FLOW

Flow. In the backyard dojo.

I spent a lot of time with people the past two days, so some down time was needed. A long nap. Sword work in the winter sunshine.

TWO BEERS

Two of my favorite beers on the shelf at the same time, both begging to go home with me. How could I say no?

Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale by Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon and Double Rainbow Red IPA by Iron Horse Brewery of Ellensburg, Washington.

THE WAY

I am slowly finding my path, figuring out my journey, along The Way. As much as I liked karate, I love iaido and qigong. Karate provided me fundamentals that I continue to practice, but I enjoy the movements of the yi jin jing series and sword work with my iaito and suburito in ways that I cannot quite properly put into words. I look forward to drawing and swinging and sheathing shita/舌 and ago/顎 each day.

Everything about working with them is prayer. Putting on my belt and gi and hakama is prayer: arming myself with the clothes of righteousness. Preparing to enter the backyard dojo is prayer: gratitude and respect. The meditation of forging a new body and new spirit in repetitive drills is prayer: thankfulness for the opportunity to push back against the void. Routine and ritual. Mystery and mysticism. Dancing before the Lord. Grounding myself in God.

CALM / MOVEMENT

This morning, I practiced qigong and iaido in the backyard dojo, enjoying some winter sunshine (pictured above).

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I’m not one to typically participate in New Year resolutions or goals, but this year I did both. I had been thinking about a word that would potentially define my next year, when one of my coworkers led an exercise at our weekly staff meeting to do just that. The two words that emerged, both as individual concepts, but also as a phrase when combined, were calm and movement.

For me, I had the martial arts of qigong and iaido in mind with these words, but I think they also apply to other areas of my life.

Calm is about control during chaos. Quiet. A relaxed state of readiness. I will find this word, this concept, to be a challenge, especially since I can often be quick to anger. I accept that I need to be a better listener, less reactive, and slower to strike out (unless the moment calls for such).

Movement is once again about control. I was thinking that although movement if often forward, it doesn’t always have to be. Backward movement, retreat, shuffling to the side, yielding, and avoiding potential harm are all helpful movements that are not necessarily about progress, but are about preservation.

Calm movement is about awareness and economy. I had the Japanese concept of sen in mind. Initiative, but always knowing when to move and when to react because one is in a state of relaxed readiness.

To achieve these words/concepts as goals, I’ve been following two teachers/sensei online. The first is Shi Heng Yi, the current headmaster of Shaolin Temple Europe, for Yi Jin Jing qigong. The second is Kaz Kobayashi, of Samurai Kaz Arts, for iaido. What I appreciate about both sensei is that each embodies calm movement for me. And each has taken what I am attempting to learn and broken it down into intuitive and intriguing “chunks” that make training enjoyable and something I look forward to each day.

So here’s to a year of calm, movement, and calm movement in the backyard dojo and in the wider world.

THE WAY of the WARRIOR

Tonight, for the first time since my back issues "reactivated," I put on my full iaido uniform for training—gi, hakama, kaku obi. I also worked with both swords on drills—shita / 舌, my iaito, on various draws, and ago / 顎, my suburito, on various exercises and movements.

I've also been working on using qigong techniques to push the nerve pain in my limbs back into my hara (dantian or belly, the root of my qi, my energy) or into my sword.

Slow and steady is the way of the warrior this evening.