Taking WISE

This blog post may not see the light of day right now, and may not be included in my grade (my presentation is tomorrow after all), but I write it for those who are going to be in the WISE program next year. I would like to say two things before I get into anything else. Firstly, I do not regret taking WISE, because it presented to me a problem, a task, which forced me to push myself and consequently I have grown as a person. Secondly, it just feels like the right way to end my senior year, the way being doing something that I love and am passionate about for a grade. The final presentation may be a little rough for me, but it will be a valuable experience.

This last year of classes at IHS went a lot more quickly than I ever anticipated. It feels like just yesterday I was starting the year and it was "back to the old grind." To think that tomorrow is my last day of classes as a high-school student is a scary thought. It makes me wonder where the time has gone.

Time is the most important resource that one can have. Specifically for any potential WISE students, managing it will be a great challenge. If done correctly, then everything will hopefully fall into place, but there is no guarantee.

At the beginning of my project, I recognized my lack of discipline as I slowly sank into "senioritis" and just plain laziness, and I had originally hoped that it would help me deal with that. I was wrong. Thinking back now, all my project did was present me with work that I had to do, like any class at school, and it has changed me, for the better I think. My point, for next year's WISE students, is that you are responsible for yourself and your project. The second semester project can be done well, or it can be done minimally, just passing the requirements and "avoiding detection" as needing to go in for extra help and guidance. I advise against the latter, as your project will not turn into what you need it be for your presentation, nor what you need it to be to grow as a person, unless you put in the time, the work, and the effort. Trust me, it shows.

Founding Principles

Seido was founded on three important principles, those being respect, love and obedience.

Respect - Kaicho Nakamura writes that through respect, a person will be forced to treat everyone of his peers "courtesy and equanimity." He goes on to write that if one lacks respect outwardly (towards others), it is a result of a "lack of respect for [oneself]." One of his major points with this principle is that if one lacks respect then they find it extremely easy to harm another person. This is because they are viewed as another, separate, entity, completely different and unrelated to oneself. This distance is caused by a lack of respect and should be avoided.

Love - Through respect lies the second principle, love. The word love itself is used completely inappropriately in our culture today. Kaicho writes that love grows out of respect. If one does not respect those that he or she loves, then it is probable that one will do those people some manner of disrespect, which goes against Kaicho's definition of love.

Obedience - Lastly, obedience constitutes one of the most important parts of life. People every day are obedient regarding the rules and the manners in which they are supposed to behave. Specifically, a karateka must obey his parents. Through obedience, humility is fostered in a person which is a valuable characteristic to have in regards to martial arts.

( All information found in Karate: Technique and Spirit )

The Spirit and Moral Values

After all I have read for my project, especially the works by Kaicho Nakamura, the spirit of the karateka (Karate practitioner) is stressed. One of the more important attributes that a person can have is the non-quitting spirit. Kaicho explicitly states that Seido Karate seeks to create this spirit in each and every karateka.

There are also major moral values associated with Karate. They are, according to Kaicho Nakamura, rectitude, heroism, universal love and compassion, courtesy, truthfulness, and devotion and loyalty.

Rectitude - In this situation, rectitude refers to "making the right decision in every situation and doing it without wavering."

Heroism - It has taken on a different meaning in this time period, but involves risking the stuff that is important to us for something more than ourselves.

Universal Love/ Compassion - Compassion is the way in which karatekas carry themselves, specifically expressing their compassion towards others.

Courtesy - One should demonstrate courtesy consistently and regularly, which means that they are respectful and compassionate in their everyday interactions.

Truthfulness - It is important to be truthful in every way, meaning that one does not equivocate, especially in relationships which benefit from truth and trust.

Devotion and Loyalty - According to Kaicho Nakamura, these two attributes are major parts of one of Karate's founding principles, which is obedience. He states that "a student should be absolutely loyal and devoted, first and always, to his family."

( All information found in Karate: Technique and Spirit )

Self-Defense Techniques

While I previously mentioned ideas about self defense before, specifically with the "Bucking Horse" story, I have never really described what exactly I am referring to when I mention practicing it. It is referred to "ippon kumite" in Japanese, which translates to "one step sparring." This title is very fitting as all of the self-defense "techniques" I know involve one step. To help visualize what exactly is being done when someone is performing "self-defense techniques" it is often easiest to picture a kata, or form, that only lasts one step. The differences between kata and ippon kumite are numerous so it is important to not get them confused.

Ippon kumite is only one of many types of kumite. The other part of my project that has to do with kumite is "sparring." Sparring is a very general term that applies to practice fighting, and the more accurate term for the "sparring" sessions I had with my father is "jiyu kumite." Jiyu kumite translates to "free fighting." This "free fighting" simulates what an actual fight scenario might be like. Jiyu kumite is one of my favorite parts of my training.

Coming To A Close

Unfortunately, my project is coming to a close. A week from this Friday is my presentation and there are several loose ends that I need to tie up before it happens:

1. Post my research about:

• The three major principles on which Seido is founded
• Self Defense Techniques
• The Spirit

2. Polish:

• Kata
• Self-Defense
• Strikes

3. Practice actually going through my presentation several times (at least over the weekend)

I also have to complete and send out an email containing documents to the people who will be grading my project. These tasks may seem like a lot, but they are doable.

Balance

The journey through my WISE project has been full of extremes. In the beginning, it was extremely intense training followed shortly by extreme jumps between my WISE work, other school work, and my part time job. These last few weeks have been no exception. I have been feeling extreme amounts of stress about all of my projects and papers. Very recently, one of my friends mentioned to me how eventually I am going to burn myself out and I have to say that he was right. Up until the start of this weekend, I lacked balance.

At the beginning of this weekend, I was able to just relax with my friends as I went out to dinner and saw a movie. Since then I have been spending a lot of time with my family. There were times when I had to work but the shifts were rather uneventful. Needless to say, this weekend has been exactly what I needed to balance all of the work I have been doing.

There is balance in the way a Seido karateka is supposed to train. Seido training is structured such that intense physical training is counterbalanced by periods of tranquil meditation. Diet is even mentioned in Kaicho's writings and how important it is to maintain a healthy one which is something that I have not considered for the duration of my project, but will after the school year is finished.

Karate Class and Training

After a long break, I went back to my Karate class. It was not really a voluntary break as I have been focusing on my studies. Throughout the entire class I was thinking about my technique. I was thinking about how easy it is to notice flaws in other people's form and that it is extremely difficult to notice flaws in one's own form. I tried to notice all the flaws in my form and I was surprised. I noticed certain things about how I kick and how I am better kicking with my right leg instead of my left. I need to work on both in addition to my balance. Overall, though, it felt really good to go back.

Following my class, I went home and trained for awhile. I practiced specifically actually striking an object, which was my heavy bag. I am pretty proficient at striking correctly, but there are times when I kick the bag incorrectly and it is painful. It is an immediate indicator of whether or not I am doing it right.

First WISE presentation

Today was the first WISE presentation of the year and was a mandatory meeting for all students  in the program. The auditorium was more filled than I expected it to be and immediately thought to myself that I would hate to be the one presenting because I am not particularly fond of public speaking. However, as soon as it started I noticed the confidence of the presenter and how he carried himself. He seemed almost unfazed by the fact that there were so many people watching him intently. Throughout the presentation he was calm, cool, and almost friendly which made the atmosphere feel very laid back which I thought made it go extremely smoothly.

The presentation was about learning how to play the harmonica. It was very interesting for me because I am very familiar with music and music theory and I found it interesting how he applied it throughout his project. At the start of his project he was not a music person, and by that I mean he had very little past experience playing any sort of music so he was forced to learn how to read music and the theory behind chords and key signatures and so on.

It made me think about how I need to approach my project for the last several weeks of my project. The biggest struggle for me for WISE was actually just writing blog posts. I had the research done and I enjoyed my hands on practice but found it extremely difficult to set aside time for it, especially after tests began. I have been practicing for my presentation also, though I still have to time everything out and practice just speaking about it.

General History of Karate: Zen, Bushido, and Karate

Zen became an integral part of Japanese culture. Zen heavily influenced the culture of Japan, especially art. The feudal period of Japan was a very prosperous period for the samurai. They garnered the respect of many and held a significant amount of influence. They were notably influenced by Zen during the Kamakura period (around the thirteenth century). They adopted many ideologies from it, and they also contributed to the practice of Zen. Eventually their calm, humble nature was incorporated into the system. Moving forward to the seventeenth century (Tokugawa period), the samurai reached the height of their power in the Tokugawa period. At this time the samurai focused on both their intellectual studies and their physical training, which involved practicing swordsmanship. Through their studies, they created Bushido (the way of the warrior), which was a combination of kendo (the way of the sword) and butsudo (the way of the Buddha). The values of Bushido are at the core of traditional karate training.

These developments were not the only ones that were made at this time. On the Ryukyu Islands, on Okinawa, the natives created techniques that they used to defend themselves, as they were prohibited from carrying weapons. These techniques became known as "Okinawa-te" which translates to "hand techniques of Okinawa." Eventually, Sakugawa, a student of Kempo and stick fighting, formalized these techniques into a style which was called "karate-no-Sakugawa" (translates to "Chinese hand techniques of Sakugawa"). The Okinawan islands became a part of Japan in 1879. Following that, in 1916, Gichin Funakoshi and other Okinawan masters held a karate demonstration in Kyoto, Japan. Afterwards, Master Funakoshi changed the meaning of the character "kara" from meaning "Chinese" to "empty" which is reflected by the fact that Karate now means "empty hand."

(Information found in Karate: Technique and Spirit)

General History of Karate: Buddhism and Japan

Bodhidarma's teachings spread from India, to China, and through Korea to Japan during the sixth century. During this time, numerous clans were vying for the favor of the emperor. One such clan was the Soga clan, who had been heavily influenced by Buddhism and they were successful in influencing the royal family. This resulted in Prince Shotoku Taishi studying Buddhism heavily eventually becoming a scholar of Buddhism. In addition to the spread of Buddhism, China also influenced Japanese architecture, politics, etc. But Buddhism took on a different nature in Japan. After some time, it became what we now know as Zen.

There was a Japanese monk, known as Dogen who wanted to learn Buddhism from those who first sincerely developed it, the Chinese. For this reason, he traveled throughout China observing the practice of Buddhism in many temples but he never liked what he saw. Not until he resolved himself to go home did he come across a senior Chinese monk who was "drying mushrooms in the sun." Dogen then questioned the monk, asking him why he was performing such a menial task when it should be the task of a "junior monk." 

The monk then responded:

"If I do not do this, if I do not work here and now, who could understand? I am not you, I am not others. Others are not me. So others cannot have the experience. I must dry these mushrooms here and now, today, at this moment. Now, go away so I may work!"

Dogen then spent a year studying under that monk's teacher and returned to Japan, introducing the practice of Zen. The two fundamental ideas that Dogen based Zen on were "direct, personal experience" and "practice of zazen" which is the practice of "seated meditation."

(Information found in Karate: Technique and Spirit)

General History of Karate: In China

Normally I leave informational posts on one of my research pages as updates, but there is no easy way to place the general history of karate in my blog, or even the general history of martial arts. According to Kaicho Nakamura, Karate originated in China. One Bodhidarma, also known by the Japanese as Daruma, left from India for China and arrived at the Shaolin Monastery, which is on the slopes of Song Mountain around 520 AD. The reason Daruma left India was to spread Buddhism, which he felt was decaying in India. During his stay, he spent a significant amount of time in meditation and physical training, during which he developed techniques to defend himself against wild animals. Daruma passed these techniques on to the Shaolin monks who incorporated the techniques into their training who eventually became well known for them. As a result of their fame, they were drawn into politics and were the most powerful under the T'ang Dynasty, which was when they had hundreds of fighting monks as well as people who worked the Shaolin farmlands. In 1928, the monastery was burned down and following that, the practice of martial arts was banned. These two actions were taken to reduce the power of the Shaolin Monastery. The self-defense techniques developed by Daruma were organized into a style which was called Wushu. Since then, kempo (temple boxing) has taken it's place.

(Information found in Karate: Technique and Spirit)

Night Training

Today was the first day I trained outdoors at night. I did not know what to expect because I have never really spent that much time outside past dark save for the occasional bonfire that my family and I would have. Nevertheless, I was not disappointed. The atmosphere was so peaceful and tranquil. The only thing I heard was the wind in the trees and the occasional snapping of tree branches.

There were several things that I accomplished outdoors. The first and foremost was practicing my kata. After  the detailed update I posted in my Seido Research page, I have been eager to practice my kata which for me has been rather stagnant, meaning I have not seen or felt a significant improvement. There was one minor improvement I noticed though, and it was in the way I turned around. At the beginning of my training, it was difficult for me to consistently turn far enough for any kata, but now I am doing it with relative ease. One major difficulty I was not accustomed to was how uneven the ground was. I have always practiced my kata on a wooden or cement floor and took it for granted how level everything was which made it more difficulty.

The two other things I accomplished tonight were working my lower body and practicing my self-defense techniques. I went over all of my self-defense and as a result of both the kata and self-defense, I also got a very intense leg work out. On top of them, I also did a form of jumping squats which has made my legs so sore, it is kind of difficult to walk.

General Progress

Earlier this morning, I woke up and started to train. It has been awhile since I was able to get up in the morning and work out, as I would always sleep through the multiple alarms that I set up, but today was different. As far as what my workout was, it consisted of push ups, sit ups, pull ups, and a wide variety of other exercises that worked on my arms. I do need to however, start stretching a lot more in the morning because I was extremely tight at the beginning of my work out, which made doing any sort of exercise that much more difficult.

As far as my presentation goes, I still have a significant amount of research to complete. I need to expand upon what I already know about my style and Kyokushin Karate as well as describe the origins of certain aspects of karate, specifically kata. I have the general layout of my presentation down, though, which will be me describing the history of karate and all the other "informational" parts of my project, then I will move onto actually demonstrating all of the kata and self defense techniques that I have been practicing.

Presentation

Today, in my WISE class weekly meeting, we reflected on the what was our biggest worries and fears about both our projects and our presentations. Almost immediately I started to panic when I first thought about my final project. My biggest worry is that I will crack under the pressure of presenting my project and performing what I have learned. That worry is closely followed by the problem that I may not be able to meet the thirty minute time requirement for the presentation itself. However, after some thinking, I realized that if I pick up the pace and start putting the presentation itself ( a powerpoint for the historical background information) I should easily be able to fulfill that requirement, especially considering the fact that I actually have a karate demonstration in addition to just the factual research.

As far as my project goes, I am panicking and that panic has not gone away. I do need to start diligently working on my blog to meet the journal requirements as well as the research ones. I have not recorded enough of research to put my final presentation together yet, but I do have my sources lined up, I just need to use them and dissect them and reflect upon which I found valuable.

Kata

I recently updated my research page describing what kata actually is, but I never mentioned what it means to me. I remember that when I was a child practicing kata I did not like it. I never really saw the purpose of kata and I only viewed it as something extra that I had to know. I remember demonstrating a kata to my family with my father and that he was just using it to show off how much I knew and how capable I was.

When I restarted my training winter of last year, I remember how eager I was to learn the more advanced kata, techniques, etc. thinking that my training would progress quickly because of my experience as a child. It never really did and now I understand why. I can always vividly picture how I often stumble when I practice my kata. Whether my foot sticks to the floor, or I execute the wrong technique, there is always something for me to work on and improve.

Most of my training, excluding the sparring sessions with my father, solely consists of practicing kata. I never thought about how much I actually do kata in relation to everything else, but in a way I prefer it. It combines everything, the mind, the body, and the spirit. I think of it as a complicated puzzle. One that you know how to complete, but requires your full attention down to the smallest detail, otherwise mistakes, more often than not, happen.

Training

My physical training now consists of short morning workouts which involve practicing my kicks, katas, self defense techniques and basic exercises like push ups, sit ups, squats, etc. For the most part my physical training is comprehensive in the sense that I work every major muscle group but my mental training is lacking. Senioritis has kicked into full swing and as a result my work ethic has dropped significantly and I find that I have not achieved the discipline for which I had hoped. In order to fix this I will remind myself that I still have final projects and essays due. In relation to this project, my final presentation is in a month and I need to start practicing it.

General Project Reflection

For the past several months, I have been training heavily in Seido Karate. Despite my hard training, I have yet to see as many improvements as I had originally hoped for, which is something that I expected but still is upsetting. As a result of this, I have started to train even more intensely than before which will have to be enough for my final presentation in which I will be demonstrating what I have learned and how I practiced everything. I am going to heavily focus on knowing my kata, which will be one of the cornerstones in my presentation, as well as my knowledge of self-defense techniques.

Up to this point, my meditation which counterbalances hard training has been lacking. It is difficult for me to make the time to sit down and clear my mind when I have so much school work to do and finals approaching. I am going to start practicing meditation immediately before I go to bed which will hopefully help me prepare for the next day.

In addition, I am going to start doing a lot more research and start putting together a presentation that explains the general history of karate and then specifically in Seido Karate and Kyokushin Karate. I very recently read about the general origins of Karate and martial arts in general. Unfortunately as I do not have the book now, I am going to post about that later on the Research page. 

Motivation and Deadlines

Today in my weekly WISE class, we spoke about motivation and deadlines. The class was given an article to read which went into great detail about motivation and deadlines and how to keep up with them. After reading it, I reflected on how I have procrastinated throughout the entirety of my life. I never really learned how to manage my time because no matter how large of an assignment I was given, I always managed to complete it by the due date at the cost of a night's worth of sleep. For Karate training, this is the worst possible thing to do.

The training in and of itself is something that is continuous and cumulative. Similar to how one learns to play a difficult piece of music, they constantly have to practice, polish, and progress, adding new parts or working on dynamics and preparing themselves for a performance. If they stop for awhile, then they run the risk of regressing and losing all the progress that they have gained. Just finding the time to practice can be a challenge and difficult, but at the end of the day being able to play the piece and performing it provides satisfaction and is its own reward.

As the deadline of my final WISE presentation approaches I realize that my training will not be anywhere near complete. Martial arts training lasts a lifetime and is always a challenge, whether it be a physical or mental one, and it is an invaluable, difficult experience.

Stuck

Admittedly, I have been in a rut of sorts when it comes to my project. I barely have the time or energy to train and do the research like I had originally planned, but I have been reading more of Kaicho Nakamura's lectures hoping to find an answer to my problem. I recently read one of his lectures, Yukizumari (Getting Stuck).

Kaicho specifically describes how everyone eventually gets stuck. He specifically mentions how people often tire of practicing the basics over and over and over again, and they eventually start considering changing their martial art thinking that that would make them much more engaged and enthusiastic. Recently I have caught myself wondering whether or not I chose the right type of project for me. It's a "little" too late for me to change everything so I do not really have the option, but it's rather demotivating nonetheless. But basically Kaicho describes that we have to "break through the barrier" and  after we do that, we will eventually enjoy what we do. He also mentions that at times we do need to step back and do something else to approach our problems. Specifically for my project, I will start heavily incorporating meditation and philosophy in my training to rekindle my enthusiasm.

Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up

There is an old saying which embodies the non-quitting spirit of Seido Karate. It is "Seven times down, eight times up." The basic meaning of this phrase is no matter how many times you fall down, fail, or something bad happens, you have to get up and try again. This idea is very applicable to my training in several ways. Recently I injured both of my legs and knees which makes any sort of training that involves kicks or movements or even practicing my kata impossible until they're healed. In many instances this sort of injury makes people stop training altogether until the injury goes away, but I have not stopped. Instead of moving around or really working on my stances and kicks, I still continue to train my hand techniques such as my blocks or strikes. Another way I apply this idea to my training is to not quit even though I am not so successful during my sparring sessions. I often get tagged but I never stop just because I am unsuccessful.

I have read about situations like mine, when a person is injured, several times in Kaicho Nakamura's books. He writes that if you injure your arms then you work your legs and stances while not using your arms, giving time to allow your arms to heal, and vice versa. Not quitting or resigning yourself to failure is also one of the core values taught in my Karate class. Many times at my promotion exams, my teachers purposefully confused everyone who was testing and only told them to never give up and to keep trying until they get it right. Other times when people are injured, my teachers modify what they tell them to do to allow them to participate in class and work on their form and technique despite their injury. In this way, the development of one's spirit is emphasized more than technique or strength.

The Bucking Horse Reflection

Even though I could not find the actual anecdote for this one, I still remember its core lesson. Self-defense involves going out of one's way in order to avoid danger. This is a very important idea in martial arts. At the beginning of many martial artists' careers, they are taught not to put themselves in dangerous situations. Many teachers often emphasize that they would rather their students never have to physically apply their training (such as getting into a fight or brawl or something), and rather have them be intelligent and walk away from the potential threat or avoid it altogether. 

However, it is important to distinguish avoiding the problem and walking away from being completely passive, something that is also to be avoided. When one is completely passive, they are allowing themselves to be taken advantage of, bullied, or even abused physically or mentally. While it is possible to avoid some situations, there are times when one has to act in order to protect themselves. For example, my father always told me that I should never start a fight and always try to avoid problems, which is something that I still actively try to do, but he also told me that if it looked like anyone were about to hurt me physically that I should defend myself accordingly. I also agree with that, but by no means am I condoning needless violence. After all, in the past martial arts were used with force in order to survive, but in modern times, the majority of people who learn martial arts to defend themselves are lucky enough to never have to do so. 

Difficulty and Disruption

During my last WISE class, we listened to an audio recording of an essay by Brian Grazer. In his essay, he wrote about how he likes to make things difficult on himself, to push himself outside of his comfort zone in order to keep growing and developing and discovering new things about himself. His discomfort, he believes, is what he needs to stay alive as he ages. 

There are many different facets of this idea. For example, in the physical aspect I do think that making things difficult is a good idea as long as it is within reason. But for as far as being put into uncomfortable situations unnecessarily is concerned, I do not think it is a good or reasonable idea. Most of the time when something inconvenient happened in my project, I worked through it, but I ended up losing valuable time. These disruptions, for the most part, are not caused by other people, but lack of care or an oversight on my part.

The Spring Crunch

At the beginning of my senior year, I had so many ideas for what my WISE project could be. From parkour, to calligraphy, I always was thinking about what I wanted to do, what skills I could learn and I never really gave much thought into how much time I would actually have to commit to my project. Within the next couple of weeks I will have two finals and two AP's and consequently my workload from school has drastically increased making it more strenuous to do any sort of time-intensive work aside from my studies and physical training.

I have been reading Kaicho Nakamura's books and one of his lectures is about focus. The lecture basically stated that in order to do the best work that you can possibly can, you have to focus solely on what you intend to do. For example, when students are not distracted by social networking sites or videos they are much more productive and their work is of much better quality. By focusing this intently, students also finish their work much sooner than they would have otherwise. If I apply this to my studies, with any luck I will be able to do more work for my project as well as have more time to relax. 

New Blog Structure

I am changing the set up of my blog. I am going to create another two pages in addition to my main page. One will be my research page and the other will contain martial arts anecdotes or scraps of wisdom as I come by them.

Project Hiccups

For the past ten days or so, I have run into several major problems with my project. Since the majority of my project work is physical training, any type of injury is a hindrance. Unfortunately I very recently injured my knees, the left more than the right, but both just do not feel right. These injuries make it somewhat painful to climb stairs and at times just to walk.

As to how I hurt my knees, it is not that complicated (at least I think). Wednesday night I went for a run around where I live which consists of steep hills, and I think that the jarring motion of running may have played a small role in the injury. In addition, it probably did not help that I ran another mile the next day. However, I did not feel pain or discomfort while I was running, immediately before, or immediately afterwards but once I arrived home Thursday night, my left knee started to hurt. I did attend my Karate class that night thinking that it was only a minor injury but thus far, my knee still hurts when I put a significant amount of weight on it.

To think that several short runs could cause that kind of injury makes me think about how fragile people really are. Whether someone sprains their ankle, breaks their arm, or even loses a limb due to a serious accident, injuries happen to everyone and in every place. That being said, I often catch myself thinking about the destructive power of martial arts. Many simple strikes, if applied correctly, can be lethal. From the simple and straightforward punch, to the variety of knife-hand techniques that many martial artists learn, all of these share a simple, deadly grace that can inspire awe in spectators.

Moving forward with my project will probably involve me just working on hand techniques as to minimize the strain on my legs and expedite the healing process. Meditation will also start to play a big role, as it is necessary to foster personal growth and development.

Karate Class

Today's Karate class was very fun. I had not been able to attend any of them for the past week so it was nice to get back into the swing of things. The illness really took a lot out of me and I felt really sluggish in class. I also felt that my technique was a little off. However, I did remember all of my self defense techniques which was encouraging.

I plan on going for a short run early tomorrow morning and then I will practice my techniques. I really need to polish my techniques and make them faster, stronger, and much more controlled.

Project Update

It has been a several weeks since my last post and this week will be a catch up week for me. Last week was my spring break from school and I had planned to do all of my research and amp up my training then, but unfortunately I became extremely ill at the beginning of my break and am just now recovering.

Today was the first day resuming my workout and it was ok. I avoided intense cardio based activities because I am still prone to coughing due to exercising which is why I am going to take it easy all week. However, I plan to gradually add small cardio segments this week such as short jogs in the morning to wake up.

This week I am going to start posting my research and searching for more motivational videos to help power through senioritis, which is slowly taking hold and making it more and more difficult to focus on my training and my studies.

Training

Today I attended my first Karate class since my illness. I found today particularly difficult as I was not able to center myself as easily and my teacher had us do long, complex combinations. We also did self defense techniques, forms, and katas. I know my self defense very well at this point and it was review for me, but the katas, or forms, were very difficult as a I learned a new one today and I need to review my old ones.

On Monday, I started up my training again. My shoulders felt fine then even though they were bothering me before. However, I still need to perfect my punches, as my shoulders pop every now and again. I also need to work on my balance and kick execution.

In Class Assignment

During my WISE class on Monday of last week, my teacher told us to reflect on our projects and what problems that we have encountered. Almost everyone in the class is running into some type of problem and I am no exception. The majority of my problems stem from time management.

I have never been good at managing my time and have always been that kid who pulls an all-nighter the night before a huge project is due. I consistently procrastinate and as a result, I lose a lot of sleep and am constantly trying to catch up on all of my responsibilities. Whether it is schoolwork, chores, or my actual part time job, I am always trying to keep up with my work. 

At the beginning of my project, I started out very strong with intense, consistent workouts. But as it has progressed, I have become increasingly tired which has resulted in my missing several days of school because of illnesses.

In order to continue pursuing my project, I have to do all the work I can on the weekends and go to sleep at responsible times to ensure that I can stay awake enough, and motivated enough to train as intensely as I possibly can. 

Update

It has been a little while since I last posted on my blog and I apologize. It has been a rather rough week for me. I have been ill and as a result I missed several days of school, my mentor meeting, and the majority of the karate classes that happened this week. It has been rather frustrating in this way. I did however get to spar today which was nice and my brother joined my father and I. I felt that this session was a little short though, but I was able to spar both of them and it was a learning experience.

As far as my training goes, I still have a lot to work on, especially on my kicks. My knees popped every now and again when I was transitioning between kicks. I am going to start taking special care on how I execute my kicks, focusing on which part of the body I emphasize which will hopefully solve the problem. Also I will start stretching regularly, regardless of whether or not I train that day. 

Reflections

This post is going to be me reflecting on two things, one a video that my teacher showed me last week, entitled "Barnsong" and the other an article called "Practicing."

Barnsong

This video was about a WISE student who had planned to build a barn. Throughout the course of his project he was working. From the video, it seemed that all he ever made time for was his project because of all the work that he completed. Unfortunately, he did not make enough time for many of the tasks that he had to do and I am running into a similar problem. I am finding it extremely difficult to perfect and polish my techniques. I am seeing improvements in the way I strike, but it is coming along rather slowly.

At the end of the video, the WISE student had not built the barn. He only had built part of it, but he did eventually construct the barn after his senior year was over. I think the fact that he actually completed the construction of the barn was very inspirational. His project involved an extreme amount of time and dedication, something that if applied to my project, I will gain a significant amount of experience in Karate and be a much more driven, and capable karateka.

Practicing

I learned a lot from this article. One of the first sentences I read was that "When it comes to learning, there is no substitute for actual hands-on experience." Learning techniques the proper way is entirely based on experience. Martial arts teachers impart their experience and teachings to their students and the only way they can do that is by making their students practice the techniques.

The article also mentions the fact that repetition is key to practicing. In Karate, karateka are supposed to train to make their techniques become second nature and applicable to almost every situation. I have to work harder and become more dedicated to my project so that I make the time to practice every day.

Two Week Outline #3

I know that this outline is a little on the late side which makes me realize that I have to be more disciplined and set aside more time for my project outside of just my Karate class. I will start using my extra free period in school for my WISE project. 

So here's my plan for the next two weeks:

Training: 

1. Memorize and polish my kata and forms

2. Practice my kicks with particular focus on placement

3. Fix my kicking technique so that my hip does not pop when I perform certain kicks

4. Set aside time every Sunday for meditation and reflection on my project

5. Set aside half an hour outside of Karate class to train for strength, endurance, and balance

Research:

1. Finish my research into the history of Seido Karate and Kyokushin Karate and post my findings

Update/Reflection

So this post is going to be a long one. Today I attended one of the more intense karate classes. It was a regular class that happened to have a lot of intense combinations and challenges which was a good test of my endurance. The first part of class was devoted to making my mind explode. We practiced several hand techniques in one order and then the teacher told us to practice those same techniques again but in a different order. This happened several times. Towards the end of class, we had to repeatedly perform combinations involving kicks and hand techniques. And then we had to do squats as fast as we could.

After that class, I attended a meditation class. It was a fairly relaxing class and helped me to focus and center myself. After the breathing, and walking meditation, my teacher read one of Kaicho Nakamura's meditation lectures. It was very applicable to my project. The lecture spoke about how people often underestimate themselves. Kaicho Nakamura specifically mentioned how people often deprecate themselves and believe that they can't accomplish a task. He also mentions that people often jump between deprecating themselves and having a very large ego.

After my teacher finished the lecture, everyone who attended the class reflected upon and discussed what they had heard. One of the major ideas that was mentioned was that of achieving balance in life. I mentioned how I used to work out and push myself beyond what was safe. I used to have such an ego in the way that I believed that I could push myself beyond my "limits" without putting in the work beforehand and I learned that that was not true because I now carry several injuries in my shoulders and elbows.

Because of this lecture, I have begun to rethink my project, or at least my goals and how I approach them. I feel that I need to do a lot more work in order to meet all of my goals. My training is still lacking and I am currently falling behind with my research. I will have a post about my research by the end of the week. Also I have done the math, and realized that my last two week outline post was later than I thought and will have another two week outline by the end of the day tomorrow.

Sparring Session #1

I know that this post is a day late, but I still would like to comment on my sparring experience with my father. As I have previously mentioned, he is a very experienced karate practitioner (karateka) and has taught me before, when I was very young. We sparred many times several years ago and it was not pretty because I was not that competent of a fighter. This session went a little bit differently.

We first warmed up before we sparred, which meant that we practiced kicks and he spoke to me about strategy in a fight and what to do in certain scenarios. He also specifically mentioned that I need to work on how and where I place my kicks. For example, he said that I need to come up and under my opponent's guard when I do my front snap kick, or make my roundhouse kicks come from the outside more and make them more "round." Another thing that he said was that I need to focus on my kick placement during Karate class so that I can learn to control my kicks and have more balance.

The actual sparring went pretty well. I took quite a few hits, but I am a lot better at blocking strikes than I was several years ago. Grant it, I still can't really block strikes that are extremely fast and come over the top of my head. My father is extremely fast and those types of strikes are difficult to anticipate. Something to note however, is that this sparring is only really boxing-based, meaning that my father and I aren't using kicks. We still need to find foot gear so that it'll be a lot safer.

Progress Thus Far

So today I attended two consecutive classes. The first, was primarily for teaching the basics, and these classes are the classes that I usually attend. The second, however, was specialized for kumite, or sparring. In this class I was taught how to block several kicks correctly and how to maneuver my body with footwork. Even though I know my basic stances very well, I am still not all that accustomed to moving around to block and counter. This is something that I will memorize and internalize as soon as I can.

This weekend is very exciting for me. Tomorrow I am setting the mouthpieces and preparing the fighting gear so that my dad and I can spar on Saturday morning. I have sparred with him before unsuccessfully (as in I lost repeatedly and was unable to block a significant number of his strikes) but nevertheless, I always learned something from each sparring session.

Here's another motivational video:

Something I noticed however, is how effortless and controlled their techniques are, specifically their kicks. I will start practicing my basic kicks and work on my new ones as part of my morning workout routines.

Two Week Outline # 2

I know that this updated outline is several days late, but here's what I plan to do:

Training:

1. Practice all katas, forms, and techniques that I am supposed to know and memorize them.

2. Polish my basic punching and kicking techniques, specifically working on actually striking an object (a.k.a. heavy bag).

3. Practice the more difficult kicks and maintaining my balance.

Research:

1. Catch up on my research that I neglected for the last two weeks.

2. Start researching Japan's history



In order to actually keep to my outline and plan I will keep a running checklist of what I have done. I will also need to find a time slot that I can set aside each day for this project. During the week I will set aside at least an hour and a half, which does include attending Karate class and training at home.

I also finally got the mouth guards so my father (a very experienced karateka), brother, and I can start sparring together.

This may be a rather long motivational video, but here's a Fight Quest video of Kyokushin Karate that I found on youtube. I watched it a little while ago but it's still really intense.

Blog Response #2

This response is to Edan Bar, one of my friends and a magic aficionado. 

Blog: Bar's Cards

Blogger: Edan Bar

I have read through Edan's blog and I found the material very interesting. The art of deception is key to many things like magic tricks but is also key to martial arts. Many people use deception and illusion in fighting to create openings to strike or to get away. When I practice fighting in my Karate class, we are taught to stay on the balls of our feet and kind of bounce. This sort of extraneous movement makes it more difficult to read your opponent, which in turn hampers your ability to anticipate what they are going to do. 

Another practical example of deception in fighting is watching your opponents eyes. Many beginners lead with their eyes, meaning that they look where they want to strike which makes them extremely easy to read. Experienced practitioners watch their opponent's eyes and failing that, watch their shoulders because all strikes are telegraphed from the shoulders, whether it be a shift in balance for a kick, or a pivoting or twisting of the upper body which are common indicators of punches or hand techniques. 

Blog Response #1

As part of my project, I am occasionally required to respond to other blogs from my classmates who also are in the WISE program.

Blog: Musical Creativity
Blogger: Joon Park

I read through Joon's blog and I find his project very admirable. He is working on his musical composition skills which is something I can relate to since I compose and improvise music when I play the piano. His blog was very organized and his plans very thorough which makes me feel like I should work harder at making my blog more comprehensive. Being a composer, I can relate to some of the stuff that Joon is doing and I may ask him more about it to expand my abilities as well.

Joon mentioned contemporary composition several times throughout his blog. Many people find this style of music very unappealing because it does not sound like what they are used to hearing. I personally find contemporary music a little difficult to listen to and prefer to listen to instrumentals or video game soundtracks. 

Progress Thus Far

So far I have been consistently working out in the mornings. Unfortunately I have been feeling ill recently and have been unable to attend Karate class. I can still feel my injuries during my morning training routines. I do need to practice my techniques and katas as well so I will need to set aside time for that.

As far as my workout plan has gone, it has been fairly difficult for me to find the time in the afternoon to train intensely like I had originally intended. This week however, is the exception, not the rule to how I will carry out my project. Since I need to make time to train, I plan on doing all of the work that I can on the weekends ahead of time which will clear up my schedule and let me train intensely.

Promotion Test

My promotion test went very well. I passed. The night before, I was studying and I was reading the first portion of one of One Day, One Lifetime: An Illustrated Guide to the Spirit, Practice, and Philosophy of Seido Karate Meditation. In the introduction, I found a section where it specifically mentions what to focus on while one trains which is just to focus on the training, not the results. It also mentions how karate training is similar to a "college course" in the way that you get from it what you put into it. I will have to start training a lot more seriously and focus solely on the training, which means I will have to set aside more time daily than I anticipated for this project.

Update

So for the past several days, I have taken a break from my intense training to focus on my studies. I have a Karate promotion test this weekend so I have been working on my technique and only that and have been studying all of the kata and self defense I have to know. Even though some techniques are difficult they are not the workout I need to be doing to keep up with my training. However this break also served as a recovery period for my shoulder injury. Unfortunately, I do not have any solid research done at this point, but I will include it tomorrow night when I plan to cram for the written portion of my promotion test.

I will also update my training plan as ideas come to me, but as of today, I plan on doing a couple sets of push ups and sit ups and other exercises six days out of the week in the morning to help get me motivated for actually training later on in the day and this way I will at least be maintaining my level of fitness.

Training: Day 3

Unfortunately I had to cut my training short today. My left shoulder started to bug me very early on in the training and I am worried that it could get worse so I did what I could and did not push it.

Here is what I did:

Stretch

Warm-Up

2/10/40 Lawnmowers (A back exercise)

2/10/30 Bicep Curls

2/15/20 Sitting Lawnmowers

(And because I did not explain my workout notation I will now, it goes: sets/reps/weight)

My shoulder started to become unstable and it was painful towards the end so I had to stop. 

Also, my lack of training today made me realize how I will structure my workout for the rest of the training:

Day One: Chest + Core

Day Two: Lower Body + Kicks

Day Three: Back + Punches

Day Four: Cardio + Techniques

I will explain my workout plan in further detail later. 

Training: Day 2

Today, I felt very good about my training. I focused mainly on my techniques, katas or forms, and self defense combinations. I know my katas fairly well. There are some katas that I need to review and polish, especially the ones I most recently learned because I often confuse where to throw each technique. The footwork of each kata feels fine but I do need to work on moving between stances.

Here is what I did for today:

Stretched
Warmed-Up
Reviewed all of my katas
Reviewed all of my self defense combinations
Practiced my combinations on the syllabus for my Karate class
2/10 Inside Roundhouse Kick
2/10 Outside Roundhouse Kick
*2/10 Front Snap Kick
*2/10 Roundhouse Kick
1/10 Low Side Thrust Kick
1/10 High Side Thrust Kick
1/10 Knee Kick
1/10 Back Kick

*I only practiced throwing these kicks with the front leg of my stance, which is difficult for me because I have to kick faster to make up for the lack of power.

I also practiced striking my heavy bag with the following kicks:
1/10 Front Snap Kick (Front Leg only)
1/10 Roundhouse Kick (Front and Rear Leg)

Note: I practiced all of these kicks with both legs.

Also, I attended my Karate Class prior to working out and training at home, which does take a lot of energy and concentration. I enjoyed it and I plan to attend class again tomorrow. However, I will have to be careful as I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder while performing hand techniques which is why today was mostly lower body techniques as to avoid injuring my shoulder.

Training: Day 1

Today was my first day of training. Not surprisingly, I found it difficult. I knew that I did not have a lot of endurance or stamina, but after my first "workout" I now finally know roughly how much I need to train in that area. I wanted to do more for my first day, but I felt that I needed to stop because I was out of breath and my chest was pounding.

Here is what I did in chronological order:

Stretch
Warm-Up: Jumping Rope
50 push ups
25 jumping squats
2 minutes at my heavy bag (mainly working on punching techniques)
50 sit ups
25 Right&Left (RL) floor sidekicks
50 berry pickers
50 push ups
5 RL inside&outside kicks
25 jumping squats
1 minute jumping rope
*50 push ups

*After this specific exercise is when I felt completely out of breath and energy

Note: I did this workout at the end of the day which, today, means that I already went to my Karate class. I am not going to use that as an excuse for why I felt out of energy.

Needless to say, I feel kind of disappointed with myself but I will use today as motivation to work harder tomorrow. I still have to decide how many days per week I want to train as well as how long I want each training session to last. I will probably base my workouts off of the P90X program. I have done a week of it before, and I definitely was sore because of it.

I will post videos explaining several of the exercises listed above that are not well known or that are based on my Karate training or other experiences.

Also, here is an incredible, motivational video of Kaicho Nakamura breaking a rock:

Two Week Outline #1

Every two weeks I will post an outline like this one in which I describe what I will do for the following two weeks.

Training:

1. Establish a basic, structured workout routine and schedule that will improve my stamina, strength, balance, and coordination. (I will post the final schedule/routine at the end of the first week)

2. Review and polish all of the basic Karate techniques I know for the duration of the two weeks.

3. Meditate at the end of each week to reflect on what I can improve and on what I have done well.

Research:

1. I will research Seido Karate and post my findings at the end of each week.

2. Start researching Kyokushin Karate near the end of the second week.


Each week I will post at least three times in order to keep my blog up to date and to help keep me focused on my objectives.

Intro

Dear Reader,

My name is Peter Damian and I am a senior at Ithaca High School. I am creating this blog to document my experiences with my WISE (Wise Individualized Senior Experience) project. This program allows students to pursue, for sixteen weeks, their interests, whether it be in the arts or following a possible career path.

For the first half of the year I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted to do. My possible ideas ranged from parkour to calligraphy. All I knew at that time was that I did not want to be stuck studying and researching for the entirety of the project.

I wanted to incorporate some type of intense physical training or learning some type of skill. As a result, I decided to continue my training in Seido Karate outside of classes and to research other Japanese martial arts. Throughout this project, I plan on developing myself through intense physical training, polishing my techniques, and learning how to apply my training my life.

At times, I will post videos that relate to my project and that are useful in some way shape or form. And others that are just plain awesome.

Let the project begin!