I started going to a Karate class weekly about three months ago. I’d never before taken any sort of martial arts or organized exercise class of any kind. I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew it wouldn’t be easy for me, and I know that it would be a lot of hard work.

I even kind of expected that I’d find out lots of interesting things about myself. I’ve been at it for a while now, and I find that I like it more than I thought I would. I particularly appreciate the kata forms that I’ve learned. There is a great deal of pleasure in executing defined sets of movements repetitively. I find it to be a very enjoyable type of moving meditation.

But the more important things are the things that even if I thought about, I couldn’t truly know what they’d be like. For example, I can push myself further than I thought. I’m feeling exceptionally pleased with myself because last night I managed to get through the whole class without any extra breaks or rest periods, something I haven’t done before.

I’m now losing weight at a fair pace, although I gained over 20 pounds in the first couple months. I feel more confident of my actions and physical movement than I ever have. I am looking forward to working a second night a week into my schedule. After karate I’m almost always sore and exhausted. But it’s a good feeling, very similar to the glowy warm feeling I get after sex or kink.

I am of course also learning how to defend myself. At almost six foot and over 250 pounds, I’ve never needed to defend myself, but some day perhaps I will.

One of the things that I sort of expected, but that interests me a lot, is that for the first time in my life I’m beginning to really enjoy physical work. Last night, by the end of the class, I was a bit sore, but my body was warm and limber.

I hit that spot where my body moved past my limitations and into a mode of simple performance and activity. Everything started to feel smooth. Almost effortless. I know what that spot is, but I’ve never experienced it before, at least not to my recollection. I enjoyed it. For the first time, I kinda thought we should keep going for another ten or fifteen minutes.

I’m of course paying for it today. The muscles and joints that I pushed past my limits hurt a bit fierce. I took a warm bath last night, and I’ve been stretching and exercising the sore bits carefully all day to try and work out the kinks. I think most of the soreness will be gone tomorrow, but I’ll remember the feeling I had at the end of class last night. I’ll remember that I can do far more than I thought I could.