In Bacau it didn’t snow… it didn’t even rain… I remembered that in an interview Bacovia had said that gray is a frequent color in Bacau. On Sunday I understood his words much better. It was cold. A penetrating cold that touched my bones. But nothing dampened my joy at seeing this beautiful city again. And above all the people I met there.
I returned with much affection to a new Ninjutsu seminar organized by Shiroi Okami Dojo from Bacau. This time I worked on sword techniques (Togakure Ryu Biken Jutsu), and we also enjoyed an intensive introduction to Shinden fudo ryu.
If I think about it, training represents a descent into hell, into your own hell, in that place where you face your fears, in that place where you calm down, dominate your demons. Or rather, you learn to talk to your demons, to know them, to know how to deal with them in your daily life.
If you like, these seminars of great intensity (physical, mental, emotional, even intellectual) are a kind of ceremonies during which the evil (in you, in the adversary) is crushed and you feel that you have stayed afloat, that you are better even if this was not the original goal. The world around has hardened even if it doesn’t even want to admit it, duplicity has crept into people’s kind smiles and facial expressions… But with all this, or rather despite this, you learned during training that suffering arises from love and is treated with love, with compassion. And it looks like this, unconsciously, learn the lesson of courage. For me this was the purpose of the seminar. “Courage is not the absence of fear,” Sensei often tells us during training. Only today I understood better what they are trying to convey to us. And I understood something else from his speech Sensei Cristian Laiber from today. Courage doesn’t always roar, it doesn’t always come with glory. Sometimes courage is that little voice you hear at the end of the day telling you to try again tomorrow. Courage also means making your voice heard, but it also means knowing when it’s time to sit down and listen (possibly after you’ve immobilized the attacker 🙂 ). Sometimes we can feel like all we want is to disappear, when in reality we want to be discovered, found… It takes courage to admit these things.
You’re probably wondering how you can become aware of these things in a martial arts seminar. First of all, this is not just any type of martial art. What we learn Raiden Dojothey are traditional martial arts, as handed down in Japan, since the times when training was not only physical and was not carried out in free time, by girls.
If your training partner you work with makes the right attack, then you can’t help but feel a little fear… These are usually the moments when my spirit clings to the ceiling like a scared cat, looks at my body and screams at the top of my lungs: «malta, stupid!🙂 Well, if at that moment you can reach out, capture the spirit, detach it from the ceiling, put it back in its place and calm it down, it’s called a big step forward: you can dominate your Fear. The act of admitting your weaknesses makes you vulnerable. The good part is this Vulnerability is truth and courage. Although Truth and Courage are not always comfortable, these two concepts It never means weakness. It really is that simple, yet so complicated.
How to calm the spirit? How do you achieve clarity? From breathing. I don’t excel in this aspect, it rarely happens to me. But on the few occasions when I was able to synchronize my breathing with my movements, I realized that each movement had a corresponding sensation. This is how I realize whether I’m doing something right or not, and where I still have work to do. Still trying to make friends with my way of breathing, I realized that the movements correspond not only to sensations, but also to colors. Most of the time, during training, the sensations are very blue and… sometimes green. Sometimes even the sensation you get when your training partner unleashes the attack is accompanied by a color. It’s definitely fascinating. If you can really control your emotions, are calm and breathe deeply… then all these physical sensations (colorful or not) are indicators that correct you so that you can move correctly (with minimal effort) or warnings that something dangerous is coming. Regardless, it is important to pay attention to them and take them into account, to learn how to decipher them. Hopefully I’ll figure out the «setting an intention» part too eventually… I really wanted to ask Sensei if Is intention an emotion or not?… I tend to think not… although you can hit someone with joycu malicecu nervousnesscu hatred… 🙂 When I have the answer I will tell you. 🙂
I was telling you that I’ve been working on techniques since Togakure Ryu Biken Jutsu. I’m terrible with names. And I still can’t place every technique in the «box» of the school it comes from. I know for a fact that Gyokko Ryu is a more gentle style, more for beginners (I’ve worked more on this). Koto Ryu it’s the one where you dismembered your opponent and it hurts like hell wherever he gets his hands on you. 🙂 My favorite is Shinden fudo ryu(and today I really liked this style) not necessarily because I’m refining my techniques (I didn’t even work much) but I did the basic exercises. And when I work from the bottom up, my techniques come out better (or so it seems to me). Furthermore, it is a spectacular style, it involves a lot of flow, a natural flow in the movements. It’s absolutely wonderful to see people who know their way around work. Plus, it has an absolutely delightful connection with nature. It’s kind of Koto Ryu (that is, in the end the opponent is dismembered), but much more artistic. That intense pain in Koto Ryu is missing. The opponent is destroyed almost without realizing what has happened to him.
It was a great seminar where I still understood some things, asked myself more questions, discovered some new things. I was very happy to see my colleagues from Bacău again! Congratulations to everyone who passed the graduation exam! I can’t wait to see everyone again at another seminar!
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