Thinking Body, Dancing Mind
Today I had my first karate workout in over a year, and only the second in more than seven years. In all honesty I haven’t actively pursued the martial arts since 1998. It felt good and strange at the same time to put a gi on again and workout. In the words of the instructor at the end of our 90 minutes, I “don’t have any rust for a guy who hasn’t worked out in that long.” It felt good that pieces of understand kept coming back from the depths of my memory.
A year ago, nearly 15 months now, I tried a different dojo with unsatisfactory results. I was very overweight at the time (250 +) and could hardly complete the warm up exercises with out collapsing. Embarrassed, more by my internal image and the tarnish covering it than anything else, I never went back. Over the summer I tried kendo, which wasn’t really my cup of tea. I also managed to pull a groin muscle, which has cascaded into chronic lower back pain. In all the years I did karate originally I never badly hurt myself. I missed the mental challenge of karate, and the mix of mini-disciplines contained within the broader scope of the art. Kendo was more contained and mental, and less broad in application.
Today’s workout was kihon and kata, followed by sanbon kumite or three-step sparring. It will take a while for my flexibility to return, and for the skin on my feet to toughen to the wooden floor once more. I’m sure that I’ll be sore in the morning. But I am very pleased to have picked up my gi and bowed onto the “mats” once again.
Today I was very aware that my mind and body have different memory sets of my prior knowledge. In my minds eye I can still see (and was able to re-see) many techniques. At times my body struggled to keep up. At other times my body knew the way and it my mind that raced to keep up. That the Shotokan style is different in subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways, only adds to the mental/physical challenge – how to mold my old muscle memory and neuro-pathways into this new style.
The next test will be getting up and going to the 7:00 am workout on Friday. The first one is free, the second one requires commitment.
