How I learned about Pain!

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2010/10/on-pain.html

On Pain

When I was a beginner at the Salisbury Dojo of Lewis Sensei, it was a different experience that most of you have experienced. I guess the simplest explanation was it was more akin to voluntary boot camp. Meaning, it was more that you had to survive the pain experience to continue training.

 

Your first night you learned what the Charts were. My second night you learned a small piece of Seisan kata. That night Sensei came into the dojo and told everyone to work on their kata on their own. Then he leaned against the wall and observed us. For 2 hours I did and redid and redid that small portion of Seisan kata that I knew. Then the third class after warmup we were told the time tonight was for free sparring. I knew nothing of that and was paired with a teenage brown belt who was also a girl. When our time to take the floor came up, she proceeded to work me over, often ending with round kicks to my mouth. The body strikes were full power. I having no idea what to do became a live heavy bag for her. She continually drove me from one side of the dojo to the other.

 

Later classes I was shown something about free sparring. But was most frequently paired with the green belts for sparring. And as I was larger than them they punched me and kicked me with what felt like full power. The face was not a legal target ( but to me is seemed like you got hit in the face as it was not a ko, it was permitted under dojo rules. Of course if you got hit in the face and it was a KO your partner got a reprimand. I frequently got bloody noses (this was before the scare of blood transmitted disease). It also seemed women were encouraged to strike the face (perhaps on the logic anyone picking on them in real life really didn’t expect to receive a punch to their kisser) to give them skill to do so.

 

The group of green belts in Salisbury were extremely gifted fighters. I felt very sluggish attempting to stop them while fighting.  I suspect some of their strikes may have fractured a few of my ribs for I recall several months when I experienced pain from breathing while I was fighting. Mercifully I never had to fight with any of the brown belts, a class of intensity beyond my skill.

 

Then there was the kotekitae training in our dojo where you worked toward full power arm pounding and body striking in that drill. There were also many body kicking drills (using round kicks with the top of the foot and also side kicks) to increase one’s ability to take a strike.

 

The real result was if 10 people began in a given month, 2 months later perhaps 1 of them remained training. I am sure many of them did not feel the pain was worth it and that was most behind their choosing to live. The naturally gifted fighters or those to dumb to quit (I was perhaps one of the last group) remained training, and gradually skill advanced.