tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49208939867702384702024-03-05T15:36:57.345-04:00Memories of a NidanMusings on a 30 year trek in Goju Ryu KarateJorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-37580589014192082152014-09-05T19:55:00.001-04:002014-09-12T18:42:10.412-04:00Fade to Black<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don’t use the karategis
anymore. They hang together like ghosts in the closet. Don’t use the obi
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a 45º angle, the
invisible dojo lies over the living room floor. Silently at night in darkness I
do the Goju katas as I was taught, in the background Pandora plays selections
from the Buddha Bells channel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The guy to the left in this
old faded photo from the late ‘60’s or early ‘70’s is my last karate sensei
long before I knew him, when barely an adolescent, when he practiced Isshinryu karate at a local military
base, Buchanan. More than 50 years have passed. Because time does pass. And not
in vain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don’t know if I do the katas
right anymore, there is no mirror to correct myself. There is no one else
telling me to slow down or turn this way or that. It is only me, my head, my
body that tries to teach itself. Feeling my way through the katas, feeling them
change, feeling myself change, but </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">not knowing exactly how. It is all feeling,
breathing, and stepping. The music plays on. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A faded photo lost to time,
barely discernible. Creased and white and threadbare as a sensei’s obi. Sai to
neck, cat stance. Sensei Acosta has been practicing karate since his early
teens. Last time I saw him in the dojo he was sipping lukewarm green tea and
holding his bamboo stick. Last time I
saw him on the street he was smoking a sad cigarette and sipping black coffee.
He does Thai massage. He gets by. He says he no longer goes to dojo. He says.
Mean, motherfucking samurai.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some still practice. Some
still go to dojo. Some now have garden dojo like the old Okinawa teachers. All
that is fine. Some only sweat when they go to a seminar every two years. Some
tell old dojo yarns across a table full of beer bottles. Some look at their old
dojo photos and reminisce. All this is fine. Everyone has paid their dues.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Karate goes underground
for some. I don’t do kumite anymore. Just the katas like an endless dream. Been
years since I touched my toes, ages since I felt a blow. Yet the body moves in
tandem with the kata in a darkened room, and somewhere in the pot belly
something tenses then relaxes in Sanchin. Practice for that one sure blow or
kick. Do the kata of hidden intentions. There is no time for fancy footwork.
Laugh at myself as I slip further away from any hope of perfection. The music
plays on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-89112917881426546022012-10-22T21:36:00.000-04:002012-10-23T07:03:33.980-04:00Quiet the Mind & Let the Body Speak<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In many blog posts, essays, and Facebook entries
of people I follow on the Internet there is the recurring theme about <b>just what</b> does a person get out of
practicing the martial arts if they were to name one, two or three things. They
run the gamut from the martial to the spiritual, or both, the budo, the warrior,
the samurai creed, the bubishi, this teacher, that sensei, zen, out-of –the box,
body-mind-spirit, and so on and so forth. All true. The bottom line is that no
one who practices any martial art is ever the same. This transformation–sometimes
called the path, the way–is very typical of the martial arts experience and
pretty much its overriding virtue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The very first thing I newly experienced when I
began was that<b> I</b> <b>must quiet the mind and let the body speak.
</b>That was the first and everlasting hurdle to understanding the martial arts
experience. The body has a language that the mind must learn to listen to. The
body instructs the mind in this language. That is why the emphasis on the <b>no mind</b>: the don’t think but do.
Somewhere along that path the mind learns to dialogue with the body in the
silence of doing. It is not as effortless as it seems. Just the opposite. It is
constant struggle to work out a middle ground. The mind meets the body in
stillness and movement, in <b>rituals of
breathing, focus, and rooting</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It begins with a teacher, students, a designated place,
the basics, the abc’s, the formalities, the ceremonies, the history of those
that went before, the eternal circle of learning, the legends, the myths: <b>the style</b>. It begins amidst a crowd and
ends in <b>the loneliest spot on earth:
yourself</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All else–the hateful comparisons of just what <b>is</b> the truer manifestation of the art,
who’s the prince or the jester, the saint or the fool, is the mind in the <b>hall of mirrors.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sports are the vanities of youth, only arts permit
aging. A person practices his martial art from the workplace to the lover’s
bed, and all place in between. A martial artist is not a blowhard, but he who derives
meaning from the doing of his art. As a martial artist ages, his art ages with
him. It will be an art full of gaps and holes, in tatters, but yours. It will
be you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In sum, a martial art is learning <b>defeat with style</b>. The ultimate kata or
form is </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">learning how to die. To live and die with style, with meaning, with
humbleness and awe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Old foes once, body and mind are in step on the path
of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The spirit soars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-15076302217332762862012-06-06T08:55:00.001-04:002012-06-06T09:04:33.127-04:00“The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat”<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">“Training
in serious fighting arts will always have elements of both<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i>hardness</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i>hardship</i>.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">Dan Djurdjevic</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">One thing that has always struck me when I
watch sport documentaries is the fact that many elite athletes abandon their “art”
once they retire from their given sport. This is not always the case but it is
prevalent enough to be considered a given. They practice religiously from their
youth to their mid-30’s, retire and that’s it. They hang up their gloves, take
off their track shoes, throw down the bat, doff their hats, and…. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">Professional sports demand a discipline,
sacrifice, and commitment that not all are willing to assume. Many of our
favorite athletes reach a pinnacle of performance that we see as either art or
magic. They do unbelievable things that both inspire and hold us in awe. Yet
when the curve of their performance begins to wobble we jeer and demand that
they be sent out to pasture, stop practicing that for which they sacrificed
their lives. Sport as spectacle demands new blood. You are only as good as your
last game.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">Many athletic endeavors demand the stamina of
youth for their performance. Competition demands better clock times, a .350 lifetime
average, more on the win column that in the lost column. You are either better
than the rest or you are nothing, a loser. No wonder that many when they retire
stop practicing their “art.” Their art was tied to competition, to winning
either their opponent or ever surpassing their own records. Their art was tied
to the roar of the crowd.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">Of course, this can be said about literally
anything our society puts a monetary value on. Money demands marketable results.
As of late, the martial arts have also come to be judged by these sports-like demands
on marketable skills: Do you have what it takes to make it in the Mixed Martial
Arts. If not, your martial art is not only unmarketable but phony.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">So reading Dan Djurdjevic’s essay, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_488320641">“</a></span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><a href="http://dandjurdjevic.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/yin-and-yang-vulnerability-worry-and.html">Yin and yang: vulnerability, worry and martialarts”</a> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">I got to thinking about whether
the “hardness” and “hardship” endured in my personal capacity had the desired results.
But then we have to define “results.” Did I obtain the skills to enter the ring
with the MMA greats? Did it expand my cash flow? Was I able to retire
gracefully amid the roar of the crowd? Obviously Dan did not have this in mind.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"><br />
<o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">Can I consider myself a martial artist and
yet have no tangible material results as a consequence thereof? Can all the “hardness”
and “hardship” endured to master the katas have a timetable? How can I measure
my “success?” Am I over the hill?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"><br /> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">As my body goes, so goes the kata. The ideal
kata in the brain can only be seen with the heart as the body wobbles in
between. But at least I got that, I got the katas, katas which I practice with
more fervor now than when young; even though with less formal decorum the
youthful intention is there. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">The Eros and Thanatos are still at odds, yet the
art remains.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">This I suppose is the art in the mix. An art
is not a sport, it is a lifestyle, a way to see the world. It is not how you
perform but what you are.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal;">Therein lies the hardness and the hardship,
the “no-free-lunchiness” of it all: life.</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-23132182436967214252012-01-21T21:41:00.003-04:002012-01-21T21:55:41.695-04:00Do You Believe in Magic: Can you Read Intent?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhiraQSdT8E62JfGcB6Z3M-hoxyViEyMzdvva9kAYM_HNm1kBW7K3BHrdDi6fP0nfcG6wgq1Nw6eqX5aVcOMaL-0Gaah6D6KHdsNmH_-v7m8Hm7wlNUJn95xGwR2rx8YajZlg5MyNszs/s1600/images+%25282%2529.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhiraQSdT8E62JfGcB6Z3M-hoxyViEyMzdvva9kAYM_HNm1kBW7K3BHrdDi6fP0nfcG6wgq1Nw6eqX5aVcOMaL-0Gaah6D6KHdsNmH_-v7m8Hm7wlNUJn95xGwR2rx8YajZlg5MyNszs/s320/images+%25282%2529.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5700266583315604002" /></a><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >That which before our eyes defies logic astounds. When one cannot connect the dots from here to there and effect is without apparent cause what can fill the vacuum of understanding? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >As anyone who has bandied around dojos for a better part of their lives can attest, strange things do happen, in passing, reality’s slights of hand; now you see it, now you don’t. I got to thinking about the “magical” aspects recently after reading Dan <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; font-style: normal; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Djurdjevic</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span>’s article “</span><a href="http://dandjurdjevic.blogspot.com/2012/01/legend-and-martial-arts.html"><span >Legend and the Martial Arts.”</span></a><span> Like Dan, I also had a sort of magical seduction into the practice of the art. In my case it was the old Kung Fu series with Carradine. Of course, the seduction was short-lived; sweat, pain and frustration pretty much wrung it out, yet a lingering feeling of doing something out of the ordinary still persisted, there was always something “invisible” at play, if just for seconds at a time. It’s what keeps one going at it, that unknowable quality that promises to transport one out of one’s limitations, defy gravity, spin in space. The stuff that legends are made of.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >I’ve never been able to appreciate the legendary and folkloric backdrop of the Chinese martial arts movies because my grasp of that culture is weak at best. At most, I’m mesmerized by the fluid technique and the spectacle. But I must confess that I am put off by the “supernatural explanations” although I cannot totally ignore the possibility of magic at play. And, of course, I fully acknowledge the fact that many practitioners and lay persons truly believe that this is where it’s at: that the true practice lies in attaining this magical power to defy the laws of physics. Many is the person who knowing that I practice karate has asked me if I am capable of doing all they saw in <i>Crouching Tiger</i>, <i>Kill Bill</i>, or any of the Bruce Lee movies, knowing full well that I can’t. It’s a pro forma way of saying that, ergo, I’m not <i>really</i> a martial artist. Where’s the magic?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >Yet there are ineffable things in the marital arts and to deny them would be stupid and contrary to the very training you receive. And many of these ineffable things permeate the whole martial arts experience, but in very subtle ways, sometimes imperceptible. As Dan very well states, many of the uncanny techniques only seem so at first glance, the results of years of practice until the dots seems to disappear and only the results remain. The many years of kata, meditation, kumite and the like do have their effect of one’s perception of reality, how one receives it through the senses, digests it and responds. And this can transpire in seconds, hence the magical, the seeming slights of hand that are actually the product of endless hours, days and years of practice and the attendant honing of technique. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >This can give way to myth and exaggeration and as a karateca I have also partaken of extending dojo legends and the occasional tall tale to make a point. But like all tall tales they carry a kernel of truth. And so we have the Sensei who can levitate his Johnson to evade the agonizing kick in the groin, the guy you kicked and felt his flesh yield like putty, the lad who experienced a spiritual transformation when touched by a teacher during a Sanchin testing, the third eye that saved one from being blindsided. All these are metaphorical explanations for very honed techniques born out of years of practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span >Can you read intent?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >Can you know what the other person is planning to do in a combat situation or one where your life is clearly in danger? Can this be perceived from the faintest of evidence or total lack thereof? Years of practice develops a radar and nose for the harmful intentions of others towards your person. Can one literally smell trouble coming one’s way? All practice of martial arts, in my opinion, leads to this conundrum. But talking about it seems speculative, conjectural, eerily magical, yet it’s there. It can hardly be put into words. It can barely be suggested. And to take it a step forward, can one know it before it manifests itself even to the doer? Magic, right? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >No one who has been practicing a martial art for a considerable span of time can say it has not altered their view of themselves and the world and how they approach reality and how they let reality approach them. No one who is truly a martial artist ever ceases to be one, practice or not. Much like any art, it molds its practitioners, making them move a certain way that always leads them back to the art itself. And you don’t have to be great at it; a third rate poet is still a poet, still wants to write that poem that has always eluded him or her whether he or she is capable or not, because that’s what art does, it transforms and tattoos their very soul. Anything else falls short of being art. These comings and goings are sure to spawn yarns, weave metaphors, exact similes. But what if at their very core they’re true, these legends, these tall tales we tell others and ourselves? I’m not talking about the flights through the air, the spinning kick that vanquishes three score and ten assailants, travel through the cracks of seamless time. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >I’m talking about the natural magic of life as it unfolds around you, that seeks you ear on a darkened street, that beckons your eyes in a crowd. I’m talking about the martial art that teaches you not to take anything for granted in what you see before you, or better yet, what you cannot <i>see</i> but only sense. <b>The intent of the other.</b> Where is it going, what can I do or what should I do?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >The many years of practice puts you before many people: short and tall, experienced and novice, male and female, fast and slow. Body language. Smiling, angry, stone-faced, open, misleading, readable. Each a book to be read and understood and filed away. These people move towards you and away. Someone can have you in their sights from an overhead window, or bump into you on the street. You don’t have to be in a movie to be killed. Then you have yourself, aging through the maze, clutching at straws, doing Sanchin on a fast moving train to nowhere. But where do you train this? I’ve just said. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span >You train to pull the rabbit out of the hat, whether there is a rabbit or not. That’s the magic.</span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-36451855919571149722011-09-07T19:53:00.002-04:002011-09-07T19:54:49.467-04:00Ego & Kata<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxrU1eFFL_ev7oyxEuedY0iH-1O-gBMbTPlilS-V0jmYDqu5ewXXEgMVxaKZfvAZGSz4N-MJyhS-704NIRD-P5vBT_li_MsmT6hLjj4E5UO3Pg_CZrQsQb3VpCkYefeZWqoQMMH0Rwcc/s1600/ego-self.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxrU1eFFL_ev7oyxEuedY0iH-1O-gBMbTPlilS-V0jmYDqu5ewXXEgMVxaKZfvAZGSz4N-MJyhS-704NIRD-P5vBT_li_MsmT6hLjj4E5UO3Pg_CZrQsQb3VpCkYefeZWqoQMMH0Rwcc/s320/ego-self.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649770297578180098" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">One of the riskiest things of practicing solo is navigating between the ego and the kata. There is no reason why you should be doing the katas except that you want to do them for reasons that shift as whimsically as the sands in the desert, and since no one is around to verify that you’re doing them except yourself, you are your only witness and judge. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">If you are in a dojo what you do is in the hands of the sensei. You surrender to his or her whimsy. You can perform out of ego, fear, pride or conformity. You survive as part of a choral ensemble. You can mouth the kata in silence, no one is the wiser.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">But you’re alone. Alone in a small space. You are priest and acolyte. And all around the ego multiplies like crabgrass. And you try to forget about yourself for the duration of the rosary bead of katas you’ve chosen for that night’s ritual of movement. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Fat chance</span>Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-26747073285184828252011-08-16T20:39:00.003-04:002011-08-16T20:44:25.502-04:00The Longest Kata<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKcCbixZVSBio4h0mGPIY5eVOCDefkVoiOrXOlVkzgv2uoin5tWZ2q3bb7YqQD1ReNin34Bqi2UiEq9SQj84asv3u8tQ8eh62X9JfqbUaG7_rA2FNtkQ_bOG4TUVOJKTF9rWiHm8jzfKg/s1600/diety.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641618802749726258" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 170px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 278px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKcCbixZVSBio4h0mGPIY5eVOCDefkVoiOrXOlVkzgv2uoin5tWZ2q3bb7YqQD1ReNin34Bqi2UiEq9SQj84asv3u8tQ8eh62X9JfqbUaG7_rA2FNtkQ_bOG4TUVOJKTF9rWiHm8jzfKg/s320/diety.gif" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">It has no name. It is not taught. It has only one practitioner. It is a fluid flow of movement or </span><span style="font-size:130%;">stillness. Its opening stance is lost, but felt. Its different positions are hardly discernible. Once begun it goes on its own volition indivisible from the tapestry of the everyday. Breath and light merge and come apart. There is laughter and tears, loss and discovery but no one can yet distinguish the vectors where they cross and evanesce .Its last stance is a plume in the wind.</span></div>
<br />Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-87329099601449619052010-09-08T14:50:00.000-04:002010-09-08T14:53:24.805-04:00A Last Stand<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:version>12.00</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> 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mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A photo of “my Dojo” would show a small, over-crowded living room with barely any space to move, much less do katas. Should I dare call it “my Dojo” or just the space where I practice? No Kamidana or other Dojo trimmings. Truly a dojo of the mind, if not despair or need. Or just the way things are.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As I drifted from my last Dojo I used the terrace, a cement concoction outside my kitchen door and overlooking the street. Used it to practice for awhile when I still harbored the belief that this practicing solo was just a temporary solution; that somehow I would find my way back to a “real” Dojo. It was to be a complement to the dojo. When it became apparent that I would never definitely go back to a formal Dojo, I began to practice in the terrace more or less formally; mimicking or mirroring what my formal Dojo sessions were. The whole enchilada. But, of course, alone. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But the terrace proved a problem in more ways than one. Weather, peering neighbors, the accidental cement floor with its occasional pebbles, nails, and slipperiness were all factors in my abandoning it eventually, but the real clincher was something more intangible: energy. The old “chi” kicked in. I was beginning to hurt internally: dizziness, cramps out of the blue, palpitations, etc.<span style=""> </span>I just could not harness the Chi, could not prevent it from dispersing into the night or boomeranging back into me like a wallop, a spiritual and physical thrashing of the senses. <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then I remembered what I heard about practicing solo and with a group. How the group can absorb the excess energy or carry you through a session. How practicing alone one runs the risk of not being able to manage the energy fields around you, especially if you practice as if you were in a full Dojo.<span style=""> </span>So eventually I went indoors.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mapping the space available was at first a challenge. Laying out the katas so I wouldn’t bump into everything took me a while. Learning how to practice also took a period of trial and error. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I recalled the anecdote of a former Sensei when he was forced to learn a kata from a Master in the confines on his tiny studio apartment, how they had to learn the kata in segments. I was not as confined or constricted but it also posed a problem that I resolved by designing a session suited to the space, my condition, and my age.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It has all been a process of continuous adjustments. I am now fully integrated to this sort of karate practice and Dojo practice is what seems foreign to me. There is nothing on the walls or floor that demarcates the area as my practice zone. I just move one piece of furniture. I dim the lights and put some instrumental mood music. I practice kata and some light stretching and breathing exercises. Sometimes I also include punching and kicking drills, but rarely. I usually only do katas. <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What brought me to this was not choice but circumstance. It is not a door I walked through of my own volition. It is a last ditch effort, a foxhole carved out of what is available, a last stand.</span></p>Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-41472419431002576352010-06-09T21:56:00.002-04:002010-06-09T21:59:42.946-04:00The zen of the long-distance karateca<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4JrtEUL1ugtSZkag7-X9xNA5vkiwIppx858rc3Oj_L_dzjhUDARGfrHFpDi_hyphenhyphenjhWoX84lqNocCXM9Y8lwsNW06y3H1nt0eiU30IovPwbVMo_QjAvaTFwUoxGIaG4EmYjAAnpdXEHDuI/s1600/zen1.png"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4JrtEUL1ugtSZkag7-X9xNA5vkiwIppx858rc3Oj_L_dzjhUDARGfrHFpDi_hyphenhyphenjhWoX84lqNocCXM9Y8lwsNW06y3H1nt0eiU30IovPwbVMo_QjAvaTFwUoxGIaG4EmYjAAnpdXEHDuI/s200/zen1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480958814606351170" border="0" /></a>
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table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >To whom do you bow when there is no foe but yourself?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >That very thin slice of time and space where you are between a rock and a hard place is Budo. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >Where the jagged beer bottle of life arcs towards your neck and the ground shifts beneath your feet: the precise edge of kata.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >Sanchin in a darkened room<span style=""> </span>and the sound of an oscillating fan.<o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-23057965474480381932010-06-04T21:44:00.001-04:002010-06-04T21:51:20.675-04:00Evolution of a kata<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMl1hzqgVqVvunHjJQTzXrIKLyRJIAmDmUApf7fktPPLRRQwTs8WcFb7S7wzbEqnsIkMvl_Cbf5hiIiBdlHNDhyphenhyphenU3SrRO1FzpbqdfLONdHkOVhS86GivoHtVA5qCbv5LDNWHMdSta0Es/s1600/toguchi.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMl1hzqgVqVvunHjJQTzXrIKLyRJIAmDmUApf7fktPPLRRQwTs8WcFb7S7wzbEqnsIkMvl_Cbf5hiIiBdlHNDhyphenhyphenU3SrRO1FzpbqdfLONdHkOVhS86GivoHtVA5qCbv5LDNWHMdSta0Es/s320/toguchi.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479101137203608306" border="0" /></a>
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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >Way back in this blog I made reference to the fact that when I saw Seikichi Toguchi in person do the first basic kata of the Shoreikan syllabus (Tandoku or Fukyu) it seemed like another kata, all together different from the kata that I as a white belt was just learning to do. The ingredients of his kata were the same as mine, recognizable as a stick figure may be to a human form, and yet those same ingredients sieved through his body, mind and spirit tasted different to the eye.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >The kata is a static mold, an ideal, a form, a map from here to there. Yet as it moves through one’s body and mind through time it jellies and wobbles, whips and pauses, morphs into the skin of your particular intent. Becomes yours. Becomes you, and you it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >My kata did not become Toguchi’s kata. Impossible. <o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-62568505267620881122010-05-30T12:28:00.001-04:002010-05-30T12:30:50.203-04:00A Kata is a Kata is a Kata<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSl7eSe7Zdk5TCjpNaw2hCgjwwimaqJc0405PYKCkpXamzOzSkHUgsce4MaeaIn6gkJDBlrK2RUkWiv40E6ekfq-rSdg1ar1Wb02zsArCg0Isd5y_aFZqsxMK9xaM6wqiTl8LCt9m6Ujw/s1600/NautilusCutawaySpiral.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSl7eSe7Zdk5TCjpNaw2hCgjwwimaqJc0405PYKCkpXamzOzSkHUgsce4MaeaIn6gkJDBlrK2RUkWiv40E6ekfq-rSdg1ar1Wb02zsArCg0Isd5y_aFZqsxMK9xaM6wqiTl8LCt9m6Ujw/s320/NautilusCutawaySpiral.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477101363233009858" border="0" /></a>
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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >No boxer fights like he/she spars, does the bag or skips rope. No karateca <u>should </u>fight as he/she does kata. Karate, as a “traditional” martial art, has a more profound purpose than just learning to fight, regardless of all the analytical mumbo-jumbo of the experts on its historical origins that attempt to scientifically package the ineffable.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >Kata is the manifestation of the art of karate. It unfolds its meaning through time. Most of a kata remains untold, <em><span style=";font-family:";" >undecipherable</span></em><i style=""> </i>at first glance, most times at the hundredth glance.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >It is a ritual of epiphanies and within them the fleeting secrets lie. <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-84726125700138249202010-04-01T21:10:00.003-04:002010-04-02T08:46:52.403-04:00“Where are the snows of yesteryear”<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTX8dl9LdViLOmQ7bXSWdjqBcEMgfYGo1TYQ1L5eNysdSTwhWkwkywPi3uCDSudnQHLLqw2bUrCWfpcNKJ_kspfdhblbVLNY0IJ0SoiCldEvyKxYbj39-PAn3ibCnifHbAHR4CLeDWli4/s1600/Photograph+%2885%29.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTX8dl9LdViLOmQ7bXSWdjqBcEMgfYGo1TYQ1L5eNysdSTwhWkwkywPi3uCDSudnQHLLqw2bUrCWfpcNKJ_kspfdhblbVLNY0IJ0SoiCldEvyKxYbj39-PAn3ibCnifHbAHR4CLeDWli4/s320/Photograph+%2885%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455342303005095650" border="0" /></a>
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table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >Nothing like a spring cleaning where all kinds of memories are rescued from the most secluded reaches of the closet, dusted and viewed anew . This old photo of<span style=""> </span>me dates back to 1973,taken as I was practicing karate with a friend in an old university-years apartment. A perfect place to practice since I had no furniture save a small round dining table , 2 director chairs, and throw cushions. That practice Gi cost me $15, the cheapest in the store.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" ><span style=""> </span>I was a white belt. This was long before cell phones, Internet, and for that matter, even satellite broadcasts. Practicing a style of karate without knowing there were many other styles of karate, and many other styles of martial arts. All I knew I got from the dojo and it wasn’t much, just the first two katas of the syllabus (fukyu, gekisai ichi). It was all monkey see, monkey do. No Japanese or Okinawan terminology beyond the salutations. Just a mimeographed sheet with a short paragraph on the history of the style and a few others on dojo etiquette. I knew less than nothing and that little nothing I practiced every day and at every opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >A white belt now knows more than I knew at brown belt, can see katas and forms of every style and all the martial arts, the legendary teachers at the click of the mouse, order martial arts books online, chat and comment on all the minutiae that his/her heart desires.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >I would practice in that living room the little I knew. I had the space, I had the time, and I had my foolish youth to spend as I saw fit. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >I’ve come full circle. I think I know a bit more. At least it is all a click away. Even got a blog, something truly inconceivable, unimaginable in that empty space of my youth in 1973. My living room now is more cluttered of all the things one may accumulate in a lifetime, and I must <span style=""> </span>move more carefully <span style=""> </span>between bookcases and furniture.<span style=""> </span>I know a bit more but not that much more. I have just been practicing the little I know longer, years.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >The invisible guy I was practicing with died nine years ago. My youngest son is much older than I was then. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >The old guy in the sidebar smiles.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >“ … but</span></i><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" > <em><span style=";font-family:";" >I was so much older then</span></em>. <em><span style=";font-family:";" >I'm younger than that now.”</span></em><o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-86788589924626297322010-03-28T08:11:00.002-04:002010-03-28T08:32:06.422-04:00The thread that binds<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FEBwiRMRI8j0CZ_ogbh2oZVHvXEzVvB-acTsxVk3dAufLxaq2vSdEk97oqdzyZ3ebl-NzDGTZ2dTeEkzJBG42WUXE2CSMHaa322WhCedUl02vp7HnVHTjJoFxFJ8ohEI0SdITGIPl2M/s1600/Ineg10.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FEBwiRMRI8j0CZ_ogbh2oZVHvXEzVvB-acTsxVk3dAufLxaq2vSdEk97oqdzyZ3ebl-NzDGTZ2dTeEkzJBG42WUXE2CSMHaa322WhCedUl02vp7HnVHTjJoFxFJ8ohEI0SdITGIPl2M/s320/Ineg10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453656625358213490" border="0" /></a>
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table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >As I was walking down the street after work, in that final stretch of pavement to my house, I ran into an old dojo friend. I spied her from afar, in the midst of a group of people in front of a local political organization. As I neared the group she turned to go up a flight of stairs. I called out her name. She turned and swiftly ran down the stairs. We embraced in the joy of finding each other out of sheer happenstance. She had spied me too but could only comment to someone nearby that the manner of walking of that guy up the street reminded her of an old karate buddy. We laughed. We exchanged the usual karate courtesies and quickly asked about each other’s practice, the thread that binds.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >She now practices with a few other “old” dojo mates in a public park close to the beach in a part of San Juan called Ocean Park.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >She is an old Kimo Wall alumnus, getting her black belt in the Violeta Dojo in the ‘80’s. I had known her since my university years in the late sixties and early seventies, but just as a campus activist. Although we had friends in common, it wasn’t until we practiced together in the dojo that we became friends; the thread that binds. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >Then we met again some fifteen years later in the Las Cumbres dojo where we finally got to know each other well. She was and is far my superior in technique, endurance, and commitment. We practiced often and practiced hard … the thread that binds.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >It was surprising how without having talked about it we had reached the same lifestyle conclusions regarding the practice of karate. We have practically no knowledge of each other’s lives except for the surface details, and yet we feel a tie that supersedes these limitations and forges a unique bond: more than thirty years of practicing in the same style of karate. This has its particular glue and vision shared. We probably have more in common than we suspect.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >This is not the only experience I’ve had of this nature, just the most recent. And it confirms a belief I have of the transcendence of practicing the martial arts. It is truly a lifestyle. It is truly a way of seeing the world that transcends the kata and yet resides at the very core of the kata.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >I experience it in no other of my endeavors, except maybe for poetry. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >It is the thread that binds.<o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-2694704461422888052010-03-11T20:37:00.001-04:002010-03-11T20:41:27.968-04:00Legacies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvIWEbLnYguviEUtCu7gbW4Z2R0i7gq-kyDKw5lEW-G4xT-jwOcJ3uY4ULhWkMK_FlxdqciMZXv-k-3w-ajVXrDkh5gsi9AIdR95JzusX93ZY_S-8KYPHGVECsFp-44B7TKtONkI2Mng/s1600-h/tour-bangkok-legacies-kukrit-pramoj-house.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvIWEbLnYguviEUtCu7gbW4Z2R0i7gq-kyDKw5lEW-G4xT-jwOcJ3uY4ULhWkMK_FlxdqciMZXv-k-3w-ajVXrDkh5gsi9AIdR95JzusX93ZY_S-8KYPHGVECsFp-44B7TKtONkI2Mng/s320/tour-bangkok-legacies-kukrit-pramoj-house.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447540959742938802" border="0" /></a>
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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">As the martial arts have spread from their country or regions of origin throughout the world the thread that weaves through the generations of practitioners becomes tenuous. Lineage grows like a wild tree whose branches shoot forth in every direction far from the trunk and the seeds rain down from the canopy or are born through the air to germinate saplings in foreign soils. I studied under C who studied under B who, in turn, studied with A. I studied under D and another B who also studied under A. Legacies. <span style=""> </span>Who was your teacher, where, when?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I studied Goju. Who’s Goju? So and so’s. Oh. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">How far can you stray from the Dojo and still consider yourself linked to it by style? Can I call the teacher of my teacher’s teacher my teacher? Is karate, like politics, local?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Legacy from father to son, from founder to first generation, from village to nation, from nation to world, to town, city, suburb, up the street. Back & forth. A ball of string untraceable.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Should I bequeath my legacy, what story should I tell? Should I YouTube it for whatever posterity that may be? Blog it? Twitter it?<span style=""> </span>Facebook it?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Too soon to tell. <span style=""> </span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-82401248020242516562010-03-03T22:29:00.001-04:002010-03-03T22:30:46.514-04:00Limitations or Free as a Bird<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZIHBxyTtwApia2Pej-Sg0ydEtk5LL-TrlQuCnAFnZJa0RU67C6I260K-Np2DXZ7U73Gxb4roPEpqT5h-XPwBPQ7VOzSy2xUrSbW6JqnPVAePmdW0X7jNPwmOLGjc5RlL6OYtCWNiQNA/s1600-h/00(1).jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZIHBxyTtwApia2Pej-Sg0ydEtk5LL-TrlQuCnAFnZJa0RU67C6I260K-Np2DXZ7U73Gxb4roPEpqT5h-XPwBPQ7VOzSy2xUrSbW6JqnPVAePmdW0X7jNPwmOLGjc5RlL6OYtCWNiQNA/s320/00(1).jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444600479830940626" border="0" /></a>
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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >There comes a time when you come up against a wall that you surely cannot climb no matter how many times you try, or how many times you reinvent yourself or redefine the situation. The wall is there and it defines who you are. To be fully aware of your limitations is crucial in the martial arts because it creates the space you must perforce inhabit. It is where you have to make do. <span style=""> </span>For example, I can attempt to push the envelope and probably injure myself seriously or make do with what I have. I can waste my life trying to master the improbable, or perfect the possible. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >This is not so for all people. There are those whose striving and dedication help them surpass all barriers of learning and skill. For those, where there is a will there’s a way. But there are those, like myself, who must face ever looming obstacles, some surmountable with effort, others that it would be sheer lunacy to even try. There are things that I used to be able to do that I just simply cannot do now. There are things that I could never do, no matter the tears and sweat expended.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" ><span style=""> </span>And yet, there are things that I can do. So I do them, humbly.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >As I grow older, I humbly assume my outer limitations, also my inner ones. By necessity, my inner space expands to fill the voids of my outer world. There, no limitations exist, things and thoughts run wild and free.<o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-90107434325571926812010-02-01T20:28:00.002-04:002010-02-03T21:45:06.164-04:00Folds<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cjorge%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="Preview" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cjorge%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_preview.wmf"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:version>12.00</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> </xml><![endif]--><link rel="themeData" 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<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Watching this video of how to fold your Gi gave me a lot of flashbacks to a time long gone. A time of ritual, stances, bows, endless zazen. Why ritual? Where outside a dojo would you need all this stuff? Most of us live in societies where most of this oriental protocol would not only be foreign, but affected. It would ring false. I practice alone and yet I go through the dojo etiquette as if surrounded by many, the invisible many of my past and present. So I bow in respect for a time, my teachers, my style, for that space in time that I willingly carve out of the day, for the now. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">There are martial lessons lurking behind these rituals. To open a door for others, to stand aside while they pass. To greet with my eyes. Body language. Soft as a ripple in a pond, pliable as grass in the wind, steadfast as the silent rock in the stream of things.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">To fold it all in place. To shake it loose. <a style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204);" href="http://broken-bokken.blogspot.com/2010/02/all-is-kata.html">Why ritual indeed</a>.</p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-22793065470800712612010-01-27T15:54:00.015-04:002010-02-12T21:57:53.297-04:00Conversations with Gusi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6H4RwmPBiqpI0U-9KWIKZOg8IQQoctJDJ2DuNbB9poPs61O7YQCno-8YqJMFFUsYzVgnm_ZDoWohMsTklzuWRXMXm28QkZnfrYori-JSUIVe5KvhGk_KPm8_PEv0kDBvNuJpwf_hBHQI/s1600-h/IMG_2015_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6H4RwmPBiqpI0U-9KWIKZOg8IQQoctJDJ2DuNbB9poPs61O7YQCno-8YqJMFFUsYzVgnm_ZDoWohMsTklzuWRXMXm28QkZnfrYori-JSUIVe5KvhGk_KPm8_PEv0kDBvNuJpwf_hBHQI/s320/IMG_2015_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431511914317823138" border="0" /></a>
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class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:9pt;">(This post owes a lot to the thoughtful collaboration and input of Sensei Gusi González, proofreading it for errors and helping in drafting the same. Most of this information can be found on his site </span><a href="http://chiido.org/index.php"><span style="font-size:9pt;">http://chiido.org/index.php</span></a><span style="font-size:9pt;"> and Gusi allowed me to quote freely from it. The photos that accompany the post are also from his site.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Q<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4_0aJ35cx4aOA3h3PJnpm3_apfcX88oDjKd-T7Qm6KNhDZne2g2ADDi450ECkWMwwESYK6t-ettDNDswY3o2nnTIC6W8LUjyKO0KA7NzK5HEuJxZ0ObDD_VZRu6wsf9mfab1jO3N5_6M/s1600-h/Karate_Gusi_Kai_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4_0aJ35cx4aOA3h3PJnpm3_apfcX88oDjKd-T7Qm6KNhDZne2g2ADDi450ECkWMwwESYK6t-ettDNDswY3o2nnTIC6W8LUjyKO0KA7NzK5HEuJxZ0ObDD_VZRu6wsf9mfab1jO3N5_6M/s320/Karate_Gusi_Kai_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431512237408181874" border="0" /></a>uite some posts past in the blog I mentioned running into an old Goju teacher from the first Ochoa years of my training, Gusi González, whom I’ve referred to as the “soft sensei.” I knew of his whereabouts but hadn’t seen him for many years. We traded calling cards and promised to keep in touch. I later sent him a link to this blog. Soon after I received an e-mail where he voiced his concern about what I truly knew about the history and development of our school, particularly the shift from Shoreikan to Chi-I-Do. We agreed to meet and talk about this on his next trip to the Island and we did. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">This post is the result of that conversation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">In essence, I pretty much got it all wrong. Myths and half truths came into sharper focus as I sat there listening to him in an Old San Juan diner. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">In a nutshell, what Gusi had to say was this: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IRi8DkzVA7pPw6Er0GkGg-hj9htxtavPBM7OfqFx0m8I-kyc_nc22PlW0NRfDw0JrNehWDV59R7HAabo-5dssxArAdXmDa7zl9sm7LLQRdr03zxAV3K0OUw058rYQtwYy7BwhyvAKjw/s1600-h/Karate_PR_8People_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 189px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IRi8DkzVA7pPw6Er0GkGg-hj9htxtavPBM7OfqFx0m8I-kyc_nc22PlW0NRfDw0JrNehWDV59R7HAabo-5dssxArAdXmDa7zl9sm7LLQRdr03zxAV3K0OUw058rYQtwYy7BwhyvAKjw/s320/Karate_PR_8People_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431512810960796594" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i style="">Luis Gandía Portela,<span style=""> </span>Efraín Palmer Ramírez, Antonio Fornaris Rullán and Pedro J. González García (“Gusi”) <span style=""> </span>were introduced to the Martial Arts in 1969. They were introduced to the Shoreikan Goju Ryu Okinawan Karate by Sensei Kimo Wall who came back to Puerto Rico that year, forming the core group<span style=""> </span>that went on to<span style=""> </span>establish Goju Ryu on the Island. <span style=""> </span>Kimo Wall had been an Isshinryu teacher in Puerto Rico when he was with the Marines, and had met Luis Gandía when he came one or two years before. Eventually he was stationed in Okinawa and started training Shoreikan Karate under GM Seikichi Toguchi's students. <span style=""> </span>The first dojo was established on Eleanor Roosevelt Street, Hato Rey, in 1970.<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i style="">In 1971, Sensei Kimo Wall brought Sensei Nobuharu Shinoda to Puerto Rico to help propagate the system on the island. Sensei Shinoda took over the dojo training and teaching until 1972, when Grand Master Seikichi Toguchi, Sensei Kow Loon Ong and Sensei Toshio Tamano visited Puerto Rico accompanied by the other instructors from the Island. </i><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUZqJoENH6D2gLhTq8-Cldcs6ZMStJekCSveSm1qewcu4O6OhN2bcJbQbLuezwXS86HUoroSGH8mvC94de-AIyVMdxMT4gK23djbvLKd5XaCJWOYkZpYpsAgJwk9KiOdZvdsF-e8N1gQ/s1600-h/Karate_PR_1973_group_01a_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUZqJoENH6D2gLhTq8-Cldcs6ZMStJekCSveSm1qewcu4O6OhN2bcJbQbLuezwXS86HUoroSGH8mvC94de-AIyVMdxMT4gK23djbvLKd5XaCJWOYkZpYpsAgJwk9KiOdZvdsF-e8N1gQ/s320/Karate_PR_1973_group_01a_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431513342102003266" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i style="">After training under the guidance of Grand Master Toguchi, Grand Master Matayoshi, and Sensei Kow Loon Ong, Puerto Rico instructors were invited to New York for an International Demonstration and Training in 1972.<span style=""> </span>In 1973, Grand Master Seikichi Toguchi brought Grand Master Shimpo Matayoshi (an Okinawan Kobudo and Karate Master (6th generation) of the Okinawan Weapon Arts) to Puerto Rico. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">After training under the guidance of Toguchi, Matayoshi, and Senei Kow Loon Ong, the Puerto Rican Instructors were invited to New York for an International Demonstrayion and Training event in 1972.</span><o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6GYThB1PxiQLcLUma1B6l0cTw1UKUQ-yj0jeBttfFMQjxFJI8uXJNLn3NTW0E_SX0sK6sZFl3TCWJ0fssaBSSRysvWqKBPdQOoP30LVdMKXAnDyv_Xl4og-S8shMjK_qtAS4YCx3z8w/s1600-h/kayo_maxw_1971_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 119px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6GYThB1PxiQLcLUma1B6l0cTw1UKUQ-yj0jeBttfFMQjxFJI8uXJNLn3NTW0E_SX0sK6sZFl3TCWJ0fssaBSSRysvWqKBPdQOoP30LVdMKXAnDyv_Xl4og-S8shMjK_qtAS4YCx3z8w/s320/kayo_maxw_1971_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431513625275361602" border="0" /></a><i style="">The Shoreikan Dojo in New York, directed by Kow Loon Ong, left the organization.That same year after teaching and training in the Shoreikan Organization, Pedro and the Puerto Rico dojo left the organization for personal and political reasons. <o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i style="">In 1974, he and the other instructors from Puerto Rico traveled abroad and trained in Tokyo, Okinawa, Taiwan and India, in search of the roots of art and knowledge. They continued their relation with Sensei Kimo Wall, but he was having personal problems and only Sensei Kayo Ong was willing to continue to guide and instruct them on the art <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">without any financial compensation and he then committed to teach them the full Goju Ryu syllabus, since he had learned it through Akira Kawakami. Matayoshi suggested that Gusi should follow Kow Loon Ong since hi smastery of technique and expertise was on par or even surpassed some teachers in Okinawa. </span></i><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_5wXR4wpZfCHWIYEohZXJRnpLfcaW_zpDJSbgP_Vo2swgg5ZAI09OPguLPNCBvHtZKJr_Wh7XfQORNsf8bBfK52-FKbvC3Q_ibDz4BZpaAUStew3TjXZXYmATlreGhxIXh8bgjv0gno/s1600-h/Karate_Gusi_Okinawa_1974_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 185px; height: 135px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_5wXR4wpZfCHWIYEohZXJRnpLfcaW_zpDJSbgP_Vo2swgg5ZAI09OPguLPNCBvHtZKJr_Wh7XfQORNsf8bBfK52-FKbvC3Q_ibDz4BZpaAUStew3TjXZXYmATlreGhxIXh8bgjv0gno/s320/Karate_Gusi_Okinawa_1974_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431514424428306722" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i style="">So the lineage of our school of Goju-Ryu in Puerto Rico is as follows <span style=""> </span>by history and rank : (Kimo Wall and Shinoda, initial teachers) and<span style=""> </span>then, more formally: Toguchi-Matayoshi-Kawakami-Kow Loon Ong-Gandía-Fornaris-Palmer- (Gusi)Gonzalez.<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The second generation (1974) were René Pietri and Jorge Rodríguez. They were followed in 1975 by Angel Meléndez, Jorge Arzuaga, Jorge Gandía, Mimi Gandía, Angel Peña, and Julio Navarro. Then came Michael Rosslein, Enrique Santacana, Carlos Alvarado, Nelson Borrero, and Ramón Díaz. Afterwards came the generation of Gilberto Rodríguez, Carlos Alvarez, Carlos Alvarado, and Angel Santana, etc. All these generations became black belts under the influence, guidance, and dedication through the years on the part of Kow Loon Ong who continues to visit the Island and teach and continue the legacy of that original spirit that bean with Gandía, Palmer, Fornaris, and González back in the '70's</span>
<br /></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Most of this was going on right under my white belt nose. The climate change in the dojo was going on even in the years that I practiced there, unbeknownst to me. After all, I was just a white belt and not party to what went on behind the scenes. What most struck me as I sat there listening to Gusi was that in the early ‘70’s Puerto Rico was in fact a pioneer in the practice of Goju Ryu Karate outside Okinawa and that Puerto Rico was part of the formative stage that Okinawan Goju Ryu karate was undergoing as it was being exported worldwide. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdnRo6ctbL9moj4qdp1CsitaLPt6TeTwyTS0y4nVJXhkBcPgtWov5NwqWpG9SdHEDXWtvhQszLp3Hx_hTAxyE1xo9HegTgGiL4BhPy6TMvVfhkblwZkfDtPZlePgqFo_-NKRJImzFcws/s1600-h/Karate_PR_1972_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdnRo6ctbL9moj4qdp1CsitaLPt6TeTwyTS0y4nVJXhkBcPgtWov5NwqWpG9SdHEDXWtvhQszLp3Hx_hTAxyE1xo9HegTgGiL4BhPy6TMvVfhkblwZkfDtPZlePgqFo_-NKRJImzFcws/s320/Karate_PR_1972_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431514832728948434" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Gusi told me that in those first years of training in the early ‘70’s the Goju curriculum given outside Okinawa stopped short of what we call the classic katas which then had to be taught by a 5th Dan. Kimo Wall had not yet learned the full kata syllabus, and thus the efforts to bring one to Puerto Rico, which led to the arrival of Shinoda. Kimo sent a letter to Toguchi about this need, which letter was“intercepted” by Shinoda, then secretary to Toguchi. Shinoda brought the letter to the attention of Toguchi, but interpreting it to mean that Kimo was asking for an English-speaking teacher from Okinawa. And guess who was chosen. So we have it that Shinoda came to the Island “under false pretenses.” Everybody here though he was a 5th Dan, including Kimo. Gusi surmises that he was not, the head instructor should know the whole Goju Ryu System from Saifa to Pichurin to be able to guide and instruct his students.<span style=""> </span>Nonetheless, the caliber of training and number of students enrolled here caught Toguchi’s eye. There were at least five dojos: Ochoa, UPR, Caguas, San Lorenzo, and Mayaguez, all of them with at least 75-100 active students. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The only 5th degree black belt from Shoreikan at that time in North, Central and South America was Akira Kawakami, who came to New York due to financial and political problems in the Shoreikan /ex Goju Kai dojo of Thomas Bodie, but he finished the Goju Ryu syllabus up to Pichurin with his highest ranking students: Kow Loon Ong and Joseph Donovan. This led to his visit here the following year. Of course, it came out that Shinoda was not all he led others to believe, yet the school was one of the highest in students of the Shoreikan organization. Steps were taken to correct the matter, but not without consequences. Kimo felt slighted. It was his idea to bring Shoreikan to the Island and yet he was being shunted in favor of others. The school here backed Kimo, but he did not wanted to commit and GM Toguchi was very disappointed with him and did not wanted him in Shoreikan, the Puerto Ricans teachers learn about this when they went to Okinawa and had conversations with GM Toguchi and GM Matayoshi, who, in turn, introduced them to other high ranking teachers in the Goju Ryu and Matayoshi Kobudo organization. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The Ochoa Dojo proved too important in Toguchi’s eyes to leave it at the hands of <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBdbqsWM9_UQLKEARWAjTyl99DkQxRGYKl9i8aP-ycEjd_vNQ9JwDbiqMNpq5kIZPoUL42jT1aATPuQDWmh3NWFx7yklCfnBQmBf2SlsOPBMXOtAgnLPgtqWzHJ2CxAdx7645BWIQew0I/s1600-h/FOGR022Sense+photo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBdbqsWM9_UQLKEARWAjTyl99DkQxRGYKl9i8aP-ycEjd_vNQ9JwDbiqMNpq5kIZPoUL42jT1aATPuQDWmh3NWFx7yklCfnBQmBf2SlsOPBMXOtAgnLPgtqWzHJ2CxAdx7645BWIQew0I/s320/FOGR022Sense+photo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431515391182225330" border="0" /></a>either Kimo or Shinoda. After some give and take it was decided to strengthen the training of the highest ranking local students to form a cadre of instructors. The local school was so crucial in Toguchi’s plans that he was thinking of coming to stay on the Island himself. Imagine that! Shoreikan decided then to have the local senior students train in Okinawa and Japan to bring them up to par. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Needless to say, I was flabbergasted. It upset the cart of all I thought I knew about the Dojo, and about Kimo. But what I learned just changed the cast of characters and how the plot evolved, not the essence of what we practiced and continue practicing on the Island. Yet it did put things in a new light. But regardless of the ruptures and new beginnings, schools and sensei, Goju Ryu in Puerto Rico is basically traditional Okinawan in focus in training and outlook, with the differences residing on the emphasis of the particular sensei, whether Shoreikan (too many modern katas were added and the classics were not that important), Kodokan (changed many forms, added more forms and changed Matayoshi’s Kobudo system and katas), or Chi-I-Do (Emphasized classical katas, kept Matayoshi katas intact, preserving the essence of teaching Martial Arts). I practiced under all three.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style=""> </span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-45706770064723666292010-01-04T20:42:00.001-04:002010-01-04T20:44:06.822-04:00Inhabit the Invisible House<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbB2rVdF9W3Dq_mVGTW0EH3P1FjqBntJGRFhwtvUWvehgtPlz3I8ashxlL22Gor4_fWWpEtQCBOcU8KR8hft7MsISIYKkpSq3oszIuc59sdas3rv6hyxYjz9-1ycyk0vuY1XfFYhJgQA/s1600-h/6a00e54fabf0ec883300e5538f896c8834-800wi.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbB2rVdF9W3Dq_mVGTW0EH3P1FjqBntJGRFhwtvUWvehgtPlz3I8ashxlL22Gor4_fWWpEtQCBOcU8KR8hft7MsISIYKkpSq3oszIuc59sdas3rv6hyxYjz9-1ycyk0vuY1XfFYhJgQA/s320/6a00e54fabf0ec883300e5538f896c8834-800wi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423050041050442098" border="0" /></a>
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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >Do kata until it disintegrates and you are left with nothing. Inhabit the house until the walls crumble.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >At my age when they ask me what I derive from karate they have already taken stock of my paunch, drooping jowls, sallow skin, flaccid arms, sunken eyes, gray hair. What will this old bugger dare to say?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >I just live in the kata of the everyday. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >Fear, a barking dog in the dark, sitting stone still in a doctor’s office awaiting judgment. A prayer repeated over and over again in an empty church.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >Peace, sitting in my sister’s living room watching the swaying famboyán tree.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >Joy, running into a friend from long ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14pt;" >Resignation, the perfect kata never attained. <o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-21213943859509232242009-12-27T11:27:00.001-04:002009-12-27T11:29:04.263-04:00Shadowboxing in the Dark<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PQiQrBnxI4z5_P_FrNm7ciLyGVN1yUwjVWdtaYnTjeudNzGtKvj-bZBoweVzQQ8Qi84bGSJZZhBknKRONcKVLhwjs1CRfM6Bd1dt7mHsO-BRGVQDuj6FKpvVjReHaS9OjcwrkS1Sarw/s1600-h/CCI05252008_00027+-+Copy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 103px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PQiQrBnxI4z5_P_FrNm7ciLyGVN1yUwjVWdtaYnTjeudNzGtKvj-bZBoweVzQQ8Qi84bGSJZZhBknKRONcKVLhwjs1CRfM6Bd1dt7mHsO-BRGVQDuj6FKpvVjReHaS9OjcwrkS1Sarw/s320/CCI05252008_00027+-+Copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419938339886492434" /></a><br />Every human endeavor has its protocol, a vocabulary that is handed down, an alphabet from A to Z that must be committed to memory. Ideally, we grow from “baby talk” to full, articulated sentences. Any skip in the process leaves its gap. The wider and more numerous the gaps, the looser and weaker the structure.<br />Nobody is born doing karate, one must be “reborn” into it. Anyone who has witnessed a birth can attest that it is a messy sight, a tearing away into the new, feet first, covered in bloody mucous, snipped away from the womb, spanked into one’s first scream. Can less be expected from a rebirth. <br />My father introduced me to boxing when I was ten. He had learned as a Golden Glove Boxer in the 1930’s in New York. This was in the Canal Zone in Panama in the late 50’s, while my father was stationed in Ft. Clayton. Three times a week, in the late afternoons, he would put me through the paces: skip rope, speed bag, shadow boxing, the run around the block. He taught me the ropes: basic stances, the jab, the hook, the feint, chin in, the basic combinations. He was my father and he was my first sensei. A lot of what I am I owe to him, the good and the bad. For better and for worse, I am my father’s son. <br />I competed into my 12th year. After that, I boxed and trained alone in a dinky little room. Dressed in my old and smelly boxing trunks. I trained, I read, and I wrote poetry. This pretty much summed up my teens in that dinky little room. <br />Boxing served me well when I finally left the dinky room in my late teens to experience and learn the “ways of the world.” It kept me alive to see another day.<br />It was as my father’s son that I first walked into a dojo halfway through my twenties. A new vocabulary, a rebirth, of sorts. My father asked to join me in karate, I declined, believing I’d be embarrassed. A decision I’ve regretted ever since.<br />Regret play a major part in my curriculum vitae, it occupies much space on the page.<br />So even today I shadow box in the dark seeking to be reborn again. Nobody said it was going to be easy, least of all him.Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-26036299032126301472009-12-26T06:56:00.002-04:002009-12-26T07:37:55.334-04:00The Core of a Dojo Pt. 2 : The Basics<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHG4xddREiUUj0AFsMrjpJbF3IVr9LJ7xJaLNFqN4IDasMPW7lk1fUWCtp3aDfLRS5l34YzBvbqSxeCztO8CZYIM9WbgMziRvEJ5MFUsb2XSf6_aZBJ2v6SB1TJBeLVql0xl5JZA7wY3c/s1600-h/sun.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHG4xddREiUUj0AFsMrjpJbF3IVr9LJ7xJaLNFqN4IDasMPW7lk1fUWCtp3aDfLRS5l34YzBvbqSxeCztO8CZYIM9WbgMziRvEJ5MFUsb2XSf6_aZBJ2v6SB1TJBeLVql0xl5JZA7wY3c/s320/sun.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419497474164225138" /></a><br />When we talk of “basics” in karate, what do we mean? When I read what other consider “basics” I find that they involve principles that have taken me years to develop. There are escalating levels of what one may deem basic in one’s training. What is “basic” for me as a black belt differs greatly from what was basic for me many moons ago as a white belt. There are tangents surely in what they intrinsically imply, but the mechanics are distinct. When I “return to the basics” in my training, what am I actually returning to? If I stand before a newly arrived student with my 30+ years in karate what “basics” do I teach: the basics I have learned through the years, or the ones he or she must learn that first day? Teaching is always a sobering experience. Where do I begin? Where I just left off, or where that person is standing? I must go back, put myself in their shoes. Those are the basics of which I speak. I must retreat back down that spiral to that first day.<br />Closed fist, open hand. Breathing, walking. Dojo etiquette. Mechanics. Monkey see, monkey do. First things first. The “I know nothing” approach, the “humble” sensei, sounds nice and politically correct. But my “know nothing” is nothing compared to a new student’s “nothing.” He or she truly does not know anything. And the risk lies in falsely teaching them that their “nothing” is actually their first step in a spiritual quest. Dispense with the koans, teach the mechanics. Learning the ABC’s is not a philosophical discourse. <br />The basic Goju stance for a white belt is a clumsy looking thing. All the clumsier in a white belt. I teach them how to close their fist, how to stand, how to breathe and walk, where to look and where not to look. But not as an invitation to dialogue. It is a “no questions asked” stage. Monkey see, monkey do. To teach anything beyond this is showing off, showboating under the guise of sharing. Only when a person truly accepts that they know nothing are they willing to learn. That white belt doing Gekisai ichi with barely two months of training may feign he or she knows, may ably fake it. But if I am able to stick my finger in his fist and undo it, he or she knows and has learned nothing. That is the “basics” I am talking about.<br />So I walk slightly in front, close my fist and say “do as I do.” They must follow, I must lead. This is heavy shit. There precisely lies the humbleness: to assume the lead, set the example.<br />Freaky shit.Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-27761696501578292522009-12-23T21:50:00.002-04:002009-12-23T21:53:07.575-04:00The Core of a Dojo Pt. 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZgjlKA4w3h6xV22SiC0qQACuA0ptHmL6dwQjp7z7JTtdlA66_lwQkTg7j8IbufxxsDGjIHKpbe3YmHA0jR0CgAfPvjbvu-1OrrBotfHzT8nJ5edkyt0vkzsB3dgl0JFTI2J5oz1SpFg/s1600-h/mars_interior.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 292px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZgjlKA4w3h6xV22SiC0qQACuA0ptHmL6dwQjp7z7JTtdlA66_lwQkTg7j8IbufxxsDGjIHKpbe3YmHA0jR0CgAfPvjbvu-1OrrBotfHzT8nJ5edkyt0vkzsB3dgl0JFTI2J5oz1SpFg/s320/mars_interior.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418614441100257362" /></a><br />Although now I am a “dojo of one,” I began and am a product of a dojo of many. In that sense, I was privileged to begin in a Dojo that was fully formed when I got there. By this I mean, a good sampling of ranks from white to black, with hierarchy, and linked to an established organization, which in my case was the Shoreikan Goju Ruy Karate of Seikichi Toguchi while he was still alive and kicking. It was a good size school of more than 30 to 40 students, plus instructors. Of course, the Dojo wasn’t always so. There was a beginning, and the beginning was a teacher and white belts. Dojos don’t come out of the blue; they begin with one sensei who must create a school out of nothing.<br />Unless a sensei migrates with a core of instructors or is an offshoot of an organization close by, he or she must first create what will be this core. No easy task. This core will be the foundation of the Dojo. This first crop must be sowed well for therein lies the seeds of the future. Ideally, these first seeds will be heterogeneous, come in all sizes and temperament, their only common element being their zeal.<br />It takes 6 months or more to “season” a white belt. A staggered entry of “whites” with no organization to absorb them results in a lot of “unseasoned” whites.<br /><br />This brings me to the point of this post. If a sensei wants to create a school he or she must hibernate the idea of school and concentrate on creating the core. If he or she just wants disciples, 5 or 6 will do. Is a sensei with his or her close knit coterie of the chosen few a Dojo? No. Out of this group can come the Dojo, eventually. There is a difference in saying I study or am a student of Sensei so and so and saying I belong to a Dojo.<br />I had the experience (as a black belt) of belonging to an ever-aborted Dojo. I was invited to practice with a sensei who ran a very small school where I hoped to learn from him and hone a few “classic” Goju katas. The price was belonging to the Dojo and helping out. Since he had no instructors and constantly admitted new students there was never enough sensei to go around. He gave everybody the same class. I ended up doing basic katas with one day students, six month students, and the occasional 10 or 15 year lapsed karatecas. And since he also wanted to go over the advanced katas with me, they all joined in too. Sounds democratic. But in reality it was anarchy and chaos. People got frustrated and left constantly. Funny thing was the sensei is a great karateca with a lot to teach. His philosophy of teaching undermined his school, constantly aborting all his best efforts.<br />He should first have dedicated a year to creating a core group of students, say 6. Work this group to assume within a year his future core. Get them well started and seasoned. Invite guest instructors, recruit old lapsed green, browns, and blacks and bring them up to speed. In other words, invest, seed, harvest…and then open a dojo that can absorb new students weekly or monthly without holding back those in progress and not frustrating newcomers.<br />The core. From which all else spirals and come forth.Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-85319041003692381412009-12-06T11:06:00.002-04:002009-12-09T05:38:51.044-04:00A Dojo in the mind<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAVdfW8A_ajOuLEqR3huN_n_V6opn7CKhA1O3FqNiQyzLz1V3ynvjjvFFS55i8oexlxGaP7HHf2IdmPMWQDqK11BAlA2_TkEOs3eGx9s93WuFfdCbu8MCMP68yn-bGawVvRYONLnIjf8/s1600-h/Budo.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 129px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAVdfW8A_ajOuLEqR3huN_n_V6opn7CKhA1O3FqNiQyzLz1V3ynvjjvFFS55i8oexlxGaP7HHf2IdmPMWQDqK11BAlA2_TkEOs3eGx9s93WuFfdCbu8MCMP68yn-bGawVvRYONLnIjf8/s200/Budo.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412140247589688962" border="0" /></a>
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New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >For ZenHG and Shinzen Nelson<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >A Dojo is not a church, monastery or mosque in the sense that all who go there share a common belief that may or may not transcend their differences. Yet a Dojo may appear to have all the trappings, codes, protocols of conduct, and rituals that invite comparisons. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >(Right off the bat I must clarify that I believe that in the best and broadest sense of the word, a Dojo is where a sensei, or school of martial arts, has decided to practice its art, and to impart the learning of that art to others.) <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >The fact that for the most part the martial arts had their origins in societies with philosophies closely linked to Zen Buddhist, <span style=""> </span>Confucian or like systems of social and moral comportment meant that Dojos would reflect these in their organization, codes, and methods of teaching.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >The practice of an art could seem to be like the practice of a religion, and there was a time when this divide did not exist: art was in the service of a faith. Art and religion use similar strategies still, the break was not as incisive as the one that came between religion and science where the boundaries are clearly and boldly drawn, where everything beyond the theoretical explanations of science becomes the proverbial “leap of faith.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >Ask any practitioner to speak of his or her art and the answer may seem like the words of a “religious zealot.” That close is Art and Religion in their effects on the practitioner. And herein lies the rub. It just sounds religious. When I talk of karate and poetry I “sound” religious because the transfigurative effects of their practice partake of similar vocabulary, symbolic and evocative. In other words, practice or do anything long enough and it is going to become a religion, an act of faith, a view of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >Of course, <b style="">REALITY </b>is the eternal party pooper. No dojo fits the ideal of the Dojo in the mind. No zen is as fluid and perfect as ZEN. And, of course, some will say that even this is Zen. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >I practice karate, Okinawa Goju-Ryu, as seen through the eyes of Seikichi Toguchi, interpreted by Kimo Wall and Kow Loon Ong, and taught to me by their students: Gusi González, Jaime Acosta, Dionisio Pérez, etc. The specificity is important. Teachers, styles, time play a part. Influence and context.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >The Las Cumbres Dojo (my last) was a dojo in the real world and yet ethereal in its evocations to what was lived before and after me. It was religious and earthly, noble and venal, honest and hypocritical. <span style=""> </span>It was experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >And experience, lived intensely, can seem religious too. But is it? No.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >Despite the inevitable trappings of any art, religious and aesthetical, it must be learned and practiced in the rough and tumble system <span style=""> </span>of trial and error. It is a “zigzaggedness” whose pattern can only be discerned, at best, as a belated afterthought.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12pt;" >And I say this fervently, almost religiously.<o:p></o:p></span></p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-42668123172276133682009-11-26T22:28:00.006-04:002009-11-26T22:52:17.989-04:00The sound of one hand clapping<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVaQ9-hS2sxjl65nZgAct_F8yIA-mOpFQ_hKlCCYSVgP53hhEUH2WxBUt7pBqkJMywuUUilKVsQjM6bjSUC7dDClopGvK7bZ8gKLKrSmqO1UrbHeq4z1QWnnBQzFcT8rYsZsR3V59G7Y/s1600/lake-meditation.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVaQ9-hS2sxjl65nZgAct_F8yIA-mOpFQ_hKlCCYSVgP53hhEUH2WxBUt7pBqkJMywuUUilKVsQjM6bjSUC7dDClopGvK7bZ8gKLKrSmqO1UrbHeq4z1QWnnBQzFcT8rYsZsR3V59G7Y/s200/lake-meditation.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408605188998409186" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I now train alone. Solo. I slowly diagrammed the available space in my very small living room and traced the trajectory of every kata in my Goju syllabus accordingly. It wasn’t easy and it took me some time before I was able to memorize my surroundings to the point where I could forget about them safely and not end up tripping over a rocking chair and flying headlong into my bookcase. But it wasn’t always so.<br />There was a time towards the end of my dojo experience when I had to allow an hour and a half to make the trek that involved taking a bus to the end of the line and then walking to a plaza to board a “pisicorre” (which is a local mode of transportation to the outer barrios), whose name literally means “step and run.” This was in late afternoons on weekdays and mornings on Saturday. I was able to do this because I was then working freelance. The problem always was hitching a ride back after 9pm when there was no viable public transportation. It was a necessary madness. All this stage transpired in my early 50’s. Life, if anything, was getting harder by the year. Serious injuries distanced me from practice <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://memoriesofanidan.blogspot.com/2008/12/interlude-ii-10-terrazzo-tile-dojo.html">(<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Terrazzo Tile Dojo</span></a>)</span> and eventually I had to leave freelancing and take my old “day job” back.<br />That was the end of those late afternoon treks, there was just no way I could make it back to dojo training even if I wanted to. In the intervening years I tried mixing practice in other small Goju dojos nearer my home but the experience proved to be not worth the effort. It was then I tried to practice at home in an outside terrace. I would do the full class, imagining I was in a dojo, the whole enchilada. I knew of the dangers of solo training and, sure enough, trying to simulate the energy of a full dojo alone in a darkened terrace brought problems of energy control. I didn’t have the protection of my fellow karateca’s energy fields around me. My energy flew around loose in the air and sometimes came down on me like a wallop from a 10th Dan hanshi.<br />I realized I could not go back to formal dojo training. The thought of giving up the practice of karate (once again) was not an option. I didn’t come so far and through so much shit to now let it all go to hell like so much else in my life. I had made too big an investment. Karate was as intrinsically threaded to my sense of self as writing is and has been. Surfing through the net and seeing others in similar predicaments and others who complemented their dojo practice with their own small home dojo setups, I slowly began considering practicing alone, if just to keep my hand warm, stay in the game so to speak.<br />And like I said, it wasn’t easy. In time all karatecas see that their practice slowly curves inward as a natural evolution from their young “outward” experience. Then an old sensei said, “Jorge, you’ve been in this a long time, this is just the next step.” This blog, my YouTube videos, it all came from this solo experience. I don’t miss the dojo much, although I appreciate the years and friendships, fully aware that without this foundation what I do now would not be remotely possible. I know now that I cannot go back to the old dojo because my dojo is right here, in this same space where I write this.<br />So now it all boils down to me. Alone I must do honor to my style of karate, to my teachers, and all whom I have practiced with. I must generate this commitment within myself. All the years and sweat, faces, and memories whir around me as I do kata in my living room dojo.<br />Rooted to the floor, it dances in my fingertips.Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-27020942732432487502009-11-11T09:34:00.001-04:002009-11-11T09:36:14.567-04:00The long-term warrior, an individual journey in the company of others<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz05PwbX4IeOkJ_eMy5LNpWRp3vKJ9jDXzW1GfOANgJinV2PKJ-ASmo6XjkxTZJPQBvd0cffeAmRocJznnW2uJg10yU_xsscLLYAdmAt3WyD6jks7aey8_u0svLePvilPSOqZCgtQV6Ho/s1600-h/Samurai_warrior.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 196px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz05PwbX4IeOkJ_eMy5LNpWRp3vKJ9jDXzW1GfOANgJinV2PKJ-ASmo6XjkxTZJPQBvd0cffeAmRocJznnW2uJg10yU_xsscLLYAdmAt3WyD6jks7aey8_u0svLePvilPSOqZCgtQV6Ho/s320/Samurai_warrior.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402839337449285618" border="0" /></a>
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Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">The true fruits of practicing martial arts are long term. One has to be in it for the long haul. The life of a martial artist is an arc that can only be discerned from afar, from the perspective that only the passage of time can give. In my last post I touched on my own personal awareness of this process in the last stage of my formal dojo experience in Las Cumbres. My good friend <b style=""><span style="color:red;"><a href="http://dandjurdjevic.blogspot.com/">Dan Djurdjevic</a></span></b> commented on the <i style="">bucket v. thimble</i> paradigm of energy that every martial artist confronts as the years pile on. Dan is a true and serious martial artist with a lifetime of continuous commitment to the study and practice of the martial arts who has had to overcome myriad obstacles to remain true to an art to which he owes so much. He is a long-term warrior. Dan’s commitment and arc reminded me of a fellow karateca and senior black belt in the Las Cumbres Dojo: Ángel Santana. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ángel exemplified all that was good about Goju-Ryu, all that a Goju karateca could achieve through the continuous and profound practice of Goju (which can also be said of the commitment to any serious martial art). When I met him, Ángel had well over 20 years experience as a black belt, more than 30 practicing Goju, as far back as <b style=""><a href="http://memoriesofanidan.blogspot.com/2008/10/ochoa-dojo.html">Ochoa</a></b> when he was a university student. The point here is that this practice of karate was continuous. He never took a sabbatical from the dojo, never strayed from the path. By the time I met him he was no spring chicken. Ángel was not in the dojo per se for class, but he was a hovering presence of “old-school” karate training in the flesh … and spirit. Professional and family commitments did not allow him to go to a formal dojo session every day, and yet he found time to practice every day. This was obvious in the impeccable execution, relentless energy, and unyielding martial spirit he displayed when he did come an hour before class to practice solo. He was one of the founders of the Las Cumbres Dojo and one of the financial supporters of that old wooden structure atop a hardware store in the outskirts of San Juan. The dojo was, in a manner of speaking, his other home.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ángel defied the passage of time. I remember now sitting sweating on a bench with other black belts watching how he did ten-step pushups with the ease of a teenage Chinese gymnast. He could do more of these heart-wrenching pushups that anyone there, young or old, and did so after practicing katas and doing drills without rest for an hour or so. Many were the times I saw him running past me up the stairs, still dressed from work in shirt and tie, lugging this huge bag where he carried his assortment of gis, kobudo arms, and whatnot. He’d make the fastest transition from street to dojo that I have ever seen and by the time I sauntered out of the dressing room he had already worked up a sweat. His warm up acceleration was astounding, looking as focused as if he had been at it for an hour instead of the 15 minutes since I saw him going up the stairs. <b style="">Only years of continuous practice can give this level of performance. <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yet Ángel was the exception, not the rule. There were others with as much time and as much commitment, but not at his level. When he did give a class it was with the same kime he brought to everything, and not from the sidelines barking orders, but from the front leading by example. Ángel was an example of what any young person starting karate could and should aspire to be, physically, morally, and spiritually. But does this mean that if one does not reach his level that one should seriously consider leaving karate, or maybe stepping up the level of practice? Is the “way” of Ángel the only way to be a martial artist? Of course not, and Ángel would be the first person to say so. He believed that karate was basically an individual journey in the company of others. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The acute awareness that martial arts tries to teach us is not only the awareness of danger, of the opponent, or even at the moment of engagement, it is also an awareness of self. Of how one fits into the major scheme of things at any given moment of that arc. Mind you, I say arc, not an ascending straight line. Or forget arc, and think spiral.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I was not Ángel as much as I would have wanted to be. It would be foolhardy to believe that the practice of martial arts has one unbending rule of perfection. The practice of the martial arts is also one of learning to eat humble pie. As my other good friend <b style=""><a href="http://broken-bokken.blogspot.com/">Shinzen Nelson</a></b> would say, one cannot go against Nature, but only flow with it.</p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-41251482241006527422009-11-07T21:55:00.003-04:002009-11-07T21:56:55.725-04:00Every breath you take<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgML09-XTPj5bVyvOlOhvGcbUaPZ_5jEMOhaclu-70zMIvO9-u36RLzSXbe_vC3ITN80beTb58WFeOzzq-DbRrR9u_kucMZm_YYQup1o9vVib56LCUOcyZj9_A20UgwyfHGgzI_Tenm3fo/s1600-h/breathing_for_dummies-729387.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgML09-XTPj5bVyvOlOhvGcbUaPZ_5jEMOhaclu-70zMIvO9-u36RLzSXbe_vC3ITN80beTb58WFeOzzq-DbRrR9u_kucMZm_YYQup1o9vVib56LCUOcyZj9_A20UgwyfHGgzI_Tenm3fo/s320/breathing_for_dummies-729387.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401545689814585810" border="0" /></a>
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mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">As one ages, oxygenating the body becomes a prime concern in practicing the martial arts, not only for the obvious health reasons but to regulate the qi that could either flow or bottle up. In other words, growing old could either be a blessing or a curse. Even though I knew about qi, I never thought about it much when I was young because my body would force itself through any quagmire through sheer force. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Las Cumbres Dojo was witness to the last eight years or so of my formal dojo practice; my passage as a middle-aged black belt raging bravely “against the dying of the light.” Although there were quite a few 40 + practitioners, the dojo, as it always did, catered to the very young at heart … and body. My broken chain of training through the years and the reckless life I led outside the dojo exacted their due. Every session was a coin toss between surviving and a sudden heart attack. I prayed they would skip the warm ups that in traditional Goju are the most grueling. That way I would have a modicum of energy left over for the kumite and bunkai. I never actually attained a plateau of conditioning where I could feel comfortable. Denied the external strength that my youth provided by the bucketful, I had to make do with a thimble of energy that I had to learn to use sparingly and wisely. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I had to learn to breathe and move accordingly with its ebb and flow. I had to put ego aside. It was not easy. As a racing car would square itself behind a lead car, I learned to latch on to whatever energy was around. Usually someone else’s. Qi was an elusive butterfly flitting seductively beyond my grasp no matter what I did or did not do. But ego was my albatross as I succumbed to the fear of losing face and would push myself where my body could no longer go. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the dojo they drove us hard and my old clunker of a body would have to put back all the spare parts that had fallen off during a practice session, spare parts that I could no longer replace nor retool. Every week I would discover a new ache or sprain, sometime not being able to fully close my fist for days. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Style and technique were the least of my concerns after doing katas 200 times. After an hour of continuous katas you really don’t care if you look good. Just being on your feet after wards is all. Slowly I learned to hold back a bit with the outward kime. In reality, I stopped caring how I looked and started paying attention to how I felt. I gave it up. Didn’t care if I got hit or not. I learned to give up before I started and inch my way up from there, from surrender to survival. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">So then Sanchin stopped being a test and became a rest. I took refuge in it to fill up the tank. It became my watering hole. I began doing Sanchin for me instead of the sensei and took the blows in stride.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Karate can either bloom or die in a dojo. Karate almost died for me in that dojo. It was after I left that dojo that I learned karate. There I only learned the katas and how to survive. Maybe that was a necessary step to get where I am today. <span style=""> </span>Sometimes dojos unwittingly foster a boot camp mentality, a survival of the fittest in mind and body. Maybe I question that because I lived it and can now discard it, much like a person that has gone to war can claim then that peace is better.</p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920893986770238470.post-695981621825036492009-10-22T09:37:00.000-04:002009-10-22T09:38:46.089-04:00It’s all Goju to me<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cjorge%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cjorge%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cjorge%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 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margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">After the first few months in Jaime Acosta’s Chi-I-Do dojo in Santurce I began to get a proper perspective about the evolution of my old Ochoa group through the different Goju schools (Toguchi―Kimo―Kayo) which I heretofore was oblivious. I never fully grasped the differences, to the point of not even remembering the different insignias. It was basically, as I’ve said before, a Shoreikan style of Goju marked by Toguchi’s particular syllabus and training format. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I learned that most of the karatecas I knew were now in the Chi-I-Do organization, with the exception of Dionisio Pérez who was still practicing in Kimo Wall’s Kodokan school close by. Yet even most of his students had migrated to Chi-I-Do, primarily in the main Chi-I-Do dojo in Las Cumbres. It was all very confusing. On the floor it was all the same to me, give and take a few kumites, give and take a few katas. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The dojo had an extremely small student body stretching from five to twenty. It was precarious financially; you could neither grow because of the space nor pay the rent to the dance school with so few paying students. It forced the Sensei to give class to children and adults together, which is not always wise. The Sensei took the plunge and moved to yet another dance school recently opened that was closer to my house. I had never been a walking distance from a dojo and it was short-lived. But while we were in Santurce we did receive visitors from Las Cumbres and among them I saw familiar faces from the Ochoa years. The move to the new dance school facilities did not bring along with it the desired hike in registration. It had a lot of space but horrible parking options. We were forced to return to Santurce where I finally got my brown and black belt. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The school became better, tighter, more disciplined, but it was made up of old students that found their way back to the dojo now in their 30’s and 40’s. Young students were scarce. The few that came were forced by parents and these stayed but a short time before they got “bored” and dropped out. The computer game raised generations did not have the patience for traditional karate. Raised in the fast and furious pace and logic of electronic gaming, they had more short term obsessions than discipline. The only two young people, in their late teens, were Pablo, a black belt (whose mother was also a black belt) and Brian who took the black belt with me and my sister Rosa. These two would years later eventually drop out. Pablo, whose mother owned a small supermarket, left for studies and eventually ended up in his mother’s business. It was during this time that I met Ángel Santana, a senior black belt from the Ochoa years that practiced out of Las Cumbres. I hadn’t met him then because he practiced in the University dojo in those years. I realized that if I had remained in karate I would be where he was, although not technically perhaps (he is really good). </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Circumstance finally forced Jaime Acosta to merge his small dojo with La Cumbres, which was, for me, way out in the sticks. The first day there Jaime Sensei sat us in a circle with the Las Cumbres instructors and black belts. They looked at us with disdain, amusement, and curiosity. I finally went back into a full-scale dojo with history, a history I had no part of, with its own anecdotes, players, myths, and “secrets.” All of a sudden I felt old; I shivered less with anticipation than with anxiety. I felt out of it before I began.</p> Jorge Morales-Santo Domingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07844979115789448716noreply@blogger.com0