What is karate training like?

 I’ve been trying to imagine what a potential student would want to know if they stumbled upon the dojo website and I wanted to provide something up front about what Lantern Dojo is about and can provide.

I offer instruction in traditional Okinawan karate. This is a martial art focused on self-protection for civilians and was developed in a more dangerous time when the chances of a physical confrontation may have been higher and the cost of an injury certainly was. I begin by pointing this out because there needs to be a serious mindset when you approach karate training. Sometimes that seriousness is front-and-center, other times it is an undercurrent, but as martial artists we have to respect the power of the techniques we are developing. This isn’t dance.

At the same time, a traditional dojo will force the student to look closely at themselves as they move through the training. The power of karate techniques needs to be balanced with temperance, humility, and wisdom. Traditional karate training puts a premium on developing this self-awareness so that we do not abuse the skills we are developing and can move through life with balance.

It is my belief that the very act of working to improve our techniques serves to improve us in turn. It is difficult, monotonous training over time that required self-reflection and can expose our inner nature (to ourselves at least). I have used karate as a mirror that reflects my own strengths and weaknesses back. This can be as simple as examining how you react to learning a difficult movement that you can’t quite do to something as deeply rooted as a need to win, to be recognized, or to seek external approval. Karate helps me tame my temper and rein in my arrogance. I know others who train to counter their own laziness, their tendency to overindulge, their jealous focus on others. Pick your poison. It isn't often that we confront our own nature, and I think traditional karate training is invaluable as a method of self-examination.

I don’t mean to make it sound as if we’re all stone-faced monks training to purify our spirits. I think a lot of the training is quite fun! And the gentle burn in the muscles after a good training session is one of life’s great pleasures, as is the solid ~thwack~ of a good punch against the makiwara. But martial arts training is for life, for improving it and deepening it. The focus, over the long term, is on yourself. The fight, over the long term, is with yourself.

So, what is karate training like?

It is like being present. With yourself. While you strive to build a deeper mind-body connection.

Gosh it’s frustrating. It’s honest. In some moments, when it clicks, it’s transcendent.

It's not for everybody. Most people are looking to skate through life without facing such tough questions about themselves. The martial artist is seeking that. 

Is that something you are seeking?