"Sandan Shuffle"

Another musician that finds martial arts benefitial.

Story:
Saxophonist Virginia Mayhew has two passions that keep her kicking and swinging, onstage and off: jazz and karate.

In fact, she wrote the title tune of her newly released CD, "Sandan Shuffle," while testing for her third-degree black belt -- known as the "sandan" ranking.

Mayhew began learning seido karate soon after moving to New York and views the practice as a good counterbalance to her music.

"I've gone through obsessive phases," she says. She studied "three times a week, when I was really rocking. I feel really great when I do that."

Shortly after achieving the sandan certification last spring, Mayhew was found to have breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy, then months of chemotherapy and radiation. "The surgery was nothing, compared to the chemo and radiation," she says. "It was a drag, and it was expensive, but I was on the road playing, 10 days afterward."

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