January Covid blues

 

January Covid blues

January 2021, speaking politely was a mixed bag, especially emotionally.  Being really honest, it was pretty awful, with a struggle to find any motivation in the midst of it.  At least I had the luck of having two anchor points, my work, which was very demanding, and karate.

Given the inclement weather for training outside, work rather that karate was my "turn to" at many points, especially that month.  This was probably what resulted in all the neck issues I had around that time.  Karate usually provided a healthy counterpoint to work, but when the  balance switched, I think my body decided to tell me was being neglected. 

By this point I had effectively in lock-down for the best part of 10 months , with minimal physical interaction with anyone outside the immediate family in that time (i.e. the people in the house).   It took a toll on my mental health from the start, and I sought and found some help for that.   One of the big pluses was the advice that I should lock on to karate and keep on going.  That is what I tried to do.  

I think one of the hardest things to admit for many people is the need for a degree of separation.  In pre-Covid times, this was easy to achieve as most people who worked were separated from those at home for the duration of work and travel at least.   Working from home and being at extreme risk denied me and my family that separation.

I was not one of the gainsayers about Covid-19, it was a confirmed super-killer to anyone with my conditions, so there was no choice from my perspective other than to work from home to survive.  Some of my friends who contracted Covid gave me hope if their recoveries, but as the sole earner in my family I couldn't take many risks.  However, January 2021was probably the worst month during Covid, with respect to being able to keep home issues separate from work.

The two started to overlap and that was hard to cope with for me.   The coping mechanisms  for me cope had been a fair bit of kata and a few too many bottles of wine. The former has to be the preferred route, but becoming somewhat stale and so the second had started to come more into play; not good.   Enter PJ Broomy, with a demonstration of one of his dojo's kata.

I have suffered from stress related mental health issues, bordering on depression and have struggled at times with my temper, as well as my heart and lung conditions.  My best answer to all of those has always been to learn something new.  I think I frustrated my Sensei at times in this, as I should really have been drilling my fundamental kata.  I totally agreed with them that as only a blue belt in our discipline, I needed to practice, practice, practice. 

However, the physical needs also needed to be tempered with the mental.  Learning a new kata for me was a mental as well as physical challenge, which while I felt I was under mental siege was an important release.   I was not trying to learn different bunkai, because all I needed to know is in Naihanchi.  It's a codex for many of the brutal strikes you can make, and for a last resort, if all other things have failed, that's perfect.

PJs school of Karate, Bu-Kai is based primarily on the Goju Ryu style.  I had previously gone through the basics of Seisan with him, and this time around he was showing me the basics of Sanseru.  Both are derivative of Sanchin, the base kata of Goju-Ryu.  My interest started in this school when I was shown how to use Tensho as a kata to help with breathing.

 First of all PJ contributed to an online lesson with my own dojo during Covid, and opened the door to more kata from the same school as Tensho.  It was a door which I happily went through and have been learning from PJ ever since.  My own research has shown me that the divides between schools such as Shorin Ryu and Goju Ryo are historically artificial.

The bottom line in my mind was, I had to practice the fundamentals; my core kata and drills, but I also needed mental challenges.   This gave a focus away from home and work and in so doing, helped me create my own mental "separation", in place of the physical one that is impossible to achieve in lock-down.

The material from another school of karate provided me with just the mental stimulus I needed to  keep me challenged.

Hope this all makes sense and thank you for reading.

04-01-2021 (re-written 01/09/2023)

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

Quadrant drill

The Quadrant Drill was originally taught to us as a paired exercise in the Dojo.   There are two roles, one primarily the aggressor and the other primarily the defender.   The role focussed on here is the  aggressor role, and it is this part that became a staple part of the video lessons of our dojo, along with the 5 pad drills based on the Naihanchi kata.  I will also add text descriptions of the complementary action of the defender role where I can remember them.

Quardrant Drill, 1st 3 elements

The first three elements are: Jab, Cross, Hook

The counters: FH parry, move head away from parry

BH parry, move head away from parry

Step in, triangle block (forearm to neck)

Quadrant Drill, 2nd 3 elements

The second three elements are: Hammer fist, Looping left, Hook

Counters are, Cross arm block,

Triangle block to right,

Triangle block to left

Quadrant Drill  part 3, 6 elements

The next 6 elements are: LH backhand, Right elbow, LH uppercut to ribs, RH uppercut to ribs, LH shuto to RH side of neck and hold, RH shuto to LH side of the neck.

Counters are: Step back into Cat stance, shuto parry,
Step in to elbow attack, back of LH, re-enforced by open RH over the top of the right arm of attacker,
RH gedan uke, LH gedan uke,
No counters to shutos, brace arms for knee strikes

Quadrant Drill Part 4, switches and knees

The next three elements are: hands clasp behind neck in gable grip (fingers and thumb on each hand together); switch stance, dragging head left then left knee; switch stance, dragging head right then right knee.

Counter: Braced arms to receive knee strikes.

Quadrant Drill Part 5, head, sweep, shoulder

The final three elements of the first part of the drill are as follows: (release gable grip to allow to come back up) Head butt, sweep arms down, Shoulder barge, with rear hand up by front shoulder.

Counters: Braced hands to receive head butt

Quadrant Drill Part 6, 2nd half of drill.

The first part of the drill formed the main focus for most of the time when going through the quadrant drill during Covid, but we did recap the second half too on many occasions.  The elements for this part tended to not be separated out so much, but gone through as a succession, and that it how I will cover them here:

Mawashi Geri; Mawashi Geri holding kicking leg extended; Mawashi Geri with follow through back to stance; Ashi Uke; Mai Geri to mid section; Mai Geri to mid section; Mai Geri to groin; Back fist. followed four punches to upper torso; Three punches to mid section; Duck and weaver under punches; Arm trap; Back off.

With counters, I only ever learnt as far as the Ashi Uke part, that I can remember.  So to the first Mai Geri, the counter is Ashi Uke, to the Mai Geri with extended kicking leg the counter is trapping the kicking leg between hip and arm and to the final Mai Geri is to step back and scopp round with the front hand.  For the Ashi Uke, there is a return Mai Geri.

Below are a few videos taken of the Quadrant Drill during Covid through both 2020 and 2021.  I still include the Quadrant Drill in my solo practice to this day.

Quadrant Drill x2 3 July 2021

Quadrant drill 08 March 2021

Quadrant drill April 26 2020

REY 26/03/2022

Beware the Ides of March and April Showers

February for me I thought was a new dawn.  Being doubly at risk to Covid-19, the rapid development of vaccinations and being able to get my first jab was like opening a window to the light at the end of the tunnel.  

Mental health issues were also a concern.  Four people living in the same house 24x7 for 11 months had also taken it's toll: Two had confirmed mental health issues going into the first lockdown, whilst I was starting to have some issues, which only got worse for a while.  The other member of our household also started to suffer, so there was offer of respite there too.

Then there were financial issues that were immediately pressing when the first lock down occurred.  These had got worse and worse during the 11 months, as it turned out through no fault of my own.  I thought I had managed to these resolved too by February.

I was wrong on both  counts 😕  The "so near yet so far syndrome" kicked in, with the frustration of having to wait another 12 weeks before thinking of actually being able to comfortably go out again,  I am not the only member of my family to need a second jab, and in some ways things became even more of a frustration.  Tempers started to get more ragged, and mine was included in that, plus mood swings.

Then there were the finances, what I had thought was resolved turned out not to be.  Lets say it involves pensions, a mistake on behalf of the pension company, and then the tax man losing most of my repayments plus another complication.  I thought I had solved all that, but no I hadn't  and the complication reared it's head again with a bite back.  With the other issues, I was struggling to face that too.

Now comes the hardest part, I have to admit I have a liking for alcohol.  Most of the time it isn't a problem, but at times during the 14 month Covid lockdown (for me) it has been an issue, and these last months it has probably been at it's worst.  All in all you could say that it was a volatile cocktail and I wasn't making things anything easier for myself.

Looking back thing really started to deteriorate just before my 60th birthday.   Things seemed to going reasonably well between most of us, then one what I thought was a small reaction to a situation started to make things unravel.  I will spare you the details, but basically we all limped through a couple of days to mine then my sons birthdays, but then after that things really unravelled.

I just about held myself together when working and tried to stick at karate, but the close proximity of all concerned made that difficult too. Home issues intermingled with the training and as things worsened between me and the rest of the family, obviously my training was affected as well, so I lost for me what was a certain anchor point for a while.

Basically, whatever other peoples actions were, my own responses and mood swings were definitely making thing worse.  For the last part of March and most of April it is fair to say that no-one in the house wanted to talk to me.  In part this was down to the fact that they all have their own issues to deal with, but a a bigger part was my difficulties in dealing with issues I had thought already resolved and mood swings caused my own mental state, fuelled with an increased reliance on alcohol as an escape mechanism.

Most of April was more of the same, with me withdrawing into myself, trying to avoid conflict and family contact time (including training) and resorting to alcohol as one of the escape mechanisms.  Also trying to bury my head in the sand about external issues and ignoring correspondence I knew was related to it "putting it off until tomorrow", but knowing it would come home to roost.  Something had to give and eventually it did.

For a few weeks things limped along as they were, but on 24th April, things came to head. It was a combination of everything that got to me, The feeling of isolation, coupled with the other worries and fuelled by drink led to me holding a knife to myself, contemplating ending it all.  My partner took one knife from me, but I found another. At that point, the lack of response to my sister's calls resulted in the police being called.

The police took the second knife, and long talks with me and my family ensued.  Due to my co-morbidities and the fact I hadn't had the second Covid jab, the first option of being taken to A&E really didn't appeal.  The second option was to try to work it out within the family, and that's the way I've gone.  It certainly hasn't been plain sailing, but we started talking again at that point.

I faced up to the root cause of the financial worries, though there is still a lot of work to do.  The family have helped me get my drinking under control and the sense of isolation has to a large extent faded. However, we are all aware how fragile things are and at times have to strive to keep feelings under control.  Very much work in progress but hopefully at least some things are now going in the right direction.   I am enjoying my karate again too, so little steps.

REY 31/05/2021

January Covid blues

January, if I am being polite was a mixed bag, especially emotionally.  If I am being really honest, it was pretty bad, with a struggle to find any motivation in the midst of it.  At the moment my anchors are work, which is demanding to say the least, and karate.

0201 Drills and Kata

Given the inclement weather for training outside, work rather that karate has been my "turn to" at many points, and especially in January.  This is prbably what resulted in all the neck issues I had in that month.  Karate provides a healthy counterpoint to work, but if the balance switches, I think my body likes to tell me it's being neglected.

0401 Kata Slow

I have been effectively in lockdown for the best part of 10 months now, with minimal physical interaction with anyone outside the immediate family in that time (that means the people in the house).   It took a toll on my mental health from the start, and I sought and found some help for that.  

0901 Combinations, drill and kata

One of the big plusses was the advice that I should lock on to karate and keep on going.  That is what I have tried to do.  

1001 Nunchaku and kata

I think one of the hardest things to admit to many people is the need for a degree of separation.  In pre Covid times, this was easy to achieve as anyone who worked was separated from those at home for the duration of work and travel at least.   Working from home and being at extreme risk has denied me and my family that separation.

1301 Tense Stiff and Aching

I am not one of the gainsayers about Covid-19, it is a confirmed super-killer to anyone with my conditions,so there was no choice in that context to survive.  Some of my friends have given me hope if their recovery, but as the sole earner in my family I can't take many risks.  The thing about January is it has been the worst month so far in the ability to keep home issues so separate from work.

1710 bo nunchaku and kata

The two have started to overlap and that is hard to cope with for me.   So the route for me to cope has been a fair bit of kata and a few too many bottles of wine.The former has to be the preferred route, so enter PJ Broomy, with another demonstration of one of his dojo's kata.

1801 Morning kata

For the record, I have suffered from depression and have struggled at times with my temper, as well as my heart and lung conditions, but my best answer to all of those is to learn something new.  I think I frustrate my Sensei at times in this, as I should really be drilling my fundamental kata.  I totally agree with them as only a blue belt in our discipline, I need to practice, practice, practice.

2201 A short routine

However, the physical needs also have to be tempered with the mental.  Learning the form of a new kata is a mental challenge, which, whilst I feel under mental siege is an important release.   I'm not trying to learn different bunkai in general, because all I really need to know is in Naihanchi at my level. 

2301 Lesson

So Sanseru is the new kata I'm trying to learn, I will take Naihanchi over Sanchin any day for a late starter like me.  It's a codex for most of the brutal strikes you can make, and for self defence that's perfect. 

2401 Shadow sparring based on heavy bag routine

However, I go back to my research and it tells me that all divides between schools historically are artificial.  What you learned depended on the teachers you studied under, not the schools you were with.   These are a later development.

2501 Reminder of today's lesson

 I will never train in Sanchin alone, as at my age I don't think I'm likely to get an iron body.   However, I learned a version of Tensho that included the opening of Sanchin, and with PJ I have learnt the framework of Seisan, and now I'm learning the form of Sanseru.

2901 A bit of morning exercise

The bottom line in my mind is, I have to practice the fundamentals; my core kata and drills, but I also need mental challenges>   This gives my a focus away from home and work and in so doing, helps me create my own mental "separation", in place of the physical one that is impossible to achieve in lockdown.

Hope this all makes sense and thank you for reading.

0401

Fundamentals
Kata 

0901

Kata (Naihanchi Shodan)
Fundamentals
Combinations (Jodan uke, punch) (Mai geri, reverse punch)
Naihanch drill #1 padwork

1601

Fundamentals
Kata (missed out the kicks due to the flare up of an old back complaint)

2301

Naihanchi drill #1
Self protection and defence
Kata

2501

Kicks and transitions using Mawaishi geri and Ushiro geri
Transitioning in Zenkutsu dachi
Transitioning using Nekko ashi dachi
Kihon gata (know 1-5, have notes to 10)
Naihanchi drills 1-5

3001

Jamie Clubb - anti-grappling

Covid, karate and pennies dropping

 Due to work, I haven't been able to train as much as I did earlier in the Covid-19 outbreak, and that compounded by some stressful factors led to a flair up of my chest complaint.  My doctor insisted I got a Covid test done, even though I have been working from home and not socialising, waiting for the results only added to the mix.

2010 Kata as Breathing Exercise

Since I already have my own issues, mentally this set of circumstances didn't help either.  Medically I was told to take my crash pack of antibiotics and steroids, and as I had struggled on the previous Saturday lesson, I had to take it easy for a while.  I had to find something to compensate and focus on, and as is typical with me it was Karate.

22100 Slow kata gentle breathing

I put my kata to good use, both as a series of breathing exercises and as relaxation.  But then came the better news, I was Covid free: Thought it was time to start training again, even if only for a part of the lesson and not full speed: Form, rather than strength and speed. So on Saturday I did train again.  some of it I got near to full power, but the best part of it was a penny dropping......

 Kihons and knees 2410

This was my post in one of the Facebook forums:

"Muchimi, pad work and kihon: My dojo has concentrated on online training, plus outdoor training where possible, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. I have possibly trained more as a result and attended more seminars, but reached a "lights turned on" moment today. Recently, we have started working on knee adaptations of our kihon gata in place of kicks and today our sensei added pad work.

The kihons are very clean, with punch/ kick combinations, so swapping to knees was a change anyway, more in keeping with Shorin Ryu roots. But the addition of padwork introduces the idea of muchimi, as I realised afterwards. For example, the first kihon in my dojo is "jab, reverse punch, mai geri". the knee interpretation without pad is "jab, reverse punch, back leg knee".

Add in the pad, and this becomes "Jab, reverse punch, knee" but because the jab isn't retracted to keep the pad as a target, and the the reverse punch hand isn't retracted to support the pad for the knee: It becomes "Jab grasp, reverse punch grasp, knee" Maintaining contact with the head. Suddenly practice drills developed real intent for me. Does that make sense?"

My Sensei are always telling us about keeping contact in close quarter situations, but finally the penny dropped with some of our basic drills. One of these is given below as an example:

Kihon gata Shodan - different forms

The following day was "Karate Day" and the 100 kata challenge.  I signed up for it ages ago, but given the recent circumstances, I approached it with a certain amount of trepidation.   We were mostly going to do Naihanchi, so that wasn't a problem, but how long I would last potentially was.   I needn't have worried:  The first 20 were a real struggle, but then managed to clear my chest.   I managed the full 100, and though the other 80 weren't a walk in the park, they certainly felt more comfortable than the first 20 ☺☺☺

100 kata challenge

Much to my surprise, I even managed to make a midweek lesson on the following Thursday, and there was yet more new material introduced.  We worked mainly on kata and an old favourite: The Quadrant drill.  However towards the end of the lesson we were also introduced to some new pad drills, Naihanchi drills 4 and 5, so something more to work on ☺☺☺  The Saturday lesson was taken up by a Jamie Clubb webinar, featuring grappling and ant-grappling techniques, but for once I wasn't able to take an active part due to a few technical issues.  My son did though and he seemed to enjoy it ☺☺☺

That's it for now, thank you for reading if you got this far ☺☺☺

2410

Kata

Kihon gata to 7, knees and elbows

2510

100 kata challenge 3 Naihanchis (for me)

2910

Kata

Quadrant drill

5 Naihanchi pad drills

The two new ones:

4: push down and uppercut, roll into backfist, clinch and knee into heel stomp, cm neck crank takedown.

5: Percussive clinch, knee, hammerfist into side of head/jaw, forearm strike into base of skull (forgot to do this in tonight's lesson), turn and throw into wall/person/ environment.

3110

Jamie Clubb - grappling