After 3 weeks at a new job, it was time for my third RR camp under Shindenkan. Yes, it might sound wrong to say under Shindenkan, because I don't think there are this kind of training camps in other organizations.
Like the previous RR camps, this one was also about development, it just went a few steps deeper into the soul - where it can really hurt.
We were supposed to meet at the reception at the Hilton hotel in Kastrup. In the past we have stayed at the same type of hotel in Malmö, but when there was the World Cup in Handball in the same city, the price level had also risen to a level that we didn't really want to spend money on.
Hotel Hilton in Kastrup is a fantastic hotel with peace and quiet and is built with a large hole all the way down, from the top floor to the floor level. Around the first floor, a huge net was strung out, which Martin Renshi-dai and I discussed whether it would hold if you made a jump from the 12th floor. We never found out if it could last, because we couldn't quite agree on who should take the plunge 🙂
This camp was also a bit special as the number of participants was reduced by two out of five, as this was an Enshin camp. That is that we were only three participants and then of course Kimu Sensei. After unpacking, it was time for a trip to the fitness room. This time we weren't going to see if we could rip the rowing machines to pieces. Instead, it became a lesson in how to properly train with cable pulls. Which was extremely effective, because it went directly into the attachments the muscles have on the bones. These adhesions are very important to strengthen when practicing martial arts with correct power discharges. The exercises we did are called "lumberjack" exercises. But as we got through the exercises, I also got a picture of myself standing and training with a katana. I wonder if that's not the point. At the same time, I could feel how the back bones moved into place with small cracks all the way up through the spine. A wonderful feeling on a fantastic Friday.
After the cable training, it was time to gather in the room where we were to work. The two previous RR camps had aimed to make us better school managers. We were very excited about what this RR camp was going to be about. To begin with, the chief instructors present gave a status of their schools and the satellite schools they had plans for.
After that it was time for the first task.
Indicate as a percentage how much you have utilized your full potential.
In other words, have you achieved what you think you can or can you achieve more in martial arts/martial arts. In such a situation, it is very important to be honest, otherwise you will be startled when the true picture emerges - as it always will in these camps. After we all submitted our own percentages, Kimu Sensei threw up a batch of graphs on the wall that showed the reality for all of us. It was made in such a way that there was nothing to mistake. The reality came out in great size and color and to everyone's great surprise.
The graphs were of course not made randomly, they were made based on our "track record" throughout our active career. It also clearly showed where in life one had had ups and downs. Which you could relate directly to the things that had happened in life, at the times in question. The more interesting places on the graph were where it rose very strongly, which it was heading towards for everyone present to a greater or lesser degree. What the graph showed was a balance of how well I know myself = Densho degrees. As long as we do not understand the densho degrees, our graph will be as it is - up and down. When we understand the densho degrees the curve will be increasing. This was reality - it was martial arts, it was Enshinlejr.
After that task and review, it was time for a meditation. Not a typical "I can do it myself" meditation, but a so-called mindfulness meditation where Kimu Sensei guided us through the whole process by speaking. Mindfulness meditations are extremely popular among business people as they are used to learn how to relax. In that form of meditation there are five steps and we were given an explanation of how they are connected, from being able to talk to yourself to relaxation and all the way to being able to meditate for several hours, but at the same time having the feeling that 2 minutes have passed .
After the meditation, it was time to go a few sods deeper into the soul. Into where you have to be honest. Throughout Shindenkan's existence, there have been higher graduated students who have stopped for various reasons. And this stopping while the play is good or bad is a thought that all students experience at one point or another in their lives. We now had to make our own exit plan, i.e. how would we step out of Shidenkan and how honest would we be to the people we have around us, such as family, students, friends etc. I went into this task with a claim, to myself, that I had not understood it. Although I am not currently thinking about exit plans, the thought has been present many times. But I just had a hard time accepting that within myself and therefore my task was not solved correctly. On the contrary, it was completely fluffed up and not concrete at all. Which of course I was roasted for.
Subsequently, we then had to give our bid on the exit plans of our fellow colleagues. Here I went into the task with a clear understanding of what had to be done and we all hit the nail on the head with each other. Which gave me food for thought.
Why can I be honest with others but not with myself? What makes me have a layer of Teflon that I use to protect myself from myself?
See these questions would probably be sugar for a psychologist and scare everyone else out of their wits. But for me it has become a task that must be solved, so that my curve in the graphs can rise upwards all the time. At the same time, I have to admit that it is of course a task that will go deep into my soul and it will certainly scare the life out of me, which can trigger an exit plan. Conversely, it can also give me an insight into myself and make me want to be able to know myself 100 %, which is what I have to focus on in the difficult times.
After having to paddle like a duck again, the bellies were starting to scream for food. Hotel Hilton certainly has a delicious restaurant that will be able to satisfy our hunger. But we chose to go for a walk over to the airport terminal and have a good meal of fast food at the "price-conscious" Burger King. That was needed at the time.
When we came back to the study full, it was time to go even deeper into the soul. You might ask yourself how far you can go, and to that I can only say that you can go very far.
The next task was a tough one where we had to assess, in percentage terms, how far we would go for other people and how far they would go for us. Again a task where it was very important to be 100 % honest - which was very important during the whole camp. It is never easy to have to acknowledge reality to oneself and especially not when it appears in black and white.
Who do I want to be – versus who I am? Who do I see myself as? Who do I think I am versus who do others think I am? All questions that were answered to a greater or lesser extent during this exercise. And all questions that raise more questions about my own self.
Solving problems is never easy. After all, it requires that you recognize the problem before you can try to solve it. It may be easy in relation to others, but when it is about yourself, it is incredibly difficult because you tend to deny it, which does not directly help the recognition of the problem.
All the percentages we came up with were gathered together in a table and based on them we all got feedback on who we were and why we were the way we were. I want to say right away that it was not nice to have a concretely different picture put up on the wall that told who you really are. But such is the art of combing. It is reality and only for the elite elite. The numbers in the table told about the densho grades and martial arts and what you as a student can work with to get to know yourself 100 %.
The numbers in my table told me that I have climbed a mountain and gone back down, and then subsequently climbed another mountain which I don't yet know whether I will continue up or down. Only the future will show in the same way that this Enshin camp has shown which path I must take to find my own frighteningly real and honest self.
