Karate Kid Part II

I wasn’t cut out to be the Midland’s answer to the Karate Kid.

When I was about 14 or 15 I joined a local karate club. Naively I had assumed karate was all about flying ninja kicks and screaming ‘haaayaaah’ a lot.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Karate, I soon discovered is incredibly disciplined. It is an ancient martial art form with very strict traditions. There is a clearly defined hierarchy and you have to behave respectfully at all times. I seem to remember being made to bow an unreasonable amount of times.

Karate is far from just a bit of a dust up in pyjamas; it’s a way of life, a philosophy.

And as a young teenager prone to giggling, that wasn’t my cup of sake at all. So after I got my first belt I bowed out. Literally.

Now let’s take a flying karate kick through the years to the present day.

And once again I find myself being challenged by something I had thought was relatively simple, but have since discovered is far deeper.

I’m talking about the hypnotherapy techniques I’ve been doing recently.

When I started I thought it was just a case of popping the headphones on, pressing play and letting it all wash over me. But it isn’t. There’s much more to it than that.

It’s not like going on a sunbed where you just lie there and 20 minutes later – bing! – you’re 2 or 3 shades closer to being racially abused by Anton Du Beke.

You need to play an active role in some of the therapies. You need to concentrate. You have to work at it. It’s a learning process. It’s ongoing. And it doesn’t end when the recording stops.

Like karate, it’s a way of life, a philosophy. And the more I practice the techniques, the more effortless they will become. My thinking will go from flabby to toned and my health, too, will improve.

I just have to stay committed and disciplined and not give up on it like I did with karate.