"Simple" Isn't Always "Easy."

My martial arts training is back in full swing this week. On Monday, I led a tough physical workout and combined it with a kata seminar, and on Wednesday I completed three hours of pretty intense training in the dojo. (There was a wee bit of snow shovelling in there somewhere this week, too.) I took Tuesday and Thursday off from training for physical recovery. As it turns out, I did catch a little bit of the "Gould family bug" at the tail end of last week, so I've been very dehydrated and more than a little groggy.

I have no idea how many pushups, box jumps, crunches, and form repetitions I've done this week, but I know it's been an awful lot. I'm sore. Not too much so, but enough to know I that while I'm making progress, I have some work ahead if I'm to get in the kind of shape I want to be in.

I love digging an old kata "out of the vault of my mind," dusting it off, and working on it. To me, practicing a kata that I haven't done in years is like catching up with an old friend. "Well hey there! How have you been? My, you haven't changed a bit! I really miss you, old friend — You know, we really ought to hang out more often..."

My new "old friend" is Itosu Lohai Shodan — It's the first kata in a series of three versions of the kata Rohai (a.k.a. "vision of a crane") created by Itosu Anko (1831 - 1915) from the form that he learned from Matsumura Sokon, It's a very short and relatively simple form, but it's fun and full of fighting spirit. (I'll try to get it on film in the next week or so.)

Reconnecting with my long-ignored kata, I think, is a parallel for the other important connections in my life that I should re-establish and strengthen. I'm beginning to see that maintaining an important relationship is like keeping a kata sharp: If you don't put some work into it, it will deteriorate. But the more you practice your kata — or your relationships — with sincere effort, attention, and mindfulness, the more beautiful they can become.

Put effort into your forms, and your forms will improve. Put effort into your relationships, and they'll improve too. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? In the martial arts and in life, "simple" isn't always "easy," but this is where my work lies: Just do the simple, hard things.

So my life is my new kata practice. I'm sure I won't always be perfect, but I'm working at it.

Me, Me, Me

I just missed an entire week of physical training. Not because I was lazy or undisciplined. I missed out on training because my entire family — my wife, my son, and my daughter — came down with a pernicious stomach flu, and I needed to provide some direct support on the homefront.

While I somehow miraculously avoided infection and illness, I've spent the last few days cooking, sanitizing, running errands, and doing laundry. And I've had way more than my fair share of cleaning up icky messes morning, noon, and night for four straight days. And I've gotten very little sleep.

I've been feeling frustrated and beside myself because I couldn't focus on my training, because I couldn't keep up with the wonderful and intoxicating momentum that comes when one's New Year's fitness resolutions really get off on the right foot. (I was really kicking butt!) I tend to turn into a very cranky monster when I don't work out consistently… or maybe it's when I just don't get to have my way.

Me, me, me.

I'm just being selfish. Dreadfully so. I know that life is just like this sometimes, and I know that being there for my family when I'm needed should — no, MUST — trump EVERYTHING else. And spending time with family during the icky times — getting to provide comfort, compassion, and snuggling when it's needed — is far, far better than not spending time with them at all.

It's all about perspective. My situation reminds me of the story of the kid who was excited about having to shovel a giant pile of manure, because it meant that there just had to be a pony in there somewhere. So even though I've been covered with vomit on more than one occasion this week, I'm counting my blessings.

Training can wait.

Ultimate Black Belt Test Journal, Jason Gould: Nature, Morning Training, and Family Time

Got in some early morning training on Saturday, January 7. Beautiful sunrise of pink, orange, and light blue. Tested out my new gloves and sported a funky hat while swinging my clubs on the back porch at 7:30 am. It was 32 degrees out that morning: chilly, but the gloves and hat were more than enough to keep me warm. The family slept while I trained. No disturbing sounds outside -- just some chirping birds, and the occasional whistle from a distant train. It was a really nice way to start the day...



On Sunday morning, Joy and I bundled up the family for a little fresh air at Callahan State Park. We enjoyed the cool air, bright sun, broad sky, open fields, and tons of friendly dogs. Temperatures were in the high 30's, but we still stopped to plop ourselves down in the brown grass for an impromptu picnic of sandwiches!

Ultimate Black Belt Test Journal, Jason Gould: Beginning Anew

Friday, January 6. My first blog of the new year. I'm not "formally" participating in the Ultimate Black Belt Test this year. That is, I'm not a member of the team who is actively training and seeking a new dan ranking as part of the testing process. However, because this test, this process, this way of life is so valuable to me (and because I've formed so many friendships here in the crucible of like-minded instructors), I feel that to stop testing, to stop exploring, to stop blogging — well, that would be a monumental personal failure.

I don't have any "2012 resolutions" per se, although I do have some areas that I intend to focus heavily on — this year, and every year moving forward.

The first area for me to focus on is FAMILY. I have come to realize that FAMILY should always have been my primary focus area, but I admit here that it has not always been the case. I'm going to fix that, immediately. To me, this means more than just more "quality time" with the wife and kids. It means more genuine attention and focus, more compassionate listening, more loving speech, more hugs and smiles, more sharing of thoughts, dreams, and ideas. If I only do one thing this year, I believe that focusing more strongly on my family is the best thing I can possibly do.

I also want to focus on getting back to NATURE. I want to reconnect with the outdoors, the seasons, and the rhythms of life. This means spending more time outside — in all kinds of weather. I'll need to learn to love the cold, of course. But this year I fully intend to do more stargazing, to watch more sunrises and sunsets, to hug more trees, and to dance in the rain. As a martial artist, I've been practicing "environmental self-defense" without actually really taking sufficient time to deeply and fully appreciate nature itself. It's high time I started to stop to smell the roses every once in a while.

Physical and training goals? I have them, of course. This morning I weighed in at 181 pounds (23.9 BMI). That's actually 6 pounds lighter than I was at this point last year, and a full point lower on the Body Mass Index. So my weight is good, and I have less body fat than I did a year ago. That's a good start. This year, I want to add 10 pounds of lean, functional muscle through tactical exercises and heavy use of my clubbells while improving my flexibility and mobility through yoga and compensatory movement training. I plan to eat more mindfully and more compassionately by appreciating and savoring my meals and reducing my intake of animal-based food products.

January is a time for beginning anew. But isn't ANY time a time for such endeavors? I'm reading through Touching The Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for practices that will help them to develop a deep and transforming determination to make significant and positive life changes.