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- SLOW
AND STEADY DOES IT
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- If
karate was easy no one would be doing it
- Someone
asked me the other day why I still practice karate after
so many years.
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- Not
wanting to give them a flip, spur of the moment answer, I
thought about their question for a moment and then I
replied, "because karate is so very difficult for me
to do".
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- The
person then asked me what I meant by that.
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- I
went on to explain that karate has never come easily to
me, I am not a "natural" at it. For me karate
has always been, and remains to this very day, a lot of
bloody hard work.
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- Looking
back I can remember my very first class, as the saying
goes, "like it was yesterday". I came out of
that class aching in places I never knew I had. My mind
was a whirl of Japanese terms and karate techniques and
the sound of "lower your stance" constantly
rang in my ears. Yet in spite of how stiff and sore I
felt I clearly remember one thing, being absolutely
determined to go back as soon as possible and do it all
over again.
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- More
that twenty-nine years have now passed since I first
entered a dojo and in all that time I do not think I can
recall a single class where I did not have to work hard
to improve some aspect of my karate. I suppose it is my
desire to be better at karate today than I was yesterday
that has kept me going to the dojo all of these years.
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- Quite
frankly I think if I had been a "natural" at
karate I would probably have quit a long, long time ago.
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- Don't
ask me why, but for some reason students who on the
surface appear to be gifted never seem to last for very
long. You know the ones I mean, they can lift up either
leg and thrust out a side kick at head height, all the
while seeming to hold it there with little or no effort,
and this is in their very first class!!
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- For
them the physical aspects of karate come easily, they
quickly develop good stances, solid looking techniques
and more often than not they are the envy of almost every
student in class. Then one day you turn around and they
are gone. No notice. No explanation. They simply stop
coming to class.
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- Perhaps
for them karate was simply not challenging enough.
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- Sad
really, because karate is so much more that just physical
movements. The true depth of all that karate has to offer
lies elsewhere and this is often only revealed, if ever,
after a great many years on the dojo floor. Like many
things in life karate in and of it's self is not a
destination, but instead it is more of a journey. A
journey that literally tens of thousands of students
around the world embark upon each year, yet few ever
finish.
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- Those
rare few who do make the entire journey they become the
masters, the teachers of other teachers. We look up to
them with gratitude and true appreciation for all the
time, the effort, and the energy that they have given to
the development of karate-do. They are the leaders that
set example for all of us to follow.
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- But
my true inspiration can be found much closer to home.
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- For
me it is the student who is training beside me during
class. Their belt rank does not matter. What does matter
is the fact that we are both sweating on the same floor,
putting forth our best effort, and spending our energy,
striving to make our karate better today than it was the
day before. It is these students that have kept me coming
back to the dojo day after day. It is these students who
help me on my journey and who make all of the bloody hard
work that karate demands seem just a little bit easier.
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- I
for one will never be a master, or perhaps even a good
sensei, but one thing is for certain, I will always be a
student who is very grateful for the fact that when it
came to karate, I was not a "natural".
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- Remember
- The
truth lies in your effort,
- not
in the outcome.
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- Part
the clouds - see the way.
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- "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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