Sparring, Mostly Myself

My name is Kim. Laura asked me to post about sparring...

It's been about five minutes. The plastic protecting my teeth feels like a mouth full of sand, but there's no sneaking over to my water bottle. There are vinyl-clad pads protecting the rest of my body, except for a sliver of wrist that's a favorite of my opponents' kicks (again with the wrist? are you kidding me?). I am gasping and sweating through pores I never new existed. My opponent has barely started gently perspiring and is soundly beating me. I should be thinking of combinations--3, 4, 2, pull, step, front to back. Find an opening. Instead, I can think one thing.

I suck at this.

My classmates are very kind, suggesting moves and telling me they're going to go easy on me (awesome, says my ego). I keep thinking that at green belt level, I should be able to hold my own. But this is fast, this sparring thing, and my opponents seem to have more arms and legs, and definitely more coordination, than I. They can do that back to front thing without toppling over, and still nail me right in my chest guard--the one my disobedient arms are supposed to be protecting instead of flailing around like that.

Two years ago, wrapping myself in plastic and voluntarily letting other people kick the snot out of me wasn't even remotely on my radar. I signed up for Taekwondo for my son, who wanted to try it but resisted joining the class alone. So I joined too, figuring a session or two would give him enough confidence to go it alone and I could drop out and hang out with the gaggle of moms on the steps, checking email and reading books while their kids learned a bit.

Here we are. He is moving like lightning, having drastically improved in his motor skills and confidence. My daughter joined class a few weeks ago, after finally making the tough decision between TKD and dance, and is learning her fist kicks and fundamental moves. I, on the other hand, am strangely addicted to the class, but lumber around like the 40-something minivan driving desk jockey I am, praying to whatever powers exist that somebody will call the damn time already so I can breathe for a minute. Take a shower. Pour a glass of wine and burrow on the couch where I belong already.

I'm trying to learn. The tips my classmates and my teachers give me make a lot of sense. Given a few minutes of practice, I can do most of the moves reasonably well (except for that toppling-over turny thing...and that reverse back kick that taunts me) during class. But the pads go on and the kicks and punches come at warp speed, and try as I might--and I really do try--I suck at this.

Thank you if you've tried to help me with tips and the going-easy thing. Apologies to those who want a real fight on Thursday nights and wind up facing me on the mats. I'm trying--I promise. I'll get it eventually. Maybe...

New Blog Address

Hi everyone,
A new creation is on its way, a fusion of work and passion, a new place to play.  There will no longer be posts on this site, so please find me at

www.disciplinethemind.blogspot.com


Love,
Laura

Learning How To Fly

Guinness taught me how to fly,
From walk to trot to take off
He knew his job
No matter where my feet were in the stirrups
Or how much I fumbled with the reins,
He lifted me into the sky.

And then I felt the rhythm
And sank into my heels and spread my wings
And we were two spirits alive with each other
One heart together.

I was breathless
Not from exhaustion but exhilaration, pure joy.
I WAS joy
With my mustang boy
Who nibbled at me in waiting
To tell me that he was a good soul.

I hope I live many more days
To fly this way
In powerful rhythmic breath, only present to the moment
Which is pure delight.
Only knowing that, over and over and over again.

Self Treatment Workshop

I will be giving a workshop on Saturday April 16th called Self Treatment.  The idea of this workshop has been brewing in me for a while and is based on ideas that help to teach people how to take care of themselves in between physical therapy sessions or for general prevention.  When you have an injury, pain or disease that you have been dealing with sometimes it takes more than just a few exercises to help you heal.  You need to have tools that help to nourish the body, energize it, and help boost the healing process.

The tools that I will be teaching in April are a combination of different corrective and restorative techniques that can help to heal and help prevent injury.   The first tool I will introduce is Total Motion Release, where we will learn to find the good side of the body and treat it to help heal the bad side.  These techniques are simple, practical and they work.  They also help people to practice a deeper level of body awareness, as do all of the tools I will teach in the workshop, which is one of the keys to healing.

The next area of focus will be stretching.  I am going to help the participants understand the idea of myofascial stretching that addresses the deep connective tissue system of the body that can hold restrictions that cause pain and disease.  We will practice a couple different ways to stretch for a deep release.

And lastly I am going to show how to use body balls for soft tissue mobilization and myofascial release.  Using a tool to help put pressure into a restriction can be a wonderful way to achieve a release without the aid of the therapist.

If you have any questions about the workshop or the ideas mentioned above, please contact me:  email:  bodyworkspt@comcast.net or visit my website:  www.bodyworksptonline.com

The Million Dollar Question

How do we get ourselves to take action, making the steps toward our goals, desires and dreams?  I am calling that the million dollar question.  It is February, and by now we are past the excitement of the new year resolutions and wondering what happened to the enthusiasm.  I have had several conversations with clients and friends about what makes us take the actions we want to take to get us closer to our goals.  What will make us just do it?  What gets us from an idea in our head to moving our butts?  I think that there are some people who do not have an issue with action, in fact, they jump with two feet without barely thinking first.  And then, there are others who despite the best laid plans, thoughts, and goals, despite knowing exactly what it is that they need to do, don't.  And I could write a whole blog on the reasons people are being either way.  But the part that interests me most is how we get ourselves to act.  What does it take?  Moving from thought to doing, why is it lots of us get stuck in the thoughts.  The thoughts can become paralyzing in fact.  We think a lot.  Too much sometimes.  We think ourselves into fear.  We think we will fail.  We wonder how.  We think all these things instead of doing something, trying something, attempting it, initiating the conversation, booking the meeting, etc...   And then when we haven't met our goals, we spend the rest of the time thinking and worrying about that.
So whether you want to lose weight, be healthier, have a better relationship with a loved one, find the best job or pursue a passion, the key is action.  Find someone who is doing what you want to do and talk to them.  Make a phone call.  Tie up the laces and go for the walk.  Find your action step and make it.  Get help.  Enroll your friends in your possibility, and be responsible for it.  Show up for your life!

How to get stronger by being softer

Many of my clients are interested in being stronger.  And there are many advantages to working out with weights to achieve that goal, including stronger bones, improved metabolism, injury prevention, and so on. They have an idea in their mind though that the stronger, harder, more rigid they are, the better.  I want to pass on the idea that more strength does not come from being more of a hard body.  In fact, if you are too rigid, you will break!  I would like to suggest that strength can be gained by improving your mobility, flexibility and flow.  And by balancing the body.  The stronger and tighter we get, the more wound up our myofascial system is, the more pressure there is on the joints.  More pressure means compression of those joints.  Constant chronic compression of a joint can mean pain, restriction and arthritis.  Most of us need to balance our workout routines to include things that will decompress our musculoskeletal system.  That could include stretching, yoga, meditation/relaxation exercises, corrective exercises, or getting bodywork like myofascial release.  In general we need activities that will allow us to decompress, relax, elongate, and release our tightness.  With this release comes freedom and ease of movement, more flexibility, room for our joints to function properly, and magically, more strength!  A muscle no matter how much time you spend trying to make it stronger, if it is tight, shortened and compressed, will not perform well.
So begin to think about your routines for exercise and well being.  Are they balanced?  If you go 8 to 10 hours a day at a desk or other sedentary job, and your exercise routine consists of running 3-4 days a week, and doing weight exercises 2 times a week, you may be tightening your system even more.  While the exercises you have chosen will give you strength and cardiovascular conditioning, they are repetitive, and not varied.  If you begin to have feelings of tightness or mild pain or restriction, think about adding another component to your routine that will help you decompress.  You might be pleasantly surprised when your running, weights and work hours start to feel better!
You can find a lot more great information about these topics on the following websites:
www.myofascialrelease.com
www.totalmotionrelease.com
www.bodyworksptonline.com (that's me!)

Meditation

Today I hosted a meditation workshop for a small group of women.  We learned about what meditation means and ways to practice it and worked on that practice together.  This was one of the best meditation experiences I have had, as I let go of my anxieties about doing it a certain way, or doing it "right".  The ability to slow down and practice being aware of the "STUFF" in my mind was helpful.
Stories
Thoughts
Urges
Frustrations
Feelings
All the "STUFF" that runs through our heads all day long can be overwhelming and distracting.  It can shape our response to life.  Noticing it, slowing it down and coming back to our bodies is the practice.  And doing the practice can help one to choose to respond to life consciously, rather than react unconsciously.  The difference is big.
I had invited a friend to the workshop a few days before.  Her reply was "meditation is not really my thing."  I am thinking that meditation is everyones' thing, whether they know it or not.  It seems that every human is at some level of mind/body consciousness.  I choose to continue doing the experiment of meditation, to see if practicing this awareness will enrich my life.  I have the feeling it will.  Thank you to the ladies who joined me this morning and here's to the next opportunity to practice.