It’s a snowy, Saturday morning here in Regina but the good news is the boys actually let my wife and I sleep in until 9:30, this morning. I never thought I’d reach a point in my life where that was considered “sleeping in,” but here we are, hence the lateness of this post going up. Considering we usually try to get the whole family to go out on Saturdays for whatever errands we may need to run, I’ll try to keep this brief.
Since it’s been two weeks and I’ve actually registered, I am now an attending student of Midwest Karate. There, I have begun studying Shotokan, which is also an Okinawan style of karate, featuring many turns, stances and hands positions that I find myself unfamiliar with. It’s a rich style and although I missed a couple of classes last week due to Diabetic difficulties, it’s been challenging and I haven’t had a class yet where I don’t break a sweat.
Since I was actually looking for a challenge, this dojo seems to be a good fit. What’s more, the senior students appear to be interested in learning some of my forms and techniques as well, making for a good exchange of philosophies. So who knows? If we stay in Regina for the next decade or more, I may just get my wish and learn a new style from scratch. Time will tell, I suppose. After all, life rarely cares about ones plan. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 
This should be an interesting ride for you. 🙂
Your biggest adjustment will probably be that Shotokan is more linear than most other Karate styles. Relying more on straight attacks does give it an edge in speed, but you’ll probably find flow a little lacking vs your existing style. FWIW, there’s also a fair number of videos on Youtube for Shotokan. The quality on some is questionable though. There’s almost no defense seen in the sparring videos for example. That (obviously) is a reflection on the teacher and practitioner, not the style though.
For any other readers; Shotokan is typically what you see the evil Japanese villain using in movies out of China (gotta love stereotypes). The linear attacks contrast well vs the hero’s circular, flowing kung-fu.
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It’s already been interesting, I can say that much. One fo the biggest challenges is picking up the variety of names for their forms and techniques, which differs quite a bit from my current style. I’m certainly looking forward to continuing the journey and I’m glad I found a place to do so.
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