Tag: COVID-19

Coronavirus, Stress, Mortality and Karate

Sunday October 4th, 2020

I spent perhaps far too much time reading the news yesterday and feeling stressed. So I felt this was perhaps a good topic to cover. Hoping others will find this helpful.

Coronavirus in the News

With so many of our elected leaders and their staff, acquaintances, friends and family afflicted with coronavirus, let us keep them in our thoughts and prayers. This disease, striking the powerful and the weak alike, reminds us of our own mortality.

The AIDS epidemic was the last time our nation faced anything similar to COVID-19 in recent memory. That disease, as frightening as it was, is not comparable. According to a CDC publication from November 1995, total deaths that year from AIDS had reached 311,381 persons nationally. The death rate for infected persons was a frightening 62%. Due to better education, activism and treatments that rate finally started to fall in 1996. Antiretroviral therapy in particular, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, was perhaps the key factor in that reduction.

This year, in the US, roughly 208,630 have died to date with this disease (KFF). The gross death rate is roughly 3 to 4%, so considerably lower than that of AIDS at its peak. However, unlike AIDS, it is highly contagious, and currently we have about 7.44 M people infected. So the likelihood that one might contract this disease is high. Also, similar to AIDS, a person can be a carrier for some unknown length of time and transmit the virus to multiple persons without being aware he or she is spreading the disease. Finally, unlike AIDS, we hope this first year will be the peak.

The rough, lower death rate for COVID-19 is misleading. This disease is opportunistic. It effects the more vulnerable. So the elderly, along with immunocompromised individuals, are more effected. Minority communities as well as those impoverished suffer from it disproportionately.

Stress and Karate

It is well known that a regular exercise practice, as well as mindfulness and mediation, can reduce stress. Karate, with its roots in Zen Buddhism, emphasizes breathing and meditation in addition to rigorous training.

Friday’s Class: Stances and Backwards Kata

Friday night’s class, led by my daughter F, was enough to move my mind from the week’s concerns. Rather than kihon, she had us hold stances for a minute and a half. I found this hilarious video of a karate father demonstrating how to get in a work-out doing this with small children:

Afterwards, she had us practice Pinan Sono Ichi backwards. Concentrating on this certainly focused my mind, at least for the duration of that exercise.

Saturday’s Class: Renraku

Yesterday morning, we met in a park in Burbank for a distance-respecting work-out. Sensei T led the class and called on me to teach kihon. I was a bit out of breath by the end of kihon, though we only did tens. Normally, for adult classes, we will do twenty of each exercise. Yesterday, we had a number of younger children in class. When this is the case, we do fewer exercises.

Senpai T covered the first three IFK basic Renraku exercises. Here’s another great video demonstrating some of the material we covered:

This gentleman demonstrates several more renraku. We covered the 9th and 8th. The 8th renraku is very similar to the 9th, but you lead with a kick, rather than a punch. The 7th focuses on blocks. By request from young Senpai TD, however, we jumped to the last renraku, which is all kicks! Then Senpai T called on us to do it on both sides. That was a challenge. I found a fun video that shows most of the renraku. Go to the end: that’s where you’ll see the kicking one!

This IFK group in Israel is awesome. Fun to watch!

Mortality, Nature and Karate

Queen of the Night opening Wednesday night

While karate certainly doesn’t dwell on our mortality, it does emphasize self-defense for the preservation of one’s life, as well as exercise for health.

Oyama also emphasized practicing karate and meditation in nature. Famously, he spent months honing his skills, alone, in the wilderness. The book I recently finished by him, “This is Karate,” is full of beautiful photos of karateka practicing on the beach, in the forest, in snow or before stunning landscapes. Hence, both our dojo, and now the club, tries to get out in nature to practice.

Queen of the Night

Wednesday night, the night of my son’s birthday, we had a rare opportunity to observe the opening of Jessica’s Queen of the Night plant. I had written about hoping to see this event back in July. We looked for it on the 22nd, and I described missing it on the 23rd.

This past Wednesday night, we watched its progress. By 7pm, Jessica came to watch its opening. She sat on a chair with the plant until the mosquitoes convinced to her leave. I offered to keep watch and send photos. By 10pm, the two blooms on the plant were completely open. They already had a smell then, but you needed to bend down to smell them. By midnight, they released the most amazing smell.

Queen of the Night, no flash, both blooms

I took several photos of each bloom from various angles, with and without the flash. Our outdoor light gave the white blooms a pinkish tinge. Some of the photos came out looking quite abstract, particularly the close-up ones.

The grandparents, kids and D came out with me at various points to examine and smell the flowers. Richard noted that it was a full moon, and asked if these plants primarily bloom during full moons.

Each bloom begins in a teardrop shape and puffs out over one or two days. In the evening, it begins to open slowly, but by midnight, it is in its full glory.

Flowers, Pandemics and Brevity

Like the pandemic, the night flower is also a reminder of mortality, albeit a more glorious one. The bloom is spectacular in size and smell, once fully open, but the fact that it opens just once, and only at night, makes it unusual. So to see it, you must stay up late. It’s quick, too: in just two to three hours, it will open completely. By morning, it has returned to its teardrop, but droops down.

However long we as humans may live, even our lives, when long, pass quickly, when compared with stately, centuries old redwoods or the ancient stars above. All living things die. We are no different. We come into the world totally helpless, and if fortunate, learn to crawl, totter, walk, run, dance, perform karate, walk, perhaps the totter returns, then nothing. All human life is brief. What more impetus do we need to treat each other, and ourselves, with compassion?

Belts, Imagination and Kumite

Wednesday September 2nd, 2020

Last week we celebrated four birthdays (my nephew, my sister-in-law, my husband D and me), and we saw Sensei in the park last Saturday morning. He spoke words of encouragement to all of us, and handed out belts and certificates.

We arrived home to a pancake breakfast prepared by my nephew from Northern California. It was also D’s birthday, so we got take out from our favorite restaurant, shared it with D’s brother’s family and the grandparents. Afterwards, we watched Zodiac. D had worked with Aaron, the son of Robert Graysmith, who authored the original book. It was disturbing, mainly because it is a true story, but a good movie.

On Sunday, we peformed those chores neglected while entertaining out-of-town guests and celebrating birthdays. On Monday, we were off running.

I want to share my entry from Saturday.

Ceremony of Belt Awards

Today is D’s birthday. He slept in. The kids and I rose at 7 am. We were at the Figure 8 park by 8:30 am. T, TF, B, Sensei AJ and our Sensei were all there, as well as many of the kids. Sensei brought a large box, filled with certificates and belts. With help from T and B, he arranged them in a row on the green. His certificates this time were issued by the California Budoshinkai Association, the new style he is in the process of creating. We are still an IFK affiliate.

It was an emotional experience, seeing so many friends and my own children receiving their belts. Certainly I felt emotional upon receiving my own belt. Obviously this ceremony was not the one I imagined a year ago. Kyokushin, however, is about seeking absolute truth, or absolute reality–this is our preferred translation in our dojo community. Buddhism teaches us to let go of illusion, including and especially self-delusion. Wisdom will bring us to recognize beauty in that reality, when we can strip away enough self-delusion to see it.

Imagination versus Reality

Before the pandemic, I imagined a ten-person kumite match: most of the folks whipping my tail would be good friends from the dojo. I imagined it within the dojo building that Sensei no longer rents, along with board or brick breaking to demonstrate our skills, along with a party afterwards. But the reality is we gathered in the morning, outdoors, in a neighborhood park, under blooming crepe myrtle trees, standing on grass, surrounded by our greater Burbank community. Sensei announced that two persons from our dojo have been diagnosed with Covid-19. I hope they are coping okay and not seriously ill.

Many of us gathered there in the park, distanced but well, dressed in street clothes instead of gis. Despite the pandemic and the many woes inflicted upon our group that might have pulled us apart, we were there together, at least, those of us who could be there. Some others do join us over Zoom that were not at liberty to come to a park. One pair of children were allowed to come only briefly to receive their belts, and had to leave right away. Three members of their family are immunocompromised, so these children, understandably, kept their contact brief.

We are fortunate to be together, mostly over Zoom but sometimes in the park, like this gathering. We are fortunate to not have lost anyone in our little dojo community to this disease at this time. Granted, preserving our community through this crisis took a lot of work.

Kumite

This was our real fight: our kumite match was against a plague that would pull us apart with fear, illness and financial troubles, all against a backdrop of political unrest and dissension. Though we’ve received our belts and certificates, this particular kumite match is far from over. We have to support each other in the face of this plague, build harmony from discord, and hold our little community, along with Burbank, California, the United States and the free world and finally, the whole world, together. We are a world community of humans, with more binding us together than separating us. Also, all living things in this world are interdependent upon keeping our environment, and each other, in good health. We’ve made it this far.

Sensei saw fit to honor many of us with belts and certificates for our hard work. He also gave high honors to T and AJ by asking our dojo community to address them now as “Sensei,” or Teacher. They well deserve this honor.

Performing Breaks

Yesterday, in our own back yard, F, S and I broke up chunks of concrete and rocks with shuto hands. So we did our breaks before receiving our belts. That evening, S and I showed his young cousin the rocks and chunks of concrete that we’d broken. He was actually more impressed by the concrete breaks, since the rocks looked more “breakable” to him. S and I found a thinner piece of concrete and demonstrated how to break it on the patio. S’s young cousin listened carefully, and, using the technique we demonstrated for him, he broke it!

Sensei had told us that receiving a black belt is about teaching, sharing what you know. I was so excited to see my ten year old nephew present the fragments of his shattered hunk of concrete to his own father with pride. His was a clean, straight break.

The Loss of Chadwick Boseman

Our family was saddened to read about the death of Chadwick Boseman. Sometimes we fight hard and do not win. Not winning the battle, or even the war, does not make you less of a warrior. On screen, Chadwick fought super-villains. In real life, he had more formidable foes: racism, on top of the usual demons faced by artists and other creatives, and finally, cancer. He deserves his own black belt for tenacity and his drive to share his gifts with the world.

If you have not watched his speech to the Screen Actors’ Guild, it is well worth your time.

This is another kumite match we, as a society, need to take on and defeat: racism, including systemic racism and unconscious bias.  Exacerbating these situations is the problem of poverty, another formidable foe, but one we can defeat, if we have the will.

Thursday August 6th, 2020

I went through with my original plan but it wasn’t terribly practical. At 6:45am, I got up and did exercises. Sensei texted, too, and I spent some time answering. When I finished, I decided to go back to bed. Since I’d not gone to bed very early last night, getting up early was not the best plan. For tomorrow, I will go to bed early and wake up when I wake up. Rather than exercises, I’ll focus on kata and syllabus. We also have karate class tomorrow evening.

In one of my dreams, we had to move the shodan test to a small, outdoor concrete patio. It looked cramped and uncomfortable. I also dreamed about work but no longer remember those parts.

Sensei had scheduled a work-out for testers in the figure 8 park today. He wasn’t feeling well and decided not to come. Being ill also had him worried about COVID-19, so he texted the group he would get tested. 

T offered to meet us in the park so we could still practice.T, TF, B and I met together. For her intensive Summer Honors English course, F has multiple essays due this week. She decided to sit out this one. That was probably a smart move on her part, because we practiced about three hours. We did a good amount of socializing, too. Still, we did the kata walk, and even did the syllabus walk. In addition, we went over Bo Sono Ichi and Ni. We also did the two ura katas we needed. B and T practiced Kanku. After B left, TF and I ran the Pinans again, to polish them, and T gave us tips to clean them up.

It was after 6:30pm by the time I got home, but I felt good about the practice, and it was just so nice to see TF and T, as well as B.

Good news: Sensei reported that his COVID-19 test came back negative. He even texted a photo, he was so happy. We were all relieved for him. It would be one thing to have to delay the shodan and nidan tests, but Sensei is not a spring chicken–contracting this illness at his age is pretty scary.  Each decade of your life adds to the probability that you would have complications, and though he’s not elderly, he’s old enough that it is scary. Given what I know from my cousin’s experience with it, I’m scared of it, too. But, to the best of our knowledge, none of us have it.

I did not do exercises tonight given our pretty extensive practice session.  For this evening and tomorrow, I need to focus on getting plenty of rest, not inadvertently injuring myself, and prepare for Saturday.

Oh, the “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” story from last night actually read like a joke: a cook in a monastery was in a great hurry. Along with the grasses and grains he grabbed for the evening soup, he inadvertently picked up a snake, and chopped it up along with his vegetables for the stew. The monks loved the stew: it was the best tasting soup they’d had in a long time. Everyone was happy until the head master pulled a snake head from his bowl and called the cook over, “What is this?” The cook, quick on his feet, grasped the snake head and popped it into his mouth, then bowed with a “Oh, thank you, Master!”

Wednesday July 22nd, 2020

This morning, instead of exercises, I meditated for ten minutes. I sat outside under the loquat tree and tried to focus on natural sounds outdoors. Despite the leaf blower running, I could hear birds and the neighbor’s fountain. However, my mind went everywhere: more changes and cuts at work; concern over this blog since our little martial arts club is unaffiliated, and, though I’m pretty sure I did join the IFK, I only have my daughter’s membership card; fears that the Shodan test will be less meaningful without kumite and in this potentially shortened form; fears that, if I find employment in another industry, the adjustment will be more difficult than expected. When I realize my mind has wondered, I try to find a bird sound or the water, and listen again.

Funny, when I glance over the list of worries above, actually contracting COVID-19 myself, or having a member of my family contract it, doesn’t rate. Why is that? Despite the fact that a good friend and a couple cousins have gotten it, and recovered, the actual threat of the disease feels unreal. My husband keeps a little cheat sheet of the rising national count on a daily basis, which I see, but do not pay much attention to.

Despite the fact that it feels unreal, I act on what I know. In the morning, I still spray down the kitchen counters and frequently touched surfaces, like light switches and refrigerator handle, with a diluted bleach solution. A note taped to the door reminds me and others in my household to wear a mask before answering the door, both to protect us and whoever is dropping off a delivery and ringing the bell. The doorbell, outside and inside door knobs and even the mail box are surfaces I spray with the diluted bleach solution. I take these actions every day. I know that, despite our best efforts, one of us could still contract the disease. Despite this knowledge, I don’t worry about it. I just do what needs to be done.

Other areas of my life could benefit from that treatment: regarding work, I should do my best to look around, and do my best on the job I have, while I have it. It’s not always easy and I don’t always succeed, but that is a good goal. Regarding karate, the same: do what Sensei requires and trust his judgement. He will grant the next rank, or not, depending on how each of us performs during our test. He has given us the requirements and will administer the test. Also, we’ve chosen to continue our karate practice at home, to the best of our abilities, under these circumstances. Our only other option was to stop karate; that option precludes not only a black belt test but also any progress in karate.

My friend Jessica, my “dirt sister,” came over today. Her Queen of the Night started blooming. It only fully blooms at night. We are to check it roughly once an hour tonight to see, and hopefully record its progress. Above, take at peek at where it was at around 5:30pm this evening.

Monday May 11th, 2020

I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats. It was both difficult and nice to get back into the weekday exercise schedule. On Saturday, instead of running for twenty minutes, I walked on the treadmill for sixty minutes with a steeper than usual incline. Leilani and I talked on the phone for most of my walk. It was fun. That hour felt much shorter than my usual twenty minute run.

Speaking of which, I need to run today!

Sensei sent me an article on the most common ways that COVID-19 can spread, written by Erin Bromage, who recently taught a course on infectious diseases to undergraduates, and offers practical advice on staying safe during this pandemic. Here’s the link:

https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

It’s sobering. I sent it to D, my husband, who sent it to other family members. Dr. Bromage expresses some concerns over loosening restrictions for economic recovery without any treatments available for the disease.

At the beginning of California’s lockdown, D started reading Albert Camus’s “the Plague.” D really found it intense and a particularly good read during this pandemic.

I have to admit that, after reading and fining “the Stranger” very disturbing, I have avoided reading any more Camus. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be disturbing. I’ve experienced plenty of disturbing outside of literature, however. Yes, I do agree that good art will often depict what is disturbing in human nature; simple observation will, too.

In order to keep your own will in tact and discover both joy and beauty on this frightening Earth, you have to pace yourself. To do that, you need to know and be honest with yourself. In short, when you are feeling dizzy, don’t look over the edge of the cliff. Wait until your stomach, mind and feet feel steady and grounded, then seek the view with caution, respecting your own strength and minding both your footing and the weather conditions when you peer over the edge.

Kyokushin is loosely translated as “absolute truth.” In Sensei’s dojo, we interpret it more as “the search for absolute truth or reality,” since none of us, ultimately, actually have or can grasp that absolute reality. If we are disciplined, open to change, and we keep searching, we come much closer to grasping it.