I was training in the park with my training partner and we were studying Kenjutsu. We were using bokkens (wooden swords). My training partner and I moved and changed our body positions to try and gain an advantage over each other. I remember I pulled my sword back into a high position (Jordan no kame) to make a strong attack at which point my training partner lunged in attacking my suigetsu (lower stomach), with a straight stab. I moved to the side and lowered my sword to middle position (chuden no kame), and the sword just missed my training partners hands as he dodged my counter. Then we set up again and started our drill all over. We also did this with more than one attacker – this adds a whole new skill set to just moving one on one.

When training in Kenjutsu and Taijutsu one needs to understand and feel the flow of changing positions and of the attacker’s energy. When the body senses the change the body should flow naturally to a safe position to protect itself. However, this requires correct training and mental discipline, a strong will to get to the point where one can move with ease in the middle of conflict and conclude it swiftly.

I roll out of bed taking care not to wake anyone. I pull on sweat pants, t-shirt, pullover fleece, and wool socks. I lace up my cross trainers and say hi to my morning exercise partner, Libby. She waits patiently at the back door for me. I grab her leash, and away we go into the cold dark January morning. The moon and stars are still out and my neighborhood is so quiet I swear I can here the stars twinkling.

I turn right out of my driveway, thinking this morning I will head for some open space. It’s about a mile so Libby and I begin to walk quickly.

The cold is biting this morning and ice crystals begin to form in my beard and mustache. Libby knows where we are and runs ahead. She has much more energy than I do.

I reach the end of the road and cross over a stream and into a clearing. This part of the land used to be a sand pit, so it is open and flat. I perform some Jumping and Agility Jacks, and then some alternating toe touches. I drop down for a quick set of pushups and some light stretching. I then go through the Sanshin Kata, ten repetitions for each of the five pieces, and a brisk run down and around the clump of Fir Trees and back. The crusty snow and sand underneath my feet makes running real challenging. I finish up with some deep breathing and energy generating exercises and head for home.

Back home, I feed Libby and the cats and put the coffee on. I have a big glass of water with a pinch of Sea Salt dissolved into it. I break fast with humble Miso Soup, yogurt with granola, and some black coffee.

After breakfast it’s off for a quick cold shower and make ready for the day.

This has been my morning routine/ ritual for more or less the last five years. I feel that consistent routines lend themselves to successful outcomes. I cannot remember when I first herd this statement, but it’s a rule I try to live by.

“Consistency is the measure of success!”

In my opinion, the two most important factors in any physical health & conditioning program is first consistency and second early morning ~ every morning.

Without consistency you cannot achieve your health and skill related conditioning goals in an efficient and timely manner. As a corollary to this consistency, is exercising early morning ~ every morning. Some mornings may just be ten minutes of walking, stretching, or deep breathing. But a little consistent exercise every morning will pay dividends in your overall physical health and conditioning régime.

So why in the morning? Lets look at some facts.

Over 85% of people whom exercise consistently, exercise in the early morning. Consistency is the measure of success.
Just 30 minutes of consistent moderate early morning exercise “jump starts” your metabolism and can keep it elevated for 4-6 hours.

The general consensus of early morning exercisers is that you’ll feel energized throughout the day.

Research has suggested that consistent early morning exercise “regulates” the appetite. Subjects indicate they are not as hungry and overall make better food choices. Consistency builds results and results increase motivation to achieve health & skill related conditioning objectives and goals.

Research suggests that with consistent early morning exercise you should exercise the same time every morning and ideally wake-up at about the same time on a regular basis, your bodies endocrine system and natural circadian rhythms will begin to adjust. This takes about six to eight weeks. Oddly enough, a couple of hours before you awaken, your body will begin to prepare for wake up and exercise because it has been conditioned to intuitively “know” what is about to happen. It is much easier to awake, when the body is “prepared” to awaken.

How does this happen?

The short answer is your body’s metabolism and all the hormones involved in the activity of exercise begin to elevate while you still sleep. Thus, you feel more alert, aware, energized, and ready to exercise when you do wake up. These hormones prepare your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure and blood flow, heart rate, and respiration rate [O2 or Oxygen use].

For many people, that “time”, every early morning becomes something they look forward to, a time to think clearly & concisely, pray, meditate, plan the day ahead, or just relax mentally.

Research has proven that consistent early morning exercise increases ones overall mental acuity with a lasting effect of four to six hours.

Taking exercise early first thing in the morning is really the only way to insure that something else will not displace exercise out of your busy daily schedule.

If finding time is difficult, it is suggested that anyone can get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier to exercise if you in fact make physical health and conditioning a real priority in your life.

Research has also demonstrated that that people who exercise on a regular basis have a higher quality of sleep and therefore require less of it.

Most of this information is based on sound scientific research in the field of Exercise Physiology. The ancients have known it intuitively for centuries.

But don’t take my word for it, give it a real honest try and the rewards will be great. It may not add years to your life, but it will surely add life to your years.

Be well and Gassho!
Ken Savage

Recommended for Everyone

• Training gift certificates: call the dojo or contact us online to ask about training gift certificates. We’ll help you customize exactly the right certificate to fit your budget and the recipient. Call us at 617-789-5524 or use this form now.

Books

• Enlightened Self Protection by Stephen K. Hayes. Our top recommended book for beginners in the dojo, introducing you to basic techniques, ideas, and Japanese language phrases commonly used.
• Action Meditation by Stephen K. Hayes. If you’re looking for an in-depth introduction to meditation practices, this is the definitive book to have and give.
• See all other recommended books here…

DVDs

• The Complete To-Shin Do Black Belt Course by Stephen K. Hayes. This 12 disc collection is the ultimate gift for martial artists, covering all of the material in the To-Shin Do curriculum up to black belt. Hours of training and ideas for both practitioners and teachers!
• Togakure Ryu Ninpo Taijutsu Kihon by Stephen K. Hayes. If you’re interested in classical training, taught exactly in “textbook” form from the Togakure ninja family lineage, this DVD will give you a solid foundation.
• Active Meditation for Martial Artists by Stephen K. Hayes. Want to get started with meditation but need a guide? This DVD includes all the basics of meditation plus a 20 minute guided meditation you can use over and over again.
• Ninja Kuji Kiri by Stephen K. Hayes. At the pinnacle of the Togakure ninja family method is the kuji kiri spirit protection power method. Learn the prerequisites and rich lore of this once-secret method, including practical modern-day exercises.
• See all other recommended DVDs here…

In learning how to break free from old habits and structure we are also learning how to address new situations. When somebody attacks us they may have an expectation of how we will respond to that attack, based on their own self interest of getting what they want, even if it involves using force. Our system of martial arts deals with the redirection of that expectation. Something as simple as a technique that shifts our centerline out of the attackers path is enough to create a rupture in the reality of the attacker, just as if they tried to grab a ghost.

Some martial arts systems like Ninjutsu and Toshindo are there to help people break free from self imposed limitations. This is why it is called a martial arts school (Ryu). The school provides you with the tools to break free from your own limitations. Initially when I was a young student I thought that martial tools (sparring, jumping rope, ground fighting and bag work) were the end or highest level of martial skill. I even made fun of other people who were not training in the same way, however, only later did I realize how limiting this way of thinking was. You see, what I failed to understand at that time was that this method of training – the set of tools I had acquired – were only there to help me break through my own limitations. An old teacher of mine used to say “Don’t eat the menu because you think it’s your lunch but choose your food carefully so it gives you energy to live and create.”

Mr. Hayes has helped me along the path of self discovery as a martial artist but I am constantly aware that it is up to me to search for the next personal break through.

Boston Martial Arts Center

My first experience with Japanese Kenjutsu was in 1975 at the ‘All East Coast Karate Championship’. It was one of the final demonstrations and listed as the high point of the tournament. The young Karate Master jumped out on the stage with a loud shout (kiai) and started to slash the sword in the air like he was cutting an imaginary opponent as he shouted. The demonstration lasted about 45 sec. and it was a blaze of steel and yelling. Then it suddenly stopped! The Springfield Civic center  was so quiet you could hear the popcorn crunching under our feet as we waited for the clapping, then there was a roar from the crowd and the Karate master received a standing ovation. I went home that night thinking about Japan and the Art of the sword.

I was only 17 at the time but it never left my mind. About 8 years later I was in Dayton, Ohio training with Grandmaster Dr. Hatsumi’s student Stephen K. Hayes. The class started with our bokken (wooden swords). I started to hold it like a baseball bat but Mr. Hayes soon showed us how to hold it correctly. Holding it like a baseball bat grip was very limiting and there was no flexibly to the movement. He started to lecture about the importance of getting a good feel of your basic taijutsu (Body Arts for Martial Arts) and then starting to move with the sword.

He had us try basic cutting in the air with our Ninpo Taijutsu, placing the sword in (kamae) positions that would be to our advantage when our physical and spiritual state was under stress from an attacker. This taught me a great deal about martial arts strategy. At the time the ‘Go Rin No Sho the Book of the Five Rings’ spoke about sword strategy and life. Mr. Hayes’ sword strategy which he learned from his teacher could be applied the same way to life but like all things in Martial Arts it had to be learned on the training floor with interaction with your training partner and a good teacher overseeing the process. In the old system of training in Japan things were understood via interaction and intuition. The deeper lessons and strategy were beyond words.

As a martial arts practitioner it is important to understand the history behind what you are studying, for example Kenjutsu. What does it mean to understand the sword and what it represents? If you consider the history of the blade it may mean the difference between life and death. Therefore the study of this particular art was never taken lightly. It was extremely serious. In today’s society we do not walk down the street with swords at our sides, however our mental discipline should be the same. The sword is not a glamorous toy to be slammed around in a dojo like what we see in the movies. The sword is a physical manifestation of the discipline of our thoughts. This is why the book Go Rin No Sho addressed the concept of strategy and life. In this way all of the learning that we acquire as students can be applied to all aspects of our life inside and outside of the dojo.

Self-defense developed out of a need for defense; these methods included studying not only physical but also psychological defense. There had to be a way to pass on thousands of years of personal and group defense in an orderly way. This became known as martial or war arts. These were generally passed on orally from tribe to tribe or family to family and in recent history (the last five or six hundred years) they were found documented in various kinds of media. This shows the serious nature of the study of personal protection over time. Without the passing on of information, these tribes or families were destined to repeat the same errors that occurred with their ancestors – loss of resources, life and in some cases whole generations. Whole civilizations were changed through the use and misuse of these arts.

What I’d like to talk about today is the base of self-defense that has not changed since time itself. Self-defense included things like awareness of the weather, political climate, resources, motivations and ambitions of the tribes or families. Today these have not changed. If one studies weather patterns, rain and snow tend to reduce, but not eliminate, crime on the street. The desire for money, narcotics, personal power are also all things that motivate the ambitions of a predator.

What we have to do as practitioners is create situations where the predator will have limited access or control to these things. If we go back, study and look at martial arts as they were passed on through history we can review the lessons of the ancestors or families of these systems and extract necessary information to keep us safe in today’s society. If we look at an ancient document of the Tenmonchimon as an example, it speaks of weather patterns, timing, movement and flow. So by extracting and studying this information from these old documents we can gain a perspective of personal protection that can only be acquired through the study of martial arts.

For instance timing: there are good times and bad times of the day to travel. Personal crimes like robberies, muggings, hold ups etc. tend to be less during rush hour when its very busy but a few hours before or an hour and a half after rush hour are times when the streets are vacant – everyone is at their destinations. These are times when the predators start to practice their crafts. Knowing about this timing can help us understand when good travel times are and when times tend to be riskier. We come home from work and find a robber has ransacked our house. If one just looks at the statistics put out by the justice department or by asking local law enforcements you will see that a majority of robberies occur during times when we are safely at work.

As you can see, we have only taken one element of traditional martial history (and just in this one example) we can notice how vast the application is to our daily activities. Remember that the first and most important point about self-defense or martial arts is reducing our vulnerabilities. By studying risk assessment we can get a true picture of how vulnerable we are and how safe we are. This has nothing to do with paranoia but only increasing our awareness. If we deny our vulnerabilities we open ourselves up for more danger. By assessing potential risk and addressing it we can live in more comfort because we can avoid the risk or danger. Martial arts address these risks.

Self-defense starts with the awareness of ones environment and awareness of the human body. The interaction of the two is a critical point to understand. When the environment changes and danger is present the body reacts to these changes, physiologically and emotionally. The response that happens is that adrenaline is released into the body which prepares muscles for what is commonly known as the fight or flight or adrenal response. This heightened state of alert is meant to prepare the body for emergencies, however due to the sudden dumping of adrenaline, people may have a different reaction altogether. Some people may even interpret this reaction as fear. In combat when the body first sees danger happening it prepares to protect itself and if during this preparation the mind and body are not operating together then a certain degree of confusion may arise. At this point the mind may not be prepared to deal with such an unfamiliar situation or unfamiliar physiological reaction. For example a person may loose control of their muscles and they may not be able to either run away or fight back. They may feel a sudden rush of blood and elevation of pulse rate which may hinder their breathing. In addition their vision may narrow due to the adrenal response. These are a few examples of possible occurrences.

Predatory behavior

The predator will exhibit certain characteristics in relation to the adrenal response. Predators tend to have more experience with the adrenal response than the average citizen, sometimes they call it a ‘rush’. Predators also know that if a certain situation presents danger to them to take flight. They will always look for easy targets, to lessen their chances of getting hurt in a confrontation. Predators know that their general surrounding environment is one that has to be watched carefully. Since a predator is aware of the potential of things changing in his disfavor, his rush or adrenal response might be one of violence. For example, he will show a weapon, yell or be very loud, pounce and hit or exhibit a variety of aggressive gestures.

The preparation for conflict using martial arts.

In martial arts there are specific ways to train in such a way that one can prepare for trouble. One of these important points is to understand that whether or not one is trained in martial arts, everybody is vulnerable to circumstances and unexpected events. When a martial artist prepares it is necessary to train the proper muscles for conflict and also train the mind in a proper fashion for conflict. The mind and body have to be able to act as one. This is called ki, generally known as the timing between the mind and the body. For example if the timing is off on a car engine it will not be able to function properly. The same is true of the body and mind, if they are not synchronized then a failure may result. When ones’ heartbeat suddenly increases narrowing the vision we interpret this as fear, in reality it is the body preparing itself for combat and allowing for a more focused vision. If properly trained this burst of sudden adrenaline could create masses of release for energy such that a 104-pound person could take down a 300-pound person.

My uncle was on the police force and he arrived on the scene of a young woman and child being crushed under a car. With the assistance of his partner they physically lifted the vehicle to assist the victims. The result of this intervention was damage to his back but it saved the lives of the mother and her child. So as we see in the above example if the energy is properly channeled at the right time, it is not guarantee of success, but the chances of reaching safety are significantly increased.

Given time, the right attitude and the willingness to learn, understanding the adrenal response in association with martial art training can lead to great skill, confidence and awareness.

* In part two of this article we will talk about our external environment, how this affects our personal protection and awareness but most importantly we will discuss how to keep safe and maintain a happy and beautiful life.