Chuo Middle line & dantien

I am currently in Okinawa on short break with my wife and have a lot if time in the early morning and evening for Aunkai practice.

I am working on a hint that Murata-san at training mentioned to me about where does the chest point/Juji drop too?

I think I can roll my spine and get it into the correct spinal alignment and that has now made my stance and hands / arms much heavier.

The chuo or middle is the centerline and balance point of the body but is moveable and can shift to either side of the torso during exercise or when in free movement. It's a point of reference and to which my weight and balance returns. It is also the basis for all the Aunkai exercises and must be focused on and understood.

This centerline also connects to the dantien area and the connection needs to be correct. This is where I got to thinking about what Murata san said. The centerline runs through the central chest point and this point drops to connect to the middle dantien region. I have been dropping the chef point down the chuo into the dantien but on the outside of my body on the surface which created a okay connection much better than I had before. But in reality the chest point must drop internally through the inside of the body to a point internally about 10-15cm inside the body to hit the correct dantien or weight point in the lower middle section of the torso.
I have been practising this for a week or so and the connection feels much better and the back feels even more relaxed and expanded than before which is definitely correct. Now I am working on stacking every bit of weight that I have in my upper body on top of and more importantly through that point.

Training tonight

Sensei is about to leave for France tomorrow we had last lesson with him. He taught us so much tonight, he is a great teacher, a good man with a very good heart. Another teacher with not such a big heart would have left us all by now....

He taught a lot of principles tonight and I am still trying to order and understand what he taught. When I have practised them and understood them for myself and in my body I will try to talk about them in another post

Recently in my solo practice I understand much better what my posture requirements and spine position needs to be and I am much more relaxed and understand much better what I need to be working on.

This is all well and good but if I cannot keep those body principles, connections and posture requirements in live situations under pressure than basically it means I have nothing in a Bujutsu sense.

I have to learn to bridge the very difficult gap between solo practice and free sparring and learn somehow to keep the Bujutsu mind and body principles in place. This is very difficult without reverting back to my old body movement and fighting habits. If you think it's easier it's not.....

I think this is where the spirit is very important, we have to think very deeply about what the Bujutsu aunkai spirit is and how to develop it. You can sense it around Akuzawa sensei and it is our job to take a bit of it and develop it for ourselves. What does Bujutsu mean? What does it really mean and what type of individuals do we need to be and what type of mind, heart and spirit do we need to develop. These are very deep questions which I need to take very seriously...

His teaching style is mostly very relaxed and he is easy going, but if you look closer he is very serious and severe on himself and the disciplines he puts himself under in order to develop his art of Aunkai

A teacher like Akuzawa sensei comes around once in a couple of generations, we are very lucky and we have to grave some of his spirit now......

Juji - centre chest point

Akuzawa sensei talks a lot about the juji, the centre point of the chest. Why is this point important? I think it's important for the correct posture and it must relax and drop to connect and hookup to the lower spine and tailbone. If the chest stays up and does not relax then a person will never be able to connect their upper and lower body. Softening and dropping the juji point takes the gravity point lower into our body and helps us to understand in more detail the natural structure and inherent potential of our Bujutsu frame and body.

Competiton

I have done a lot of thinking about sparring and competition recently. Many people who train in budo or traditional martial arts are 100% against competition. The comments of there are no rules on a real fight are valid in a sense but are people who train in traditional martial arts really training for a real fight? I don't know maybe they are, but without going around seeking street based altercations I think it is difficult. Then there is the other end of the spectrum people who only train for competition and dismiss the traditional martial arts as archaic and useless.

I was originally from a aikido background many years ago and did not believe in competition in MA. However when I can to Aunkai Akuzawa Sensei soon pushed me to compete in a number of full contact kickboxing and sanda competitions. We did lots of sparring and the pressure and doubts start to build up and I started to find our who I really was. The sparring and competition showed me how I personally dealt with fear, ego doubt and pressure. It was not easy and I was not who I thought I was. I found though that the more I competed the slightly better I got at dealing with everything. So incrementally you get better and improve with experience. I now compete in Bjj tournaments and the pressure is the same even though there is no striking, I realised competition is as close to real fighting a human can get without getting in a real street fight and everybody feels nerves and some fear and how we cope with them and what we learn from having these feelings is most important.

I also believe that if we never learn about how we move , think and feel in a chaotic environment like a competition replicates, then we will never learn about bujutsu and it's principles. However if we believe competition is everything and that's all we need we are solely deluded. If we are only focused on winning and being the strongest then that is going to lead me nowhere. I want to win in competition of course but what am I willing to do to win.... In competition and sparring it's important to want to apply the correct body and mind principles and to move in the right way and fight in the right way and with the right spirit because in the end competition is just a testing ground for my Bujutsu.

Akuzawa sensei teaches the importance of flexibility and ambiguity in the mind which is of the upmost importance for bujutsu and AUNKAI training. I must be flexible and open to try many different things and training techniques to improve my Bujutsu including but not limited to competition.

In the end though it's not not about winning or losing or about fighting other people, that proves nothing to me or anybody else. It's all about what spirit. I can develop, how can I develop myself so I am a better person, the battle with in is what is important, nothing else matters....

Resetting the Operating System

I understand recently that we as humans grow up and develop a body consciousness a template or model which we become familiar with. I realised that for my beginning years in Aunkai training I was trying to overlay Aunkai principles and train movements on top of a mind body template that was wrong. So no matter what things I learned or tried to learn the underlying operating system was wrong so none of the applications worked. Now I have reset my operating system and continue to reset and refine it and now the applications are working better. This is easy to read about and conceptually understand but the body mind or body conscious or operating system is hidden under many layers of the mind and already feels natural and is difficult to access and to be aware of. This is I believe is a very important and difficult part of bujutsu.

Cambodia Training

I have been on my honeymoon in Cambodia for the past week. Have been training every morning on the beach one be sand. The soft sand and bare feet give a new dimension to the feeling and external and internal balance. I have spent the last couple of days on working on dropping the Juji point in the thorax down internally to connect and hook it up to the spine. This loads more and more weight into the legs and makes the top half of the body light.
Cambodia is a beautiful place and it great to train in front of the ocean with the sand under my feet and ocean breeze on my face.

Genri/Principles - Imashimeru

I trained at Aunkai tonight and realised that I have to be strict and stick to principles. In my training recently I have really begun to realise some key principles. However tonight when I did free practice my ego took over and I wanted to be aggressive and impress and I forgot my body principles. This is not practice and has no meaning.
This is why Akuzawa sensei spoke before about the importance of "imashimeru". Imashimeru means to tighten, control and discipline your mind, body and heart. When you you want to go crazy and use all your muscle you must control and use Bujutsu body movement principles only. Same with thinking, it must be always controlled and not let free to run wild.
Changes are only made though consistent daily implementation and action of an idea, nothing else works.

Who is the problem

If the same problem follows me everywhere I go then I have to accept that there is a high likelihood that I am that problem. I can moan, complain and feel sorry for myself, buts it my responsibility to fix the problem. It's alway my responsibility, this is the hard road of Bujutsu and applies to everything in my life if I am to truly stick to principles of bujutsu.
I have to change my ingrained habits, negative emotion and reactions that happen in my mind and in my body in order to change my spirit to a true spirit of Bujutsu.
Monk Shidejian said when he was younger if you touched him or looked at him the wrong way he would fight. Now he says after many years practice you can slap his face hard or punch him and he will just smile at you. I think his spirit has changed, he has taken responsibility for this change through his own training and self discipline.

Annimals

If I think about a dog or a cat! How does it move? From where does it get it's power and agility? It moves by it's spine... It's spine is very free , so it can move very naturally. Now how does a human who walks on 2 legs get the same freedom of movement in the spine? This is key to bujutsu......

Ego

Had a tough work at week, working 15 hour days and was very stressed and frazzled by the end of the week. It's taking me a lot of time to unwind. I went off at a guy at work in a bad way, I felt on the edge....I also said something very unkind to a fellow Aunkai member tonight, it was very wrong and I hurt him by what I said. I have along way to go before I am the man I want to be...my ego is very strong, but me ego tells me it isn't very strong but it is.... I care greatly about people say or think about me, I have to let it all go, none of it matters. I need to have a big heart, I need to open it and look to where I can help and be good to be people..
I have to stop looking for ways to feed the never ending appetite that is my ego. Being a man and a Bujutsuka means that I have to take responsibility for the change and make it now, no more excuses... I want to be the man, that dreamed about being when I was a boy .

Imashimeru

Imashimeru is a Japanese word I first heard at Aunkai practice. It means to tighten and to discipline yourself both in body and mind. In the case of the mind, I have many desires and many chances to be easy on myself and makes excuses. Imashimeru means to tighten and control my mind and not give in to the desires and excuses which come up all the time. It's tough but personally the more I do it the more my spirit understands what is going to be the norm going forward. Habits and behaviours can sometimes be coerced in change, sometimes tricked into change , sometimes forced but mostly helped to accept the changes necessary. Sometimes the changes can only come after a lot of pain, then we will accept change.
Imashimeru for the body means dialling your power back, you movement back, that satisfying way of using and tensing muscles. It means to go back to pure bujutsu principles and not to rely on strength, athleticism or size to deal with a opponent, only pure bujutsu.
Imashimeru also means to tighten my ego, to accept loss and to accept where I stand at the moment and to not give into my need to posture and blow up my ego. To be quiet, humble and keep training without fanfare or gain, just train and learn.

Kneading the body

Went to training at Aunkai tonight. Sensei spoke about a deep concept, kneading the body. This kneading and open closing of the body is the key to bujutsu. Posture and correct hip alignment are a prerequisite, then we need to think about how to knead and open/close the body to move, accept an opponents movement and then issue a response from a deep place in the body. If the power comes from a deep enough place, the opponent will not feel it until it's already in him. This is the reason why bujutsu is so unique and dangerous.
I am enjoying my training very much. I approach it with a carefree and relaxed attitude and I am getting better results. I don't want to be famous or the strongest fighter anymore or to prove myself. I just want to train and explore my body ,mind and heart and find out who I truly am. Aunkai is a for me a true gift....

Spirit

I trained tonight at Aunkai and tried to focus on dropping and rolling my spine to adjust my hip position. This connects my arms to my hips and makes my hands feel heavy which helps in contact. Now I have to work on bridging to my opponent and the chuo/dantien to connect to my elbows outwards.

I wanted to write about spirit, what does this mean to Bujutsu. Do I have the right spirit? What is the right spirit. I have heard Akuzawa Sensei talk about spirit and in the end that's all it comes down too, it comes down to my spirit. I have also read other martial art masters who talk about the highest level is your spirit. Akuzawa Sensei once said to me that i the most important thing is to grab some of his spirit, so I can remember it if I am not training with him. That it should be enough to help me keep going and to continue to learn and develop.
I must seek that spirit.....

Determined
Brave
Kind
Compassionate
Open
Fierce
Uncompromising
Honest
Truthful
Forgiving
Calm
Disciplined
Flexible
Seek only the truth
Humble

Components of Bujutsu

I have thinking recently that there are many components that I need to work on in bujutsu. First there is posture; how I align my body with gravity and increase the efficiency which I can load weight into my body. This is part alone is a massive undertaking.
Then there is what I would call how to bridge and interact with your opponent. Bridging is involved in free grappling standing and ground as well as striking. This is the ability to engage your opponent in a bujutsu way! In striking it means not telegraphing, moving smoothly between contact and striking, keeping the energy of movement smooth and constant as you generate strike after strike. Keeping the energy flowing so that you don't get tired and keep using your body movement efficiently to generate strikes. In grappling or standing free I need to learn how to contact my opponent without them knowing where I am going to generate power from and when. Then I have to have smooth and constant movement when I initiate my move so that the opponent doesn't react until it's too late. I have to make sure that each of component parts taking part in the movement move evenly with the equal same amount of power used by each part without one part overpowering the other parts.
Finally there is the mental/mind part and the spirit part and the heart of bujutsu. I need to be calm, flexible and able to adjust to any situation I find myself in. It is easier to keep your posture and connection inan controlled environment, but then if you throw a live opponent into the mix you have a altogether situation. How to keep calm and act objectively. I have fought in many competition fights and it is hard to keep the objectivity which is so essential to bujutsu. Trust me many people think they can do this and that, but when the reality of a aggressive opponent faces you then each and everyone of is has to ask ourselves some serious questions.
This brings me onto the spirit!!!
I need the spirit for the fight, that never quit attitude, with a calm objective mind, the passion and heat and the cold objective mind must co-exist in the spirit for true Bujutsu to materialise.
From True Bujutsu I must also have a kind open and loving heart. The biggest battles are fought with myself not with any opponents. That is the true value of training and bujutsu the development of my heart - which I must make bigger, more open and more compassionate. I think this is the true gift of bujutsu and the true key to bujutsu.

Monk Shidejian

I have been training regularly everyday now since around the 20th of December and I have made some improvements and feel much happier about my training and the reasons for my training. I realised I was training and trying to get better and learn Jutsu for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to be strong, for people to talk about me and say how amazing I was.....

It all changed for me when I watched a documentary about a shaolin monk called Shidejian who trains at a mountaintop monastery with a small number of students and teaches Chanwuyi, which is zen, martial arts and medicine. His martial arts style is called xingyiba and is mostly an internal style and relies on everyday activity to train structure and connectivity and whole body power.
Something about him struck me as being very different, happy, peaceful and pure. He mentioned that his teacher told him that in order to learn martial arts he must first learn to be a good person. Then he can learn martial arts and then if he becomes good he can learn the medicine and help people. I could talk about this guy all day long..... He trains very purely and heals the people he can for free very selflessly.
One thing struck me that made a difference to my outlook on my training. He said martial arts are not to show off, see who is strongest or to hurt anyone. Martial arts are a way to discipline and train yourself to be a better more peaceful person, it's never been about fighting. I have heard this many times, but for some reason for me it never rung true because it when it was said it never sounded sincere just said because it was the thing to be said. But I could tell when Shidejian said it and by the way he lives and train a that he means it.... I then remember that Akuzawa sensei also said the same thing many years ago. He said it's not and has never been about who is stronger or weaker, it's about your spirit.... How has your spirit developed. Shidejian also said that the training makes you healthy and enjoy life.

So to get to the point this is how I am now approaching my training, with an easy going relaxed mindset, enjoying it whilst still training hard and not being focused on being the toughest man in the world. And low and behold I have now made my biggest connections and understandings in all my 7 years of training. I cannot wait to train everyday and feel my body is coming together as a unit and my mind it more peaceful when I train. I am enjoying so much.
I would highly recommend watching Shidejian on YouTube, he is a very inspiring man.....