And another summary
Three of us, a Shodan/Sensei of another style who taught the Kyoku Kids on Saturday morning, a Shodan who’s approaching his second stripe, and me, met with Sensei over Zoom to talk about preserving the community as a club. We asked his guidance in this endeavor, as well as if we could hire him as a consultant.
We convened a second meeting with him and the donor group, and finalized some of the details of hiring him. He offered to guide us through the process of re-forming the dojo community as a club. The three of us envisioned a member-run, non-profit as a likely scenario. Sensei also agreed to continue to teach over Zoom for a period, while we transitioned.
That was a relief. We held a third meeting with the greater dojo community last Sunday, in order to plan the actual forming of the club, create a mission statement and by-laws, put together a roster of teachers, etc. Various members volunteered for tasks in order to formally bring this new incarnation of our community into existence. We now have committees focused on various aspects of the club. My daughter attended, along with our sixteen year old adult Shodan, B, who also teaches. They liked the idea of a youth council that will be analogous to the adult board.
We’re hopeful that by the end of the month, we will exist as a karate club.
As for me, my week of meditation and “rest” is over, though, admittedly, given both the dojo closure and the unrest in Los Angeles, last week was hardly restful.
I will say one thing about the protestors in Los Angeles and across this nation: I have tremendous respect for persons willing to risk both their lives and their health in order to stand for justice. My family is with them in spirit.
However, if we want to have four adults from my household able to vote for candidates who support their causes in November, we have to stay home. We will show our support through donations to good causes and kind words of encouragement to friends who march.
This is my “ku” week, so 90 sit-ups and squats. I’m doing 50 push-ups on my fists and toes on the ground, then 10 the same way on the matte, and adding 30 more on my knees, when I can. I got in my exercises twice yesterday and twice today. Yesterday I also ran for 20 minutes with an additional 10 minutes walking to warm-up and cool down. Today the kids and I attended karate with Sensei over Zoom.
I have been keeping my paper journal daily. New goal: return to posting those daily writes here.