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.