Zenshin dojo newsletter editor, Justin, interviews Zenshin dojo stalwart Karim about his karate journey
and personal challenges.
What's your position in the club and your graded level?
First Dan.
How long have you
been practising karate and why did you
start in the first place?
It's a long story.
When I reached the age 40 I was suddenly hit by two strange urges - one was to
do some exercise, as I hadn't done any since leaving school. The second was to do
something for others.
Incidentally I had
long been keen to visit Cuba before Fidel Castro died. So imagine my surprise
when I opened a newspaper one morning and saw an advert for a charity cycle
ride across Cuba. Feeling that some things are meant to be, I signed up and
started training to cycle from Havana to Trinidad to raise funds for the
National Deaf Children’s Society. At the same time my five year old son joined the
junior karate club, “KEBBA” and shortly afterwards my wife joined Zenshin dojo.
Once I’d completed the cycle ride, and still keen to keep up some regular
exercise, joining Zenshin seemed a natural step. So in March 2003 I joined the
Cotham class.
What do you find more
satisfying, teaching or practising and why?
I am happy to help wherever I can, whether it is taking some
new starters through some Kihon or covering the odd class when an instructor
can't make it. I do enjoy it and get a lot from it. On the other hand I am also
very conscious of having a lot to learn and of having to remember what I learnt
last week. So I am happy to just turn up and go with it whatever we are
doing.
Describe how you
yourself understand our karate journey?
Well it’s certainly a journey and not a race. Also I don't
see it as one continuous one way journey necessarily either. More of a grand
tour of many places. You can visit Paris for the weekend and get a feel for it
or you can spend years there and still not see all of it. At the risk of
overdoing the metaphor, the black belts have a role as tour guides to help you
get the most from your time there. If you revisit a place after a few months
you notice things you didn't see the first time round.
How would you differentiate
between Yin and Yang energy?
I think that in some social situations it is much easier to
instinctively know when to be yin and when to be yang. Imagine returning some faulty purchase to a
shop in order to get a refund. Initially you might begin by quietly stating the
facts and calmly asking for your money back. If you get an apologetic,
empathetic, positive response you might find your yin approach has done the job
effectively. If you are met with casual indifference and rudeness, you might
feel the red mist descending and decide to engage some yang energy to make your
point more directly, loudly, dynamically. Depending on the reaction, you may
feel that you have made your point and revert to a calmer style. In those sorts
of situations, it would be much more natural and instinctive for me as to when
to be yin and when to be yang. Also moving from one to the other and recognising
elements of one in the other would be clearer. Translating that into a karate
situation, I find much more difficult and it is going to take me a lot more
practice. I often think of this article I read a while back that you might find
interesting: http://www.travisdharma.com/
yin-yang-balance-in-everydaylife/
What has been your
biggest challenge during your time at Zenshin and what has been your biggest
success (or what are you most proud of)?
I think the hardest time for me was the transition from blue
to brown belt. I had to learn to change my breathing to get through the
assessment; and my biggest success? It has to be making it to black belt at
Winter School in Largs, Scotland.
Have you ever studied any other martial art apart from karate and, if
so, how do they compare?
Yes, I studied Judo for a few years as a teenager. I spent
three years being thrown around a dojo but it did give me a lot of opportunity
to practice break-falls. In terms of similarities, Judo focussed a lot on using
the whole body, fluid movement and using an opponent’s energy against him/her.
It was very much about using throws and sweeps to get an opponent on the ground
and then using holds and locks to immobilise them. It complements our style of
karate very well as we have seen when we have had sessions on break-falls and
on ground- work.
Do you have a
favourite or favoured karate technique and, if so, why do you like it so much?
I have to admit that I do love techniques that give maximum
impact for minimum effort and have a high success rate. So, for example, in the
Heian Nidan bunkai, that wrist lock and take down following a lapel grab. I
think it is interesting how your thought process affects your chances of
success. When Rob demonstrates a technique it almost always works. He
approaches it with 100 percent belief that it will work because he has done it
successfully so many times before. If my techniques work 30% or 40% of the time
then I don't approach it with the same confidence. So I prefer the ones that
work more effectively for me, but I need to work on getting my success rate up
on the others.
Do you enjoy martial
arts movies and if you do, do you have a favourite?
I do like some of the older classics like The Big Boss and
Enter the Dragon, but I'm not so keen on some of the newer stuff involving
jumping onto roofs two stories above using badly hidden wires. My favourite
modern classic has to be Kung Fu Panda.
What are you most
looking forward to over the coming months in and around Zenshin?
I just enjoy practising with the most supportive people you
could wish for.
If you had any one
piece of advice starting out on their karate journey what would it be?
I always liked that Jim Rohn quote. ‘Motivation is what gets
you started. Habit is what keeps you going.’
How has karate
informed your life outside of the dojo and, conversely, how has your life
outside of the dojo informed your experiences in it?
Karate definitely does seem to work its way into everything
we do. It started off with simple things like taking the stairs two at a time
to feel the burn in my legs; then trying to do a perfect Hachi Dachi while waiting for a lift; and then stepping
side-ways - irimi style - into the lift as someone was leaving it and thinking
did I enter or evade them? At first I thought it was just me, but now I think
we are all doing it. I have been told by
people at work that I am calmer and more open to listen to the views of others since
I started karate. My life outside the dojo does also influence my karate. For
example, there are some elements at work that I can do quite naturally,
confidently and with a degree of unconscious competence. That is the feeling
that I am aiming for in karate. For some it comes naturally and others have to
work at it. Unfortunately I am one of
those who has to really work at it, but at least I know what I am aiming for.
What would you have written on your karate headstone?
Sorry I'm late!
