I am reminded of a time when my movement just wasn’t quite right. I was working out at the dojo, trying to drop back into a deep ichimonji posture, every time I shifted back, I would feel tension in my body and a jerkiness that simply made the movement look completely mechanical. This was not only frustrating, but actually made me question my own ability. I continued to work on this for sometime without ever feeling that I was improving or in any way getting it. My instructor (a very senior practitioner) just kept watching and offered very little advise.
One day my level of frustration grew so strong, that I walked off the mat disgusted at my own inability to master something that appeared so simple. This time my instructor followed me and offered me the following advise. “Stop, let go of all that you have taken ownership for, and start again with the knowledge that you have collected” huh!! Let go of what I have…. and start again!!!. I thought about this for a while and then walked back onto the mat. Visualized everything I knew about water, relaxed my body and dropped back “fluidly” into ichimonji. My body was straight, my knees were bent, shoulders over hips. I had a new sense of freedom and knew that my mind had been the obstacle. I had pre-programmed my self into believing that I would never get it and with that mind set, I would get exactly what I asked for. By letting go of that and embodying all that I knew about water, I was able to re-write the program and erase the memory and effects of the frustration. Hmmm, Mind, Body, Spirit-Funny thing that!!
