“For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.”
–Amanda Gorman
Friends and warriors,
Today is Super Bowl Sunday, 2021 and I am amazed by the poignancy of this quote from national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman, especially for today. Ms. Gorman is reading poetry at the Super Bowl! What? This is like having jocks attend the Shakespeare Festival in radical Berkeley, California with Tom Brady playing the part of Theseus. Bad analogy perhaps, but can we just take a moment to honor how powerful this act is? In my humble opinion, this is what is meant by, “For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.” History brought us to this moment when the 2021 Super Bowl can become a venue for powerful women like Ms. Gorman and Sarah Thomas. Ms. Thomas will become the first female referee to officiate at the Super Bowl. In fact, today, February 7, 2021 there will be more women on the field at an NFL game then ever in history.
Why am I, founder of Jungshin Fitness, the modern-day FITSWORD, martial art fitness, sword athlete experience, writing about the Super Bowl? Many of you know that I am a vocal anti-concussion advocate. My background in physiology means I can visualize every blood cell bursting in the brain upon tackle after tackle. In fact, in my martial arts training, before launching Jungshin Fitness into the global community for all people, all earth warriors, I suffered three major concussions through training. Each time, I allowed myself to be distracted for a split second, and this landed me on the ground, blacked out. But I was fit, I had a strong martial art body and I was able to recover quickly. I learned early on that fitness is not how hard you train but how quickly you can recover from how hard you train. Based on my knowledge of concussions, I have been concerned about the impact of football on young brains.
Today, perhaps for the first time, I am excited to watch the Super Bowl. Not only because of the many women who will be participating in the event, but because I know how much we all need this. I see these athletes out there on the field as Modern day warriors who are giving their all for the sport, and also for humanity. We are a global human community that is up against a virus we have little control over, and one that loves to mutate and show off its different strains. At other moments in history we have battled this type of foe together, not divided as we are now. I see these athletes as bringing us, the 21st Century warriors together. So, I will be showing up, and cheering, even if I barely understand the rules of the game (Run, run, tackle, hit, hit, throw, catch. Commercial. Repeat.)
Before I throw my body onto the couch, however, I will be SWORD FITTING it and hope you will all join me for our online sword class on our website where we offer a variety of online martial art classes. If you have never tried MODERN DAY SWORDSMANSHIP, now is always a great time to start!
At Jungshin Fitness we believe everyone has a warrior within and we honor our sacred ancestors. To be a SWORD ATHLETE is to stand your ground in the right action for all peoples of planet earth.
Love, Annika Kahn
P.S. Can we please keep our Super Bowl parties virtual? We must stand united against COVID.
