06/27/2025
Growth is difficult.
This past week, we were working with Hachi Dan Giri (forgive the spelling) and carrying it forward into 3 person kata showing the value of the 90 degree transition. I frequently have this type of issue. I try to follow the explicit form/movement of the training movement, and bring it to the transition. And I kept seeing that my timing which shouldn't change, required a huge shift in gear ratio for the transition, and I was still way behind.
Matt Carlson Sensei came over and showed me what it should look like. And I saw it. The movement is not the large movement where the kissaki follows your hips diagonally across your body, it is the version that is created when you aim for minimal movement and reach for your opponent. It is direct, and all energy is moving into the cut at your opponent. Which leaves you the opportunity to transition and get to the other attacker.
I keep running into similar things. If I look at the attack as something I need to deal with, not thinking about the specific practice we are on, it seems more simple. I let my body move, I reach for my partner, I try to let them past. When I am working to follow an activity starting form beginning to end, I have a harder time adapting the movement because I am trying to do the activity. I need to look at each movement as the efficient version that always reaches down the centerline to the opponent. Even when it doesn't look like the thing we are doing. (Maybe that is the real thing to remember, the thing that Sensei does, is not the thing we see.)
Until I can make that my consistent pattern, I will continue what I am doing. Work out my question, confusion, struggle out loud, and try to find the next step. I believe (or would like to) that by communicating about my challenges, and how I work through them, I can help others understand that the frustration is part of the growth not that they are not good enough.
