What I'm up to...

Hi friends! Well, I still haven't finished documenting my Japan trip and it's been, what, over a year? I have all my notes, but just can't find the right words to properly put it all down in a digestible, reader-friendly format. Oh well, maybe someday soon I'll just throw it up on my blog and let you guys decipher it.

For the last couple weeks, I've had a couple women take interest in the class! This is big because women don't usually come in. I think this happens for a few reasons:

1. We are not a "workout" class - most of the women at Intel seem to only be interested in working out. Since there is a free karate class, a yoga class and other such venues which would serve that goal better, they go elsewhere.

2. We are all guys - believe it or not, I have found that most women are not comfortable training in a group made up of guys. Considering the nature of the class (i.e. combat training), I can see how this is intimidating.

3. Most of the guys are black belt ranked - even with a newer green belt and an "unbelted" gent in class most nights, the rest are all at shodan. This could intimidate a new person (male or female) into thinking they would be dragging down the training. They don't understand that we operate on a sempai/kohai (senior/junior) structure, where the senior ranks take care of the lesser ranks. So, actually, they would be training personally with someone who can help them.

All these factors are things which I am trying to overcome. Even with those inhibitors, I still have had two women come in. One also took her free class to try out the training and is committed to coming back this week. The other sat in and watched a class and is scheduled to come in this week for her free "test drive" of the training. From her attitude and emails to me, I think she will also commit to the group.

This is a huge plus to the dynamic of the training.

My guys need this. They need women in the class. They need the unique perspective and attributes they bring to the class. They need to be hit and thrown by women and not be too intimidated to hit or throw women. Real life presents dangers in all forms. A real attacker could very likely be a woman. I think it is dangerous to assume attackers are always men, always criminals and always untrained fighters. Real attackers could be any type of person, at any moment, with any skill level, and motivated by any number of reasons (even ones which lack any basis in reality!).

It is my hope that these two women will not only bring this lesson to the class, but to also provide the motivation for other women to also step onto the mat with us.

This week, we're going to look at a technique called Muso Dori, which is basically an extended armbar, or elbow lock. It ends with taking someone down to the ground on their front. The technique involves using the control of the arm and putting them on their front as a means to prevent them from drawing a sword. Thus, it has been loosely interpreted as "Warrior Pair Take", which means that both swords are controlled (samurai normally wore two swords) through the taking of one arm and pinning them on their front.

However, this technique can also be used in many ways, such as to lock the elbow upward, outward, downward, and using the body (or any object) to provide the leverage on the elbow. Many techniques use this concept and are called by different names. The term "dori" means to "break" or render useless, which can also be the intent of this technique on a basic level. However, it is important to understand that "breaking" and "rendering useless" do not always mean the same thing.

This leads me to the concept of "Life Giving Sword". A sword master was approached by his senior student, who took out his sword and stuck it in a stream. A leaf floating down the stream was cut in two by the blade as it went by. The student told his master, "see, master, how skilled I am with the sword!".

The master took out his own sword and stuck it into the stream. Another leaf came floating down and, once it reached the blade, gently turned and floated around it without being cut. The master turned to his student and said, "you see, to be a true master is to use your sword to give life, not take life."

Of course, this is a bad retelling of this story. But, it illustrates the concept of how it is not mastery to take a technique to it's violent conclusion, but to achieve the same goal (peace) without having to, or being dependent on, injuring or even killing your attacker. All techniques have a "zero point", a point where they are at your mercy, their power being nullified, their balance taken, their structure broken, and they haven't yet been thrown, hit, stabbed, or otherwise physically decimated. At that moment, you have a choice - life or death. You can take them or leave them.

If you decide to take them, you also have a choice. You can keep them at that "zero point", where they can't do anything but fall. You don't beat them - they give up. You don't throw them, they just fall. You don't hit them, they just run into your weapons. You don't destroy them, they implode themselves.

You don't actually "do" anything. That's being "zero".

Anyway, off to finish making dinner...