By the Director team, Jokokan Honbu
As with real Vikings, it takes more than a bit of snow to keep Shindenkaners off a planned course. This last Saturday in January was no exception. The snow had settled like a heavy blanket over most of Zealand. Nevertheless, 38 participants chose to brave the snow and show up faithfully for the Ki and meditation course 1. The basic course under the auspices of Shindekan.
This course had been newly organized and designed by Yamana-Itotani Sensei in direct relation to the Yakami Shinsei-ryu curriculum manual and graduation requirements. In the invitation, the participants' curiosity was aroused by the questions: "what is meditation?", "what is KI?", "are they connected and how?" and "how and why is it used in Shindenkan?".
The course was planned to last 3 hours divided between theory and practical exercises. During the course, there was also time for the participants to play. That is as part of the course content itself.
The course is structured as information about partly what Ki and meditation are and partly how it can be used both in everyday life and in martial arts/martial arts. At the same time, it gives an insight into how the context is in Shindenkan/Kaidenkan. The course also gives the participants food for thought.
Expectations to find out what Ki and meditation really are, were high among the participants. As the course progressed, more and more "ahaaa" facial expressions appeared. This is probably also because science has gradually found a basis for the positive things that happen to the body when you meditate and breathe correctly.
For many people, Ki and meditation is a quantity that can be difficult to handle due to the mystification that can take place, in all the information that you, among other things, can find about the subject on the web. The course thus aimed to demystify the subjects and make them down-to-earth and understandable. At the same time, the participants were given a do-it-yourself tool that they can use to get life under control in a hectic everyday life.
It is scientifically proven that meditation can create more of a more relaxed state than sleep can. Which did not go down well with the male part of the participants. It didn't get any better when they got the information that correct belly breathing creates fertile ground for the "washboard" to be transformed into a beach ball. Despite the fact that a few of the male participants tried to cover their "beach ball" under this category, it made more sense to them during the first exercises that involved breathing correctly.
The subsequent "play" with Ki created a lot of thoughtfulness and speechless facial expressions in the participants when they found out how natural Ki is.
In the last three meditation exercises, the participants gained insight into what happens inside when you close your eyes without having to fall asleep. There were no snorkel sounds, which meant that all the participants worked hard to get their breathing in place and to get their concentration to point to what it needed to be. For most, the meditations had the effect of making them very relaxed and the feeling of the body falling into place cell by cell was very significant.
The instructor team would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants for their openness and questions during the course. At the same time, we would also like to thank Yamana - Itotani Sensei for the learning process the course has been for us.
