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I'LL
BE BACK
Those
lazy days
More
than any other time of the year, it happens in the summer.
School
is out.
The
days are longer.
The
beach, the parks, and the obligatory family vacation all
beckon.
Each
one calling loudly with promises of fun and adventure
under the warm summer sun.
It
is inevitable therefore, during these warm and pleasant
days of summer that the dojo will often echo with the
sound of fewer feet.
This
is, we are told by those who are departing, only a
temporary situation, for as they bow out the door in
search of "some time off" they all do so with a
common pledge, "I'll be back".
Now
all of us at one time or another have felt the need to
take a break from those events in our lives that occupy
so much of our very limited time. Whether it is from
work, university, the city in which we live, the people
we hang out with, or even from the dojo that we hold so
dear, sooner or later we all crave a brief change of pace.
The
question in the mind of the sensei, however, as he
listens to those quickly fading feet, is not so much,
"when will you be back" but more often than not
it is, "at what level will you be when you come back"?
Now
for those students above the rank of Ni Dan, I think it
is safe to say that a few days off, or even a week or two
away from the dojo, will usually not make a great deal of
difference to their fitness level, or to the quality of
their techniques. This is primarily of course because
students at this level will usually have eight to ten
years of dedicated training behind them. For them it is
often a case of being able to "switch on" and
"switch off", with most likely only a minor
number of adjustments in order to get back up to speed
after taking some time off. Any longer than two weeks,
however, and yes, even these senior ranks will also see a
distinct difference in all aspects of their karate upon
their return to the dojo.
But
what about everyone else?
It
has been my experience that students below the rank of Ni
Dan, will find that they are in for a bit of a surprise
when finally returning to class after those lazy days of
summer.
More
often than not they will find that compared to those
students who remained and continued to train, their
stance will seem somewhat higher, their timing will off,
and their blocks for some unknow reason will not seem
quite as crisp as they use to be.
As
for kata forget it.
It
is not uncommon for brown belts who thought they "knew"
all of their kata to discover much to their dismay, that
Heian Sandan and Heian Yodan have for some unexplainable
reason now blended together in both their body and their
mind, making even the thought of completing either kata
an impossible challenge.
All
of this of course is not unusual, since any significant
time away in a relaxing setting has a tendency to
diminish both our mental memory, as well as our body
memory. Fortunately for most students there is a cure for
this softened mental and physical state, and the remedy
is very simple. It is getting back to into the dojo and
getting back to the basics as soon as possible. Hours of
hard work, countless repetitions, a large dose of self-determination,
and a strong desire to "make up for lost time"
are the only means by which a student will recover their
position within the dojo society.
To
do an less means risking the prospect of being passed in
rank by those students who remained and trained.
There
is an old saying, "time and tide wait for no man".
The
point being that some things wait for no one, under any
circumstances.
If
I was to look for a similar analogy in terms of karate I
would suggest, "that a missed class can never be
made up".
My
point being that in your life you have a finite number of
days, and you can never make up for lost time, or a class
missed, both are gone from your life forever. Oh sure,
you can go to class on Friday to make up for the one you
missed on Wednesday, but no matter how you justify it in
truth the classes you miss, for what ever reason, can
never be made up for.
So
by all means listen to the song that Summer sings in the
hope of luring you to play at other past times, and take
a break if you feel the need. But, always be prepared to
come back to the dojo a few paces behind those students
who remained and who continued to polish the dojo floor
with their feet and their sweat while you went in search
of "some time off".
Gichin
Funakoshi Sensei once said, karate is like boiling water,
if you do not heat it constantly it will soon start to
cool.
On your return to
the dojo turning up the heat once again is entirely up to
you.
Remember
In
order to start where you left off,
you
must first get back to where you use to be
- Part
the clouds - see the way.
-
- "The
objective of karate-do is to contribute to the evolution
- of
the human spirit through physical and mental training."
- Sensei
Peter Lindsay
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