Maybe Sisyphus Had It Right
I had the honor of writing the USRK Technique of the Week for May 3rd, 2026. Here is the message sent out to the mailing list:
Onegai shimasu, Hanshi, Sensei, and all Deshi –
Students of Karate often get discouraged by the doldrums of repetition. They get frustrated that things seem to never change, and they feel like they are plateauing in their training. But the repetition – mindful repetition – is exactly how we break through those doldrums.
People talk about Sisyphean tasks like they are a bad thing: repetitive and therefore hopeless. But perhaps the lesson of Sisyphus is not that the daily grind is a form of torture, but it is instead the essence of life. Perhaps we only need to shift our attitude and attention to transform monotony into opportunity.
“You can do it like it’s a great weight on you, or you can do it like it’s part of the dance.”
Ram Dass
Sensei Hatle likes to remind testing candidates that nervousness and excitement feel the same in your body. But when you choose to read those butterflies in your stomach not as nerves, but as excitement, it shines through in your spirit on the deck.
Likewise, the repetitions we perform in Karate do not need to feel like monotony. When we are doing 20 down-blocks across the deck and back again, we could space out and “get through it.” Or instead, we can decide to notice where our blocking fist is, we can decide to notice if our hips are square, we can decide to notice if we are on the tight-rope. This noticing – these mindful repetitions – are where we can engage with the training more deeply, and truly improve our Karate.
Try it this week on the deck. In your next class, much like Kyoshi Reymond’s “Keep Training” articles each week, pick one thing to focus on. If you tune your mind to, say, making sure your wrist is straight in everything you do, I guarantee you won’t realize you’re doing your 1,540th rep of Fukyugata Ni. You’ll be too focused on sensing if your wrist is still straight after that block, or if your fist is in the pocket while you execute the kick, or if your fingers are tight in the shuto strike. One thing, each class, with intention.
Before you know it, you’ll have pushed the stone a little farther up the hill. You may even sense that you’re getting close to the top. And then you will surely realize that it was just a ridge, and there is more hill to climb as you turn your attention to the next ridge.
Go ahead and roll the stone up the hill again, with clear intent and mindfulness. It can only make you stronger: in body, mind, and spirit.
Domo arigato gozaimasu,
Sempai David Huyck, Ni Dan
Shihan, Ueshiro Carleton Karate Dojo
