Kumite Tips #1/Kumite Tips #2/Kumite Tips #3/Kumite Tips #4/Kumite Tips #5/Kumite Tips #6/Kumite Tips #7/Kumite Tips #8/Kumite Tips #9
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Some people thrive on it...
...you know, being the center of everyone's attention and drawing on the energy of the situation to perform at a higher level, using the occasion to really show their stuff...
...and then there are others, who's worst nightmare is to perform in front of even small groups of friends and family...
... so self conscious that they can't seem to remember a simple Kata that they've done flawlessly thousands of times before.
Everyone, at some point in their life has to deal with their self consciousness and there's going to be certain situations that trigger those God awful physical manifestations...
...we know them as increased heart rate, profuse sweating, spinning/chattering mind, a general shakiness, discomfort...and most of all fear.
Now a few people who have a problem with their self consciousness, can spend thousands of dollars on psycohtherapy, when all's they really need to do, is to put themselves into situations where they are forced to confront and deal with their self consciousness...
...literally forcing themselves to stand there alone and to suffer with all those horrible feelings, wishing they could just run away and hide.
One important element of that kind of experience and situation, is that it has been structured so as to leave the person with no escape route, no way to turn back, no opting out, back against the wall so to speak and leave no choice but to move forward and to deal with the present moment in a clear and concise way.
There in lies the opportunity, for real life altering inner work on ourselves...
...and it all begins by being totally aware of yourself at that very uncomfortable moment in time...
...and sustaining those feelings long enough to observe them, experience them and finally to let them run their course, to lose their energy and ability to paralyze, mentally and physically...
If a person could be forced into a situation like that and be able to stay with it long enough, a new mind arises, a mind that seems to burn off the old fearful mind, like the early morning sun burns off the mist from the awakening day...
...and so it was as I stood there watching the rest of the participants demonstrating the designated Kata, Empi, for trophy night...
...being the only 3rd level brown belt amongst all black belts, I would have been the last to go and perform...but I had no intentions of doing the Kata anyway, so I was not concerned about anything.
...now for some reason, I thought that it was going to be voluntary whether the people who showed up that night would have to perform...
...I really hadn't practiced enough for the Kata and had really only done it a few times in regular class training.
To me, I was just there to work out a bit, watch the others do Empi and then vote on who should receive the trophy for the best performance...
During one of the Black Belt's performance, the head instructor came close enough to me for me to whisper over at him that I would be opting out of the demonstration, not to mention I still had a sore left foot from the previous weeks Kumite.
To my horror the head instructor whispered back..."I can't hear you"...
...well I immediately got flushed and started sweating, I couldn't believe my ears...a couple of seconds later he comes back and says..."We all have to suffer, its your turn...just do the best you can".
For what seemed like an eternity, I stood there with my self conscious feelings of fear and embarrassment, knowing that in a few minutes I would be making a complete fool out of myself in front of 20 blackbelts.
I watched the others performing, intently hoping that I could pick up some more of the Kata movements, but I gave up on that idea soon enough, it just wasn't going to happen...
I thought about leaving, faking an illness or perhaps just feinting for a second...but I couldn't...
...I was just going to have to deal with my pyhsical discomfort and my ensuing embarrassment.
...I had no options, I had to experience what was happening to me physically and mentally, I was totally locked into my here and now reality.
Amazingly, once I had resigned myself to that very poignant fact, my physical and mental symptoms of discomfort began to recede a bit and I began to breath normally.
The more I began to experience my thoughts and feelings, the more they seemed to diminish...
...they also began to lose their power over me without me doing anything except exploring and deeply experiencing what was happenig to me...
...and the more I experienced what was happening to me, the more the fears and discomfort began to fade.
I was still faced with the prospect of totally embarrassing myself in front of 20 black belts, but it just didn't seem to be the monster that I had self consciously made it out to be.
There was just one black belt left, and then I would be the last to go...but I wasn't feeling that bad about it anymore.
Now my Master and head instructor is a cool guy and is very knowledgeable when it comes to human nature and must of taken notice of my situation...
...instead of instructing the next black belt to go up, he indicated that was my turn to go up...
...and to my great delight he says "Come on...I'll do it with you.."
I must say, what I had initially thought was going to be a terribly embarrassing situation, turned out to be a very rewarding experience for me.
Even though I totally blew the Kata with the head instructor right beside me, it didn't matter, I had learned a valuable lesson about my inner self and how to overcome fear through self awareness and nothing more...
It was also Jo Kata trophy night and again the same situation...not prepared, not knowing the Kata, thinking I was going to opt out...
Only this time while waiting my turn to totally embarrass myself, I had no fear or any self conscious feelings whatsoever and when I went up to perform the Jo Kata I had a big smile on my face and enjoyed every moment of it....
Finally, along with the Empi Kata and Jo Kata trophy night, it was Kumite Trophy night...and in that situation I was actually much better prepared...
...I actually came in second...
You see, the Martial arts and in particular Karate, are really a way of life and the Karate-Ka can use what they learn in the Dojo to overcome negative situations in life...
...conversely negative situations in life offer huge opportunities for personal growth as a person and a Martial Artist...
RJF
