pandemic Archives - Ichi Kyu Diary

Water, Karate and Ceremony

A Different Kind of Birthday Party

Today we celebrate my daughter’s sixteenth birthday, and it will be like no previous birthday celebration. Obviously the pandemic has changed how we observe all sorts of events. However, last night, I put together a collage of photos for today’s family birthday Zoom.

While looking through the pictures, few of her birthdays, I realized, were alike. One year, she invited thirty kids from different friend groups and wanted them all to sleep over. We told her that was way too many kids. She insisted, because she’d already told them all they were invited. I negotiated with the grandparents (remember they live in our home, too). We landed on a solution: a two night birthday event. She divided her friends into two groups of fifteen. On Friday night, several came and celebrated. Some slept over but many (mainly the boys) went home. By Saturday evening, the first shift had cleared out and the second arrived.

Another year, she wanted a beach birthday party. It was too cold to swim in the ocean in January, so we had a family celebration then, and her actual friend birthday party took place on the beach, in June. We managed to pack a Porto’s cake into a freezer bag, and had cake with her on the beach. Keeping the candles lit was a feat. A friend kindly provided a tent for the party.

Ceremony and Change

For every birthday, some things were consistent: candles, a cake, gifts. Other things shifted: family and friends celebrating together, or separately, or the place and even the time. We try to be flexible. As she grew, what she needed and wanted changed, too. As a baby, mom and dad could be sufficient. Later, toys, books and sweets mattered to her, and the presence of friends grew in importance. As a teenager, time with friends became paramount. Last night, she had a Zoom movie night with a close friend. Next weekend, she’ll Zoom with the teen group. Today, we’ll have a separate family group.

Likewise, as your skills grow in karate and in life, what you need and want from it will change. Some things will remain the same: karate can remain a stabilizing force in your life, helping to keep your focus on health and well-being. As a child, you may care about trophies, contests and tournaments. When you are a young adult, a sensei might require you to compete in tournaments and ask you to demonstrate your breaking skills for the dojo during holiday events. As you age, however, you may be more drawn to the spiritual aspects of karate: meditation, teaching, perfecting your techniques. Karate provides space for and places importance on all of these things.

What is Karate Outside the Dojo?

During the pandemic, we’ve had to alter our methods for teaching and how we perform promotions. When California first went into lockdown last spring, we took a hiatus while figuring out our next step. We scrambled to keep our community together when financial disaster struck our dojo. Like the schools, we shifted to instruction primarily over Zoom. Promotions, however, were still held outdoors, in parks, along with occasional in-person classes as permitted by the county. We could not make attendance at any in-person event mandatory, since that might penalize members with elderly parents or persons with health conditions at home. Sensei R. researched the effects of the virus and its spread; he encouraged us to purchase sports masks. During workouts, he required thirty feet between participants, and substituted hard cardio work-outs for kumite matches. He found a way for promotions to take place.

Most promotions we performed, in order to avoid attention, required participants to wear work-out clothing. We only wore belts to signify rank. As the pandemic worsened in our area, we had to reduce attendance at promotions to just the persons promoting and the judges.

Right now, our promotions do not look like those we held in the dojo. Gone are the gis, sparring matches, fellow students shouting encouragement, sharing food afterwards and big parties to celebrate our accomplishments. Here’s what’s remained: beginning and ending meditation, perfecting one’s kihon, performing rank-related kata, syllabus and exercise requirements (push-ups, sit-ups and squats), hard physical and mental exertion, the ceremony of presenting an earned belt, both praise and correction from one’s senseis and senpais.

What is Karate Without Kumite?

Kumite, long considered part of the core of Kyokushin, is a shadow of what it was in our current practice. We miss it. However, we would miss lost friends and family members, and peace of mind much more, if we permitted it, and one of our members or their families contracted the virus with devastating consequences as a result.

Water as Spiritual Strength

ocean wave, taken on the California coast

Karate teaches us that life is change. When our dojo joined the IFK, we adopted the wave as our symbol and sewed it into our gis. According to the IFK’s USA site:

The International Federation of Karate logo, worn at the top of the right sleeve of the Gi, has as its central symbol a rising wave, which is taken from Saiha Kata. This wave symbolizes the fact that no matter how great an obstacle or problem you may encounter, with patience, determination and perseverance (Osu 押忍) you can rise above and overcome it.

United States Kyokushin Karate

My daughter, by the way, loves water. When we took her to the beach as a toddler, she charged right into the surf. My husband or I needed to be right behind her to insure she did not go to deep. She loved the ocean and had no fear of it. In elementary school, she decided she would eat no fish because she, herself, must be part fish.

She still loves water and still applies its lessons of perseverance to all she does: learning and teaching karate, programming, academics and her new job as Dungeon Master.

Water as an Ancient and Enduring Symbol

Water is necessary for all life; many cultures use it to symbolize purification, renewal, wisdom, or even the flow or time or life itself; its symbolic nature is unparalleled.

The quote, “Still waters run deep” appears in Shakespeare and, according to Wikipedia, was a Latin proverb. Even the Biblical 23rd Psalm of David refers to deep water: “he leads me beside still waters” (paraphrased.)

Confucius said, “Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface.”

Water is also an important symbol for Daoism, the grandfather of Buddhism, including Zen, and karate. It is used to show how the soft (water) can overcome the hard (rock). In the words of Lao Tsu:

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”
Lao Tsu

Ocean waters eroding islands from land, Oregon Coast

Mas Oyama appears to be referring to Lao Tsu’s quote when he says, “Always remember that the true meaning of Budo is that soft overcomes hard, small overcomes large.”

Since water adapts, changing its shape to fill any container that holds it, it refers to both adaptation and consistency. It takes the shape of any vessel, but remains water. Its essence is not in its shape. When heat or freezing temperatures are applied, it may vaporize or freeze. However, when temperatures are not extreme, it remains in a liquid state. In short, water changes but remains what it essentially is.

Kumite as Challenge

During our last promotion, I repeated something to my kohai that I’d hear Sensei R. say to me and many others: “On this day, you fought yourself. You had to face your own exhaustion, limitations and fear. You fought those and overcame them.”

While we do miss the ability to spar with each other, we do not find obstacles in short supply during this pandemic. The spirit of kumite: the desire to overcome any obstacle, like that ocean wave invoked by the IFK, remains with us.

In karate, and in life, we want to be like water: adapting to what we must, but holding fast to our essential nature.

Bearded Dragons, Zen Versus Learnin’, and Karate

Sunday October 11th, 2020

Personal Practice and Karate Class Summary

This past week I practiced “meditation week.” I meditated most days. Last Monday, however, I made up for missing push-ups, sit-ups and squats the previous Friday. I’m still either running or jumping rope every other day during the week. Honestly I prefer the treadmill to the jump rope. This means I need to do more jump rope sessions.

On Clark St. in Burbank; our neighbors’ sense of Halloween humor!

On non-cardio days, I still get out and walk in the neighborhood. Despite the pandemic, my Burbank neighbors have continued our Halloween tradition with creative and humorous local displays.

Last Tuesday, Sensei R taught a Tai Chi class. It was both challenging and relaxing. Friday night, N taught, and her class was surprisingly challenging: she held “contests,” to see how long we could balance on one leg, or hold a plank, or to see who was most flexible. N herself won for balance; I managed to hold the longest plank, though DJ really made me work for it, and young CF handily won the flexibility title. Rounding out the week, Senpai SL, our “weapons specialist,” taught bo staff. I had thought I was pretty good at bo staff, until I witnessed Senpai SL perform flowers and figure eights with two staves at once! He taught a great workshop: my aching shoulders bore witness to the value of the class for fitness.

Zen’s Denigration of Scholarship for Enlightenment

I’m still reading Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Currently, I’m in the older portion, the Gateless Gate or the Mumonkan. The treatment of language is an on-going theme. Several stories illustrate the inadequacy of language to bring a monk to enlightenment. I’ve come across at least two examples of monks destroying writings. In an earlier post, I wrote about my feelings on this. One monk destroyed a work written by generations of others [pg. 108] while another, his own writing [206]. Language and reason hamper the monk’s progress in these stories.

How ironic, given the elegance of the stories themselves! In fact, Mumon ends each of his treatises with a poem. What a conundrum! We know about Mumon, his scholarship and poetry through his writing. Moreover, much of Zen’s reach outside of monasteries today results from these beautiful writings and similar works.

Zen’s debt to the written word and poetry is embedded in the earliest introduction of Buddhism to China. According to Wikipedia, An Shigao, an Indian Buddhist monk who settled in Luoyang, first taught Buddhism there.* He translated a set of ancient Buddhist texts on meditation into Chinese. So, at the birth of Ch’an/Zen in China, we already have scholarship in the form of translation. Buddhism entered China with language, writing and its logical traps.

_{* This is an oversimplification: he’s the first known translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese; we do not know if there were others.}

Enlightenment, Language and Fire

Yes, and cats, who can teach us much about living in the present

In “Blow out the Candle,” Tokusan, a student, attains enlightenment after Ryutan, his teacher, offers him a candle. It was night, and Tokusan planned to walk home. As soon as Tokusan takes it, Ryutan blows it out. The next day, Ryutan praises Tokusan; Tokusan burns his writings and leaves the monastery, presumably to teach elsewhere.

Mumon’s commentary includes a second story about Tokusan. When he arrives in the area near Ryutan’s monastery, he comes with a thick commentary. The Southerners, he believes, need instruction on the sutras. He happens upon an old woman. She asks him what he carries that is so heavy. He tells her it is his commentary on the Diamond Sutra.

She observes: “I read that Sutra, which says: ‘the past mind cannot be held, the present mind cannot be held, the future mind cannot be held.’ You wish some tea and refreshments. Which mind do you propose to use for them?” [Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, “Gateless Gate,” page 207] This encounter humbles Tokusan. He asks her for a teacher. She directs him to Ryutan. So, Tokusan begins his search when he encounters this woman. She summarizes years’ worth of scholarship the Diamond Sutra in a single sentence and an offer of tea. He ends his search by burning his own commentary, that symbol of mental entanglement.

Mumon’s Flaire and an Old Woman’s Tea

Fire as a transformative force figures prominently in these stories: the burning candle, suddenly out, plunges both teacher and pupil into the stark reality of night. Tokusan’s flaming commentary, even the old woman’s cooking fire, are metaphors for enlightenment. Enlightenment burns suddenly. It is only understood through experience.

But the poet Mumon attributes Tokusan’s entrance to the path of Enlightenment to the simple words and logic of an old village woman. Perhaps the real story here is that language, logic and learning points the way, until it doesn’t. Some concepts can be understood and studied. Others must be experienced. How do we know the difference? By observing what’s useful.

Personally I like the fact that Mumon evokes this old village woman: he shows we do not have to be monks living in monasteries to experience enlightenment. We can also be old village women who read sutras on occasion, but also brew tea and bake treats. Tokusan owes as much to her as to Ryutan.

Zoom Dinnertime Conversation on Belief, Education and Experience

Interestingly enough, we had dinner over Zoom with a good friend, G., who edited a local atheist publication for about two years. He has long held that irrational belief, or, in his view, religion, is the root cause of many of our current societal disasters and woes. A lack of understanding of history dooms us to repeat its mistakes. Adhering to superstition or simple short-term financial benefits over what we know from science has left us with both a damaged environment and damaged health.

Belated birthday gifts from G. to my husband and me; these will be fun reads.

He is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, is in his sixties, and has health issues on top of his cancer. He’s concerned about the state of the world as well as his own health. Although he views the coronavirus pandemic as just barely a pandemic, through the lens of history, he sees it as a personal threat to one like himself. He described compared the coronavirus pandemic to both the Spanish flu and the Medieval European plague, and found it less worrisome from this perspective. However, since chemotherapy has compromised his own immune system, he’s certainly afraid of catching it. He is exactly the demographic most likely to die from it.

G. threw out a statistic about how many persons, in the US and Europe, do not accept that the earth is round, or that the earth rotates around the sun. He also gave examples from his days as a community college teacher of young adult students not knowing when Jesus lived, or when slavery in the US ended. Finally, he gave examples of ignorance among elected officials. He concluded that education, itself, is not valued enough in our country.

Reading versus Doing

G. grew up in Quebec and has a particularly dim view of the Catholic Church. We talked about how some people cannot be reached with reason. G. summed it up as follows: “If persons did not arrive at a particular opinion through reason, they can’t be swayed from it through reason.” We discussed how experience, your own or that of others close to you, influences most of us more than any amount of study or reason.

He used the shifting cultural norms around LBGTQ persons as an example. Forty years ago, most people in the US did not support gay marriage. Many viewed homosexuality as a kind of aberration. Today, a majority of Americans see it more as they view left-handedness: a minority of people are simply born this way. G. attributes this shift to the recent openness of LGBTQ persons themselves. Previously, gay persons hid their identity and now they do not. As a result, most Americans have a family member or friend who identifies that way. This personal experience with gay family and friends, in his opinion, shifted public opinion towards acceptance.

Again, enlightenment comes in the form of direct experience, and not though education, basically a form of inferred experience of others over time. I did not bring up Buddhism or Zen in the discussion with G., but suspect he would feel similar to me on combining the fruits of scholarship with fire.

Bearded Dragons: a Tangent

So S celebrated his thirteenth birthday last Wednesday, and this little critter was his present. He named her Kalessin, for the oldest dragon in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series. We call her Kali for short.

Learning to care for a reptile is a challenge. Luckily, there is a wealth of information on-line about the care of these creatures. We also purchased an excellent book on bearded dragon care with a gift certificate from his aunt.

Last week, she was not active. We worried her terrarium was too cold. The pet shop, Burbank Scales and Tails, kindly replaced the bulb with a warmer, better one free of charge. They were ready with advice when my son called, too. This past weekend, however, our terrarium thermometer indicates the bulb heats her home too much! We have ordered a light stand, so we can adjust its distance. Now, we’re using wood blocks or wash cloths wrapped in duct tape to prop it higher.

I am thankful that we can rely on the experience of others, in the form of books, on-line articles and discussions with the knowledgable staff at Burbank Scales and Tails. Given none of us have prior personal experience in reptile care, we’re glad others are willing to educate us.

What does any of this have to do with Karate?

Everything! This is a karate blog, so of course we’ll examine how it relates to karate. Learning karate, like achieving enlightenment or learning to care for a pet bearded dragon, is half personal experience and half learning from others. Studying from karate is not the same as practicing karate. Practicing karate, however, requires the study of karate to be complete.

I recently finished Oyama’s book, “This is Karate.” So much great information is contained in its pages, as well as cool photos of Oyama and his students. So much Japanese terminology, history and philosophy lives within those pages. Reading it gives me impressions of our style’s founder that I would not have had otherwise. I picked up Oyama’s book, however, after learning who Oyama was in Sensei’s dojo.

That said, there is no substitute for attending my Sensei’s physical dojo for roughly eight years, and practicing with my instructors and fellow students. I’ve learned how to block better by fending off strong blows from TF. Watching Sensei M showed me just how hard a scholar can kick! Our dojo has had many strong women and intelligent men among its udancha, and each of them imparted some wisdom to me, through words, demonstrations, blows, blocks, kicks and their grace in the face of conflict or hardship.

I owe a lot to my Sensei. He showed me how wise, disciplined and strong children could be. It was a joy to watch S and F grow under his instruction. He showed me how to break bricks, and how to reach 100 push-ups, sit-ups and squats. He showed me how to earn a black belt. Most importantly, he demonstrated why the study of karate was valuable.

From Sensei’s Bonsai Class Exhibition in December 2017

When Pre-Calculus and Band Collide!

Monday, September 7th, 2020:

It is Labor Day, and with the exception of laundry and dishes, I have taken a break from most labor. Writing and karate are both labors of love, so it is an ideal time to add an entry to this site.

Regarding personal fitness: after my shodan test, I’ve continued to do push-ups, sit-ups and squats in the morning but primarily push-ups in the evenings. I also still run on the treadmill about two days a week. Maybe I can lift weights, or find different exercises to do, in order to mix up my routine. I want to maintain my level of fitness, but no longer feel a need to do knuckle push-ups on bare floors. I use a mat in the mornings, but the floor in the evenings because it’s faster. This week I have reached “meditation” week. On Sensei’s advice, I rest from exercises, with the exception of karate class and cardio, on the fourth week. I do need to meditate today. Hopefully meditating more this week will give me a bit more to write about!

Challenges of Distance Learning

Our household has been adjusting to school over Zoom. I recently received a letter from a sister in North Carolina. She asked how the kids have been adjusting to school during the pandemic. I’d like to share my response. When the pandemic is over, remembering how we coped may be interesting.

Here it is.

During the first week of school, Zoom class presented us with some surprises. D had set up both kids with computers in the dining room a couple years back. They did much of their homework side by side, in the dining room. Before the pandemic, having the kids next to each other in the dining room, doing homework, didn’t present issues.

When the pandemic shut down the schools last March, they were ready to go on-line, and did fine. During our first week of school this semester, however, we encountered serious issues. D put video cameras and headphones on each computer, and we assumed that was all we would need to do.

When Pre-Calculus and Band Collide!

On Wednesday morning during the first week of school, F had Pre-Calculus at the same time that S had Band. F’s teacher decided to give a pop-quiz style assessment. She wanted to make sure her kids were in the correct math level, and properly prepared for the coming year. So F was taking a test.

S’s Band teacher, generously wanting to make band fun for children who had not yet been able to pick up their musical instruments from the school, or purchase ones, had her students seek household items that could be used as instruments. So, while F took an exam, S literally banged on a pot next to her. He got up, tore about the house in search of some item as instructed by his teacher, returned to his spot and started “playing” whatever household item he’d found. S even asked F where certain household items were to be found. F responded, “Shut up! I’m in the middle of a test!” So his assignment that day was a cross between a treasure hunt and a home-made drumming session. It looked fun. Hers was not fun.

Needless to say, F did not do well on her exam. Fortunately, her math teacher did not count the test as part of their grade, but she strongly recommended that any student who did not do well change to a different math class. F was distraught. We emailed the teacher to let her know what happened to F. For the next week, D sat with F to review math material to make sure she actually understood the math she needed for Pre-Calculus and felt prepared for the coming year.

Snails race to rescue unsuspecting students from logarithms

Okay, I have to post this really cool video that D used to review logarithms with F. Just as I depended upon a humble earth worm to guide me through Tabata, this instructor, whose witty handle is NancyPi, employs the snail to help students solve logarithms. I loved this video so much I posted it at work, too.

Watch this for a very cute snail drawing, as well as a clear explanation of solving logarithms

Lessons Heeded

Now, on Mondays and Wednesdays, F has a laptop set up in her room while S is downstairs in the dining room. So now, if he’s playing household items or even his flute while she’s taking a test, she can simply shut the door.

So distance-learning has presented some challenges that we needed to overcome. Now our kids, and we, are pretty tech-savvy. If we were thrown off by, say, not anticipating that a middle schooler’s schedule might hamper a high schooler’s schedule, I really feel for those families that are less tech savvy.

One of our friends has a son with autism, and for a child like him, Zoom is no substitute for in-person learning. Burbank is considering opening the schools for children with disabilities, ESL learners and children with individual learning plans–basically for kids who need extra help. I sincerely hope they are able to work out a way to safely get these kids back in school, with the personal instruction they need.

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.

Discussing Covid-19 Exposure, and Rocks

Friday August 28th, 2020

Discussing Covid-19 Exposure, and Rocks

Family from Northern California are visiting with us. Rather, they were smoked out, and chose to come and see us. My husband’s brother Joseph, wife Fahr and son Ez (Ezekiel) drove down to see us on Fahr’s birthday. (Fahr is a nickname.)

We set up picnic tables in and chairs in the back yard. Everyone wore masks, until we cracked open a bottle of red wine. My mother-in-law put out a bowl of cherries. Joseph and his family had eaten on the drive down.

An Apt Metaphor

Fahr had an amusing metaphor for discussing the COVID-19 exposure level that people are comfortable with: it’s like discussing sex: individual boundaries and preferences regarding birth control have to be set. It was an apt comparison: people really do have a range of tolerance for different kinds of exposures, which can vary according to who they deal with. So we spent sometime talking about that.

Fahr also had a similarly useful suggestion: respect the wishes of the most conservative member of the group. In our case, that’s D. He warms any food prepared outside our home to kill potential viruses, still sprays down purchased items with a diluted bleach water solution, quarantines non-perishable items for 3 days in one room of the house, and prefers to wear a mask in most social situations involving persons outside our household. I should mention Joseph is a nurse practitioner who is tested frequently for COVID-19 exposure, and he is somewhat less conservative. Nevertheless, Fahr wanted us to respect D’s boundaries.

I found Fahr’s take on exposure insightful. I loved the fact that Fahr repurposed guidelines stemming out of feminism. Fahr, I should mention, worked for many years as a doula , is a credentialed life-coach, studied ancient healing methods in addition to undergraduate and graduate studies in the humanities. Feminism is deeply rooted in the individual’s conscious relationship to her or his own body. So, of course, when considering matters of the body and personal boundaries, as we all must now do during this pandemic, feminism presents a logical framework for coping with social relations and our comfort level with exposure to disease.

Joseph, Fahr, Ez and their small dog are staying at a nice hotel within walking distance from our home, and we’ve met almost every evening, either in our back yard or the hotel’s outdoor pool area. We’re looking forward to seeing them tonight.

F is teaching karate over Zoom with T. tonight. I hope that Ez will be able to join their class.

Oh, and Rocks!

Now for the fun stuff: rocks!

Since we may have guests again in our back yard, B and I cleared the furniture and the build-up of junk from the back patio, so I could power-spray it down. While helping out, I mentioned to S I’d been looking for a rock to break. We looked at and discussed rocks while clearing some of the beach stones from the patio.

S and I examined a curved rock together, and what angle we might strike it at. We looked at a few other ones, and B took out a smooth composite one maybe a bit more than half an inch thick. S, thinking he’d try it out to see if it would be an appropriate one to break, gave it a wack against the pavement, cleaved it smoothly in half! He said, “Oh, I didn’t mean to do that, Mom. I just wanted to see if it might work for you.”

**Including a penny so you can see the thickness of S’s rock**

I was so proud that he broke it!

Months earlier, I’d also placed chunks of old concrete that I’d dug up from various spots in the yard around our little kumquat bush. Those caught my eye. I suggested to S that we try those. So we retrieved chunks of concrete and broke those first. My reasoning: we’ve watched Sensei and our nidans break cinder blocks. Those are concrete. S and I easily chopped through the thinner chunks of old concrete.

F came out to see what we were doing. She took a concrete fragment and easily broke that in half!

And thickness of the concrete, demonstrated by a penny

I found an actual rock that looked thin and breakable. Oyama advised his students to do just that with river rocks: find one that looks easy to break, and break it! Then try a larger or thicker one, but build up. I broke my rock.

My broken rock fragments, also posed against a penny.

Wednesday August 5th, 2020

I set the alarm for 7:00am and was downstairs closer to 7:20 am. I did exercises, then rushed to be at a dentist appointment by 8:00 am. Upon returning home, I had time to stretch, clear dishes and write in my journal before clocking into work by 10:00 am.

At work, we had a “good-bye” lunch for our head of technology over Zoom. He’s really good, and my coworkers and I are all sorry to see him leave.

Yesterday, I called V, a work friend currently furloughed. (Actually I have posted pictures of her kumquats on this blog.) We discussed the departure of our supervisor. She speculated about the usual work politics issues, particularly given the current re-structuring our company is experiencing. She told me something I had no idea about, however. From an artist friend, she heard one of our business units is requiring digital artists to show up in person and work in the building. Actually, another work friend said he’d been offered a job at this business unit. He debated whether or not to take it for that reason. Moreover, she’d heard that the digital artists were given letters claiming they are “essential workers” that must be on-site. Given that our business unit is a rather large team of digital artists working from home, that’s simply not true.

According to V, the client who hired this particular unit pressured them into keeping the artists on-site for “security” reasons. Basically, they value the secrecy of their story, or the look of their characters, etc., above any risks working on-site poses to the health of artists and their families.

I don’t know what to say about the skewed values and lack of ethics at play there. From my perspective, it’s “bully” behavior. The effects house could refuse to work that way, and then the client would have to find someplace else to go. And if others are equally firm and ethical, there would be no where to go. That is one of the lessons of karate: you have to stand up to bullies. If you don’t, they’ll keep bullying.

Okay, on a less sad note, last night’s story from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” was a good one. An emperor convinces a Zen monk, Kakua, known for being elusive and shy, to preach at his court. The monk appears before the emperor and his court. He takes out a flute, plays a single, brief note, and disappears. All the more reason to insist we do what we can to preserve life: it is over too soon.

Monday August 3rd, 2020

Promotion week! In the past, the ichi kyu testing for shodan would do the “kata walk:” all the required katas, along with the flexibility test, on Tuesday night. Usually on Friday night, s/he would teach a course on self-defense, and demonstrate some techniques. Sensei is not likely to be on the Zooms for Tuesday for Friday night. T, however, could call on either TF, F or me to demonstrate techniques.

In the dojo’s distant past, probably under the IKO, I’m guessing, it could be the same day. So, after ten rounds of kumite, the ichi kyu may have to do the kata walk and break boards. Sensei seems to be planning something more along those lines, substituting a rigorous cardio work-out for kumite.

All the ichi kyus, after the dojo’s closure, have been teaching a lot over Zoom. None of us, unless we spar with family members, have really been able to practice kumite. Many of our students have little space for kata that travel, since they are doing what they can in bedrooms and living rooms. F, S and I are fortunate to have a back yard, and each other, for practice.

Once the pandemic ends, we hope to schedule a “make-up” ten round kumite match, or, in T’s case and possibly B’s case, a twenty-man or woman fight. I am not certain B will test for Nidan this Saturday, but I suspect she will help judge. I sure hope so. She is sharp.

This morning, I did exercises before cleaning. It was tough! My usual routine of cleaning first must get me moving and help my mind get going. For the next few days, I plan to get up a bit earlier, and start with exercises. Hopefully, by Saturday, F and I will be able to get up early and not have such a shock to the system. The actual test is scheduled early.

I also did jump-rope interval training and practiced the ura katas, along with Tsuki No Kata, Yonsu, and Gekisai Dai and Sho. D took the kids to the orthodontist, so they didn’t practice with me. Doing these kata in sneakers isn’t easy. I have better balance in bare feet. In the evening, I did my second set of exercises.

This week, I will also take some time off work, but not as much as I’d originally hoped. However, given I’ve been on reduced hours, and the reality that we may have more lay-offs, etc., I will work while I can.

Yesterday, we held our usual Sunday planning meeting for the martial arts club. One big topic of discussion: a Zoom sleep-over and movie being planned by the Youth Council. We also had a potential guest instructor join our meeting for a bit, and we spoke with him about teaching over Zoom.

D and I also had a bit of a debate over a story from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” on Sunday. The story is called “What are you doing?! What are you saying?!” In a nutshell, a Zen master, Mu-nan, wants to give his successor, Shoju, a book containing commentaries from masters going back seven generations. Shoju politely declines the book, saying he is satisfied with the way he received Zen from Mu-nan, which was orally. Mu-nan offers again and Shoju persists. Finally Mu-nan insists, saying Shoju can use the book as a symbol of receiving Zen teachings. Shoju thrusts the book into burning coals as soon as he receives it. Mu-nan shouts, “What are you doing?!” Shoju responds, “What are you saying?!”

Of course the lesson is non-attachment to things, regardless of the age or quality of the thing. I get it. But it’s a hard story to hear in the days when ancient Buddha statues have been dynamited by extremists of other religions. Also, in my American culture, burning books calls up all sorts of bad connotations: censorship, close-minded people, Orwellian societal mind-control–similar to our views of those who blow up ancient statues. Surely, Shoju, knowing that destroying that book would cause pain, could have figured out a way to be free of its possession without setting it on fire?

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.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2020

Yesterday and today, I made up for missing exercises last Thursday evening and Friday morning. I did sets in both the morning and evening on Monday, as well as ten sets of two minute jump rope intervals. After doing jump rope, I went over the Ura kata that I need. If you are asked to do, say, Pinan Sono Ichi Ura, this means that, on every other move, you are expected to spin before completing the move. So, using that kata as an example, you’d have to do the initial block, then spin, then do the punch, then spin, then do the next block, spin, next punch, etc. You have to keep up with where you are in the kata and not get dizzy. The little kid in me loves loves loves uras. The grown-up in me has concerns about executing those turns in sneakers.

Sensei also sent email detailing the black belt requirements. Exercises are the least of my worries. We will not be able to fight at all, however. This was not unexpected. He had hoped to surprise us with a visit from a Senpai that we all really love. However, given the current state of the pandemic, it’s just not realistic to think we could spar and not put each other at risk.

This morning I timed my exercises. So here’s where I’m currently at:

sixty knuckle-push-ups, “tricep” style, took about a minute: 55.35. With the additional forty “chest” push-ups: 1 minute 39.19. One hundred squats with alternating punches took 2 minutes, 34.84 seconds. My sit-up routine was more time-consuming: 3 minutes, 14.34 seconds.

For comparison, on June 19th (yes, Juneteenth), I did fifty knuckle-push-ups, “tricep” style, with an additional thirty “chest” push-ups in 1 minute 34.16 seconds. Ninety squats with alternating punches took me 2 minutes and 18 seconds. Sit-ups, and I have in my notes that I did 100 “normal” ones, and not my usual ab routine, took 3 minutes, 22.45 seconds.

So, time-wise, I’m doing more exercises and still in the same ballpark time-wise. That’s good!

Karate over Zoom went well. F taught and Senpai TN monitored the class. F had us do exercises in between kihon sets. Then she held a mini kata demonstration: she highlighted each student and had them do a kata of their choice. She also asked everyone to give feedback on the kata performances. This included two of our members who have autism or learning disabilities. It was so cool to see each of them perform, and do well!

Saturday July 11th, 2020

Last night, over Zoom for karate class, N. was the instructor, but she traded off with DJ. DJ is an adult yellow stripe; she is having surgery next week, so Sensei gave her an opportunity to promote prior to her surgery. She demonstrated her knowledge of kihon, along with N. After kihon, she did the kata walk required for her rank, exercises and syllabus. She had fourth kyu, the one that features shutos, which, in my opinion, is one of the more difficult ones to learn. It simply has more moves. DJ did really well, though she struggled with Tsuki No kata. That one is a bear under normal circumstances, and she had to learn it in a hurry over Zoom. She passed her promotion, however. She is our first adult to promote over Zoom!

This morning, Senpai B, who is our youngest black belt–she earned her adult black belt at age fourteen–led the class. She called on me to teach kihon. I asked if she’d like me to alternate with F and S, since they were present for class. Senpai B approved, so we lead the entire kihon, alternating between us. F and I threw in some instruction where we thought appropriate. I did some instruction for performing ushiro geri that Sensei had given to DJ last night: he instructed us to chamber first, look behind you, perform the kick, draw your leg back quickly to your chamber, then set the foot down. I repeated the instructions, but had trouble keeping my balance! Nevertheless, I slowed the count and instructed folks to follow those steps, and struggled through myself. Senpai M, our Nidan who moved east, had given us similar instructions a while ago.

After kihon, B took back over and taught Pinan Sono San.

When class was finished, F went back inside to work on her English literature class and S stayed outside with me to practice Bo Sono Ichi. Neither S nor I could remember it, so we did a quick run-through of Pinan Sono Ichi Ura. We did well with that, except that we forgot to do blocks instead of punches during part of it.

We googled Bo Sono Ichi and found this very accomplished video of a black belt demonstrating it. Not only did this gentleman do an awesome Bo Sono Ichi, but he had up videos for Ni and San:

From what S and I can tell, this video and the other bo staff kata videos were first posted about nine years ago by members of the South Delta Kyokushin IKO Club. They appear to be re-posted about 2 years ago. In any case, this karateka is awesome and you should check out his other two videos.

S and I watched the other bo staff kata, then returned to this one and watched it at a quarter speed to learn the hand switches. When Sensei had taught this, and to be fair, he’d taught us bo staff katas more than once, he’d had us drill the hand switches. It was fun to do, but it has been several months since we practiced it. However, I need it now for the Shodan test. S caught on very quickly, then critiqued me while I practiced. Finally, once I had it down, he left to play Mindcraft with a friend, and I drilled it until I felt more comfortable with it.

To mix things up a bit, I practiced Pinan Sono Ichi and Ni Uras, then went back to the bo staff to practice some more.