Every now and again Sensei tests us with one of those hard and unexpected sweat sessions. Tonight was one of those nights. After an hour of warm-ups and hojo undo, Sensei told us that we’d be doing some traditional hard basics - in memory of An’ichi Miyagi Sensei. According to Okinawan funeral customs, after a person dies their spirit remains in a kind of purgatory on earth for 49 days until it passes into the spirit world. Sensei explained that An’ichi Miyagi Sensei’s spirit would remain with us until the 15th and until that time we’d be doing traditional hard training in his honour.


I remember the first night we did 1,000 punches at full speed, full power. I was pretty impressed with that effort. Needless to say, after an hour of continuous hard kihon I was starting to feel pretty knackered. By the time we got to punching in shiko dachi I'd given up wondering when the class would end and was concentrating instead just on keeping my 5.30 dinner down. Still I did my best to keep it together and reminded myself of a saying I heard once about spirit training in shiko dachi:

“Mind gives up, body goes up. Legs give up, body goes down”

In other words, if you’ve got enough energy to stand, you’ve got enough energy to train. And, until you’ve collapsed in a heap on the floor or passed out from exhaustion, it's only your head that's holding you back. Easier said than done, I know. I’ve never wanted to pass out so badly. But at the end of the day these are the ‘golden sessions’ – the ones you remember. And, they're only as valuable as you make them.

7 comments

1. wim on 7 June 2009 at 03:13

   You're absolutely right Krista. These are the kind of sessions that can take you to the next level of your training. But it's so gratifying once they're over. :-)
   When I started with the external arts, they were standard. The "warm-up" took a full hour and usually left us pretty exhausted for the next hour, which was the actual class. But every now and then my teacher would do like yours and keep it going. We'd all almost drop to the floor when he finally thought we'd done enough.
   
   Good times, great memories. :-)
   
   Wim

    
2. shugyosha on 7 June 2009 at 17:58

   Well, yes... but you're the kind that considers spin-kicking the Empire State to rubble a beginner's warm-up. ;)

    
3. wim on 9 June 2009 at 08:27

   A base lie! A foul canard! ;-)
   
   
   Wim

    
4. Urban Samurai on 13 June 2009 at 05:19

   Hard sessions are always the best and most satisfying sessions for me. Going full tilt and dowsed in sweat. A proper session! And the most memorable.

    
5. Ikigai on 14 June 2009 at 14:24

   You guys are making me tired just reading!

    
6. eddo samurai on 14 December 2009 at 04:56

   My Student now leaves himself open, his mind is sharp but not steady,knows not the true power of ki(CHI) leaning with him will be an honor.

    
7. Rick Matz on 7 June 2010 at 10:16

   My aikido teacher, Kushida Sensei, used to say that you'll have enough time to rest when you're dead.