Judo

Judo

 

A physically unpromising Jeanne Lieberman by chance landed while a martial art class was in progress. Not able to contain her inquisitiveness she asked the instructor details of the course. With each question the instructor's patience was ebbing away. The instructor came straight to the point wanting to know whether her child or her grand child was intending to learn martial arts. Her height, weight, physique and her age well advanced into the 60's prompted this unbridled question from the instructor. She chipped politely saying that she was interested in learning and she finally convinced the instructor. At 63 years she was aging gracefully, she joined judo classes where her batch mates were young and astonished at this new turn of events. Her interest, efforts and her progress soon silenced not only her instructor but also her batch mate's doubts. What an inspiration it must have been for young learners who thought if it was possible for a person when she is 60 plus to learn it must be possible for them too.

 

In about 5 years time she obtained her much deserved black belt with no dilutions in the standard of screening her for the eligibility. What a laurel to rest and boast of but she soon pursued her next journey by refreshing her aikido skills in Japan under Master Tadashi Abe to be awarded a black belt in 4 years time. Learning continues for ever in life so she enrolled for Kung fu lessons at the age of 72. At the age of 80 she donned a black belt in Kung Fu. She received it from Master Hoangnam at the famed Shaolin temple in China. Don't for a moment think she had power packed diet to back her feat. Her glorious diet revolved normally around

carrot(s) for breakfast, egg(s) during lunch and potato(es) and goodness enriched honey for supper in small portion. She reached heights in martial arts which were inversely proportional to her physique. One such achievement was she could pin down to the ground in a few seconds a 6 foot athletic black belt weighing 200 kilos macho man and she repeated it effortlessly more than half a dozen times.

 

With this level of prowess in unleashing the hidden potential she was generally silent, tolerant, understanding and loving. She blended yoga with the three forms of martial arts and started her own martial arts school where some of her students were 60+ and they also had success stories. She was right when in one interview she said there is no such thing as old age and when such words come from a 92 year old lady there should be a lot of sense in those words. The humorous part is when a man proposed to her for marriage in her advanced age she is known to have said marriage is a long term proposal let me think and get back to you.

 

"The good Lord gave you a body that can stand almost anything. It's your mind you

have to convince".- Vincent Lombardi