May 12-13   -   Sakura no Kaze (Bill Brown, Shawn Gray, Craig Olsen)

Location: JIBC

Theme: “An annual Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu event featuring three Canadian shihan who have lived in Japan for many years.“

Time: 9-4:30

Cost: $175/both days, $100/one day.

Seminar info: tba

June 16-17   -   Rob Renner

Location: Mason Hall, 508 Agnes St. New Westminster

Theme: “Training regularly at Hombu, Rob strives to model his movement and methodology directly based on the structure and foundational movements of Soke Hatsumi Masaaki, as well as the top four ranking Japanese Shihan collectively known as the ‘Shitennou’. By infusing this information with modern research in various fields such as biomechanics, kinesiology, human information processing, and accelerated learning, Rob has developed a variety of drills and techniques that will incite us to comprehend and absorb the current concepts coming out of Japan in a fashion that is easily adaptable and fun!.”

Time: 9:30-4:30

Cost: $130/both days ($90/one day)

Seminar info: www.zeropointbujinkan.com

September 8-9   -   Shawn Grey, Sheila Haddad, Morten Østenstad

Location: Whytecliff Park (Horseshoe Bay)

Theme: “Featuring three 15th dan Bujinkan practitioners together for the first time collaborating on the west coast of Canada, this will be an experience you won’t want to miss!”

Time: 9:30-4:30

Cost: $180/both days ($120/one day)

Seminar info: http://www.namiyama.com/

At the Hakkei Dojo we train outside in part because we are privileged to live in a part of the world where the heat and the cold are tolerable enough to do so. We train outside in part because doing so means we do not need money to continue. We train as a non-profit so that every member of the dojo benefits.

My reasons for training in this art have nothing to do with money. I train because I desire to; I teach because I believe that everyone has the right to learn how to defend the self and those around the self. We are all always students on this path.

Someone recently told me that I would have to give up this ‘childish’ mindset if I hoped to progress on paper. Paper is not what concerns me, not in currency or other forms. All of us are different, our bodies and our minds are different, and we each must walk our own path. Knowledge is in the aether. The aether cares not for money.

For example: when working with training partners we must gauge their level of comfort with the movements. This includes their skill and ukemi level, their mood, how sleepy or distracted they are, and how comfortable they are being punched or grabbed or falling or having someone make physical contact.

This assessing immediately connects to ‘the way in’. Not only does this assessment affect training speed and power, it opens and closes gateways ‘in’ to uke – into the victory or ideal completion.

Often the moment of sizing up a training partner and knowing how far or fast or slow or soft to go is overlooked or done only superficially and then dismissed. And yet this type of assessment is an essential tool that exercises perception and deduction, two necessary survival skills. A certain level of awareness and empathy immediately engenders an ability to read situations – a skill indispensable to free-form existence, to the ability to move, act, think and feel in the manner attuned to a particular moment of the universe, coalescing.

As soon as you make contact with another body, energetically or physically, a series of perceptions begins. On the physical level, once your body is touching another body, there is information telling you where the resistance is and where the attention and intention is, whether obvious or subtle. What allows for movement from one entry or position into any of the kihon is an intricate understanding of all these pieces of perception. All one has to do is shift and read the response, then adapt to it.

All this is no different from assessing a training partner’s rank and mood. It’s also why so much of budo in experienced practitioners seems so ‘freeform’: precisely because it is. There is no specific form that must be taken, no clash of intention or movements or strikes, only the path that uke and tori are taking, open to change at any moment, full of possibility.

Respect yourself. If and when a training partner takes a technique too far (to the pain) or too fast (to the unsafe), speak up and let them know.  Learn to recognize what is safe for your body and skill level; while striving to achieve take care not to damage yourself for the sake of pride.

Respect your juniors. Do not pass up the opportunity to work with people who are newer on the path than you.  You will have to be gentle with them, slowing your movement to a speed they can understand. Their bodies will react differently, and in this you may find great joy for the opportunity to learn a new conundrum or set of possibilities. Training with a variety bodies and minds creates rich learning opportunities.

Sometimes it is frustrating to train with a very new student, or a student who to your perception knows less than you.  However, your juniors have much to teach you.  First and foremost is patience.  Second is empathy.  Third is compassion.  Along with these comes the particular gift of watching someone else learn and progress.  Do not shun knowledge in any form.  Do be mindful and wary of each opportunity provided for you to teach.

While it is true that teaching others teaches the self, it is also true that giving someone answers instead of letting them puzzle it out detracts from attainment of knowledge.  Answer questions when asked, but do not rush to correct. Constant correction is not productive.

Respect your elders. Every student will spend a different amount of time on different parts of the path.  For some the first hundred miles speed by quickly, for others it takes longer.  A student may be of kyu rank for an entire decade before reaching dan rank; this is not the marker of a bad student, it is merely just one way of proceeding.  Any student patient enough to wait that long and still continue to study budo is displaying profound dedication and strength of character.

When you travel to the dojo of others, resume the position and attitude of a student just beginning.  Treat each new learning environment, each new seminar or instructor you meet and train under, as an opportunity to begin again, to reopen to your heart and mind to the universe and what it has to offer.

Respect the journey. We are all students always, even if we are also teaching others. Those who do not continue to approach the arts as a student have stopped studying budo. They are like old men telling stories about what they achieved in their youth, with no strength left to re-enact the tales.

When altercations happen, there is always more than one person present.  Being able to perform budo taijutsu with an audience, especially in front of a critical audience, is important to the learning process. Some instructors purposefully create tense ‘grading’ situations to judge students’ reactions under pressure.  When we are most concerned with the observations others make of us, our natural taijutsu changes in the same way that our natural behaviour changes when we are concerned with making a distinct type of impression on other people.  Becoming familiar with these processes within ourselves is highly important.  Without understanding the faceted self, we cannot fully comprehend the martial self.  All things are connected.

Studying the self while under the scrutiny of others is a vital undertaking.   Whether in or out of the dojo, be a student for life. And remember that mistakes don’t lessen you, they lesson you.

Who is watching, or who knows more or less than you, does not matter.  Worrying about other people’s perceptions creates a disingenuous self that monitors the reflection of possible perception as a preoccupation that precludes self-knowledge and actualization.  When concerned with being perceived on the social level, the mind pays attention to guesses, to fear and ego.  Fear and ego, as much as they are natural and instinctive parts of the human animal, are distractions.  Acceptance by others is window dressing, is dessert, empty calories, the unnecessary but sweet part of existence.  You can survive off of acceptance, but it will rot your insides if that is all you take in.

In light of this, ask yourself: does it matter who is watching you learn?  Ultimately, the path is between you and the universe, and there is no shame in pursuing life and learning.  No matter the colour of your belt, learn every moment of every day, every thing you possibly can.

The obtainment of certain rank (shodan, shidoshi, and shihan) within the Bujinkan is a common goal for practitioners, even for the ones that are aware that rank ultimately means nothing.  Rank can symbolize a certain amount of time on and understanding of the path, and as such is a perfectly healthy goal.  However, a human being does not stop learning at a particular rank designation.  Learning continues.

Endings and beginnings look the same.  While it is good to have goals, goals do not just mark endings.   Achievement of a goal marks the end to one period of time and the beginning of a next.

So take a risk.  Try something new. Let go of self-conscious worry. Learn what other people know.  The race is only between you and yourself.  Be willing to look like a beginner.  Enjoy these beginnings and take joy in the journey.

Regardless of rank, attend seminars with the open mind and heart of a beginner.  Try to see what is being offered, and put aside what you already know.  In class, whether instructing or being instructed, be open to what is offered.  There will never come a time when there is nothing left to learn.

However, everyone learns differently. For some people, training notes are a very useful learning tool. Training notes can be a method by which to ‘jog the memory’ back to a time where a particular insight was gained or difficulty encountered. In the same way that we may retrace our steps to remember where we put our keys, training notes can retrace our learning path and illuminate new insights.

If you are someone who learns from the process of note-taking, then take notes. Collect on paper thoughts, insights, difficulties, questions, feelings and techniques. Revisit these at your leisure. Remember that you are not only the student but the teacher, and only you can decide which path to take in your study of budo. Do not rely upon techniques, but use techniques to find the essence of true budo. Densho exist for a reason.