Digging Deep
Staring at the blisters on my hands from what seemed
like hours of digging I came to a strange realisation... gardening is
like kata!
I spent the best part of a weekend tending to the garden, broken only by the odd break for 'a light refreshment'
Looking at the garden on Monday morning it doesn't really look any different despite all my toils, although it obviously is. Often after spending time in the garden I feel that I have actually done or achieved very little when in reality the work and it's effect is still there.
Kata is the same, I put in many hours of practice (digging), corrective training under Sensei George (weeding), exploring bunkai (planting) and teaching kata (sowing seeds)
When performing/practising kata one cannot expect an immediate result in ones performance, the same as when I plant some new flowers they grow very gradually to eventually fill out the bed. After many similar weekends when I look back in years to come my garden will look very different.
Andy Barker
I spent the best part of a weekend tending to the garden, broken only by the odd break for 'a light refreshment'
Looking at the garden on Monday morning it doesn't really look any different despite all my toils, although it obviously is. Often after spending time in the garden I feel that I have actually done or achieved very little when in reality the work and it's effect is still there.
Kata is the same, I put in many hours of practice (digging), corrective training under Sensei George (weeding), exploring bunkai (planting) and teaching kata (sowing seeds)
When performing/practising kata one cannot expect an immediate result in ones performance, the same as when I plant some new flowers they grow very gradually to eventually fill out the bed. After many similar weekends when I look back in years to come my garden will look very different.
Andy Barker
