Re: DESSIE'S BACK

[Guest guest]

Cheers Des,

Sounds like you are doing very well, as it seems most of us are!

Congrats and keep it up.

Dan

C+, 1.21.02 Dr. Schmalzried

> I'm now sitting in the departure lounge of Narita Airport waiting

to board my

> return flight to Los Angeles and then on to San , California.

I've just

> spent ten days in Japan, which included seven full days of karate

training, two

> very long train rides ( 10 hours and 8 hours respectively), and

enormous

> amounts of walking.

>

> Through it all, my two BHR's performed better than most peoples'

normal hip

> joints would have under the circumstances.

>

> The karate training was a kind of " shadow " training experience

for me. Four

> of my friends were preparing for their test for 6th degree black

belt, another

> for 5th degree, another for 4th and another for 1st. They were

prepared for

> their test by two of the foremost 8th degree black belt

instructors in Japan.

> Because of the rules, I must wait until 2007 for my test. There's

a six year

> waiting period after getting a 5th degree, which I managed to do

five months

> before my first BHR.

>

> I tagged onto the group testing for 6th degree because it's the

next grade

> I'm attempting. It was the most strenuous and challenging group,

because the

> qualitative change required to go from 5th to 6th degree is huge.

Basically there

> are no excuses for screwing up, none are tolerated, and the

examiners are

> unforgiving.

>

> Because the examiners realize that by the time one is able to test

for 6th

> degree, one is probably going to be at least 45 years old, so no

fighting is

> required. There's thought to be no reason to continue testing

fighting ability

> because that happens from 1st through 5th degree over at least a

15 year period.

> So basically you don't make it to that point at all if you can't

fight.

> However the forms are extraordinarily difficult and the finesse

needed would

> probably make most people quit long before they ever got very far.

>

> I've learned, among other things, that I need to work really hard

on

> improving my flexibility in the hips. One of the forms involves

moving from what is

> called a horse stance (picture pointing your feet at 90 degrees to

one another,

> with legs bent at the knee at about a 100 degree angle and thighs

almost

> parallel to the floor, with your feet about 4 feet apart from one

another), pulling

> your front knee up towards your chest, kicking down at someone's

imaginary

> knee in line with where your own knee just was, turning and

twisting in mid air

> 45 degrees to your right while standing on the back leg, and

stamping the

> front foot down hard on the ground while executing an uppercut

with the front

> hand, and then adding four intricate hand movements at lightning

speed.

>

> Maybe you get the picture; maybe I didn't explain it well enough.

Take it

> from me, it's amazingly difficult. This is just one move in 36 for

the entire

> form, each one being challenging in its own way.

>

> The point is that these metal hip surfaces made it totally

painless and

> possible to do repetitively with no strain. I wasn't flexible at

all for many years

> before my surgery, so there's still a long way to go in terms of

achieving

> what I can. However based on my experience over the last ten days,

I'm confident

> that I'll manage to pass the test when my time comes.

>

> The frosting on the cake with this trip was that I celebrated my

50th

> birthday in the middle of it, and didn't feel a day over about 30.

>

> To those of you who are on the verge of changing your lives, go

for it! To

> those who've already done that, enjoy it for many years to come.

>

> Best to all,

>

> Des Tuck

>

>

>