Last night, at the end of adult class Sensei decided to have a few rounds of bare knuckle fighting. I had never done bare knuckle fighting, although I had watched it in class before. Honestly, it frightened me then, and it frightened me last night. It just seems scary to me, the thought of getting kicked in the head with no head gear…by a bare foot with no padding. I am short after all, I get kicked in the head a lot. In addition, my mouth was sore already from an hour of dental torture earlier in the day.
So of course, he picked me for the first bare knuckle fight. I admit, I did horribly. Very apprehensive. I was excited he picked Ms. Noemie Iniguez for me to fight though. I spent the whole time trying to keep from getting hurt- that was the thought in my head the entire time…don’t get hurt.
After a few rounds of this, he broke out the pillows for some good ole’ fashion pillow fighting. Again, he picked Ms. Noemie Iniguez for me to fight.
What fun that was…both of us going at it, putting everything we had into slaying each other with the pillows.
Pillow Fighting Champions 🙂
So what does pillow fighting have to do with Karate? Everything. It wasn’t just fun time at the end of class, it had purpose and meaning…
The two fights between Ms. Iniguez and myself were complete opposites. In one, we were both stand-offish and using avoidance techniques, but in the other we were beating the crap out of each other, with absolutely no holding back.
And what was the purpose? I suspect it had something to do with showing us how different we behave in the two situations.
And what was the meaning? Fear, and how it can control you. That was the difference… Fear of being hit or hurt makes you behave differently, it makes you fight different. When neither of us was in danger of pain, we fought all out, but when there was possible pain we were more careful.
The brain is a funny thing, changing my behavior without me even realizing.
Pillow fighting shows me exactly why I am not as good of a fighter as I should be- I have fear. I don’t want to get hurt, or hurt anyone, so I do not go forward and attack, I spend most of my fighting time blocking and avoiding…but with pillows, I could care less, I am more aggressive.
I suppose the goal would be to approach every fight like they have pillows in their hands so I am not as apprehensive…
which causes me to have this funny look on my face…
Because that is the opposite of Gichin Funakoshi’s guiding principle…
Think of the opponents hands and feet as swords (not pillows, lol)
Jillybean's Journey 