▶ My Karate Journey
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“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat”
—Richard Marcinko
My Karate Journey
My Karate Journey: Every human being has a passion that lights a special fire in their eyes. Something we really want to be dedicated to while we are still alive. While growing up, I had many passions and dreams and I’m proud to say that I have achieved most of them. One of the passions was to learn karate. As a child, my favorite karate champion was Demetrius “Greek” Havanas. He was an incredible fighter who had over a hundred and twenty-five victories without a single loss.
Karate is a self-defense martial art.
In a country like America where everyone is exposed to the dangers of crime, learning the art of self-defense would be of great advantage. I had the chance to take traditional karate (Shitu-Ryu) at a very traditional school in San Diego, CA, from November 1990 to April 1991. It gave me the smallest insight into Japanese culture; before then I’d never seen any Japanese. I found the Japanese women in the school to be very beautiful but I never dared to approach.
I still remember my first karate class, I walked into the dojo without any clue as to what to expect. Then I saw other students bow to greet the instructors and I did the same. When the class commenced, our sensei gave us a very tedious task that caused bruises to my feet. At first, I wanted to scream out in pain, but when I saw that the other students were enduring it, I decided to endure too.
To be frank with you, there is a limit to endurance as each task given caused severe pain to my bones and muscles. We were working out for more than three hours without a break.
I just couldn’t take it anymore
My body was dripping with sweat, my back was aching and all energy was exhausted. I just couldn’t take it anymore and guess what happened next? I felt dizzy and collapsed. Yea! When I woke up, I was told to rest for a while and that was so relieving. Later on, my sensei told me that I did well in my first class and that boosted my confidence. From that time onward, I decided that I would do better and be dedicated to the training. I found my sensei and his assistants to be just as portrayed in movies, yet very real people.
Karate is not just a sport, it is an activity that would test the limits of your body, mind, and spirit. It will make you better mentally and spiritually. I used to be a very rash person, however, karate taught me how to be patient and think through before making decisions.
Although my karate journey was a short one, my life was affected positively. In life, there will be many punches/attacks but the worst thing to do is to run away. In a struggle between life and death instead of giving up easily, I stand up, face the challenge, and fight it. Whatever you run away from will continue to chase and haunt you. The training taught me the Japanese method of fast and furious attacks.
Learning martial art also helped me to conquer all my fears. Through meditation therapy, my weak mind was strengthened and I was able to build my self-confidence. I must confess that karate training is hard so if you don’t have enough motivation, you could give up after a few sessions.
