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.