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Taming the mind and the body
NomaDBuddha
Scalpel wielder :) Bucharest Veteran
I realised now that I need help. I'm an aikido practicioner, a beginner in fact. I realised that, in order to execute the techniques I really need to tame myself.
Well, I need a really harsh method(that's the only way I can learn things...the hard way) to still my mind even for a minute.
Some friend of mine told me one word : ZEN.
Will you help me with this ?? Please ?!
Well, I need a really harsh method(that's the only way I can learn things...the hard way) to still my mind even for a minute.
Some friend of mine told me one word : ZEN.
Will you help me with this ?? Please ?!
0
Comments
"But what if I practice night and day?" asked the student.
"In that case, ten years." was the the teacher's reply.
One of the preliminary trainings was Zazen - training to focus the mind with concentration until we accomplished 'single-pointed concentration' (samadhi) It was required that we put in equal amounts of time in this training as our martial arts skills.
We began each training session with at least one-half hour of Zazen and, if we began 'wrestling' on the mat we were sent to sit in Zazen for 10-15 minutes at a time. O'Sensei often admonished us to "Let the technique do itself!" "NO wrestling!!"
It took a couple of years to finally figure this out. I came to a breakthrough when I understood that by using the feeling of staying in Zazen, by maintaining a kind of strongly structured (rectitude) pliably mobile (adaptive/non-attached) highly sensitive and focused state of body/mind I could accomplish what O'Sensei demanded.
Today I train in and teach Chinese Internal Arts (Tai Chi Chuan, Pa Kua Chang and Chi Kung). I've come to realize that short periods of sitting is good for settling the mind but that standing and stepping meditation (Zazen) is better for executing martial techniques.
There is a training called standing in WuChi; here is one of many online references http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni30a7.htm
Once one has accomplished some awareness and skill in standing training, I move them on to stepping. Aikido has it's own unique stepping skills.
The trick is to maintain the erect, pliable, strong, swift, mentally concentrated state of body mind as you train, on the mat.
You may accomplish this by slowly feeling your way to this state of being, first as you 'step' through and visualize executing the various techniques in solo practice and then in contact with a partner. I recommend moving very slowly and deliberately mindful of your state of being - am I tense? am I off balance? am I in a hurry? pay attention to the body a lot and then to the mind as you move.
Then find a partener who is willing to move slowly with you and apply the techniques. Feel the pressure of the opponent (their force). Feel it's direction and force and move to neutralize it or borrow it and find the best leverage angle then apply the technique - don't hurry, go slow!
I was once admonished "Slow is Fast!!!'" let this be your training mantra. In this way you'll soon discover how to "let the technique do itself."
If you want a good way to train to develop samadhi, I recommend contacting the nearest Shambhala center to you and completeing at least the third level of their Warrior Training course. I've found it an extremely effective approach, even compared to the years of Zazen training I've been allowed to engage in by my gracious Zen teachers and peers.
Three hours of zazen ?? Maaaan that's more like it...so, no more after-noon(after-school) nap, yeah, I'll try that.
But I choose harsh methods, because it's in my native, inherited mentality that things are learnt the hard way...
Mindfulness, yes, that's the word. The problem is that before aikido , I've studied karate, which was a little violent, and there it didn't matter how mindful you were. The only things that mattered were blocking the opponent's attacks fast, attacking the oppenent even faster, hitting him where he could not defend.
I find aikido indeed a style that raises many problems for my mind. At karate, I was able to understand the techniques because it was more about wrestling , but at aikido isomehow have to leave the "warrior" mentality behind, and i can't do that. It seems impossible.
About going slow, it's not in my character to slow myself down, and that's
another problem.
Unfortunatelly there is not one center in my country. Or I don't know of its existence. If there is even one in Bucharest, maybe I'll try to find it.
Will you join us?
Please consider this: 80% of what determines who wins in combat is how you move in space, not who is bigger or stronger.
Balance and swift adaptive movement is required to move skillfully in space.
Balance and swift adaptive movement come from correct physical structure, correct body mechanics, and high level sensitivity to circumstances. With practice we can habituate ourselves to always being in balance, swift, and sensitive
This is accomplished with concentration on details. When we're in a hurry and all stirred-up we can't attend to details. Just start where you are, sit or stand as still as you can for one long in and out breath and add another breath and another - one by one. You'll make it! You may also make a point of focus from a disc shaped piece of colored paper (like red paper about the size of a small dish) and just look at it for a couple of breaths at a time and add breaths - one at a time. When you lose focus, just bring your mind back to the red disc and take one more breath and another - repeat until well done!
Oh, that's cooking instruction - how to bake a real martial artist. not just a violent brute.
Mr. Miyagi says: First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.
Old Miyagi...miss him