Tuesday 30 July 2013

Zen Judo

I was first introduced to Zen Judo by visiting the Trowbridge Zen Judo Club. Mike Healy runs the club as a non-profit, which is enjoyed by keen members of various levels and ages.





Since then I have found that Zen Judo is a beginner friendly art that aims to avoid competition. Mainstream Judo was founded by Jigoro Kano, and though he brought Judo to the UK in the 1920s, he did not want it to be associated with the Olympics. Nevertheless it did, making it the first Japanese Martial Art to become involved. Later on, in 1974 Dominick McCarthy founded Zen Judo, striving to avoid the competitive side of mainstream Judo, most likely sharing Kano's fears that it would ruin the art.

He also happened to teach Mike Healy.

Trowbridge Zen Judo Club is also associated with the International Gentle Arts Society, which holds events for various different kinds of 'Gentle Art' which they define as traditional and a 'non-sport' -  Competitive success is not meant to be the ultimate or primary goal of achieving promotions.

Learning about the club has inspired me to learn more about martial arts as a whole, and well, you never know. Maybe you'll see me there joining in next time too.

Saturday 27 July 2013

Kickboxing

Kickboxing was my second try at getting involved in martial arts. I gave Karate a go after seeing a kid in primary school do this routine in his little white suit, but my attention span grew thin very quickly - and the bowing. I didn't like the bowing at the time.

But when bullying started to become more physical as I grew up, my mother decided to take me to something else, and thus, I was introduced to kickboxing.

I loved the energy, all the fitness training, wearing the gloves and the instructors suited me. I admired how kickboxing could be silent, you didn't have to shout when you struck, you didn't have to say anything to anyone - you could show respect with body language - helping with the mats, giving a wave, a nod. Sometimes jogging, skipping, push ups, shadow sparing - despite being in the same hall as everyone else - it could feel quite solitude and that was very comforting and relaxing for me at the time. Then there was the sparring with other members. I was very competitive. My mother would proudly say that the boys were afraid of me. It was most likely because I was fast and didn't shrink away like a few of the other girls, (though most girls tended to be quite like me.) but it might have been because I was the shortest. I imagine it was quite a strange sight to see a short girl fight a tall male teenager. The poor guys were probably more worried about knocking me back too hard!

Kickboxing was hard work, and as I grew older my health started to challenge my progress, but nevertheless I made it to blue belt, which in our club, was three away from black. (Totally not over-proud, ho ho ho!) It also taught me to duck, which helped me in a lot of situations. Funnily enough, it also helped me to run faster too, which has became useful in it's own right.

My club moved three times while I was there, and always seemed to be struggling. Eventually, they got their own place, but the prices rose high and it wasn't affordable anymore. So I dropped out. Haven't been to another club since.

I want to learn more about martial arts in general, but I also want to give things a go again. Will I join a kickboxing club? Who knows. Perhaps, if they have one in the city, and if I miraculously get a job to pay for it.

Sunday 21 July 2013

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Mary Solberg

Published in the late 70s, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy edited by George D. Goldman and Donald S. Milman has been an entertaining if out of date read. The book is certainly pro-Freud, and mentions many theories, with a particular chapter on resistance and transference.

I quote "Sooner or later the patient cones to the additional realization that everyone else is in the same boat as she. Parents, spouses, lovers, friends -- all living out transferences and repetition compulsions with her and with each other. She induces others to play allotted roles in the drama of her repetition compulsions. Simultaneously they are inducing  her to play an allotted role in their dramas, and none of the players is aware that old scripts are being repeatedly acted out with minor variations."

"Let us suppose that temporary despair resolves itself and the patient is ready for the next phase of therapy. There is another discouraging discovery. Repetition compulsions do not vanish with awareness of their existence. The past hangs on stubbornly. It must be caught in the action, so to speak, again and again, mulled over and renounced afresh in the light of new memories and deep understandings." (Pages 58 - 59)

Also known as working through coined by Freud in 1914.

Just under the description is a poem written by Mary Solberg, that I cannot find published anywhere else. I don't tend to like much poetry, but I feel this deserves to be shared.

My mother's gone into hiding
behind you.
Your motives are agonizing replays
of mine, in search of mother
behind me.
I can see the shadow of her martyred smile,
long suffering, knowing, pained,
and hear the echo of her voice.
You should know better
(and so, dear God, should I, so should I).
We take such trouble to copyright
our own translations of the same ancient texts,
you'd think we'd written them ourselves.
But no, we only spend ourselves
trying to come up with that one new word
that will change the meaning just enough
to make a difference.

- Mary Solberg

Saturday 20 July 2013

Pencak Silat


A while ago I mentioned a martial art that's been adopted by Betawi culture. Well, with a bit more research, it seems like it's quite popular in the whole of Indonesia and Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand and Southern Philippines. In fact, it's even hit the UK with official website Pencak Silat UK. And apparently, the UK does pretty well too. Pencak Silat is an umbrella term used to described Indonesian martial arts. There seems to be some kind of judo-like moves, taekwondo like moves, and weapon fighting. What is there not to admire? I wish I knew more about this martial art, it looks quite cool.

Sources
Pencak Silat UK
Combat Silat
Martial Arts of the World: Religions and Individual Arts By Thomas A.Green, Joseph R. Svinth

Thursday 18 July 2013

Republic of Indonesia

Indonesia.
A country with an estimated 238 million people, free from Netherland rule since 1949. Indonesia contains quite a large diversity, which includes ethnicities such as the Javanese, the Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, Betawi, Bugis, Bantenese and many others, each with their own language. The official Indonesian motto: Bhinneka Tunggal Ika means Unity in Diversity. / Many, yet one, which I think sums up the multicultural population of Indonesia. In all honesty, I know very little about Indonesia, or any of the names mentioned above, so I've explored a little further and written about the top five.

Quick facts:

Javanese
  • Many Javanese people follow Islam, although culture is said to also be influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism, Animism and Kejawen.
  • The royal palaces Yogyakarta Sultanate and Surakarta Sunanate are often highly revered and looked upon in society.
  • Culturally, Javanese people are said to adopt a bilateral kinship system, where male and female descendants have equal importance. This may explain why it is not customary for Javanese people to have a surname. 
  • Divorce is slowly becoming acceptable in the culture.

Sundanese
  • Sunda Wiwitan is a belief that contains the legend of the origin of Sundanese people.
  • Sundanese culture is said to have been influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism, and previous native beliefs such as Sunda Wiwitam and Animism.
  • Today it is thought that many Sundanese people are Sunni Muslims.
  • There are traditional Sundanese dances such as Jaipongan.
Madurese
  • Have roots from an island called Madura, but know most Madurese people do not live on this island, and have spread out.
  • Islam is very deep rooted in Madurese tradition.
  • Men can have many wives.

Minangkabau 
  • Have a matrilineal culture, with property and land passed down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the responsibility of men. Although some women may also play important roles in these areas. 
  • There is a tradition for when boys reach the coming of age, to explore the world and 'make their riches' before returning to their homeland. This helps give women more power.
  • Tend to be strongly Islamic, but also follow ethnic traditions called 'adat' which derives from animist beliefs before Islam was introduced.

Betawi
  • Their language is said to be quite popular as the basis of Indonesian slang.
  • There are so many influences from other cultures within the Betawi people - such as Chinese, Arabic, Sundanesen, European...
  • A Kebaya Encim is a traditional blouse worn by some women.
  •  Betawi Keroncong Kemayoran music is derived from kroncong music of Portuguese Mardijker people
  • Pencak Silat is a popular martial art that is sometimes adopted in Betawi culture.
 Bugis
  •  Most Bugis identify as Sunni Muslims, but their practice is influenced by Sufi traditions. 
  • Assalmakeng is a type of ceremony that involves offerings to local spirits, guardians of the house, supernatural sibligns of the newly born, and other spirits.
  • While there is some 'western' treatment available, in Bugis tradition there are sanro, who are alternative practitioners. They may use core concepts such as the elements fire, air, earth and water for diagnosis and healing.
  • The old pre-islamic belief called Tolotang has been kept by some Bugis.


Indonesia is diverse and is full of culture. There are many, many folktales such as The Legend of Toba Lake, The Origin of Rice and Kebo Iwa which all heavily involve the land, and interesting historical sites such as the Javanese Candis.

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Fuzzy. Hammersmith


I'm avoiding staring at the blank page. It's difficult but it's not helping my writing. So on comes a fantastic album by Thomas Bergensen, "Illusions." Mr Bergensen, if/when I get a driving license, your albums will defiantly be safely inside my car, make the ride from university to hometown so much easier.

But alas, this blog post isn't going to be focused on the wonderful composer. Nope. I've decided it's about time I mention my rabbit.


Now the music above is appropriate, because of my (family) rabbit's name. "Fuzzy. Hammersmith." Pronounced 'Fuzzy Dot Hammersmith'. Not all my family members may have agreed upon this name, but trust me, it's what she prefers. She told me. And she's defiantly a metal head. I mean, look at her hair and ahh, I love her. She lets me stroke her when I want to and even allows me to pick her up if she's in a good mood.















Somewhat easy to photograph!
Going back to sleep after a hard day modelling


Yup. This was pretty much a music/photo spam post. But I'm not even sorry 'bladdddd'.

Ipswich in the evening

My friends were late, and I ended up standing outside the pub. Standing outside on your own doing nothing is frankly boring and gets you looks from passersby and smokers, so to distract myself I returned to an old hobby; People watching.

It's not as freaky or as strange as it sounds, honest. It's just examining and making sense (or inventing sense) of the world around you. For example, watching a guy with a black jacket talk on the phone while walking along the smallest (and wrong) side of the path while buses race along the road close to him. This observation is a bit like play dough free for you to mould however you like. Is he unaware the fence separating most of the path and road is to help prevent pedestrians from crazy cyclists, drivers and themselves when drunk? Does he like to play with danger? Is the call stressing him out, is it urgent, what is his mood in relation to how he moves, talks - his actions? You can pick up odd conversations here and there and gather so much information. That's particularly a good way to learn about new buildings and roadworks - because people like to complain and inform others about their opinions. It's also a good way of picking up accents.


Then it became evening, and I knew it was evening, because the crowds no longer roamed in masses. Instead, there were groups of people or people walking alone that didn't have to weave so closely round other bodies. In fact, people were avoiding others and the town rangers had gone home. Across the road near the bus shelters, a girl was screaming as her boyfriend snatched her phone and threw it hard on the ground. He crushed it with his foot several times, and there was shouting, and she was distraught. She was so shocked, shaken, but so enraged. Her threats were common, "I'll tell everyone about you. I hate you." and she lingered. He snatched her phone again, and stamped on it several times. She was marching too, stomping on the ground, crying, hurt. He shouted back of course. Slowly, she began to walk away, but kept turning towards him and shouting, cursing. I think it attracted him to follow her. He had so much anger. I felt a dozen pairs of eyes from the pub watch them, entertained. A few people individual and alone stopped in their hurry to return home to watch. I didn't know what was best, but eventually she walked and he stayed where he was. For a while. And then he began to follow her again. It was easy to guess what would happen. So I followed too. Through the bus shelters, down a hill to the town centre. He went right up to her, pulled her hair, and began pulling her dress while she was screaming. Some big blokes on the other side of the road started shouting at the guy. The guy said "but I paid for that dress." but the blokes then grabbed him away, demanding he apologised to her. There are never any police when you need them, especially not in Ipswich. But I'm glad how the blokes handled it, how they were strong, how they intervened. That's something valuable that society should really trust and adopt. If we truly governed ourselves and looked after each other, we wouldn't need the police and a faulty law and justice system.

 I returned to the pub, but my friends still weren't there, and I was fed up with standing still. Besides, standing still and lurking isn't the best thing to do. People notice, maybe they're people watching too - but sometimes, there are kinds of people you really don't want to notice you, who maybe will single you out, approach you. So of course the best thing to do was to go to the pub and order my first cider while waiting sitting down by the nearest window. (Oh, no glass in the windows. More like window doors. Really sets the scene for Ippy in the evenin' y'know?)

Upon sitting down, a bloke and his friend greeted me and they were friendly. I enjoyed their company and sharing my opinions on cider and Suffolk heritage such as The Vault (they used to store dose dead bodies down der!) where my boyfriend works. This is more like active or participant people watching.Will I ever see Gary and Jeff again? Most likely not. Will they remember my name? Nah. But the information I could get was still interesting. People are interesting. They have stories. And I like stories. Apparently I'm a creative writer (according to some degree I'm meant to be taking) which might have something to do with it, but I'm not sure.

Later and finally, my beautiful friends arrived. We talked and talked, drank cider, promised to meet again and departed in good spirits after many hugs.

It was getting fairly dark on the way home which my mum wasn't too pleased about. I could see her side as well as mine, so I try to adjust and be flexible whenever I can. There's a bridge near where I live which I had to walk over. It was well lit and still near traffic. A group of three large, muscular men walked along just before me. Behind me was a group of 5 or so younger men talking loudly, walking at an irregular pace. The decision to be sandwiched between them or not was fairly simple. I went further along the road so the men would get across the bridge and each group were ahead of me. Keeping reasonable distance, I returned to the bridge only for the group to stop, start laughing loudly, and shake the cables holding the bridge so the ground shook. I stopped walking only so I didn't have to go past them. They noticed me, and for a moment I wondered if they'd call out. But eventually they wondered off, leaving the cables rattling.

All pretty standard town I guess.

Monday 15 July 2013

Health, what health?

I should really update this blog when I am happy as well as I am feeling sad.
I should remember the strawberries and the smiles and the zombie fish. Ah, zombie fish. Yes, that would make a great entry later on.

Monday 8 July 2013

Summer

Heat has suddenly marched into early July sending the UK to the 30s and driving even the most adventurous of my friends to search for shade. It's almost ridiculous - but it will disappear as quick as it came, so I have tried to enjoy the sun. I've been able to get out again since the first of July, and I'm hoping my health will last a bit longer this time. I went to the doctors again, I've been going regularly for a while. He knows as well as I know that I can't keep this routine up anymore. I will be seeing two specialists soon, I hope I will be able to find the cause of my illness soon.


Meanwhile, I've been creative here and there. I'm hoping to practice drawing and painting, while getting back to writing. One of my friend wants writing about games, which I might try and work on next. I also want to work on making a rpg game.