Since freshman year of college, Dr. Bunyak has enjoyed training in a variety of martial arts. Her first love is Shotokan karate, a traditional Japanese “hard style” karate featuring punches, blocks, and kicks. She received her sho-dan (black belt) in Shotokan after rigorous daily training during her four years of college. (Rigorous. Daily. Seriously! 🙂 Since then, she’s traveled to Japan for 7 weeks to study iado (the art of drawing a sword), naginata-do (featuring a pole with blade weapon), and Seido karate (which she studied in Chicago under two amazing female teachers, pictured). Recently, Dr. Bunyak dislocated her pinky finger during a trial class of Shito-ryu. The point is, Dr. Bunyak loves training in the martial arts–it keeps her exercising, learning, and pursuing teacher-apprentice arts handed down through generations. As the new year approaches, what’s your “karate?” What keeps you active, learning, and bridging the past to the future?
