The will and the tools
"Nothing is impossible for the one who carries the will in his heart". It sounds really good and deep, even when it is said by Thomas Mygind in Fangerne på foret.

Can I feel myself - Physically?
Physically, most people start their karate training with 25-75% capacity, meaning they can only relax down to 25%, and can only perform 75% of their maximum capacity. In order to get to know oneself and use one's physique as best as possible, some limits must be broken and the body's possibilities must be explored from 0-100%.

This side of the training is described in detail on the website, both in syllabus requirements, but also in articles with concrete personal experiences from physical tests and kumite (freestyle) under ever-increasing demands.                      

Can I feel myself - Mentally?
Mentally it is of course the same. If one - must I - be able to give my best, I have to know myself, and that also sounds very cool, but do I want to? Do I dare? Do I do it?

Throughout the year, we have worked with, among other things

• to have the right attitude
• to let go of control – to trust the instructor, the system and ourselves
• to have a better understanding of the structure of the curriculum and the connection between the different parts of the curriculum
• to use the schooled approach, with step-by-step learning and building up of technique, person and competence

At this year's summer camp, we got tools to work further with the mental, the psyche, the will. To get through to ourselves, through our – through MY – layers of patchwork solutions, improvements and repressions that must hide from myself that I am not perfect. To see myself as I am, for better or for worse, and to forgive myself for my mistakes.

The mental backpack can easily be filled with things that need to be corrected, done better next time, or forgotten forever. It is like navigating around a glass shop with a large 80kg rucksack on, and there is nothing to say that it is difficult to perform a technique freely, fluidly and uninhibited.

And this is where the tool comes into the picture, as an optimal path towards the goal.

 The mirror exercise
Together with the others at the I-camp, I had to individually play through all emotions, real, from myself, with myself and against myself. Flexing all my mental muscles, allowing myself to go from total joy to total rage, from total love to total hate. In the same way that through the karate training I have learned to go from completely relaxed muscle to 100 % tense muscle.

At the same time, I had to keep eye contact with myself, focus on myself and forget the outside world.

I must say hello and say that such a session is significantly harder on the physique than a bronze circle.

When the session was finally over, I was strangely clear in my head, but totally tense in my body, as if everything I had let out had stuck in my shoulders, lower back, calves and arms. 

We had a debate about what we had learned from this and how we could now feel ourselves better, and from there we went straight to the training room, where we had to show what we could and had learned from what had just been completed - according to Shindenkan's motto "I do as I say and say as I do" and the little sequel "so show it..."

We had a great exercise - a tool where we directly transferred the mental focus from the "theory exercise" that had just ended and put it on top of well-known techniques, and it was just so .... right! I could feel the optimized focus (mentally) and the optimized technique (physically) moving into a higher unity with a clarity I have not experienced before.

Then show it……
Kimu Sensei attacked us with 95.1% of our own 100% potential and then we just had to parry…… 

With a mental backpack that is emptied, a clarification of who I am - where I know myself and accept myself - love myself, my techniques will be immediate, adapted to the situation - i.e. optimal in the present.

Here tested with "only 95.1%" in the real world, where a break in the chain thought - word - action immediately shows up as a blow in the chest. Cash settlement! Do I let the outside world influence me? Do I let myself be influenced by the success / failure / reaction I had last time or my colleagues had. Do I expect something, or do I find myself, grounded, and in the moment, ready for anything or nothing.

I was hit! Often! Of slow attacks, of fast attacks, of attacks where I expected a fast attack and a slow one came, and vice versa. Of attacks where I was completely up to speed, and of attacks where I was so grounded that I was petrified 🙂

It's like when you have to take pictures, and the photographer says "You just have to look natural". Yes, it's very simple, as long as I'm not aware that I have to be photographed, as long as I'm not aware of myself, as long as I just BE. But when I have to actively just BE myself, it's not that easy anymore, and my natural smile and facial expression are anything but natural.

BUT at least once I managed to make a technique that was, if not perfect, at least 95.2% of my 100% potential, with balance, cross tension, center, timing and all. It is stored on the mental video, and can be played when I need a reference to what it can be like, how it feels when the technique just is, when it just works.

The way forward
We repeated the mirror session on the 2nd day of camp and it was still transgressive to that degree. Unlike yesterday, I managed to let go of the emotions and extremes I was in, to such an extent that this time I was relieved both mentally and physically. 

The test on the 2nd day went roughly the same as on the first day, which for me is an indication that I must now get to know my new tool better, and train with it in practice - constantly, until it is an integrated part of me, in order to find additional knowledge and improvements.

"Nothing is impossible for the one who carries the will in his heart".
And then we're back at the start. For many years I have trained my techniques, physique, timing, speed, control, etc. through sports karate, martial arts and most recently on the road to martial arts.

Now is the time to fully train the mental. This means that the will must be acted out, at all levels, also in practice. The will can be divided into i.a. The will to succeed, The will to prepare and plan, The will to execute, through work – blood, sweat and tears, The will to trust my instructor and myself, The will to use the right tools.

In the places where I have limited myself or put up a wall, I have a choice. I can rush in and run down the wall, I can choose to take it down - that is, remove my inner resistance, or I can choose that now it's too much, I don't want this...

When I train with a life-or-death martial arts attitude where I only have one chance, "it'll work out" just doesn't work. "When it really matters, I'll probably step into character." is also not feasible, because it applies every time all the time!

Having to be 100% constantly 24/7/365 is scary, but is there anything new in it?

Are you e.g. parent, you are still a role model all the time – happy or angry, tired or healthy. 

During the camp, Kimu Sensei asked us: “What is the reason you have to have 10 – 100 – 1000 chances when I only got one with Soké Sensei Tonegawa? – life or death – either you're good enough or you're not – either you want it enough or you don't want it”

I'll just let it hang for a bit...

The will and the tools
We have been shown a concrete tool for mental training, and have gained concrete experience in using it.

We have also been shown a concrete tool to link the physical training and the mental training, and have gained concrete experience in using it.

Now it's up to us to explore our toolbox and see what we can do with it.

"Nothing is impossible for the one who carries the will in his heart".

If you really want to, you can everything, …..

... but the will in the heart must be carried out into the world as concrete action

... and if you really want to succeed, you prepare optimally and with the best tools.