Sue Cowing calls it a “burning wing.”
It’s a sharp pain that would flare up under her left shoulder blade whenever Cowing, an award-winning poet and writer, sat for too long at her computer or while writing in her notebook.
Cowing first experienced the pain when she retired from La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls in 1989 and turned to writing full time. She figured she had to strengthen her upper-body muscles. She tried lifting weights at the gym. She tried swimming, too.
Nothing worked.
Then about 13 years ago, Cowing signed up for classes in taiko — Japanese drumming — at the Taiko Center of the Pacific, led by world-renowned taiko master Kenny Endo.
“I had watched taiko deliciously for a long time,” said Cowing, who lives in Niu Valley with her husband. “I loved the choreography and the excitement of it.”
She had read a newspaper story about taiko and part of it stuck with her: It was never too late to start drumming.
“I thought, ‘Man, I’m doing it,’” she said.
Today, at 75, Cowing is a devoted drummer who regularly pounds on a Japanese chu-daiko drum with her bachi sticks. And the pain in her shoulder blade? Gone.
“In the years since I’ve been taking taiko,” she said, “I’ve never felt that burning wing again.”
Taiko wasn’t designed to be a workout, though many who have enrolled in Endo’s classes have reaped fitness benefits, from the upper-body workout you get from repeatedly striking a drum to core-muscle strength from trying to remain upright and centered while drumming. It’s not uncommon to see students drenched in sweat after one of Endo’s hourlong classes.
“People tend to think that it’s upper body because the arms are making big motions and pounding the drums, but the stance centers on the core and the lower body,” said the drummer’s wife, Chizuko Endo, who established the school in 1994 with her husband. “Our primary lines are based on good posture, which begins from the head and goes down to the toes and what we try to maintain even in movement.”
|
SUE COWING
» Age: 75
» Residence: Niu Valley
» Occupation: Poet and writer
» Fitness regimen: Taiko classes twice a week, walking and swimming, low-impact aerobic classes twice a week.
» Proudest fitness moment: "When I hit the 12-mile mark in running. I never thought I could ever do it."
» Favorite indulgence: "Dark chocolate-covered brandied cherries from Whole Foods. I eat a small bag a couple of times a week. It’s wholesome."
» Healthy foods: "We eat brown rice and no-fat Greek yogurt. And I’ve always loved fruits. I’ll eat almost any fruit — except for jack fruit and durian."
» Fitness advice: "If you want to be more active, then do something fun and beautiful."
|
You’re working small and large muscles, including shoulders, triceps, glutes, feet, wrists and hands, Endo said. The range of motion requires flexibility and the duration of sets demand stamina. In an hour, you can burn up to 300 calories.
But there are benefits to taiko that go beyond exercise, especially with kumi-daiko, or ensemble-style, drumming, she said.
“It’s fun, it’s social, it’s individual, and it’s working as a team,” Endo said. “It requires focus. It’s spiritual, it’s creative, it’s a performance art.”
Cowing, an Illinois native, moved to Hawaii in 1961 to study Asian history and Chinese language at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She’s written several books, including the children’s book “You Will Call Me Drog” (Carolrhoda Books, 2011).
The mental focus that comes with drumming has been very helpful to Cowing, who said she’s often scattered and impatient. (She does tai chi to help with this, too.)
And hitting an inanimate object can be quite a stress reliever. Cowing has a makeshift drum in her living room, made out of a red laundry basket and a lot of plastic tape that simulates the drum skin.
“Oh, there are times when I think, ‘OK, it’s time to practice now,’” said Cowing, who drums at home several times a week.
Cowing believes that sticking to a regular workout has a lot to do with loving the activity. About 30 years ago, she decided to train for her first marathon — and overdid it. At one point she was running 12 miles every 36 hours.
“It was absurd,” she said, laughing.
As a result, she suffered a stress fracture and couldn’t run the marathon that year. She traded her running shoes for bachi sticks and never looked back.
“It’s really the best aerobic workout I get,” she said. “Why go to the gym when I could actually be learning something at the same time and taking part in something exciting and beautiful?”
For information on Taiko Center of the Pacific, email taikoclasses@gmail.com, call 737-7236 or visit www.taikoarts.com. Good Fit spotlights inspiring fitness stories of change, self-discovery and challenge, and other fitness-related topics. Tell us what motivates you and how you stay fit and healthy. Email features@staradvertiser.com.
