Readers and viewers of my Kata Laboratory articles and videos are familiar with the motto, “Think * Sweat * Experiment.” What you may not be aware of is that my thinking, sweating and experimenting with kata is a daily process. I never think or conceive a kata training method without first trying it myself. To do so would be the ultimate form of “kata hypocrisy.” The posts on this blog and my You-tube videos are but an appetizer to what is the full dinner of my Kata Lab project. The full project encompasses over 40,000 words spanning over 200 pages. That being said, my practice then tends to add more to the project. The result is a means of providing you, my readers and viewers, with inspiration to practice and enjoy your kata from an entirely new perspective.
For your consideration, I submit an incident from the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Each day I train, I keep this story in mind.
A woman once brought her small daughter to Gandhi with a simple request, “Tell my daughter not to eat candy. It is bad for her teeth. She respects you and will obey you.”
But Gandhi refused. “Come back in three weeks,” Gandhi told her. “I will see what I can do.”
When the woman returned in three weeks with her daughter, Gandhi took the little girl on his knee and gently instructed her, “Don’t eat candy, it is bad for your teeth.”
The girl shyly nodded her assent. Then she and her mother left for their home. When they were gone, some of Gandhi’s associates were upset and confronted him. “Bapu, did you know that the woman and her child had to walk hours to see you, and you made them walk that great distance twice in three weeks? Why didn’t you give that simple advice to the girl when they first came?”
Gandhi laughed. “Three weeks ago I did not know if I could stop eating candy. How could I advocate a value unless I myself practice it?” (See Endnote # 1)
So, kata is my candy. In order for me to encourage you to “eat” the candy – to try the training methods I espouse in my kata lab and “Think * Sweat * Experiment.” I myself must first know I can eat my own candy. You may access the Kata Lab using the page tab above or this convenient link
https://senseijohn.me/kata-lab/
This week’s featured Kata Laboratory: Lab # 3120 – Kata to Modify Emotions:
https://senseijohn.me/2013/10/06/kata-lab-221-kata-as-an-emotional-modifier/
and video:
Respectfully submitted, Cum superiorum privilegio veniaque (“With the privilege and permission of the superiors”)
Sensei John Szmitkowski
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ENDNOTES:
1. Goswami, Amit, The Self-Aware Universe, (G.P. Putnam & Sons, New York, NY, 1993) p. 264-265.
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You may wish to view my other blogs –
my fishing blog which includes my fishing journals and the interrelationship between martial arts protocol & ideology to fishing http://flyfishingdojo.com
and
the Goshin-Do Karate blog at http://defeliceryu.com
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