Isshinryu means
everything to me, then again everything I have studied means everything to me
too. Now at the time of my life I am forced to think about everything more
becomes clearer in my mind.
When I think of
Isshinryu I see it as a combination of Body, Mind and Spirit. Of course the
same might be said about any art. But it means most to me as Isshinryu.
The
Body
We all begin
here, We build our art capabilities into our body. Years of work doing so at
our beginning. We never get past it, for after we build our skills we continue
to refine them, and then train to maintain those abilities we developed. The
one constant is Age affects us all in time, Each of us differently, but changes
occur none the less.
Some of those changes
are our individual reaction to disease, some are affected by our previous life
styles. Some due to other factors, but everyone is affected in their own way.
I believe the
kobudo kata of Isshinryu serve as a force enhancer after decades of study to
fight against the onset of age effects. Not stopping them but using the skills
developed over time to build skills to suprement the other skills, and delaying
age’s onslaught.
Face it, there
is infinitesimal likelihood those weapons will ever be used as originally
designed. But serving as long term study force enhancers is another ability.
The
Mind
A more subtle
part of your studies. Without the correct development of the body you do not
have something to work with. But there is so much more involved.
At first the
Mind takes whatever is shared by your instructor and uses it. All start there.
Then there are
different paths, different paradigms, of what Isshinryu is. Time gives more
chance to accumulate experiences on how your knowledge of Isshinryu can be
used.
There is not one
answer. Even seemingly divergent answers can yield success. But the knowledge
must be developed.
Moving from your
instructor, to accepting your own responsibility to grow your art to greater
levels of understanding.
The Spirt
The last part of
the triumvirate of Isshinryu is the Spirit.
This cannot be
taught. Your instructor(s) can only create an environment for you to grow it
yourself. Over time your belief in your body and your knowledge about Isshinryu
must grow stronger. The Spirit or Belief in Yourself is the key to make the
other pieces work.
Without self
belief, no matter what time you have put into your body development, no matter
how deep your knowledge of what you can do,
the other pieces are not enough.
You need your
Spirit to drive your art. To make it truly yours.
And when the
Body, the Mind and the Spirit work together, you have really achieved what your
art can do.
2 comments:
And now:
The Body is mostly gone, only close body movement is possible with some power. I can walk, but the effects of my disabilities have left very little.
The Mind remains, But after having the chance to learn hundreds of forms, as time passes many of those lessons are lost. The deep study of application potential with the passage of inactivity has also taken its toll. But the understanding reached how to insert any technique into any attack remains strong. I continue to study further. And I spend more and more time seeking lessons from what I have seen.
The Spirit facing less and less potential remains strong with how to sell what I have left. If anything it is stronger than it has ever been.
All three remain in union. For only in union does everything remain possible. That will remain no matter what I become.
On the spirit of karate, not something mystical but quite observable.
One day while running my adult program in class a different application potential for a kata movement came to me. I was quite involved at greater understanding kata application potential at that time.
So I took the group and demonstrated how I could end the attack using my new application potential. It was from a kata all of them had spent at least 15 years on, no question they knew the kata. But this application for one movement was new for them.
So I demonstrated how to use it at least 10 times, even in slow motion step by step, how I wanted them to learn to use it.
Then I asked each of them to try it, show me how they understood what I was doing.
In every case when the attack came forward they did something else.
So I asked them to try again with far slower attacks as in basic practice.
And once again each of them did something else, even against a slow motion attack.
Now if the issue was what they did would stop the attacker, all of them did that. However that was not the mission, it was to try and use this new application potential which I saw. And none of them could do it.
Later that night I put together what occurred.
When faced with the pressure of the attack, the incoming fist, they did not trust the new application and every time did something they were more comfortable with.
On the other hand I trusted the application which I just thought of, and when attempting to use it the first time, because I trusted it, the technique woked, first time and every time.
Everyone knew the kata, but they did not ‘trust’ that application, to do what they were shown. It was the same thing when they faced a very slow attack. The perceived pressure from even that attack caused them to shift into what they trusted.
On the other hand while I knew the kata, and understood what was possible, when I faced that first attack, I had belief in what I saw and was able to do it.
IMO that is the spiritual side of karate.
At one level I was satisfied that all of them could successfully conclude the attack they faced.
But to me as there are infinite application probable for each movement, I want to go beyond just having an answer. To keep pushing the personal boundary of what we know, to keep moving forward into the infinite.
To continue to polish the spirit, to reach toward the point any attack can be concluded with any technique (series) you respond to.
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