I strive to be. Thank you for being you Sensei, because you truly are 1 in 100,000.