In the 2010 Year of the Ninja, we at the BQC have decided on a theme for the year: Be Magical. I've spent these first few days of the new year contemplating the magical skills you learn from newbie to black belt.

1. Moving with Grace and Power. From the Fundamentals through the Path of the Protector, you'll learn the skills that change your relationship with the ground. You'll learn to float, maneuver in midair, avoid obstacles, and achieve harmony with your surroundings.
2. Defeating Bigger, Stronger, Faster Opponents. Learn to use your body to its potential with the ninja secrets of alignment, momentum, torque, and intention.
3. Power Over Perceptions. The ninja are famous for disappearing and had many methods for achieving this reputation. In our path to black belt, you will learn how to be in unexpected positions, seeming to move with unthinkable speed and silence.
4. Mind Control. Learn what influences your mind into mindless actions and take back the control over your decisions. Learn to differentiate between fear, instinct, and premonition.

We are currently enrolling new students for classes. Schedule your introductory appointment today. (303) 440-3647

Labels: magic, ninja

Recently, Erich Smith (Chapel Hill Quest) and I were having an exchange on Facebook. I thought his realizations and connections were so cool that they needed to be shared with more people. Erich gave me permission to repost his ideas here. Thanks Erich!

I was inspired today by your fantastic new window posters! I was thinking also about the recent post about the dojo phrases we internalize.

We've accreted several phrases at the CHQC over the years, but the core have always been:

Keep your...
knees bent,
back straight,
eyes open and on the bad guy,
and...
move your feet!

[We repeat these] over and over and over again. Today, I tried to listen to them with fresh ears, and heard something completely new (to me):

knees bent - CHI
back straight (movement with head over hips over feet) - SUI
eyes open and on the bad guy - KA
move your feet - FU

From a certain point of view, each of the elements could be viewed as isolated (for learning's sake) explorations of the dynamics presented in the cardinal rules.

If I had to pick a dojo phrase for void/KU, I'd go with "It's always my turn!"

Labels: Back Straight, Cardinal rules, It's Always My Turn, Knees Bent, ninja, ninjutsu, To-Shin Do

Today we studied tracking with instructor Ian Sanderson as part of BQC's Grown-Up Ninja Camp. 50% of tracking is looking at footprints and as we studied the different tracks, we discussed how different animals interact differently with their prints. Some animals will notice if you step in their tracks. Some animals step their back foots into their front prints. Other animals (like the roadrunner) have a symmetrical print.

With all the thoughts of the spiritual and psychological aspects to walking, the next logical line of inquiry was America's Next Top Model. I love ANTM and one of the biggest themes of the show is on the runway walk. It's about how you move and what you communicate with every step. In a paved world where it's hard to leave a mark, the view of our walk becomes so important. The ninja are an excellent example of signature walks. The way we glide silently over terrain is immediately recognizable, if you can manage to spot us. Our walk represents how we interact with our environment and what we communicate to the world. Even the split-toed tabi has a message: a commitment to balance and functionality, even a nod to traditional knowledge. It's fascinating to me that our walk is similiar despite 900 years of martial tradition evolution. I know it's trendy to leave no trace but I think animals instinctively want to make an impression. Even if gliding silently through the shadows, ninja do so to have a quiet, positive impact on the world. What do your tracks look like?

Labels: America's Next Top Model, ANTM, footprint, ninja, tracking

Labels: Date rape, ninja, rape, safety, self defense, To-Shin Do

Aitoshi is out in Dayton this weekend at a kuji 3 seminar with Stephen K. Hayes and shamanic guide Dana Robertson. Meanwhile, I'm snowboarding at Eldora's opening weekend.

The two are actually pretty related. Kuji 3 (of 9) is about "riding the energy of the universe." That's a sophisticated concept, the total meaning and implications of which will defy a simple blog post, but that's not going to stop me from talking about it. Riding the energy of the universe means tuning it to where thing are going, what energies are dominant, and positioning myself within that. It's not the same as seeing the future (that's kuji #7) because riding energy is something that happens in the present. It may give us some sense of the future and how to position for it, but the sensing of important factors and the adjusting to those factors - that happens firmly, even radically, in the present.

Kuji 3 energy riding is also not the same as intention-sensing (kuji 5), or receiving messages from other minds or the cosmos itself (kuji 6). Those are somewhat separated from the receiver by space - they are events happening elsewhere that will or could affect you. Kuji 3 is happening right here - it relates to sensing the forces and currents that are affecting you right now. It is about not being ignorant to what is affecting you.

Snowboarding enforces that in a big way. You have to stay tuned in to many tiny details that are rapidly changing. You are affected by your own body, the snow conditions, the sun, the wind, your mental focus, your emotions, other riders and skiers, and the condition of your snowboard. Most of those things are in a constant state of flux. Throw on top of that real anomolies - a hidden rock or root, unexpectedly slushy or icy snow, an unanticipated snowmobile or skier pile-up, a snowboarder sleeping in the middle of the run, or a rogue squirrel.

The intellect can't track it all, so the only way to succeed is to get into a state of flow and allow a combination of instinct and directed awareness to take over. It sounds mystical, but it's very practical and clear. When you mess it up, you slam, which reinforces the fact that you were doing it wrong. That helps with the learning curve.

Although the ancients didn't have snowboards, they clearly understood the idea of "tracking multiple factors beyond the intellect with a combination of instinct and directed awareness while remaining open to the possibilities". It arose in battle, on horseback, and strategically in life. I feel so lucky that we can study these themes today in both compelling modern ways (and snowboarding sure is compelling), in compelling ancient ways (like Aitoshi is doing now), and through the echos that permeate the stories of our lives.

Toh!

Labels: kuji, ninja, snowboarding

Two things:

First, I want to mention how much I am enjoying one of my senior students' integration of our To-Shin Do path into his job as a professional computer programmer. We frequently discuss the Kihon-Shoden-Chuden-Okuden educational model of classical Japanese martial arts, and he has realized some great things about himself and his evolving path in code. How much more Matrix-like can you get than a kick-butt ninja who is also a computer code master? We need to get him a black trenchcoat for his birthday next year.

More even than the substantial cool factor, his story is an illustration of how studying To-Shin Do transforms our relationships in all aspects of life. He really is on the tatsujin "master of all aspects" path. After four years and a black belt, Thomas has a sense of a vast realm of possibilities just dawning. That's often said but seldom found in martial arts, but To-Shin Do does that for people. I'm proud to be his teacher, and to represent, illustrate, and demonstrate this path for him and others.

If you're a coder yourself, check out Thomas' blog post on our other project (Propits). You can see the blog at propits.blogspot.com.

The second thing I want to mention is how much I like enjoyed lighting things on fire at my friend's 30th birthday bowling party. I don't think anyone else enjoyed it - I think they found it alarming. So, I have to be more careful and be less alarming. I do feel bad about alarming others. But from a pure aesthetics perspective, I find watching fire delicious. It's even more delicious when it's incongruent - for example, this fire was burning on top of ice, in a styrofoam cup. I get some deep sensory pleasure out of observing those kinds of contrasts. It's unfortunate that the styrofoam turned out to be highly flammable too. I think it would have been okay, because I think that counter was some kind of indestructible product pretending to be wood, but I can see how it alarmed people. I'm glad that the drink that someone poured on it wasn't high enough in alcohol content to burst into flame itself, because then we would have had kind of a napalm situation.

Labels: chuden, classical taijutsu, fire, ninja, okuden, Propits, shoden, To-Shin Do