The following was written by one of my clients, a 50-something student of Shotokan karate.  As a black belt in Shotokan karate myself, I know how FEARLESS you have to be to do this, so I salute Ardela Daniels, who is a remarkable and FEARLESS woman.

TIGHTEN YOUR MIND!

It’s about 5:30 am, the first of four mornings of my first Shotokan karate Special Training; I am running uphill and I am sure that I’m about to pass out.  Swaying like a drunkard and gasping for breath like someone who has nearly drowned, I give up running and walk while I fight to get my breath back (all of this is taking place in sight of the summit).  Perhaps it is the combination of the timing (dawn is about to break) with the steepness, but this is a brutal climb.

As anyone who has attended Special Training will tell you, the morning run really begins on the second mile; the one on the ascent back up to the Cate School in the hills outside Santa Barbara, California; a steep and winding climb after a sharp descent on bare feet.

I did not make it up the hill that first morning, a clear failure to meet my own expectations.  Would this be how I would always remember my first Special Training?  I had given up at the eleventh hour, given up in the final stretch.  I wondered if this is a metaphor for other parts of my life.  For the rest of the day, I was haunted by flashbacks of the “Don’t Quit” poster that hung in my teenage bedroom.

I joined the Atlanta dojo in January and the decision that I made to attend Special Training in June was a major wake-up call.  Unwilling to sidestep the challenge of Special Training, I resolved to get myself into shape.  I knew I needed help as there was no way I was going to put on training shoes and go running when no-one was watching.  My solution was to hire a personal trainer.  My trainer specializes in techniques used by the Navy Seals (I always feel like clicking my heels and saluting as she issues instructions!).  After a few months of twice-weekly workouts, the cellulite had disappeared.  My quads looked and felt as if they belonged to someone else.  I could run a mile without stopping, for the first time in my life.

I was, however, not ready to think of myself as athletic.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  I had always avoided the sports scene at school.  The sweating, razzing, and racket of the sports field were for those on the other side of the bell curve.  I had to do this my way; I had to make the preparation for Special Training more cerebral.  So I enlisted the help of a life coach. Her specialty is fearless living.  This was an appropriate specialty as I was plenty scared of getting beaten up in kumite (fighting) practice.  After a few months of weekly calls, I had my moment of enlightenment – karate is my practice for living life fearlessly:

•    show up, fearlessly
•    show up when I’m tired, sick, disheartened
•    train daily
•    look people in the eye – anticipate their next move

I paced myself more slowly going downhill on the second morning.  As I turned back uphill, I got goosebumps at the sight of over one hundred white gi’s flowing eerily down the grade against the black asphalt in the breaking dawn.  I established a fixed pace.  I focused on synchronizing every breath with every step, irrespective of the slope.  I told myself to make it to the next tree, then the next one, and then the next one.  The next thing I knew, I was at the top and I had not stopped running.  What a feeling!  I could not stop smiling.  I had forced my heart, and nerve and sinew to serve long after my mind thought they were spent.  I had held on when I believed there was nothing in me but the will that says “Keep going!”

I learned how to break through self-imposed limitations and accomplish new personal bests.  Deep inside we know that place inside ourselves. I have come to realize that we need to create the circumstances that will help us find that special place within ourselves again.  For me it is Special Training.

Ardela Daniels, 7th Kyu, Atlanta Shotokan Dojo

If you would like to know more about how to get some coaching so you can develop the FEARLESS person inside of you.