Taught a lesson in class one day. A Yudansha got confused and couldn’t follow it. Had a discussion after. He finally figured it out with the admission of “If I had only paid attention to the lesson to begin with”. For him, that was a valuable lesson in and of itself, more important than the actual material being looked at. So, what happened?
Most if not all of the older, more senior and advanced Sensei have had this experience in their own careers in Bushido; e.g., that of “seeing” too much in the lesson and the topic at hand.
We spend years, decades, learning the work and internalizing the fundamentals, base kata and learning sets, doing intermediate work, advanced work, and then doing the keiko (deep, advanced and highly focused training) of all the variations along with the hiden (secret) ideas of that which is transmitted only verbally (aka direct transmission). Taken as a whole, that study comprises a very large corpus or body of information to digest and put in its proper place in our conscious and subconscious minds as it is fully internalized, reactions set in place, and the neural pathways built.
The issue arises in that instead of focusing on that one moment and specifically on that lesson being taught, the mind sees the beginning of the lesson and leaps far ahead into variations such as “I could do this” or “I can do this, this, and this instead” or “If I tried that and he reacted then I could do this and this”.
All those variants are coming out of the body of the information already known and well-understood. Those variants overwhelm and block the receipt of the new information and may even cloud the clarification of any older already known information that is being taught for that lesson albeit from perhaps a different viewpoint.
This blockage (or “constipation” if you like) of the mind occurs as all the variations upon branching decision points to more variations leap to the forefront and hinder paying attention to the specifics and focus of the lesson at hand, making it difficult to understand its meaning and value. It is only semi-problematic when occurring in the context of normal class and instruction. It becomes very problematic however when it occurs in self-defense situations.
What to do. What to do.
It’s called having an empty teacup, or possessing a mind that is not clouded with prior perceptions or beliefs but instead, is open to new learning scenarios like it was a blank slate. Taking each lesson individually and understanding its place in the corpus does matter
How to have and hold an empty tea cup.
Accept that the ryu already has most of the variations set in place via advanced kata. Keeping it simple helps as some variations are unproven and not clearly differentiated, other than in the existing kata system. Learn some internal discipline about focusing on the topic; it is after all not randori. Then watch the lesson. Understand the information and viewpoints being shown and discussed for that specific situation. Do the work, e.g., the repetitions required to understand the lesson. Focus on one idea at a time and stop trying to “multichannel process”. Again, keep it simple. Then and only then look at alternate views after having looked at the pure lesson first and understanding it and only then look at alternate views individually and not as a clump of amorphous shifting ideas.
Constipation can be cleared but first one must know and understand that one “is” constipated and then build the discipline to stop it. I think that this is called the “mind” part of developing “Mind, Body, Spirit”.
L.F. Wilkinson Kancho
The Aikibudokan
Houston, TX
April 14, 2023