RRCamp is a laboratory, a free space, a training hall – indeed a Dojo. The dojo is our training room in martial arts, and directly translated means "the place of enlightenment". When we enter the Dojo to train, we leave our problems and worries outside, and thus we get a fantastic free space to concentrate on the technique, and through that on ourselves.

The training starts with a ceremony consisting of a short meditation and the greeting, after which the actual training begins. The purpose of the initial meditation is to empty yourself of disturbing elements and prepare for training. Under the right circumstances, training is meditation in motion, and that is also why we must remember to maintain Wa - harmony in the Dojo. Wa provides space for concentration, constructive criticism and reflection, instruction, good mood, joy, self-examination and the opportunity to perform, fail, adjust and try again. Wa, on the other hand, is not grumbling, picking on and belittling oneself or others (Jantelov), running around shouting, or being unfocused. The purpose of the framework is to provide the best learning, for the best information, and anyone who has tried training in a Dojo can feel when the right "Wa" is present and when it is not.

So the Dojo is our protected environment that we cherish, and the training ends as it started, with a ceremony consisting of a short meditation and greeting. The purpose of the final meditation is to summarize the training - to integrate it, and to prepare to take the acquired knowledge and learning with you to apply it in the real world.

Because no human being lives in a laboratory – in a protected world. But that does not mean that you need to be a throwaway ball, and without influence on what happens in the real world. The training in the Dojo is an opportunity to train and practice the principles and values you want to live by, and between the lessons you can try to live out your values and principles in the real world.

In the Dojo, you can be pressured by difficult exercises, or opponents who attack with such determination that you feel the fear of death creeping up on you. But it is still nothing against the challenges that come incessantly in the real world, where challenges at school or at work, in social contexts, with the family, boyfriend, parents or children can sometimes seem unmanageable and insurmountable. Because humans are predators, and although we have a lot of social conventions, rules and forms that help us with a peaceful coexistence, it shines through that we are all fighting for our existence and our survival, and that all tricks apply.

At Shindenkan, our goal is to create whole and happy people. It is done precisely through this interaction of training our values and principles in the Dojo (laboratory), and then going out into the world and living the values out here to the best of our ability - all the time, without exception.

It simply doesn't sound like that 🙂

And basically, RRCamps are one continuous training lesson, where all principles and values are of course applied, in the continued learning at the higher TG levels.

Kimu Sensei is the instructor and designer of the training camps, and everything that takes place there is planned to the smallest detail, and is based on our 1000 year old system, and Kimu Sensei's use of all the tools and his enormous human knowledge on the way to the enlightenment of the participants, individually on each their level.

In this way, RRCamps are both very similar and very different from time to time, as they depend 100% on the participants' daily schedule.

RRCamp – Right now, right here!

For me, this RRCamp was an exercise in, and a work with clarification, inner peace, and not least with my buried dogs - that is, the part of the work that must be done by me.

The inner calm is necessary to be able to work with oneself, and I could feel from the start of the RRCamp that there was a lot of noise. It was my inner monologues, including insecurities and jantelaw that were busy assuring me that everything was just fine and that there was nothing to get after, knowing that nothing escapes Kimu Sensei's razor-sharp attention. And thus a self-delusion has been created, because the right attitude and adherence to the values is precisely to find and recognize work points, and then to continuously and purposefully work on improving on those points.

Convincing oneself that "everything is ok, nothing has been swept under the carpet, there is nothing to recover from" is self-deception, and not according to Shindenkan's set of values - but it is quite human, and everyone has this to one degree or another challenge. So the right way is to be humble and recognize that even though there are many stripes on the black belt, I still have a lot to learn and the only way forward is to recognize it and train on my weak sides.

Meditation is a good way to quiet the inner voices, as you can listen to them, recognize what they are saying, be clarified with what they are saying, and take action! This gives you the opportunity to be quiet in your inner dialogue, after which you can hear the whispering voices that lie underground, and have the opportunity to listen to them, recognize what they say, be clarified with what they say, and take action !

In everyday life it can be challenging to find time for meditation, but at RRCamp it is a natural part of the training. In fact, just like the normal training in the Dojo, which starts with a ceremony and a short meditation. This is just a long meditation, and afterwards you get training from Kimu Sensei on your self-knowledge.

So have I worked with myself, acknowledged and clarified? Or is it just something I say, because "we don't need to look at that thing right now, thanks! – don't mention the war”.

And as in meditation, there is also the opportunity to work your way down through a number of layers, and find more and more self-knowledge, and thereby the opportunity for more and more clarification. And Kimu Sensei is a master at making a short process of self-deception, nice surfaces, and highlighting "things we don't need to look at", to the extent that you need help with that.

As this process takes place, inner voices are shut down and clarifications emerge, a deep inner calm sets in. For me, that calmness is proof of the clarification and the realization. It doesn't have to be a sign that everything is solved, but the realization that there is a challenge, it is exactly this, and I have to do exactly this in order to arrive at a clarification in this area, gives this peace.

Processed – The buried dogs

Once again at an RRCamp I have had to admit that I have quite a few buried dogs. And although I have already found and removed a lot, there are probably more to come.

And what are the buried dogs?

Well, these are exactly the things that I would like to bury under a layer of concrete, and never talk about again, because "don't mention the war", "We don't need to talk about that right now", and "I have no idea what you talk about".

But why now this perfidious search for all my faults and failings, and old smelly buried dogs? Is it because I just like to torture myself, with even the smallest insignificant things from the past? Is it because I just don't have anything else sensible to do? And does it even matter?

I can conclude after this RRCamp that I will come back with a work list of things I can look at with great advantage. And I also come back with a joy and appetite for life that is completely overwhelming.

And that is because I have worked with clarification, and through that have downplayed the internal jantelaw, doubt and self-deception. It leaves room for a lot of creativity, efficiency and action – without wasting energy on uncertainty.

It has taken quite a toll on my self-image, but there is nothing
ke came up with something that I didn't really know myself beforehand, but had just buried, saved and forgotten until a suitable day when I have time to look at it – Yeah Right! That day will never come until I make the decision to look at it NOW – not later, but RIGHT NOW!

Because it may well be that you can't see the buried dogs, but that strange smell is probably coming from them. The inner Jantelov, after all, originates precisely from "all that I hide and forget", but which nevertheless comes out between the side legs when I am hit by frustration.

The future and the continued work – Clarification, inner peace

And then we are out of RRCamp and back in the real world 🙂

And like when I leave the Dojo after the training, it is NOW that I have to integrate everything I have learned during the training. Now is the time for me to use the values and be my very best – 100% of the time. Now is the time for me to recognize when I fail, and get up, brush the dust off and try again - without self-blame and jantel law, but with charity and with the humble recognition that we are all human and can fail. And we all contain In and Yo / Yin and Yang / Light and Darkness. The goal is to get to know myself both for good and for bad. Because then I have the freedom to choose when I use what, and am not guided by old hidden patterns and buried dogs.

I have to use my values in my own life, for training, at work, in social life - because I am the same wherever I am.

And there is no one else but me who can do the work for me.

I am deeply grateful that I could participate in this RRCamp.

Kjeld Renshi