Just As You Are Naturally

There is a Zen story written about a conversation between a roshi (a Zen master) and an unsui (a priest in training). One day, the unsui asked the roshi how he attained enlightenment. The roshi answered:

“For over forty years, I seriously contemplated my koan (a riddle for meditation). When I was over 70 years old, one evening I was taking a walk in the garden. I happened to trip on a rock and hit my shinbone. At the same moment, I attained enlightenment.”

The unsui listened carefully to every word the roshi told him. Later that evening, the unsui went to the garden and began pounding his shinbone on a rock…This Zen parable is not only an amusing story, but has deep meaning.

At Nippon Kan, over 500 students a year participate in our beginning Aikido classes. We explain at the beginning of the program that it is not possible to try and learn Aikido the same way the unsui tried to attain enlightenment. It might be more dazzling if we put on flashy demonstrations to impress beginner’s minds, but we purposely do not use this approach. Instead, we focus on being just as you are naturally.

When they first join class, all beginners come in wearing imaginary backpacks. These backpacks are filled with big ideas and images of the mysterious powers of martial arts. These ideas come from television, movies, books and maga-zines. Also inside this backpack are the fantasies that beginners carry with them about how martial arts will change their lives. This backpack, filled to the brim with images and expectations, is a heavy weight to carry into their first Aikido class.

On the first day, when asked what they want to learn from the class, most new students say they want to learn self-confidence, self-discipline, and mind and body coordination. Or, they are interested in self-defense, and/or they would like to get in shape.

Over 8,500 students have taken our beginners classes, and it is interesting to note that the new students with the biggest backpacks are usually the ones who quit during the middle of the six-week session. The reason may be because these students have come to class with their minds already made up about what martial art training is. Those who have not practiced a martial art before are sometimes disappointed, or at least surprised, if the class does not immediately fit their expectations.

The students who do not have specific expectations about what the class is supposed to be like usually stay longer. It is like someone who packs their suitcase full before going to a place they have never been before. Those who come to the dojo with a head full of ideas have no more room for learning.
We all carry backpacks filled with ideas and preconceptions. First, we need to organize what we are already carrying. Usually, there are ideas that we don’t need. Many people’s backpacks are filled with worry over thinking they are too fat, too skinny or weak-spirited. Being attached to ideas we think we need can make our backpacks even heavier. Wearing such a heavy pack, it would be difficult to sit on the couch or fit in your car, much less practice Aikido. Many of our backpacks are so big they won’t even fit through the door of the dojo!

At Nippon Kan, we teach simply to take off your backpack, move naturally and coordinate your breathing with your movements. In this way, your mind settles down. At some martial art dojos, students are taught stiff motions performed with clenched fists and tight shoulders. This is not the way we move naturally. Respecting the nature of our bodies also helps develop our minds. Through continually prac-ticing natural movements, Aikido helps us attain this goal.

Just as you are naturally.

This is Nippon Kan’s motto.