True story: "Zenia. Get on the tatami!"

One random, mundane mum-day, as I was waiting for my son to finish his Aikido class, my Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu sensei literally ordered me onto the tatami! I had been quietly peeking from outside, unaware of how deeply it had already drawn me in. He had noticed that innate eagerness long before I had realized it myself, as he confessed to me sometime later. I was in jeans.

-Get on, Zenia. No more peeking. Warm up with us. Then practice.

-But Sensei, I'm in jeans, I pleaded!

That's what seemed to bother me at the time...not the fact that I had never ever practiced any kind of martial arts before in my entire life. And I'm forty!

"Who cares? Get on now!", he ordered as if I was late for a class I had been foolishly dodging for years. And after that very first practice that's exactly how I felt. Where has this been all my life?

But that was it. My sensei's odd persistence at the time and my tiny, timid step on the soft tatami wearing boyfriend-style ripped jeans and oddly paired dotted socks changed everything.

The next day I was there again thirsty for more. I was absolutely clueless about what I was doing at the time (definitely still am) but just knew I wanted...no, I HAD to be there!

After a week of almost daily training I purchased my dojo's black, and pretty badass, t-shirt bearing the dojo's logo, proudly wearing it to every practice and eagerly waiting outside with my pink/teal and not so badass water bottle for the previous class to finish before I could step in. Again.

But it's not about being badass. It's about feeling free. And that hour on the tatami graces me with absolute freedom. Of body and mind. And that for me is precious and priceless. It clears my mind and torches my spirit. Leaving the tatami feels like floating on air while being more grounded than ever. Tired, even exhausted, and yet more capable and creative than ever.

And I'm so glad to be witnessing that same effect on my son, who has been practicing Aikido and Kenjutsu for a year now. Traits that will become an inseparable part of his student life and beyond, safely guiding him through the shipwrecks of adult life. Because that's how powerful I have come to realise martial arts can be.

"Get on the tatami, Zenia. You're not practicing Aikido any more. From now on you're part of our Daitō-ryū class," my sensei said to me one day.

And that made me the happiest little shoshinsha on earth. Falling in love and starting to learn Japanese was now only a matter of time.