Using Force – My Karate Adventure

As those who know the family (or who read my Facebook posts) know, for the past couple of weeks we have been on a new adventure: Karate! You see, in September Zayne and I attended the Oak’s Park Not Back to School Day. It is a day for homeschoolers to take over the park, run into friends who may not have seen each other all Summer, and check out what the homeschooling community has to offer by way of a small conference set up with tables for various businesses. While I was checking out some cool toys at the table for The Learning Palace, I overheard a Mom talking to a gentleman about karate. I don’t recall exactly what I heard, I just remember being impressed with taking into account mental and emotional health as well as physical fitness. So I wandered over and picked up a brochure. And then I heard the term “Life Coach,” and was even more interested. What a great combination: Martial Arts and Life Coaching! I ended up filling out a form to enter a drawing that they had a box set up for. I didn’t even really look to see what it was for, I was just moved to enter. That was the beginning of September.

Fast forward a few weeks and I get a phone call from Chris. He wants to let me know that our family has won the drawing for some free karate! For the whole fam! Oh, and I must also mention, that those few weeks that had passed had been filled with me manifesting amazing connections with new people, creating new opportunities for myself, finding exactly what I was looking for even though I didn’t know I needed it, and being at just the right place at the right time. In the past winning something like this would have been a big shock like, “Wow, I can’t believe we won!” But after the great ride of weeks of amazing people, places, and experiences, my response was more like, “Well, of course we won! What other awesome stuff you got for us, Universe?!” So allow me to thank the entire family at Silver Dragon Martial Arts & Fitness. Their desire to give of this gift has allowed for some already amazing experiences for us. Sensei Chris is a great teacher to both kids and adults. Kate, his wife, I’ve only met briefly but was hugely impressed by. I am really glad she decided to add her skills to the dojo. Within just a couple of weeks we already feel at home there, and are looking forward to more!

What has been most interesting for me to look at personally in this journey have been my own stories around using my body forcefully, and what is appropriate for “girls” to do. Here we are, in this great dojo with amazing people, and I still have the thought that “I don’t wanna hurt anybody!” So while my body is getting a work-out, and there have been some days of very sore muscles, it is also a spiritual practice; an opportunity to look at any old stories that may be holding me back from stepping into my true power. Not the kind of power that is power-over, but the kind of grounded power where there is lack of fear. I am having to push through these barriers of belief in order to get to a place where I can train my body to know what to do if someone is trying to hurt me or someone I care about. I am willing to do this, and am finding both excitement and trepidation as I become more and more capable of imagining myself being able to use my own physical force to protect and harm if necessary for protection.

I am used to using my voice and my words with force – what girl doesn’t get trained young to do that? I am even familiar with thinking of my legs as forceful after a decade or more of ballet, jazz & tap dancing as well as high school Colorguard. My current challenge is punching, and getting used to feeling and using force in my arms. I have been in one physical fight my whole life, and I didn’t grow up rough-housing with brothers. Now I spend some time noticing resisting thoughts as I make fists (I didn’t even know how to do that!), and punch a squishy human-looking punching bag named “Bob.”

In the end I am always glad for opportunities for growth. I prefer the less painful ones, too. Well, the less dramatically painful anyway. I don’t mind a few sore muscles and some bruises for the sake of embracing all aspects of my personal power. I have no intention of harming anyone, and hope I never have to use the techniques that I am learning. However, I cannot predict what the future of my life or the world will look like. Who knows when there might be someone close in need, and I can surprise both them and their attacker by busting out my can of whoop ass and saving the day!