Impractical Practice...

I was thinking about this yesterday and thought it would make an interesting post. The comments/responses should prove interesting and educational for all of us.

Because I am a busy mom who also works full time and is involved in community groups, church groups, PTA, etc, I don’t have a lot of large blocks of time to practice my martial arts. (Although I try my best to make time!) So, I try to incorporate it into little time crunches throughout my day (and life). If you’ve read my Kata post, you know I practice martial arts in the bathroom at work when nobody is in there with me. (The bad part – I have to have phone relief to use the restroom at work because I answer the main lines. I bet they think I’m constipated a lot of the time because I’m gone so long! Gee, it just occurred to me - I hope nobody from work reads my blog or I’m busted!) Below are just some of the ways I find to put my martial arts into practice in what some people would consider unusual circumstances.
I’d love to hear some of yours as well…

• Okay, I already said it – I practice kumites, katas, kicks, knuckle pushups, whatever in the bathroom at work. (When I run out of room on the katas, I just push the stall door open and continue or back up a little bit and continue. (Safety note: Much easier to do this in summer when I can just kick my sandals off and do this bare footed. In winter, with socks – too slippery and easy to fall on the tile floor! Thank goodness our bathroom floors are very clean.)
• I also practice the above things in my kitchen, my bedroom, my living room at home. Same process with backing up and continuing.
• I balance on one foot while watching tv at home (there’s a small tile section right inside my front door where I do that – good view of the tv from there. (But I lock the front door in case someone comes in unexpectedly and knocks me off balance.)
• I balance on one foot at in the kitchen at work while waiting for my lunch to heat in the microwave. I also practice katas there. The soda machine’s shiny face provides my own little practice mirror. (I really wish I had a big mirrored area to practice all the time. Just my little soda machine glimpses seem to help.)
• I do knuckle push ups and triangle push ups (for the triceps) off the wall in the kitchen at work while waiting for my lunch to heat up in the microwave.
• I try to balance on one leg while brushing my teeth and blow-drying my hair. Now that is a challenge! I’m usually not very successful at that one.
• When standing from a sitting position, I try to not use my hands and try to use the center of my gravity more.
• When going up steps at work (3 flights often throughout the day) I try to also use my center of gravity.
• I don’t remember in what martial arts book I read this, but when opening doors, use your core strength rather than your arm strength. When I remember, I try to do this.
• I read anything I can get my hands on about martial arts. Books, magazines, websites, blogs…You name it, I’ll read it. I try to have a m.a. related book with me at all times so I can learn while waiting in line rather than just wasting my time waiting in line.
• I watch documentaries, movies, again, you name it, I’ll watch it.
• I do a breathing/meditation/energy technique taught to me by one of our school’s teachers, whom I admire very much. It is from a book called “Your Hands Can Heal You” by Stephen Co. I have only done this one exercise from this book and it is very powerful and lets you see how you really do possess energy. I have the book and want to read it and apply its principles, but it is not one I want to rush and just never seem to have the time/place to sit and read it uninterrupted where I can really understand it. New goal for self: Read this book and truly learn and understand it’s teachings!
• And then we have the visualization that I also spoke of in the kata post. I probably use this technique more than any other. I can do this anywhere, anytime, provided I am not distracted from what I need to be doing. Just visualize it and then try it when I have the opportunity to perform it physically. (Currently, I’ve been working on that for a jumping front snap kick and when I do it physically, it is getting better, but I have a lot more work – both visualizing it and physically practicing it to go.)
  
  Anyway, I’d LOVE to hear some of the ways you put your martial arts into practice in impractical / unconventional ways / places!

You Kata Love It...

It is hard to narrow it down to just one thing, but if I had to name my very favorite part of martial arts, I think it would be kata. I know it is a very controversial subject in the martial arts world. Almost every article on kata I've ever read starts out with something along the lines of "Some arts stress the importance of kata, while others think it is just a bunch of bunkai. (That was a pretty good one, wasn’t it?)

It could be said that I have not been involved in martial arts long enough to know which of those viewpoints is most accurate. And if you're the one that said it, I'd almost have to agree with you. You would be partially right. After all, I have only just learned my fourth kata. I have read/heard both sides of the debate. Opponents say kata is not applicable to real life. On the flip side, many say it is the most important aspect as its repetition drives home the muscle memory of the fundamentals; That it enables our bodies to carry out the basics of martial arts without our minds having to think through it first.

What I do know about kata is not based on research or fact, but on pure gut instinct and that is that I absolutely love it. I love the simplicity within the intricacy. I love the elegance, the rhythm, the flow, the power, and if done correctly, the emotion (which if done well, looks more like a lack thereof). I love the fact that I can practice kata almost anywhere, anytime. I can glide across the large dojo floor, or feel the plush, green carpet of a large patch of grass in the backyard under my feet. I can practice kata in my kitchen or the bathroom at work (when nobody else is in there that is!) In those smaller places, all I have to do is compensate with less encompassing steps or kicks, but the movements are all still there. I can even perfect my katas at work at my desk, behind the wheel of my car at a stoplight, or as I'm drifting off to sleep at night - in my mind, that is. When I can't get up and perform the actual physical movements of kata, I try to visualize myself doing just that. And since so much of martial arts is about the mind, this form of practice is almost as beneficial as the physical act itself - maybe even more so. Sometimes I work out the logistics of a technique or move with which I'm having trouble in this way. More than once, in doing so, I've had one of those "Aha!" moments and could barely wait until I could get to a place where I could try it out physically. And the icing on the cake is when, in trying out the solution I've come up with in my mind, I find that it works!

You Kata love that!

The Making of a Martial Arts Mom...

Like I said in my maiden blog, I like to start at the beginning. So...In the beginning (aka: early 2007 in this case), I was looking for activities for my then 8 year old son, who has ADHD.

Softball? We couldn't afford the hundreds of dollars...

Soccer? Again, we couldn't afford the multiple hundreds of dollars...

Karate - We couldn't afford the THOUSANDS of dollars...

When I mentioned this to my son's pediatrician, she gave me a list of community centers offering sports programs at reasonable prices. She informed me it was well documented that the discipline and focus required in the practice of the martial arts was beneficial to those with ADHD.

And that is how I found our Martial Arts School. The school's "Karate Kids" program meets at a neighboring municipality's recreation center every Thursday night from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. The school's adult Karate class meets from 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm.

My son enjoyed the class, but true to his nature, he had trouble remembering what he had learned as recently as a few hours before. I took to videotaping new moves and then practicing them with him each night. I am sure I enjoyed the routineness of this much more than my son.

I also noticed that I really enjoyed the graceful moves, especially the kata, named "Basic Number One", taught to the beginners.

Without even realizing it, I found myself practicing when all alone...and often. I actually went through the movements of the kata in the bathrooms at work (um...when nobody was in there that is! : ) Other employees would walk into the kitchen area and catch me doing knuckle push ups against the wall or balancing on one foot while I waited for my lunch to heat up in the microwave.

When I finally admitted to myself that this is something I wanted to do for myself, not just in support of my son, I had to overcome my long time ingrained fear of people laughing at me and my track record of poor performance in most athletic endeavors. I mean, I like to ride bicycles and bowl, but that was about the extent of my love of sports. It took me a few weeks to convince myself to sign up for the adult class, but I did it. And because of those preconceived perceptions of myself, I have to tell you, it was a difficult decision for someone like me. But I really did it. And you know what? It was an exhilerating feeling! Now more than ever, I more clearly understand the Chinese proverb, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step..."