Breath and soaking

 The position is a thing of beauty. Vadi called it "posta di cinghiaro di fora." Morrozo caler it "Porta di Ferro Larga" My teacher had a version for kenjutsu, destreza and probably every art he ever studied. You could not put a nationality to the guard, that would contradict its fluidity. Left foot slightly forward. sword arm slightly forward. Using the natural body tension to position the blade diagonal downward in front of you. Relaxed, bored with out a care.

It is a test. They twitch and you just have to turn your wrist to put the blade edge on. Drop your knee, roll your hip and loosen your shoulder and you have a cut. If the cut misses you have a thrust. All in less time than it took to type this.

You can't perform the action with strength, quite the opposite. You need to let the flow happen inhale before the motion, exhale on the opening inhale , exhales root repeat. Breath and sink, exhale and rise. Today before bed I practiced this guard as well as Kumae kata, which is cycling through the guards. More accurately it is finding the guards with in the breath and physical position you are taught. My cudan (chew don) now is much more complex than when I started learning.

It was rough as the mind fought for laziness. I made my self repeat the form ten times. I tried variants which was a defeat, since it was an internall placation to a lack of discipline. I concentrated on the breathing which came out as a husky sound as I forced air in and out at a pace the body disagreed with. You could practice this kata you whole life and its benefits would stagger you. There is so much to learn.

You are going to die, you find out tomorrow. How do you meet that, how do you fight for life? You are in pain, how do you meet that? You are happy, how do you meet that? Debilitating social anxiety, aging? Awkward family, strangers? Disappointment in your self?

An often touted but poorly understood maxim from the world of the Samurai "Fight as one who is dead" This by many is taken to mean, prepare to die as your life does not belong to you. Another way to see it is invest in what is now, not in what will be. How you meet now matters. it always matters. What we do when we are alone counts.

Breath is control, patience and stability. This is today's lesson.