The shotoblog has challenged me to start blogging about karate. At first I thought a weblog had to be about one topic. But, I’m starting to think that it’s not a faux-pas to blog about non-Whidbey topics. (did I just use a triple negative in one sentence?) Let’s see what happens with this category…

As my previous karate entry states, I’ve been out for quite a while. Everything is coming back to me fairly quickly, except for flexibility. How did I ever kick a 6 foot person in the head before? I’m open to any and all suggestions to increase flexibility. Stretching before and after class just doesn’t seem to help me much. Maybe I’m being impatient. It’s too bad that the Pro Club (the local gym that consists of a lot of Microsoft folks) doesn’t have one of those stretching machines. It’s all about prioritization and increasing productivity now-a-days for me. <grins>

What’s happen during the past 3 months back in karate?

1. My husband’s judo ways have accidentally affected my sparring skills. The first time I free-sparred a fellow student at my new dojo about a month (or two?) ago, I grabbed her arm, pulled her down towards me, and jabbed at her face. I then looked at the referee, like “why wasn’t that a point?’ Then it hit me, “oh wait, you can’t grab someone like that in Shotokan.” I think I apologized three different times that night to that student out of pure embarrassment.
2. It’s very interesting to do a kata for the first time after 8 years. Heian Yondan is such an example. All you have to do is “ki” (spiritual yell) at the wrong point in the kata (because you’re the only one in the class yelling), and you’ll never make that mistake again. Still, it’s weird to do something you had memorized in the past and then do it for the first time after many, many years.
3. I learned recently that women bow differently then men. For women, our hands are in front of us. Men keep their hands to their side when they bow. Also, when kneeling (during the traditional opening and closing class ceremonies), women keep their knees together. I was never aware of this difference before.

One day I’ll finally test for black belt.  One day…