Karate makes everything easy

‘Karate makes everything easy‘ is a phrase I first heard when I started training about 21 years ago from Joe, a friend/teacher/and mentor who has dedicated his life to the art. But it’s only now that I’ve seen the real truth in that statement.

The last time I trained properly, and by that I mean in a class, being pushed by others was about 7 years ago. I’m ashamed of that, even though I’ve had the excellent excuses of a young family and career to focus on, that’s all they are, excuses. In that time, life got hard, REALLY hard, with stresses and challenges becoming a part of the daily grind.

Physical fitness is one of the most obvious antidotes, but even that was difficult to organise. Nevertheless, I gave it a go, I tried to get back into training at home, and I also tried different things like running and body weight exercises, all with the goal of distraction, to build up my armour again for whatever came my way. Back in the days of Karate, I used to cruise through just about anything.

Karate makes everything easy

Mission: Start (again).

Fast forward to this week, and here I am again, sluggish from a two-week break and about to return to work, needing to do at least something to turn the pendulum back in my direction. So once again, I made a promise to myself. Karate, every day, with the goal of eventually passing through the doors of the YMCA again (if they’ll even have me).

An angel on my Shoulder?

Three days in, something special happened. My old Sensei, the late, great Jim Johnson’s favourite Kata was Ni Pai Po (Shito Ryu), which stood out because a) It focussed on the Neko Ashi stance, and b) Our club focussed solely on Shotokan and Goju Ryu at the time. Jim was a great man, and, I suppose to keep his memory alive, I decided to include Ni Pi Po into my daily routine.

I’d forgotten the Kata, however, so as usual, I scoured YouTube for hints, finding this by Sensei Mina Yamazaki.

But, as I’d feared, it wasn’t quite the same as the Kata Sensei Jim had taught us before his passing. He always said, ‘Perform the Kata as you were taught’, but I sadly didn’t have that option anymore.

Undeterred, I re-learned the Kata from the video, but with the sinking feeling that it wasn’t the way Jim intended. I’m not religious in any way, but as I took a breath and prepared to perform it again, a very strange thing happened. This time, I told myself to forget the video and think back to being in the Dojo with Jim again, stepping through the Kata all those years ago.

Miraculously, it all came back to me. Every step, every action, every nuance. It hadn’t been lost, it was always there, but more than that, I felt as though he was there, encouraging me, so I trained a little harder that day.

The Morale of the Story?

Well, what Joe said was always right, I just didn’t realise how right until life got tough. Now I’m realising that maybe Karate was the only thing keeping me strong, keeping me together. I think it’s because it’s so much more than the physical aspect, it’s the spiritual, you against you, self-improvement thing, as well as the calming, zen, way (or do) side of Karate-do.

As Jim always said. ‘All I’m interested in is effort’

Put simply, Karate was, and is, good for the mind, body and soul, and without daily training, I got weak, soft, and foolishly let life get the better of me. Dedication to Karate is hard, very hard, so to have something like that in your life really does make everything else relatively easy.

After each session, there’s a feeling of accomplishment, that you’ve learned a little, improved a little, both physically and mentally. I think everyone needs to feel like that at some point in their day, otherwise what’s the point?

Put even plainer, I needed something, and Karate was that thing, being right under my nose for too long.

So, yes, Karate really does make everthing easy, and it was nice that Jim’s memory reminded me of that.