LINT BETWEEN YOUR TOES
The other day in Taekwon-Do class, we were practicing patterns or forms. For non-martial artists, this just means the practice of martial art stances, kicks, and blocks that are choreographed and simulate a fighting situation. Martial artists frequently learn patterns, forms, or katas as part of their training. They are very specific, even down to the smallest detail on how you hold your hand, or even your fingers, and where you place your feet and how you move. Some feel they are not relevant to training anymore, but others, like me, believe they still hold merit. They serve many purposes along with the obvious rehearsal of skills and techniques, such as creating mental habits that might be used in a real life situation, whether that is taking an incredible fall from a height, fighting a fire, or battling an opponent. In patterns, you learn to turn and look before you move, and while the intricacies and traditions of each form hold great significance, only the practitioner can make them come alive through his own insights, personality, and actions.
Patterns also teach consistency in movement. Learning to step in the same distance throughout the form, or always making sure the body parts stay in alignment, takes a lot of practice. If you learn to do this, you miraculously end exactly where you began. When you finish and look down and realize you are back at the starting point, you think to yourself, “I’ve conquered a big part of this pattern.” It’s as important as doing the blocks just right, or finally not turning the wrong way. I like patterns because they use my mind and my body. There are very few times in my life anymore when I have to memorize anything and the memorization process is actually very healthy and necessary, especially when you get older.
During the pattern, to mark a starting point, some find a piece of lint or tiny piece of paper already on the floor and place it between their feet when they begin. This is the goal: to return to the lint between your toes, or where you began. It sounds funny, but in the bigger scheme of things, it is an important goal. Returning to the starting point means you’ve done something right. Staying the course no matter how long it takes, keeping my steps consistent like in the pattern or kata, is what it takes to bring me back to my center point again.
This goal, of ending where you began, is not just important in patterns. It is so easy to get thrown off-balance in life and feel that it was impossible to return to your original destination. How many times has some obstacle made you short-step your advancement? How many times have you given up because you failed to get back to where you wanted to be after only one attempt? The thing about patterns is that you keep trying, day in, day out. Some days you find your way to the beginning, others you forget a step and can’t remember where you are going; no matter what, you do it again and again. There is no perfection, but there is always the attempt and the hope that you make it back where you started because that feels like the exactly right place to be.
Too many highs and lows in life make you feel a little crazy, don’t they? I’ve used my martial art mindset to establish consistency by viewing life through the same glasses everyday- the ones that make me see what is right and good and positive. This does not mean I do not get frustrated. Just recently I felt a little amiss because I couldn’t find the time to practice martial arts. I have so much to learn in TKD which is a different style than what I know. Sometimes I vent this kind of frustration to a teacher or a friend, and then I seem to be better at coping with it. I hate to use the term, “I’m too busy to learn,” but on occasion that is exactly true. Being watchful of my own reactions and then trying to put them in perspective is one of the ways I am able to remain consistent and committed to keep pushing through to my goals. I’m positive, but like you, have moments when I wish I could do or be more.
Life is full of steps, defenses, and battles. No matter in what direction you turn you need to be ready. A pattern or form is so symbolic of the steps you take in life. You will try to achieve and advance at times; sometimes you will struggle, forget, or regret. No matter what, you always want to return to the essence of who you truly are.
There are few days when I don’t think to myself, “As a martial artist, how should I conquer this?” Being a martial artist is the lint in my path and the place to which I always want to return, especially if I’ve had a difficult time coping with something. If I am frustrated or off-center, I will do anything I can to return to the martial art mindset that has so carefully molded me into who I am as a person. To live a day without that feels like I’ll never find my way back to where I need to be; the beginning of me.
Today, mark your spot. Trust in who you are and know that no matter what you can always return. I practiced a pattern not long ago, and truth be told, I almost made it back to the piece of lint I had placed between my feet at the starting point. That’s all I need; to know that I do not need to change who I am but I can always grow through success and through difficulties and find my way home.
Do you have lint between your toes? That’s my humorous way of reminding you that if you take one step at a time there always exists an opportunity to end where you began, full circle, back to you.
Andrea
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Very well put, always so insightful
Excellent parallel pertaining to approaching forms the way one should approach that life
Thank you, Rodney!
Hi Andrea, I found your post very thought-provoking. It made me think that often, we may appear to be returning to the same point, but in fact something profound has changed inside. So for me it would be more like a spiral. Moving around and returning, and apparently revisiting the same point – but on a new level each time. Does that make sense . . . ?!
Yes, that makes good sense! Thank you.
Great read!
You always have a wonderful way with words, Sensei. I liked the part when you said how important the little things are when practicing forms, such as the way in which you hold your hands. I never really understood why hand positions mattered so much when I was younger. I just practiced the forms as I was taught. But, I have a new understanding and appreciation for the little things in martial arts. When holding our hands in certain positions, I think about the little notch on the end of gun barrels. The hand, just like the notch, serves as a point of focus. The hand helps us find our center as we practice forms. If our hands are flailing around as we practice, our focus is off, hence causing our techniques to suffer. In the end, if we focus too much on the lint in life, we fall off course. And it is our hands usually that help us back on course. Win At Life! 🙂
Very insightful, Anwar! Not to mention of of my first blog followers and ever faithful! Thank you.
I never heard of the lint as a placer object before. We try to work without markers so we are able to perform our katas and pinyons in any direction.
But I do like it as a metaphor for life and thinking how a martial artist would handle any problems or situations that arise. Great analogy!
Well, sort of a last minute short notice placemaker 🙂 Let’s see if we land where we started…pick a spot on the floor..or make a spot on the floor. It all works to bring us back to where we began.