Crying & Other Strong Emotions in Karate Class

Tonight we had a really 'up' karate class. Everyone really put their souls into it, and everyone seemed happy to be kicking. For my part, karate has become a necessary outlet for the tension, rage and fear that surge up when I think about the general state of things, or certain particular states of things, such as geopolitical stuff, meteorological stuff, these crazy wars.

Back to karate, though. The kids there are as young as four, and now and then someone feels frustrated or gets hurt and cries. I have had occasion to think about the best way to handle emotional moments in class, and here's what I think.

When anyone is knocked off their center, part of the martial arts discipline should be to help them find it again. I believe if someone is crying, or angry, or even giddy and disruptive, the best approach is to ask everyone to break and have a brief meditation with deep breathing. Strong emotions will come up for all of us—how could they not? We are all connected, and look at what is happening to some of us today. Darfur, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan—that's us. The human fabric is being raped, murdered, irradiated, evicted.

Here's my other thing with karate. It's the ranking thing. What is great about the colored belt system is that it motivates. I love all the colors. I'm looking forward to my blue belt and my green belt. I'd like a black belt some day, but frankly, what I'd like more is to do a perfect spinning hook kick—that's what will keep me going, seeing myself improve.

What's bad about rank is that the higher ranking people demonstrate more and stay in longer during elimination games. That means the better you are, the more pratice and exercise you get. That makes no sense to me, and if it's not discouraging to the younger kids, who can't really have learned yet not to mind about such things, it's only because they are such phenomenal people. Beautiful shining lights is what they are. I haven't cried yet in karate when I was eliminated, or fell down, or held the pad in the wrong place and got kicked, but my time will come. And I hope my teacher will ask everyone to go on their knees, close their eyes and breathe for a while. What else are we here for?

A Theory About Snakes and a Question

A Theory About Snakes

I keep hearing stories about aggressive snakes.

"At the swim hole we were chased out of the water by one. It slithered out of the water onto a rock after us and stared at us."

"They say they stay away from you but if you go in their territory they come after you. They're not poisonous but they're biting."

"Are there poisonous snakes down there? Because I was bit on the heel."

"This copperhead bit me three times and wouldn't let me get to my studio."

Why won't a copperhead allow an artist into his studio so he can get some good political art finished?

A friend and I discussed it this evening and decided they are out of patience with us. They know we're the ones ruining the weather. They know it's us dropping bombs on their sistren and brethren in the drier climes. Dirty bombs, yet. It's over for your species, they are saying. We're taking back the planet. Go swim in your toxic chlorinated pools and leave the swimming holes to us. Or else.

A Question

Why do the newspeople keep saying that Israel is dropping bombs on Hezbollah targets and leaving it at that? A couple stories later they talk about a "humanitarian crisis" and "refugees." A quick Internet search turns up plenty of images of dead children, enough to make anyone spend hours sobbing. It just strikes me as a disingenuous description of what is going on, and sounds oddly familiar.

Joke

I have nothing edifying to say about the world situation so instead I made up this joke.

Q: What do you call a blogroll of Red Efts?

A: A newtwork!



More later...living too much to write these days, but if you're checking in here I wish you a calm, energy-efficient, peaceful summer....