my exclusive Star Wars - The Last Jedi review
Just kidding!
When I was younger I was a martial arts practitioner. I studied for about 10 years and advanced through the ranks as quickly as I could--I loved everything about it. Martial arts helped me to be confident, it fed a desire in me to learn and try new things, and it gave me an intercultural, inter-generational, inclusive community that I felt fully a part of. 15ish years later, I realize I'm missing martial arts badly. When I was a kid, I was drawn in by the sparring, fancy footwork, and the fact that the Teenage Mutant Ninjas Turtles practiced karate. Nowadays, my interests lie more in self-defense, slower movements and forms, focus on breathing, and the fact that the Teenage Mutant Ninjas practiced karate.
This all came up recently as I've been going through the journals I dutifully authored as a kid. I wrote about karate because I loved learning it, I loved my studio and my friends there, I loved how tough it made me feel. Since re-visiting this, memories of it have been flooding my mind, and they make me happy and proud. Apparently talking about it gave Aaron the kick-ass idea to buy and install a punching bag for me down in our basement for Christmas.
I already hurt myself (apparently my fists aren't as conditioned as they used to be!!) but it's been a freaking blast so far. It's encouraging to see how of it I've retained, and discouraging to feel so incredibly out of shape--but I feel a bit like Rocky when I'm in the basement now so that's pretty sweet.
It inspired me to look for local martial arts opportunities nearby, but sadly there don't seem to be any places nearby that teach any form of kung fu, which is what I'm most interested in right now. However, after perusing Groupon for a bit, I found a good deal for a month's worth of classes at a local Krav Maga studio. It's definitely different from kung fu, but it's 100% focused on self-defense, so I like that--and the reviews about the place capture a lot of the elements I miss about my old studio.
I'm excited to jump on the karate kart* again. It's been too long.
-Christie
*"karate kart" is not a thing
When I was younger I was a martial arts practitioner. I studied for about 10 years and advanced through the ranks as quickly as I could--I loved everything about it. Martial arts helped me to be confident, it fed a desire in me to learn and try new things, and it gave me an intercultural, inter-generational, inclusive community that I felt fully a part of. 15ish years later, I realize I'm missing martial arts badly. When I was a kid, I was drawn in by the sparring, fancy footwork, and the fact that the Teenage Mutant Ninjas Turtles practiced karate. Nowadays, my interests lie more in self-defense, slower movements and forms, focus on breathing, and the fact that the Teenage Mutant Ninjas practiced karate.
This all came up recently as I've been going through the journals I dutifully authored as a kid. I wrote about karate because I loved learning it, I loved my studio and my friends there, I loved how tough it made me feel. Since re-visiting this, memories of it have been flooding my mind, and they make me happy and proud. Apparently talking about it gave Aaron the kick-ass idea to buy and install a punching bag for me down in our basement for Christmas.
I already hurt myself (apparently my fists aren't as conditioned as they used to be!!) but it's been a freaking blast so far. It's encouraging to see how of it I've retained, and discouraging to feel so incredibly out of shape--but I feel a bit like Rocky when I'm in the basement now so that's pretty sweet.
It inspired me to look for local martial arts opportunities nearby, but sadly there don't seem to be any places nearby that teach any form of kung fu, which is what I'm most interested in right now. However, after perusing Groupon for a bit, I found a good deal for a month's worth of classes at a local Krav Maga studio. It's definitely different from kung fu, but it's 100% focused on self-defense, so I like that--and the reviews about the place capture a lot of the elements I miss about my old studio.
I'm excited to jump on the karate kart* again. It's been too long.
-Christie
*"karate kart" is not a thing
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