I started karate when I was 5, and I never really did stop practicing. I enjoy it so much that I now teach it after a long day of ..well ...teaching. Paddling shares many similarities to traditional karate training(I have to make that distinction).

In Japan, there is very little explanation about techniques. In American dojo, the instructors tend to talk A LOT. In Japan, you find out when you're doing it wrong because you either get hit by the Sensei, or you bump someone next to you. The proximity or closeness to someone else is very important, much like paddling. You can hear and feel your mistakes; you'll just know you're off. And like I said in my previous post, you have to just do it and try. After you make the mistake, you learn. You don't learn it in the process of listening.

The training is never spiritual until you feel like dying. In karate training, I always tell my kids, "Don't pace yourself. The training starts only after you're tired." When you're fresh, it's easy to move fast and have good timing, but it's really hard when you're tired, and your true technique comes out when you're pooped. You have to give it all and be sore; then at that point, the real training starts. I really felt like I got better at paddling once I felt like my arm was going to fall off. I think one reason was because I knew the burn couldnt get any worse. But I also think that I started to use the right muscles and got the technique a bit better.

Even though we train in unison, and we want the dojo to be strong, we need to compete against each other. You have to move together during basic training, but you have to strive to be the fastest always. By competing against each other, you raise the level of everyone. If you slack, someone else will slack. I see this happen all the time in my classes. You need only one person to skip class once, and then the lemmings will follow. You have to consistenly pick a target and say "I'm going to be better and faster."

The Perfect Afternoon

Thank you so much to Kawika and Lisa for taking us out for an awesome day!  It felt good being out there and getting in tune with my mind and body.  I got lost in the rhythm of the strokes, the color of the water, the smell of the salt until Lisa called out "hut!' and brought my mind back to focusing on the next change.  Not mindless work, but very mindful.  My senses were heightened to all that was going around me.  Felt good when we were all in sinc and moved the canoe through the water.  Everyone working together, enjoying each other's company, enjoying the moment.  Lauaki.  A nice complement to a morning of brain workouts fleshing out SLOs.  

There were times when I started to feel a little tired, or a little out of sinc, or took a second to wipe the salt water from my eyes.  It was at those times when I felt the power and energy from the group still carrying us forward.  Malama.  The group took care of me.  It was also those times that made me dig in even harder to do my part for the team and give back to everyone.  Thanks for the ride!  Mojitos, anyone?

Day One - Mountain View

On Monday, intrepid walkers braved heat and noon-day sun to walk and talk Diamond Head's story - I drove and enjoyed, but greatly missed Kawika's interesting stories and company of colleagues - did not mind missing the sweat or aching joints though... Our shared mountain view continues to draw me and remind me of this deep connection to the aina. With you all in spirit...

Regina...

Day 3 - Hoe Wa‘a

I wonʻt romanticize the world of outrigger canoe paddling. Paddling takes strength, focus and humility. Lots of humility. Thick skin. And team work. Everyone has to contribute. You depend on the other paddlers to get you somewhere just as much as they depend on you. Canʻt be a scrub. Canʻt be "Iʻll just push as little as I have to so I can go for the ride." Everyone should give as much as they can if not more. And then there is the ocean. Pay attention to her moods, learn what she has to teach you and respect her power - both physical and spiritual. And you have to learn to trust your steersman. You have to learn to trust the leader.
But today, paddling simply means fun. Oh sure, this is about bonding. About making meaning of experience. So while you are paddling out on the water on this beautiful Day 3, take it all in -- the wind, the sun, the water, the coastline, the smiles -- and then reflect on one of the values weʻve been talking about for the past two days. No focused writing prompt here. Just go where the canoe and the ocean take you.
And if you arenʻt paddling with Kāwika today, think about a similar concept -- travel, sports, clubs, whatever connections you make and reflect away.

Patterns - Something to Think About If You Have the Energy

New Growth in the Manele Garden

This is how I see myself, like the taro, growing all the time. I also get the feeling that I will always be in this state, a state of constant improvement. In some way, I think I'd hope to be this way even when I'm 105. There is always something I can improve upon. If I feel that I've reached my goal, there is always a new goal for me. I think that's what makes life interesting.

I certainly hope for my students that when they receive their degree, it's never the end. It's always a constant state of change and growth they'd have to face and deal with. It would be junk if we ran out of goals, wouldn't it? I guess it depends on some people.

Just wanted to throw in a picture of my daughter. I miss her. She constantly challenges me and she's forcing me to change and grow. I hope that she, too, will grow and never think that there's nothing to improve upon. There's always something we can choose to change or improve upon. I hope she will be a lifelong learner because I think life's more interesting that way.

Mary Ann

The Garden Tools.......

Today Kawika brought out a box filled with garden tools for us to use so that we could dig, dig, dig, and dig (did I say dig????) the earth to ready it for our planting of ti leaf plants in a couple of days. He gave each of us a choice as to which garden tool we could use to do the job--the big shovel, the small weeder, or the medium size ax.

When I work with my students, I also introduce them to tools I think they will need to be successful in their lives, their careers. My wish is that they will leave KCC with a tool chest filled with tools and resources to do the jobs they set out to do.

Mo'olelo, Pae Ulu

Before May 18, 19, 20, 21, 2009 lays too far in the past it makes good sense to write this down so in the future should I get frustrated with being a teacher at Kapi'olani Community College I will remember these days.  Okay Napoleon it was the CTE Academy Institute!!!  You got it?  Yup, I got it!  

In as much as these four days is about our students, Im not trying to be selfish but it is about US as well.  I think you guys are the SHI_!  (Saying I learned from the students.  I guess you could say that they are at least trying to turn not so good words into positive words.  You know like, that's SICK.)  The stories that you all have told thus far if listened to by students would surely blow them away.  They think they got it hard hah!

Sorry I know going of the path, never mind but.  So what I think best represents what i do with students.  I think Im similar to the kalo and my students are the keiki that come from the side of the kalo.  Im the bigger leaf that provides shade and shelter for the students  and I forget that nature rules and when the wind blows or the sun journeys they will have to eventually face nature.   

If I had to place what we did in the garden in one of the Hawaiian values I would place it next to Moʻolelo above Pae Ulu (growth stage).  Reason:  today we not only shared many moʻolelo but we also wrote the introduction to a moʻolelo when we began preparing the land for planting.

MOON PHASES

May 18, 2009: (Kāloakūlua) Good for planting anything but potatoes, melons or bananas.  Good reef fishing at night.  We told stories that went below the surface unlike potatoes that grow in dirt mounds or melons and bananas that grow in plain view.

May 19, 2009:  (Kāloapau)  Plant bamboo, sugar cane.  Excellent torch fishing in the evenings on the reef due to the lowing of the tide.  Limu and other shellfish are exposed in the tidepools.

May 20, 2009:  (Kāne)  Excellent day to plant anything.  In the old days this night was reserved for ceremony and ritual and no farming or fishing occured.  Good diving for sea urchins.  Very low tide.

May 21, 2009:  (Lono) Excellent day for planting any type of plant especially those that provide food.  Tide low, sea calm, sand deposited on shore.

 

Kukui tree hou

I found a couple of good metaphors for my teaching in the garden, but the one that seemed closest to what I do every day was this kukui tree. According to Lisa, it has been grown for too long in one pot, and had grown tall but spindly. Kawika rescued it and planted it in the garden, but the top of the tree wasn't flourishing. Instead, a second growth was starting, down at the base of the tree, thick and lush. That touched me. The tree had been grown under less than favorable conditions, and it was adapting to the new environment. The new growth, in an unexpected area more suitable to the tree's new site, reminds me of my non-traditional, older students, who are returning to school in response to change in their lives. I hope that it's my role to provide some of the elements that will allow them to flourish. Even more than my students, however, the tree also reminded me of many of our mo`olelo today. Didn't so many of us have to replant ourselves from a restricted environment to one more full of possibilities?

We All Have Green Thumbs

I had heard about Kawika's garden but had never gotten "the tour" until today.  As we walked through the hillside and learned about the various plants -- where they were from, and what it took to care for them -- I began thinking that these plants were like our students.  Some require a lot of care in order to grow, pollenated by hand no less.  Others are like the ti leaf, "you just poke 'um in the ground or lie 'um down and he going grow" according to our kumu.  Some have surprises you would never expect (put the chili pepper water in my eye, are you crazy?!)  Plants come in many shapes and sizes and from various locations, and although some are of the same variety no two are exactly alike.  

As caretakers of the garden, we use different tools and techniques to care for our plants.  Sometimes we'll try new tools in hopes of finding a more effective method to help our plants grow and thrive.  Sometimes we'll need to pull weeds out of the way, or protect them from predators or the elements so that the plants will be able to continue on their journey.  We will most definitely get sunburn, sore muscles, and blisters along the way.  However, as the days and weeks pass, the work we put into our plants feels so worth it because we see them grow stronger, blossom and begin to provide sustenance, healing and shelter for others.  Very cool.

The one thing we must all remember is to appreciate the beauty of each plant -- some may have shiny leaves, others a beautiful scent or "ono" fruit for us to enjoy.  It's easy to get caught up in taking care of the fragile plants because they seem to need more care or the pretty plants because they always draw us to them; but we cannot forget to acknowledge and appreciate those like the ti leaf for it's special characteristics as well.  Time to work on our green thumbs!

Olulu

While every aspect of Kawika's garden impressed me, there was one plant in particular that grabbed my attention - the olulu. I had remembered seeing a TV show about the scientists that scaled the cliffs to pollenate this plant to prevent it from becoming extinct. I like to think that every student is like an olulu - rare, treasured, endangered...sometimes without hope and in desperate need of someone that is willing to try anything to help them persist.

Thanks for YOUR willingness to scale the cliff for your students. You are an amazing bunch of people. I hope you can let go of your content, your worries, your fears and dream big.

Gardening

Wow, what an awesome garden! Who could have conceived that it would be so welcoming and look this beautiful? The gardener, of course! The garden is only 2 years old and it has a special feeling to it. It has more than vegetation. It is a garden of connections, with plants living in harmony with each other in the silence of their being, proudly displaying their unique natures. Each plant has a legacy, a history, a story. Each plant came from someone and somewhere, and now they are securely rooted in the garden. They will grow with nutrients and lots of loving care. I feel the presence of beings there. It blows my mind to see this garden with a whole new perspective.

I love the four patches of grass planted purposefully under a tree as the starting foundation for an outdoor classroom! The garden is the perfect place for learning. I love it…rich learning environments grounded in nature, culture, reflection and immersed in spirit. How do I teach students early on “how to garden, and how to grow….”. With students, more important to tend to the roots before fruits can be cultivated.