2025-10-15

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We all have “primal” fear reactions, and things like fire, the sensation of falling, and thought of getting punched, can trigger them. Fire generally isn’t much of a problem in the dojo, but the other two happen all the time, and learning to react (or not react) to them is one of karate’s lessons.

We’ve all had the instructor (or been the instructor) who checks stances with a good swift foot sweep. I always hang on to the student’s sleeve or collar when I do this, so they’re in no real danger of falling, but it does tend to trigger the primal fear of falling and “reminds” them to keep the knee over the toe. But it also has another purpose …

By continually encountering the things we fear, we learn to overcome that fear, or at least prevent it from overcoming us. Yes, I can still be afraid of falling, but I can still learn to keep my wits about me when it happens. Likewise, I can still dislike being hit, but I can channel that dislike into maintaining a defensible guard instead of curling up like a ball on the floor.