The majority of Karateka in our time focus outward, very external, and lack any sort of insight or direction when it comes to the internal, myself included.
What does it truly mean to 'Keep One Point' as Shihan Roseberry and my own Teacher were fond of saying? Does it mean to maintain a constant center, ever mindful and vigilant in the face of whatever may come our way?
This is, perhaps, something I have missed, yet it has been on my mind day and night for more than twenty years.
I can remember the sign, a small list of guidelines, that hung on the wall to the right of the Shomen at the Evergreen Learning Center in Olympia Washington that read;
-Keep One Point.
-Keep Weight Under Side.
-Extend Ki.
Yes, it sounds like some mystical mumbo-jumbo and one might just as easily dismiss them outright as such, but what do these things truly mean and did they sink in then, or now? Obviously there was some sort of lasting impression.
There are many aspects to Budo and many ways to apply what is learned that have tremendous value and, yet, have nothing at all to do with 'fighting,' 'combatives,' or 'self-defense,' but remain every bit as practical in every sense of the word.
Who cannot say that the application of 'Fudo Shin' or Immoveable Mind to day-to-day life is not just as important, if not more so, than these other aspects of training?
The ability to face down those things inside that might otherwise take charge and drag us down, working towards maintaining that 'One Pointedness' at all times, regardless of situation or circumstance? Keeping a cool, calm, and collected outlook in the face of extreme stress??
Not even certain that begins to scratch the surface, but it certainly is a start for a twenty five year Novice such as myself.
Budo is never short on beginnings as each step presents something old in a completely new light and nothing is ever really the same as it was before... Food for thought.
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