Getting Past The First Move

First of all, allow me to introduce you to the newest member of Dojo AISH. I used some pre-workout energy today building this eminently punchable being on the basic plan that I featured in the last posting with a few twists.


First of all, I already had a small punching bag hanging from our speed bag platform. I just dressed it up with an old jacket. As I was filling the arms with old newspapers, I decided that something in lieu of a bone structure might be helpful for arm bars and such. I took a thick cardboard roll, similar but heavier and longer than the kind you find in paper towels. I cut it in haf and then divided each half into an upper- and lower-arm by cutting most of the way through but not separating the parts.Then, I filled the arms and gloves with bunched-up newspapers and taped the gloves to the arms.
Presto! Instant Bad Guy.


I started out the more official part of my practice day on a wobble board. A wobble board, in my case, is two boards joined together unevenly along their lengths. You can also make one by wrapping tape thickly around each end of a 2 X 4. The idea is to make a standing surface with limited stability. If you stand on it and strike without centering and lowering your center of gravity, you fall off.


The wobble board/ Training Buddy combo was equally satisfying and humbling.

Then, as I was practicing kata, I occasionally wandered over to my New Friend to try combining striking and grabbing techniques from the kata. Hey, its not as much fun as twisting a student's arm and a takedown but, hey, you can't beat the patience and availability, not to mention the quiet :-).


Kata practice today was a mixture of Fukyugatas, Pinans and Wanshu. Still working on picking up the new material on Wanshu and then transposing the lessons learned to lower kata. For example, in Fukyukata Ni (Geikisai Dai), that sweeping, dramatic shuto-uchi sword strike on each end of the kick-elbow-downblock-punch combo? Well, with a little imagination, it can start out as an elbow strike and do all kinds of nasty things on the way to its ultimate destination. Try it and see.


Meanwhile, as I was watching more of George's videos, I started calculating how much time was spent on the First Moves of the katas. Sometimes when I work out with the Kishaba Juku crew, I get the feeling that we will never get past the first move. And, if the first move is so bad that it needs 3 hours of work, how good can the rest of the kata be?


Then it came to me. If you can't beat'um, join 'um. So i finished up today's session just practicing opening moves for each kata, full speed, full power, first on the left and then on the right. 


Try it yourself. I'll be doing more of that for my next session so I should have plenty to say about it next time.

Lightning, Thunder, Wanshu

Last night, inspired by my work on Washite, I set about the task of working on Wanshu. This was kind of a big deal for me because there are some significant differences between the Kishaba Juku way of doing Wanshu and the way I originally learned it. It felt like one of those neglected closets  that you keep promising yourself you'll get around to straightening out someday. Someday had arrived.


Armed with the video above, I walked up to the dojo and went to work. Ah, that opening move! As most often happens with me, I understood and appreciated what that perfect storm of not-so-hidden moves was meant to accomplish. Elbow, palm heel, grab, reverse direction, turn and downblock. I finally got into a rhythm of executing that series, on the right side and the left side, over and over. As I worked on developing it into some kind of flow, another flow began: a deluge of rain, complete with thunder and lightning. So, now, I was practicing and mopping up, practicing and mopping up.


And in walks Abi, more than a little damp, to join me for a workout. 


I showed her what I was working on. The strange dramatic yoi that seems to leave the ribs vulnerable to attack. Elbow, palm heel, grab, reverse direction, turn and downblock--- all while standing on one foot. I showed her the rest of the kata and explained the points of difference between what I had originally learned and what I was trying to do. Then ,we got into a kind of free- association. In what other katas do we meet similar situations: standing on one foot with dramatic arm movements that might provide more off-balance opportunities for elbows, backfists, palm heels, grabs. 


We got into the opening moves of Pinan Shodan, the work with the backfist that I had been doing in my previous workout and whether the elbow might also be useful in application. 


Then we started working on Rohai with all its dramatic one-footed stances and what the "hidden" arm and hand work might be there. That led us to a new discovery--- that Abi had never learned how to move through the center in Rohai in order to generate power for all those fancy moves. We started with that and then went back to the section of Pinan Shodan that leads to the kicking and punching series and worked on generating power for the kicks by angling the kosa-dachi so the back knee catches the ligament on the inside of the front knee.


The rain ended before our session did. I noted the places where drops had leaked in and started thinking about how to seal the vulnerable areas. I already know what it will take to seal what I learned into my body and mind. Practice, practice... did I mention "practice"?


And thus I closed the closet door on Wanshu for the night.

Whipping It Into Shape

Deciding to work out is fairly easy; deciding WHAT to work on is the tricky part. These videos of George Donahue that Mark Belluscci has been posting giv me a good starting point. Even this one, only 3 minutes long has too many possibilities for me to work on at once. I select from among the comments and corrections he makes and figure I'll watch it again sometime and find something else to work on.


In this case, I decided to start with the whipping motion George talks about in relation to Pinan Shodan. The koshi will get there first, he explains, so what's furtherest from the koshi, i.e. the wrist and hand, will get there last. Therefore, it should snap into place last like something on the end of a whip.


The other thing that caught my attention was the idea that backfisting from the arm in the age (jodan) uke eliminates the tendency or need to wind up for the punch. Really?... Yeah. Really!! Cool!!


So, I played around with the mirror in the dojo until I had a reasonable view and got to work. I went through the full kata only 5 times but, in between, I was talking myself through the opening move: "Ok.Wrist snaps into place last. Then BACKFIST into the punch."


I also reminded myself to keep the hikite hand dynamic (remember that from last time?). After all, the only way for me to progress is going to be learning how to hang on to as many of the things I am working on as possible and to apply them to as many things as possible. So, I worked through Kyan No Sai a few times, working out some of the kinks and trying to apply the same principles. Then I worked on Passai, once again, trying to apply the same principles: whipping, eliminating wind-ups and putting the hikite hand to work. I did five full repetitions of Passai and worked on pieces in between.


I got stuck towards the end of Passai when I realized tat there was there was this one part that I hadn't felt comfortable with for a long time: the cut kick-stomp-punch down combination. I worked on the timing to get more power out of the punch. That helped but I have a long way to go.


And plenty of workouts ahead, I expect.

Alone Together

The holidays are over. It is time to begin...again. This open training journal is here to serve as a  watering hole of ideas for all those of you who are actively engaged in traditional warrior training on your own. 

Sometimes by choice, sometimes in response to circumstances beyond our control, we find ourselves alone. It is my hope that through this Blog, we can create a sense of community so that, even in our aloneness, we can be together.

Being a traditional martial artist did not make me a warrior; being a WARRIOR made me turn to the martial arts. But I am also a social worker, writer, karate & self-defense teacher, mother, grandmother, runner, musician, spiritual seeker, meditation practitioner... There is nothing about me that is not lit with the fire of my warriorship.

And that is a source of joy and inspiration for me.

Today, Day One of my latest journey, I was exploring the hikite ("returning"or "pulling") hand in the first two Pinan Kata (aka Heian Kata in Japanese styles).

Like many others, I tend to get caught up in the drama of my striking hand and forget to pay attention to that withdrawing hand. Funny thing about that hand. Not only does putting energy into it actually ADD to the power of the striking hand (who'd a thunk?). It also creates all kinds of creative and powerful opportunities for grabbing, striking, controlling and otherwise introducing the opponent to his/her well-deserved fate.

This article by Charles Goodin gives a "nice" introduction to some crunchy hikite ideas.

Warning: Philosophical musing- How often do we undervalue things in our lives with enormous potential we are enraptured by the 'bells & whistles'? Let's not leave the power of subtlety and process unexplored...

Hikite and I will be spending more time together in the near future. A Mental Health run is next on the docket. And so is a good night's sleep.