Despite a few cold days and windy here in Toowoomba, we have been very fortunate to be basking in the lovely weather of late winter here in the Hill. The plum and cherry blossoms are out in force already, and the daylight noticeable extending as we head towards the equinox.

We are often drawn to mark the start of spring as a way to focus on new beginnings and the potential of the season ahead. In a time of COVID and continuing lockdowns south of the border, I suppose that we should also reflect on our good fortune here on the Hill, that our usual rhythms have been broadly uninterrupted, and we can very much take advantage of what the season offers.

On a personal level, I am now only a month and a half out from finishing my four-year journey into Physiotherapy as a profession, so the turning of the season underlines the uncertainty-opportunity nexus that I’m facing as I venture into a new vocational identity. Not quite panic inducing (yet), but certainly that tingle of awareness that things will soon change.

Whether it is seasonal, personal, or professional identities that are in flux, the temptation is to become stuck on the loss of what is passing or fixated on the process occurring. All of us tend to be bad at cultivating the stillness and calm necessary to express heijoshin — a cool presence of mind while the world rages outside. It is difficult to detach the desire to ascribe meaning and value to change rather than just sit inside that change. In many respects, our training in the martial arts is an active project to develop heijoshin, with the aim of being able to apply it to our daily lives.

None of this is easy, of course. And the temptation is to retreat inwards rather than reach out. However, I can say from clear personal experience that reaching out, making connection, engaging wholly in the activities that sustain us is far more likely to have us building those reservoirs of resilience as we face the inevitable challenges ahead.

I am always grateful of the community we have here as a Club, its active members, diaspora, and external friends and supporters. It is what keeps me turning up each session to teach and participate. The past 18 month have been particularly tough on everyone, and I hope that in some way the collective project that is BBRD has helped to provide some comfort as we have navigated the roller coaster we have been on.

Be well, everyone! I will, as always, very much look forward to seeing you and training alongside you over the coming weeks as we straddle this liminal time at the end of the University semester.

Gambareba dekiru to omoimasu! (I think it can be done if we do our best!)