"It is essential to make your natural bearing the bearing you use in martial arts, and the bearing you use in martial arts your natural bearing."
- Kenji Tomiki
I've been doing better at this lately. A couple of examples: Our dojo's "theme of the month" for February was "posture". Some ideas from that have really stuck with me, particularly imagining a line to a balloon pulling up from the top of my head coupled with a line from my center drawing me down like the keel of a boat. I've begun using this idea as I walk anywhere, and I find it helps me feel more alert...more prepared...and like I have a more confident bearing (which may in turn reduce my chances of becoming a target). I've also noticed motions from tegatana no kata bleeding over into my day-to-day habits. For example, we have a narrow hallway at work, and now when I pass someone in it, I find I unconsciously do the "goblet step" (the 3rd motion) in tegatana, just as my coworker breaks ma-ai.
No comments:
Post a Comment