I am writing this article as a reflection after completing the OBC POMW course over the past 5 months. There have now been 5 POMW courses and as a Shindenkan instructor and SDKSkyt board member I have been on the journey almost from the start, where I have participated in 4 out of 5 courses and this latest course was totally worth it.

As a reader, you may well ask the question that now that I have participated in POMW 4 times, what did I get out of it this time? The answer is A LOT - partly maintenance of my multi-track competence and partly I learned something about myself.

Try reading further 🙂

In Shindenkan, as a huge advantage, we have introduced the OBC concept to ensure and further develop the standard for all our acquired multi-track course competencies - and this also applies as a social network for the individual, where it is possible to take a break, be injured or otherwise be away from training for a period and then could resume training and through OBC be brought back to level or higher…

Of course this also applies to me! Indeed, POMW also belongs under the OBC concept and, as is the case with all the other multi-track course competencies in Shindenkan, the OBC structure helps me maintain my investment in myself and even increases the value of this – yes, year after year, if So I want it.

Exactly as it should be when training Yakami Shinsei-Ryu in Shindenkan, because we are value-based and we know that it is the human being behind the action – whether it is behind the gun or behind any other action that is the deciding factor, not the weapon or the action itself!

And maintain my skills, with the chance to increase – yes, I want that, for my own sake and as a role model in Shindenkan.

Together with the other participants, I have now lived and trained POWM for a total of 5 months and it has been a super cool, very intensive course, with both dry training and wet training. I have had good shootings and less good shootings 🙂 I have had intensive and confrontational training - where I have been confronted with myself, tested on my attitude and not least whether I can be present in the moment!

In Shindenkan, we have both learning principles and values that support a constant spiral of development and I was, as always, confronted with myself along the way - and it was again developing and life-affirming for me, even if I was not my best every time. What more could you wish for than learning that is developmental and life-affirming?

Not everyone wants to be confronted with themselves.

Yes, some would say that they do not need to be confronted with themselves! That they are fully satisfied with what they can do and don't really want to look at themselves, and that is also perfectly fine, because there is room for everyone. But it's not quite as developing and life-affirming, because it's the same as projecting it all onto the gun or the badminton racket, which shoots crookedly - as if it has its own will. I have often made that mistake myself - and it just doesn't really give me anything 🙂

A true leader learns from the mistakes of others…

What is more important to get a good result or to have a good process. Well, that's a good question and for most people it meant a lot to rush down to see what result they had made on the shooting disc - I've done that myself, so it also applies to me.

One of the Shindenkan mottos, which was also emphasized many times during the training and which is also on the website, is: "Every idiot can learn from his own mistakes, while a true leader learns from the mistakes of others". And this is so true. Therefore, the feedback that I and each of the other participants receive is much more important than my result - that is, if I want to learn from it!

All learning starts with trust, a trust that the instructor will give me the best and most targeted instruction I need. Then my attitude, an attitude that is open to the teaching the instructor gives and that I myself try to implement the feedback I get. But especially also my attitude to learn from the feedback the other participants get - because this is worth its weight in gold.

So it is clear why it is so crucial to be open and look at yourself, because if I am not open and look at myself - I am not able to see and understand what I have to take responsibility for, what I need to change so I can be better! If I am not open and look at myself, I will also not be able to understand and learn from others and their mistakes.

Learning from other people's mistakes - see, that's true humility 🙂

At one point in training I forgot the time and place...

Now that I have participated in POMW 4 times before, what do I expect from myself? Well, training in marksmanship is really very simple – Safety, safety and safety, follow the POMW marksmanship technical manual 100 %.

So repetition upon repetition and feedback – Yes 🙂 and then look at yourself.

What did I learn this time?

It is quite easy to answer because I am not without faults, I am a human being, a human being behind the weapon and as already mentioned earlier - it is the human being behind the weapon that is decisive. I actually learned humility – the humility that I can learn from other people's mistakes! I learned to become better at focusing on the individual, I learned that if I focused on the process instead of the result - yes, I developed.

The many hours of focusing with correct breathing, correct base, on "becoming one" with the gun focused on the fact that I had to be in myself, or that I had to be one with myself. This actually happened the last 2 times without me noticing while it was on! At one point in training I forgot both time and place.

It was a great feeling that I didn't really notice except that I lost interest in the result because the process was so cool!

As I said, I didn't discover it straight away, but only later in my regular training. It was only when I subsequently trained pure Karate basics that I could feel a difference. The fact that I tried to be one with the movement rather than thinking about the result, trying to be in the moment, breathe naturally and just be in motion was a great experience - straight out of the POMW course and it felt both good and right.

To train several skills as we do in Yakami Shinsei-Ryu is fantastic and it constantly provides opportunities for development - understanding of coherence and wholeness.

I can always do more, but the best happens when I am humble and learn from both my own and other people's mistakes so I see how things fit together. And if the understanding and inspiration I get can be used and implemented in all my other training - then I'm really happy 🙂