Nagato Sensei and a Philosophical Moment

Nagato Sensei Teaching at the Hombu in Noda, Japan


Shifting perspective can be difficult and the build up for change can take time but then you get a bolt of insight where it all becomes clear, at least for a moment, and then that epiphany fades, but if you keep going you continue to change until the new habit that you built becomes the new standard; the new perspective expanding, evolving. And so it goes...

My experience training in this mysterious, beautiful, yet perplexing art known as Budo Taijutsu continues to test many of my perceptions, habits and methods that I have grown accustom to in my life. My perspective, skill and patience continues to be shaped differently with every step. It's a lot like experiencing one of the great magicians like Harry Houdini, David Blaine or David Copperfield, you think you know what your seeing, but you really don't. Masters of illusion and deception. Skillful craftsmen and entertainers. Strategic marketers. Superb storytellers. Custodians of a long, deep and mysterious heritage. What you see, what you think you see. What is real, what is not. What is there and what is really there. They are all of this and more.

Am I the magician or the audience? Both? Neither? All good questions. 

(It must be the jet lag folks... I'll snap out of it!)

On the train back to the hotel after training with Nagato Sensei: Great class! 

There is a place for memorizing, learning and training techniques, and then there is being in the flow, feeling space & pressure, collecting the body, using three dimensions, having position, leverage and initiative.

This method of learning is foreign. This is even more clear to me experiencing this culture first hand for even such a brief moment. There are many things that make it difficult. It is ethereal. It requires patience and perseverance. But even more challenging, it requires faith and trust on many levels. This is what I believe I struggle with the most. Faith and trust are needed because the path is not always clear even when it is beneath your feet. There are doubts & insecurities that creep in. Just breath, relax and keep going.   

Today off to Tokyo and then to train with Hatsumi Sensei again tonight!

The journey continues.

Gambatte,
~Craig

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