With a love for Japanese culture, Rivonia Kendo Club’s (RKC) Deminique Viljoen-Doyle continues to break barriers.
The Douglasdale yoga teacher faced her fears by joining the club and finding a new appreciation for not only herself but the community around her. Today, Viljoen-Doyle has trained in both kendo and iaido art forms.
“As an epileptic, there are various seizure triggers that I have, one of the main triggers being getting a fright. So for me, it [martial arts] actually helped me overcome that as a trigger. It was a massively empowering journey for me because it helped me to find my inner voice and really just stand my ground.”
Viljoen-Doyle graded in kendo for two years, as far as she was able to go before she was advised by various senseis to transition to iaido. “The next grading [in kendo] would require me to wear headgear with a possibility of getting hit on the head so that was not really ideal for me. I then carried on my martial arts journey with iaido, which is kind of like the sister form of kendo,” she said.
Iaido did feel like a level up for Viljoen-Doyle as it consistently challenged and motivated her to perform better each time. “This is something that I absolutely love about the iaido practice, it is similar to yoga in the way that you will never really know everything and you will never feel bored with it.”
Over the last two years in iaido, Viljoen-Doyle has learnt to be less critical and more patient with herself. She credits the dojo’s community-driven environment and structure in helping her quiet that inner voice inside her head. “One of the things that they always say in martial arts is that the only real opponent in this whole battleground of life is yourself.”
After an overall four years in martial arts, Viljoen-Doyle would like to encourage more people to look into joining the club as it has so much more to offer than meets the eye. “Don’t feel intimidated by what it looks or sounds like – the hardest part of any Japanese art form such as kendo, iaido or jodo is actually just getting to the dojo.
“It is not easy to say to someone ‘just start’ because I know that it can look really intimidating, but with the support structure that you will have at RKC, the hardest part is really not being so hard on yourself and ultimately getting yourself to the dojo.”
Details: Rivonia Kendo Club 082 389 9098.
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