Covid and the Mind

 

A collecting together of all the blogs between January 2021 and March 2022 relating to Covid, mental health and in a small way karate.

January Covid Blues

february-turmoil-something-positive

beware-ides-of-march-and-april-showers

kata-covid-and-mind

suicidal-thoughts

kata-and-cbt

living-with-consequences

the-waiting-game

A nerd post - Upper body Kusanku

I am always looking for new things to add to my exercise / training to keep mind and body active.  Recently Noah Legel posted a video (on Instagram and Facebook) of himself peforming an upeer body only version of Kusanku.   Thefirst thing that struck me were that some of the open elements were similar to parts of eight brocades, the second thing that struck was that all the way through there were twists and stretches that would add up to a good workout for someone like me.   This is the link to Noah's kata:

Noah Legel - Upper body Kusanku

I don't know how many times I tried simply to try to follow it to learn the basics of the movements, but I found that challenging to say the least.  So eventually I decided to apply a technique I had used in the past to help me learn, which was to write out the moves as an aide memoire.  If you are working from memory and lose track, it is quite painful to try to load up the video and try to find the exactpoint you want.  I find it easier to skim read through a text to find the point I went wrong at or I need to pick up from.  Below is the description I came up with and at the end is a video of me having a go at the kata based on the text.

Naihanchi Dachi, Naihanchi hands push down.

Lean forward, extend crossed hands in front

Go back to upright position, hands above head

Arms describe a circle, stopping at 180 degrees, with lower arms and open hands vertical

Complete the circle, left hand cupping right

Left side shuto uke, right hand palm up under

Right side shuto uke, left hand palm up under.

Drop hands to rhs, then bring back up, closing fists and forming cup on rhs

Left hand extend, RH punch, LH hikate, RH outside receive, twisting body in line

LH punch, RH hikate, LH outside receive, twisting body in line

LH drops across body, RH backfirst behind.

LH Shuto uke in front, RH under, RH shuto uke in front LH under

LH Shuto uke in front, RH under, LH hikate, RH vertical spear hand.

RH retracts slightly, then horizontal spear hand chin height, LH pseudo jodan uke with palm open across forehead

LH gidan uke bending forward, RH pseudo jodan uke with closed fist across forehead

Still bending foreward, crossed wrists RH in front of LH

Come upright, RH hikate, LH chudan tsuki

RH horizontal spear hand chin height, LH pseudo jodan uke with palm open across forehead

LH gidan uke bending forward, RH pseudo jodan uke with closed fist across forehead

Still bending foreward, crossed wrists RH in front of LH

Come upright, RH hikate, LH chudan tsuki

Pull in LH to right Hip, chudan uke to LHS, RH elbow strike cupped by left arm

Pull in RH to left hip, chudan uke to RHS, LH elbow strike cupped by right arm

LH shuto uke to left side, RH under, quarter turn to right, RH shuto uke, LH under

RH shuto uke to right side, quarter turn to left, LH shuto uke, RH under

Centre, RH horizontal spear hand chin height, LH pseudo jodan uke with palm open across forehead

Extend LH, RH outside receive, twist body in line, LH hikate

Extend LH, RH outside receive, twist body in line, LH hikate

LH chudan tsuki, RH hikate, RH chudan tsuki LH hikate

Hands down LH open RH closed, then bring together in front of face, open cupping closed

Hands down to hip height, open and palm down, to either side

LH Shuto uke in front, RH under, RH shuto uke in front LH under

Turn to left, LH outside receive, RH hikate, RH chudan tsuki LH hikate, LH chudan tsuki , RH hikate

Turn to right, RH outside receive, LH hikate, LH chudan tsuki RH hikate, RH chudan tsuki , LH hikate

RH outside receive, backfist to the rear

LH shuto uke, RH under, RH vertical spearhand LH under

Sweep RH back behind head, LH chudan tsuki, RH hikate.

RH elbow strike to front, Left arm cupping

Turn to right, RH outside receive, LH to LHS of body, vertical lower arm outside receive

Both hands circle inwards, RH passes in front of LH, LH down into gidan uke,  RH back into outside block behind

RH punches down behind left, so now have crossed wrists, LH on top

Upper torso comes back to vertical, crossed wrists in front of chin, palms open from fists on way up

Bring hands down, so palms level with chin, curl fingers inward, from little finger back, to form fists

Right hand outside block, LH to hikate, circle RH down then up vertical arm outside receive to RHS

Hands down and feet together to Nainhanchi close (before final hand together).  Bow.

The following video was filmed in a number of parts and then joined in sequence, as although I remember a fair bit of the first part, I find myself either losing my way of forgetting the moves in the latter part.  these parts were all done by reading, practicing then attempting to perform.

Thank you for reading :)

One dance I would like to learn....

 

I could never in  million years claim to be a dancer, but there is an established connection between dance and karate in Okinwa.  Apparently, one of the most obvious connections appears in a traditional harvest festival performance, as cited by Motobu Naoki in:

"Kāmi nu Kū" Dance and Koryū Motobu Passai

That is the full article, but it also contains a link to the actual performance itself:

About 14 minutes in is a dance performance of Passai, maybe the oldest known version.  So I don't need to learn karate to learn kata, I could also learn to dance..... An interesting idea, but I don't think so!! ☺☺☺

Thank you as ever to Andreas Quast and Motobu Naoki for bringing this into the limelight.