1st Day of Autumn

Little and I took the kayaks out today for a little bit of bonding time.  I miss him now that he's in school every day, but I have a new appreciation for the one-on-one time we do have available now.  It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of fish, ducks, geese, herons, and a couple of turtles.

 

 

We came home to Middle and his friends, who were getting ready to prepare a feast to share.  Days like this, with the house filled with music and happy kids doing fun stuff together - they feed my soul like nothing else can.

And Today...

I started learning my black belt material.  Got the first half of the first of my three open-hand forms down pretty well.  I think the second half is the mirror image of the first, so that shouldn't take long to learn. 

The form is short, but it is almost entirely done in a kemasay, or horse stance - meaning with legs spread and bent about 90 degrees, feet pointing forward, back straight.  After running through this form repeatedly for long periods of time today, I have concluded that my legs are about to become VERY strong.

I'm tired, and still sore.  As long as I keep moving, I feel pretty good, but after sitting down, it hurts to get up and move.

So I won't be spending much time on the computer.  Which is just as well.

:)

Thoughts on the Test

It was hard.

Was it the hardest thing I've ever done?  I'm not sure.

Physically, unmedicated childbirth is no walk in the park, and it takes a whole lot longer than the test did.  But there are breaks between contractions; time to regroup and refocus.

I've definitely experienced events that have stressed me mentally and emotionally more than the test, but they were also spread out over much longer periods of time, with breaks throughout the ordeal. 

My other belt tests and many sparring nights have been challenging, but not like this.  I think the key difference was the relentlessness of it, especially at the end when we were sparring and grappling and doing forms and burpees, all without a break, without time to catch the breath, grab a drink, take a knee... I felt pushed to the max - and then a bit farther - which is the whole point.

In Living The Martial Way, Forrest Morgan describes the process: "... a ritual observed in some way, shape, or form by every warrior society in the world.  It involves hardening the spirit through severe training or some extreme physical test.  The ritual takes different forms in different cultures, but they all have a common element: the warrior drives himself, or is driven, to a level of endurance beyond what he previously believed possible.  The experience is both grueling and frightening, but the warrior emerges from the ordeal feeling purified.  One who has experienced this kind of training is never quite the same afterwards."

He goes on to point out that most Americans go through their lives never really knowing if they are cowards or not.  They go through their lives not knowing how far they can really run, how long they can fight before they have to stop, not knowing their own physical and emotional limits. Without challenges such as these, he argues that a society drifts into shallow complacency. 

He also recommends that severe training like this should be followed up by a rewarding social or recreational activity.  At our dojang, we have a tradition of sharing a meal together after a test.  After both my red and red stripe tests, we also had a huge group of people back to the house for food and fun.  Fried as I was, it was great to be surrounded by friends and family, looking at the pictures, recounting the experience, discussing what we did well and what we needed to improve - and just celebrating the achievement.  As a result, I have felt recharged and happy - a dramatic contrast to the testing days that were followed up by crashing on the couch and waiting for the stiffness and soreness to set in. 

This is not to say that I'm not sore today - I am.  Very sore. All over.  My body definitely knows what it's been through.  And now I'm taking it to the gym to stretch and work out the kinks.

Looking forward to seeing the stripes applied to my belt - and beginning to train for my black belt test.

My Last Color Belt Test

The Before Picture: Encouragement from Middle

Bowing in

A whole lot of punches

Hand techniques

Moving concentrations with resisitance

Forms

Falls

More forms

Grappling

Continuous fighting

Feedback

With the 'rents

Proud Middle

Debriefing with the guru, as always



With my ninja girls



... and my mama tribe



Little, looking happy as always to have his picture taken



Middle's bf / my adopted son / testing buddy (the other red belts were all teen boys)

Grateful to the guru for his many hours of mentoring and weekend practices

Zombies are eatin' mah head!

 

 

 

Supportive hubby - and excellent photographer



The After Picture - speaks for itself. 

Countdown

I test for my red/stripe tomorrow.

It will be my very last color belt test.  Nine months later, in June, I will be eligible to test for my black belt, if The Master decides that I am ready.

There's no question as to my readiness for this one.  I have trained harder in the last 6 months than I have trained for anything in my entire life.  Testing for red, and now red/stripe - it's been serious business for me. 

In addition to the 12+ hours per week I put into actual classes at the dojang, I have also been there working in an open room or outside on the grass for hours before, between, and after classes.  There have been long practices on the weekends where we have fine-tuned forms, sparred, broken down and reassembled individual techniques, and discussed the theory and applications of what we're doing.

One of the Adopted Daughters brought her camera to the competition and to some of our many open practice sessions last weekend and caught me in the act of doing what I love.



Hanging at the competition with my girls.  (And Sabumnim P.)

I needed a new Profile Pic...



Fine-tuning Longstick 2

Middle in Motion

My Testing Buddy

Middle working the Nunchakau - me with longstick in the mirror

Open hand forms with one of my bestest Ninja pals

My arm is so straight.... fixing that one action took weeks.

Spinning kamas

Working on longstick 1 with the guru

Me in my Happy Place