I've been sitting here for over an hour now, writing and re-writing my thoughts as if I was trying to write a fucking novel or something. It's a BLAHG dammit! An electronic piece of paper that very few if any will read. So just write fool! Ain't nobody care.
Okay. That's what I'm doing. I'm writing. Focusing my thoughts now...
There's always so many things about karate that I'm thinking about, questioning, pondering. Two things that I wrote down to blog about:
1. Continuing to train even though you feel like you no longer know how
2. Feeling like the karate you've been learning for the past 5 years is just so...lacking
Number One:
What I mean here is that I'm now concerned with understanding the bunkai of the kata. I'm perceiving this to be the key in understanding karate as practical and effective self-defense. But because this isn't how we trained in our dojo, I'm confused as to how to implement a training regimen for myself that works to help in understanding bunkai. I definitely need a training partner right? I mean, spending all my time training alone isn't going to necessarily help me to understand how the applications work in reality. How I'm training right now is a bit haphazard. I always start with a warm-up/conditioning exercise routine. After that, it's like, what do I do? I've just been going over the kata in our curriculum (the Pinan series, Chinto, Passai, Rohai, etc) not only to re-freshen my memory but also to pick out curious/odd movements from them that I want to understand as an application. But then, when I'm doing that, I don't feel like I'm getting the conditioning I need. Imagining that you're "blocking" an opponent, but then learning that there really are no "blocks" can be downright confusing. That's how you learned you know? Your Sensei tells you, "okay now you turn to face a new opponent and block his punch or kick". Makes sense 'cause that's what it looks like you're doing in the kata...blocking and punching and kicking. But then, it doesn't make sense 'cause you're saying to yourself, "why am I blocking with my arms crossed like that?" Or, "why am I punching with one arm pulled back?", etc. So then I don't go through the kata as hard because I'm thinking about all the damn movements that I don't understand.
Number Two:
My newly stated goal is: Understanding how karate works as a means of civilian self-defense and becoming proficient at that. My original intention in training, however naive, was to learn "self-defense". Not because that's what I saw in a movie. Not because someone in my family did it. It's because, when I think of martial arts, I think of defending myself from physical violence. That was my "stereotype" of karate I suppose. I was ignorant as to how the actual karate of today has developed into martial-flavored physical fitness. I guess I thought they were still practicing like the "old-days". Haha. So that's what I mean by "lacking". Lacking in the thing that I wanted to learn most, self-defensive skill. That reminds me of the documentary, The Real Shaolin, where two of the four people followed in the film realize that the gongfu they were practicing really has nothing to do with defensive or fighting skill and more to do with acrobatic performance. Wouldn't it be funny to have a documentary called "The Real Karate"? Haha....
Alright, I've been sitting at this computer for too damn long.
That's all for now.
Elbow SMASH.
-Hiji Até
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