Posted by
Coroner on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 4:34:52 PM
Doing Kata after an illness at 61
This is the Friday after a long week of working and being tested by another winter cold. The second cold in as many months with missed days of exercise and kata and I face the frustration of getting older.
It just seems one must pay so much more attention to one’s body. Each morning I face the ritual of taking endless supplements; this one for the prostate, this one for the hormone balance, all trying to stop the eventual decline. It’s a battle just as it is in the kata, one has to block and punch at antiquity, knowing that some day you will be too slow and too sore and the kata will end.
At sixty one a cold is a theft that steels precious time, causing frustration and the fear of those weaker days ahead. I do my kate at the gym in an area just off from the pool. It is two in the afternoon so most of the people meandering around the pool or doing laps are what we call “Senior Citizens”. Somehow I don’t see myself as part of this population and I delude myself that there is a great divide of time between me and them.
My first kata is Seisan and I feel good. Energy seems to flow from the ground. With each series of moves just faintly I see my ghost like opponent. I, at times, can almost feel my forearm hitting his or my punch sinking into his torso. Energy flows through my body and fills my spirit with hope. One more kata , one more day as a karate ka, one more day of vitality reaching back to earlier times. Manhood is once again mine, the do (the way) gives the glimmer of promise, the hope of more days ahead. The do binds my arms and legs to the journey from youth to old age with energy and a communion with my other karate ka. Life for that moment is once again full.
I am no longer old, rich or poor, important or insignificant, I am simply a karate ka and nothing is more important. The katas are finished and life is good. My blood flows and I lick the sweet residue of sweat off my lips. Once again I have tasted life and hope for more steps on the journey of the do.