Archive for ◊ May, 2009 ◊

Observation and Responsibility
Author: Dennis Mahoney
• Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Most people look at the martial arts as something to collect and do. I studied this and this and this. I can already do that kata what’s next?

To-Shin Do is more than just doing kata, it is about ’seeing’, about training your observer so that you find the proper solution to a problem. So when you are told to sense the intention of the attacker it’s about observing them.

This is not a dead art…step here, do this, etc. It is alive and fluid. Kata are examples of the interplay between cause and effect. What is your attacker trying to do to you? How can you use that to your advantage? Investigate the kata like you would a crime, find out why it happened and the way it did. Become the observer and you will be able to sense intention.

This concept also is in the Go Shin Bo mind science exercise. I see the first vow: “my opportunity to create the reality I experience” as a way for me to take responsibility for what happens around me. I’m responsible, my actions, my words and my thoughts are the causes that create the effects I experience and I vow to observe each day my actions, words and thoughts to make sure they are in alignment with the reality I desire.

The last part to me is not a magical shield as much as a reminder to maintain the observer and stay focused because there are forces, intentional and unintentional, external and internal to me that are not aligned with the reality I desire and I must protect against them.

Dennis
Shinobi Martial Arts
95 Plaistow Road, Plaistow NH

Category: Martial Arts, Mind Sciences, Ninjutsu  | Leave a Comment
Faith, Learning and Artistry
Author: Dennis Mahoney
• Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Every week I go to Boston and Mark Davis shows me something I’ve never seen before (taijutsu or mind science, there’s not really a difference). At that point I just do what he says, experience the results and then on the drive back to NH try to figure out what I did and why it worked or didn’t work.

This process follows the concept of faith in Buddhism. As a lot of you know there are three parts to Buddhist faith: brilliant faith, when you find a concept from something or someone that makes you think, “Yeah that’s it”.

The next part is questioning faith where you have to ask; how does this concept work for me? Why does this work? If you don’t move on to this stage it is naive and can lead to following blindly.

The third step is faith but in yourself. After questioning how the concept works for you and knowing why it works it becomes part of you and you have faith that you can embody that concept when needed.

This parallels the Shu, Ha, Ri concept of teaching Mr. Hayes speaks about in Ninja volume six. At first you must have all the answers for the student so they have faith in you. Then you have to trick them to asking questions (why?) for themselves and finally you let them in on the secret of buyu; “You’re responsible for your own learning, I’m just a person on the path too.”

This is a paraphrase of something Dr. Hatsumi said once. He said I am Picasso. Don’t try to be Picasso I’m already him. Be Monet, Rembrandt or Garry Trudeau (okay I took a little literary license). Be an artist on your own.

Mr. Hayes works that way and I have the audacity to believe I can too. Dr. Hatsumi and Mr. Hayes are amazing people but they are people and so are we. So why not strive to do what they can do (your way) and more. Isn’t that what becoming tatsujin is about?

Dennis
Shinobi Martial Arts
95 Plaistow Road, Plaistow NH

Category: Martial Arts, Mind Sciences  | Leave a Comment
Go Dai No Kata Misunderstandings
Author: Dennis Mahoney
• Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Many people have made negative comments about the Go Dai No Kata elemental system Mr. Hayes uses. Especially now in To-Shin Do since the examples he uses are not the same as the classical material it was derived from. I think they have confused the gathering and labeling of information with understanding. I’ll hear things like:

“There’s no water element in Ujyaku from the Churyaku no Maki of Gyokko Ryu. It’s done like this…”

Oh that was real enlightening, thanks, I can read the notes too. Hell, I can watch it on my computer anytime I want.

That’s just information. Understanding how these elemental LABELS (you could just as easily call them 1,2,3,4,5 instead) represent emotional thought patterns of survival in conflict can safe your life.

So are the elements the “beginnings” to a conflict and interchangeable as the situation develops?

Yes…beginnings, middle, ending, even the shakes you get afterward from the adrenaline leaving your body can all be labeled by one of the element names. They can change at any moment depending on how you feel and the conditions of the conflict at that moment.

I have a woman training with me who asked a very similar question about how the elements work. We were working on Koyoku from the earth level material and she was having a difficult time holding her ground against my hook punch. She knew this was an ‘earth’ technique and that she should be strong and confident but being a rather slender person and me being 6′2″ and 250 pounds she wasn’t really feeling that way.

She has a young four year old. I told her to pretend her son was behind her and that I was trying to get to him to hurt him. Her body lowered, her gaze steadied right on me and when I threw the hook she blasted it back and away. She was shocked at her own power.

We came up with similar ideas for ‘her’ for each of the elements. Like for fire I told her son was behind me and I was going to keep him from her. After I picked my self up off my butt I told her I felt she was starting to get the idea…

With water I told her it was just the two of us in this fight but she still had to make it home to her son. Obviously I’m bigger and stronger but she still had to win (survive). What technology or idea was she going to use to defeat me despite my advantages?

For Wind I asked her if her son ever charged into her or attempted to hit her while playing. Her answer was “yes he’s four”. She needs to control him but she doesn’t want him or her to get hurt. So I told her to pretend I was Evan as I attacked and she responded with a wind level technique.

The key to this was that we found ideas for ‘her’. What you have to do is find what works for you.

What could you imagine that would make you stand your ground and defend no matter what? That answer could help you with Earth.

What could you imagine that would make you think, “This situation/attacker is dangerous, I need to find a smart way out of this”? That would help with Water.

What could you imagine that would make you so connected to the person in front of you that the slightest movement makes you rush forward into the situation? That could help with Fire.

What could you imagine that would enable you to feel compassion in the middle of chaos so that you could control the situation but not hurt anyone? That could help you with Wind.

These elements are a combination of self-exploration and really cool martial arts concepts. To understand them and use them you have to look inside. Probably the reason so many people attack Mr. Hayes about them is that if they were to accept them they would have to look past their delusions of grandeur.

Dennis
Shinobi Martial Arts
95 Plaistow Road, Plaistow NH

Category: Ninjutsu  | Leave a Comment
Mantra and Sound or Words and Meaning
Author: Dennis Mahoney
• Thursday, May 07th, 2009

Mr. Hayes made a comment about how dangerous it can be to recite mantra sounds as taught but not comprehended. You can get in a lot of difficulty if you do not understand the power that the sounds carry.

This comment by Mr. Hayes made me think of something that has been bothering me for many years. One of the reasons, I believe, this art has such a draw for so many people is that it is so much more than just martial art movements. This art looks at body (physical principles), mind (fighting strategies) and spirit (or energy flow of a fight).

If the body movements and physical concepts we have are so effective and dangerous that it is literally not safe to practice them full speed unless you are padded (and even then be cautious), why should the mind and energy levels of this art be taken any less seriously?

Over the years I’ve listened to people talk about the mind sciences as if they are some intellectual curiosity that can be dabbled with sans consequences. Years ago there was even someone on the west coast offering a kuji seminar for $1500 where you ‘learn’ all nine kuji in a weekend. Who were they kidding?

If you are training with a knife are you not aware of the blade and its direction?

If you are training with a gun do you think it would be a good idea to follow these rules (courtesy of my friend William Johnson U.S. Army)?

•    Rule 1: Do not put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
•    Rule 2: Do not point the gun at anything you are not willing to shoot.
•    Rule 3: The gun is ALWAYS loaded

From my point of view the mind sciences we practice are just as powerful and as dangerous. I’m not saying this to scare anyone or to claim I understand them all, I don’t. I just believe that they should be respected like any other weapon we train with in our system.

The comment was made that “The challenge, perhaps, in the mind and spirit realms is that it’s not as obvious how results are generated, so it’s a little trickier to work with the power in an intelligent fashion. As beginners, we just follow directions as closely as possible, under supervision. What do we know about how such results are generated? What danger does that imply?”

But isn’t this what we are studying? How results are generated with our words and thoughts. What is the effect of the words that we use?

What is the effect of saying “(Bleep) you!”?

What is the effect of saying “I love you”?

How does that change depending to whom you say it to? Your spouse? Your child? A perfect stranger? Won’t these all have different effects?

It’s all part of the Go Shin Bo. Part one loosely translated; “I create my reality”, part three, “I will be aware of and use my words to obtain my desired reality”.

Words are powerful and dangerous. In the work we do with women in abusive relationships (http://www.LessonsInViolenceEvasion.com), we discovered that it is the words of their abusers that over time trap and control these women, until the abusers words become their words and they believe they are worthless. It’s slower but those words can be just as deadly as bullets.

So to finish this post and to lighten things up a little, I have come up with a variation of the gun safety rules:

•    Rule 1: Do not open your mouth until you know what you are saying.
•    Rule 2: Do not say anything you are not willing to accept the consequences of.
•    Rule 3: Your mouth is ALWAYS loaded.

Dennis
Shinobi Martial Arts
95 Plaistow Road, Plaistow NH

Category: Mind Sciences, Ninjutsu  | One Comment
Physical Fitness for Martial Arts
Author: Dennis Mahoney
• Friday, May 01st, 2009

There was a question on whether or not it was necessary to go to a gym to get in shape for training. Being a ninjutsu practitioner I use Junan Taiso our ninjutsu physical training method for physical fitness. It is described in Mr. Hayes’s books, specifically: Chapter three of Ninjutsu: The Art of The Invisible Warrior. This book is actually a great primer for all of our training.

Unless you have a specific physical need based on your life requirements, I feel the best exercises for our art are the ones that come from our art.

Junan Taiso is physical exercise. And better yet it is exercise developed to make your taijutsu better.

When I started training I was twenty-five and had just finished playing Division I college football. I thought my legs were strong and then my teacher introduced me to the Junan Taiso. It was exercise completely different from anything I had ever done before.

Anyone who has been to Ken Savage’s New England Warrior Camp for morning Gyo sessions will tell you that Junan Taiso is exercise. The San Shin no Kata while holding rocks in your hands at an elevated pace qualifies as exercise. Walking across a field and dropping into a squat position every third step qualifies as exercise. Leaping up from a static kamae to the top of a picnic bench repeatedly qualifies as exercise. Duck walking across the field with a log on your shoulders qualifies as exercise.

Or I think the participants at Mark Davis‘ Taijutsu Essentials seminar, where we did ninety minutes of Junan Taiso, will agree that it is exercise. There were very few that felt standing in kamae (30 seconds each kamae) with you feet under your shoulders and your butt just above the folding chair we were using to make sure we were low enough was anything but exercise.

Trying to keep up with Manaka San doing the San Shin at a speed so great he was on his tenth repetition when the rest of us were on number four qualified as cardiovascular exercise.

Sitting in seiza (on your knees) with Muramatsu San as he had us attempt to leap back and forth over a bokken next to us was definitely exercise.

My friend Ken Savage always says, your conditioning should reflect your taijutsu and your taijutsu should reflect your conditioning.

The generations that passed down this amazing martial art also passed down “exercise” programs designed to make your taijutsu better.

I think we all agree keeping in shape is important for taijutsu. How you do that is completely up to you but make no mistake Junan Taiso is exercise specifically designed for what we do and it is effective.

Dennis
Shinobi Martial Arts
95 Plaistow Road, Plaistow NH

Category: Martial Arts, Ninjutsu  | 2 Comments