The Journey of a Middle Aged Woman Into the Dojo

When I first began my journey in search of “Do”, I was naïve, ill informed and clearly lacking the directions to the correct path my martial arts experience would come to follow. Karate is the Art of self-defence and it took years before I realized what this truly meant. Let me explain.

I was thirty years old when I joined a Karate club. A club that is traditional in style and not a promoter of sports karate. My son who was 5 years old at the time had begun training several weeks earlier. I had initially planned to use the time he was training to attend the gym and do a circuit but this soon became tedious and I found myself watching him train and thinking maybe this would be the answer to my fleeting interest in keeping fit.

I trained religiously 5 times a week for at least 2 hours at a time, usually more. Everything I did was about improving my karate. I was obsessed beyond sense. Seven years on, I look back over my training and realize I have come along way. Though not in the way I would of expected when I first stepped onto the mat.

Training is not ever a regular weekly workout for me and advancing up the Kyu ladder is not my priority. But that wasn’t always the case. After achieving 5th Kyu my training became harder and misdirected as I pushed through injuries with no concern of my own well being. At this stage I had learnt nothing of what I now believe to be the true Art of Self Defence the true nature of Karate-Do.

As a 3rd Kyu I took a break from training and allowed my time to be soaked up with work and family commitments. I would watch the clock tick closer to training times and scold myself for not dusting off the Gi and returning to training. However, I longed to find a new sport that nurtured my tired body and not cause it to hurt more, in the way my karate training had done. It was not ever the fault of my instructors, this I must make clear. I have scoliosis and degenerative arthritis that during my training would at times hinder my progress. I didn’t want anyone to know, I did not want my training to be adapted or worse be excused for performing less than perfect technique because of these “inconveniences”.

I felt enough allowances were already being made because I was thirty something. In saying that it was only a matter of time before it became obvious that I was not doing what was best for my body. Still I refused to ease up simply because my body had let me down and began deteriorating before its times.

As an example of my extreme stupidity, I trained for my 3rd Kyu mostly in a heated pool at our local aquatic centre because the scoliosis had led to bursitis in my hip which made it difficult to even walk never mind practice intricate fighting combinations and Kata. I had been advised by my doctor to stop training as he injected the third round of cortisone into my hip.

I don’t see him anymore. How could he suggest I stop training? The man was obviously a fool. I was indignant, stupid and stubborn. My grading had already been postponed by my Sensei following a neck injury, I was still prepared to go ahead and grade regardless of the consequences, but he wouldn’t change his mind, instead with a wisdom that belied his youth he demonstrated his own understanding of the way by refusing to allow me to participate. It was several weeks later before I joined the ranks in grading at another Dojo and my instructor and fellow students were there to support and encourage my advancement. That was four years ago and before I took a break from the self-imposed rigours of Karate training.

During my break I have attended aerobic classes, enrolled in gym programs and set up a training circuit in our family room. Nothing sticks. I have canceled the gym membership and since sold the circuit gear on eBay. One daily habit that I have managed to uphold in my daily life is Yoga; I believe it has been this daily practice that has allowed me to find my way back into the Dojo at all.

Last year after the birth of my second child, I returned to training. My husband has gone onto Shodan and now teaches at his own Dojo. That is where I mostly train now, every Saturday. I joke that I have become his Uchi Deshi (live-in student who takes care of all the masters need), I no longer see myself as his training partner, which is fine. I still train on a Tuesday night with our old club in Kwinana when health and children permit. Training has a new focus now.

There is a senior grading coming up in November, but while I know I am more than technically adequate to pass onto the next level I have declined to participate, because health wise, it has been a long winter. I refuse to fall into my previous attitude of succeeding at all costs. Fear of returning to this mindset is what kept me from returning to training for so long.

Karate if it is viewed as it was intended is the “Art of Self Defence”. Being so, it leads to the obvious conclusion that Karate must first and foremost assist me to look after my own body, my own personal health and well being as my first line of defence. I still train to my own personal capacity and but I do not now see myself as failing when I have to step out to nurture a wound or ailment during class.

Karate will always be part of my life, but kept in perspective, kept as the true art of Karate as it should be in the 21st century, to defend oneself against attack from not only those who would seek to cause us harm but also from ill-fated actions we alone commit against ourselves.

We need to defend ourselves against stress, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, being overworked, illness and degeneration. This is the defence I try to uphold everyday. This is my body, my life and the quality of both depends on how I defend myself against the rigours of our daily existence. This is my Karate – Do, my way.