ON the MAT

Someone joined me on the mat this morning. Is this helping or hindering exercise?

THERABAND FLEXBAR

Training game changer: Theraband FlexBar. It's proven to rehabilitate tennis/golfer's elbow. (Or sword elbow!) I've already experienced relief.

I can feel where it is countering the affected muscles and tendons. I also used it to isolate the nerve pain that accompanies the sword elbow and follow it back to the point of origin in my bulging disc.

ALBUM of the YEAR

ALBUM of the YEAR • 2022

It's a tie for album of the year. These two albums were each introspective and raw and pushed the band into new places.



Radiate Like This by Warpaint. This album is "quieter" than previous albums. It is feminine and beautiful and playful and intimate and vulnerable.



Lucifer on the Sofa by Spoon. Indie rock, blues, stomp rock, alt-country. This may be their best album yet. And I've listened to the title track more than any other single in 2022.

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THREE MORE CONTENDERS



Cheat Codes by Black Thought and Danger Mouse. There is so much goodness here. My only complaint is that I wish some of these tracks were longer than "radio play."



The Tipping Point by Tears for Fears. An album that wears its heart on its sleeve. Personal trauma and grief are universalized. A classic band updated for a new decade.

Stumpwork by Dry Cleaning. (I didn't include a photo of the album art because I find it disturbing.) This sophomore album includes more singing by Florence to accompany her spoken word delivery. And the other band members are loose and wild and playing their best music so far.

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A FEW OTHERS

Metal album of the year. Children of the Great Extinction by Becoming the Archetype. Returning after a ten-year absence, BTA returns to form with this sci-fi death metal concept album.

Electronic album of the year. The Third Chimpanzee by Martin Gore. Yes, it's actually from 2021, but who's counting? Primal scream instrumentals from the primary songwriter of Depeche Mode. I'm sure it's mostly digital, but it feels/sounds analog at times.

Wish I had discovered it earlier (and need to hear it some more). Unison Life by Brutus. Post-hardcore shoegaze that knocks me on my ass! More please.

It was fun for a bit. Wet Leg by Wet Leg. The singles are catchy, but ultimately it felt a bit too gimmicky, too good to be true. But I still really dig "Supermarket."

SAGEO

Sageo is the (umbilical) cord that connects one to sheath and sword. Binds one to the Void. Tethers the world of the temporal to the timeless, the world of order to the primordial chaos, allowing the creative act to be birthed into being.

SWORD DRILLS

Sword drills and draws in full uniform. Uwagi, upper uniform. Tattsuke hakama, trousers with kyahan himo (legging straps). Kaku obi, iaido belt. Jika-tabi, divided toe boots.



Nukitsuke, drawing cut.



Kirioroshi, downward cut.



Kissaki (sword point) tsuki, thrust.



Nōtō, resheathing.

TABI

Jika-tabi!

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.