A girl's "nostalgic" throwback Vol. 2
Hi there, fellow budoka! I hope I didn't scare you off with my rant in the previous post, but I think it's healthier if some things are out of my system, so that I can make some space for things that matter and solutions. Also, I would like to end this year in a hopeful way, instead of thinking about all the bad things that happened in the world.
So, to start off this post on a more positive note, I haven't been idle during this pandemic of the terrible 2020. I hope, and I am quite sure, neither did fellow budokas around the globe. It is of course difficult to imagine anyone being able to train on 100% identical circumstances as before March, but people learned to adapt and make do with whatever they have available at hand. Of course not everyone has the same means, space or time, so what I will name below as "solutions" is literally what worked and didn't work for me.
I think the most famous tool throughout this pandemic has been ZOOM. Whoever hadn't heard of this app before, certainly had to download it for some reason, whether it be work, school, keiko. Join the super worldwide club! I tried out many types of keiko in ZOOM: iaido, space-adapted iaido kata, suburi with shinai, suburi with iaito and bokken, HIIT suburi. The most positive aspect of it all was naturally the sense of "nakama", of friends around you, struggling with and about the same things. There is nothing better than seeing familiar faces, catching up again and seeing everyone in an online keiko that resembles a seminar. The counter to this would most probably be -for the majority at least- the lack of space! No matter how big you live, your ceiling might always be too low, your living room too narrow and it might probably be raining outside, so you can't go out in your backyard. Then what you need is to ditch your sword and workout your body and hands (so no ken in the ki ken tai no ichi). To be honest, I did enjoy the catching up a bit more than the actual training. I tried all types but I think, for me and my space, what works the best is suburi in my attic (yes, I have currently an attic which serves me much better, compared to my teenie tiny studio during the first lockdown period).
An other thing that was a way to escape the sad reality of no keiko was to actually watch videos on Youtube. It feels sometimes as if you are thirsty and you just see images of water or videos of people drinking, when you know you don't have access to water. Why would you do that to yourself? But, watching kendo taikai or shiai is not only a way of reminiscing what it would be like if you are back in the dojo, but also a very productive way of honing your shinpan skill. OK, to avoid any confusion, I am far from considering myself a wannabe shinpan in kendo, but I do enjoy watching some videos -with maybe some explanation or review, potentially- and I legit consider it a nice way to learn from more advanced kendoka or to understand even how a waza that I (once upon a time) learned in the dojo could be performed. I did get a bit confused with the vast amount of waza in my last couple of keiko, I won't lie. So, actually watching experienced kendoka in a shiai performing them was, at minimum fun and at the very most, well, enlightening. During the adventures of discovering videos on YT, I actually came across hidden gems or new forms of art I didn't even know existed but am glad to have discovered. So, Youtube is always a fun place to go, if one is looking to refresh the content of their hard drive (aka brain).
In the same way that videos worked for me, I can say reading the ZNKR iai manual, or a book about kendo, was equally fruitful. There is always something new to learn by re-reading the manual. Mainly because this is a book that shows to you your personal growth, since your perspective changes drastically as time goes by. Even during my first year in iaido, I was discovering new things just by reading the manual and, of course, by envisioning the movement or trying to deeply understand the reason something was put in words the way it was. What would enormously help would be the -you guessed it- Japanese version of the book. But alas, who can read it, anyway, apart from my sensei, maybe?
Speaking of Japanese, apart from the aforementioned ways to keep in contact with fellow budokas through actively training, what I really enjoyed (and it truly was and is one of the most fun habits to keep during this pandemic) was that I picked up Japanese again, through ZOOM lessons, with a very funny and amazing sensei. I started learning Japanese some years ago, mainly by myself, learning to write and read kana and eventually moving on to kanji. It was more broken and difficult to keep up and actually progress (all hail Duolingo!!!), so when the opportunity was presented to me, to follow online lessons, alongside all those fellow budoka that I already knew through seminars or ZOOM trainings, oh well, I grasped it, I grasped it really hard! Not only did I start fresh with learning the language, in a fun and pretty effective way, but I could actually catch up on an other level with everyone, and even learn from scratch new things with people that are far more advanced in iaido or kendo than me and I would otherwise be more intimidated to approach, in real life. Through those lessons (which I still keep doing, by the way), I felt we are all on the same page and I get to be re-acquainted with a lot of people that I met under different circumstances and felt more scared to go straight up and talk to. Now, next time, I feel I will have more friends to go talk to, than before! I just have to be patient and look forward to the next big event.
As I am trying to think what would the gist of this throwback be, the only thing that comes to mind is one word: contact! Keeping in contact with the budo, in any way that serves you as a person; not everyone has the same capabilities, physical or other, so keep in contact with your art in a way that serves you and don't compare with what others are doing, since every country's or city's regulations are different. Keeping in contact with friends from the dojo, so important in my opinion; the dojo is a family, at least to me, and knowing that everyone is healthy, really mattered to me and gave me peace of mind. Last but not least, keep in contact with yourself; that might seem like advice on a more philosophical level, but we all had plenty of time in our hands, we might as well do something with it. Keep track of what budo means to you, why do you practise your martial art and what gives you strength and motivation to keep on doing it, finding ways to adapt or even strengthen your anticipation to go back to your dojo.
Doing something, even if that's writing down a blog, trying different types of training, keeping contact with the others, keeps my fire alive and burning, my why remains strong and I have a motivation to keep on doing what I am doing because I believe that this is a part of training too. I believe that I will have to come out stronger through this mess, I will be more motivated and start with a fresh and stronger mind my physical keiko. What we shouldn't lose is hope that we will see each other and train together again.
Have a good and healthy 2021, start fresh and keep the spirit high!
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