Adam Mitchell [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Shugyo, reflections on the path to self mastery and forging the way. My name is Adam Mitchell. I'm your host and fellow student along this path. This is a project that I have put together to explore those deeper dimensions, that next step in your martial art training outside of the dojo, within the dojo, and within your own heart and within your own spirit. It's about that thing that people say. Martial arts isn't just about punching, kicking, and choking. It's something more. It's the reason why parents feel they should bring their children to martial arts to learn something, but they never really know quite what it is.
Adam Mitchell [00:00:40]:
They can say confidence and character development and hard work, self defense, and all these real kind of these these sort of things out there that but they can't really define it perfectly. What is that? Is it the cultivation of the DAO? Is it the path of the or the warriors' way? What exactly is it? In this project, I hope to work towards having conversations with those people who have walked that path, those people who are cultivating that way and share their stories with you and hopefully inspire you to walk your own path and to be able to create your story. Today, I wanna start off with something that we hear about all the time. It's told to us over and over again, especially in the martial art that I study. It's something that has been written in books. It's sort of this, it's sort of this kinda saying that everybody says, and it's very simple. Keep going. But what does that actually mean? Is it just a high five? Is it just kind of a pat on the ass? Like, what does keep going mean? Now in the Japanese martial arts, that can be translated to a number of different in a number of different ways to mean a number of different things.
Adam Mitchell [00:01:56]:
What I've discovered and in my own experience is something quite different, and I wanna share that with you. In one of the important programs that I offer at my dojo, we do a very topic specific, highly focused, and abbreviated period of time where a small group of students focus on one specific area, and they do do so, like I just said, for a compressed period of time, usually about 6 weeks. And this is called the gashuku. Now in Japan, businesses and, sporting teams and and and really, you know, karate and, in budo, they'll do gashaku where where students will go away. They'll go off to the mountains, and they'll do a week of hardcore training. Here in our dojo, this was sort of came out of COVID where I wanted to take communities of students and do these online intensives and give them, work and projects that they could do so that they could continue to expand themselves with kobudo or the traditional the old martial arts and, continue to train and stay alive. Right? So the gashaku that we began online has grown into those, and it's something that I discovered inside these gashuku that I wanna I wanna share with you. Now like I just said, there's a significant focus on fundamentals and, like, a real core understanding of basics in each one of these training experiences.
Adam Mitchell [00:03:24]:
And for for us and and for my students on average, I'm looking at them achieving repetitions of their basics, of whatever the root material is going to be, of whatever that topic is by somewhere passing around 2,000 repetitions of the fundamentals each week. So that's gonna be around 350 a day, and they're gonna have, you know, a day of recovery. But this is gonna put them if they're doing the numbers like that, if they're getting about 2,000 a week, that's gonna put them at 12,000 repetitions by the end of the gashaku, and that kinda speaks to that number of 10,000. Regardless of culture or tradition, that number is the gold standard for understanding and owning a movement. Once you do it 10,000 times, then you understand it. Now the challenge that I bump up against with that is that if you do something 10000 times just a little bit wrong, you're gonna be really good at doing it wrong. This is why even when I taught, I spent 25 years teaching children. New of the first things that children learn when they came into my dojo was I'd ask how many guys may think practice makes perfect? Raise your hand.
Adam Mitchell [00:04:41]:
And, of course, everybody puts their hand up because that's what they learn, you know, in gym class york that's what they learn in school. Practice makes perfect. In Budo, practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanence. What makes perfection is the focus on form. And once the form is developed, then you move on to accuracy. Repetition is certainly a breeder of success, and it's incredibly important to have. However, doing the core basic behind the form 12,000 times in this gashaku supports the actual topic that we're working on.
Adam Mitchell [00:05:22]:
Okay? So I hope this makes sense. If they're executing this kata or this form study as I've laid out in each of the lesson plans, then their strikes are gonna be, as I just said, well into 2,000 a week, well past 12,000 by the end of the gashaku, and that one part that one part of the form will be correct. After the 1st week, I ask him a couple of interesting questions. The first is, look at your hands. Now if you've ever done a gashiko on your own or if you ever done any type of training like this that has that level of intensity, then you're gonna know that if these students are doing the training, then they're gonna see blisters york they're gonna at least see old calluses get some shine to them. And I'm sorry if they're not if they're not breaking through those blisters and they're not having to tape up their hands and put gauze on their hands and wrap their wrists or or wrap their knuckles. They're not training hard enough right now inside that gashaku. They need to push themself further.
Adam Mitchell [00:06:22]:
What does that look like? Now I'm certainly not saying hurt yourself. If you're not hurting yourself, you're not doing it hard enough. No. I'm not saying that at all. The next is I want them to feel their legs and their arms. Now, of course, depending on whatever that topic is, if they're not feeling that lactic acidosis, which is just that soreness brought on by intense training, they're simply not training enough. They have to push forward. They have to push forward.
Adam Mitchell [00:06:49]:
They have to keep the trajectory that they're on going forward. They have to build momentum. They have to become more. Now for those students that do have their wrist wrapped or their hands taped or they've got band aids on york they're soaking their muscles or they're abusing, you know, ice packs. Great. I honor them. But if you're not one of those, you don't find yourself even after a regular class, after a regular as we call, a session of keiko, even if it's a jishu keiko, which is a term in my kobudo, the traditional martial art that I study is a term that we use pretty frequently, which is just solo training. If each of these sessions don't come with some type of exhaustion, of some type of breakdown, then there is nothing to build up from that breakdown.
Adam Mitchell [00:07:40]:
A common saying and this common salutation in the martial art that I study is keep going. Now keep going is something that can be translated in Japanese in a number of different ways and kind of have some different context to it. But I'm gonna share with you what my experience is again and sort of bring the context to the dojo into this. Now I think too often this word, is the salutation or the sign off. Keep going, Adam. You know? It's, it's it's kinda too much of a feel good teenage cheerleader on the sidelines sort of rooting you on thing, but rather, I'd like to give you a different perspective. I feel it's more of an in your face command to understand the demands of this art if you suppose that you're gonna get it or if you even deserve it. Hope that makes sense.
Adam Mitchell [00:08:27]:
If you want this art, then go get it. And if you do choose to go get it, then you damn well better expect to keep going. This art isn't a place for hobbyists if they're gonna get it. Hobbyists get broken. Watchers or new touchers who pay exorbitant amounts of cash just for a piece of paper brushed by some Japanese dude that they barely even know brushed in some language that they can't even read. This just this isn't for them. They're the ones who are gonna say keep going with a high five and not get it. Consider, like, that Budo is discovered in many zones of exhaustion, exhaustion that each student journeys into, whether that be, like, physical or emotional or spiritual, even having sort of their own sub dimensions of stress.
Adam Mitchell [00:09:20]:
There are a lot of different sub dimensions and many of those unique subdimensions are unique to our own paths. I don't have that same path that you do. But one thing is true that if we are going to use Budo as the fuel for our path, then it's imperative that in order for us to understand that, we have to go for it. We have to go after it. And in order to do that pursuit, it's mandatory that we keep going. And in order to do that, we have to understand that we will become vulnerable. We will become broken. We must break down in order to grow stronger.
Adam Mitchell [00:10:03]:
If you are not breaking down in your training, there's nothing to build back up. You're a hobbyist. If you're listening to this, I don't think that you're one of those, but we we see them all over the place. As we all know, the the watchers, they look for that fast path. Maybe it's lots of belts, maybe it's lots of paper, Maybe it's lots of brushings and, you know, never realizing that it's so easily seen by those of us that are actually doing the work. But sadly, they're just sort of grains of sand in the wind eventually. They dissolve. They become nothing.
Adam Mitchell [00:10:40]:
I really believe that those of us on the path, on this journey, are building something for our own legacy. Whatever that looks like, you could be doing this to to help you build spiritual strength. You could be doing this because you want a way, a path to age gracefully. You could be doing this because you want an edge in your combat sport routine. Possibly, you just simply enjoy the historical aspects to traditional martial arts, and you make it part of your lifestyle. It doesn't make a difference. However, for those of us on the path who are inspired to keep going, This involves chiseling, pounding, forging the body, the mind, the mental depth that it takes to study, to push yourself almost to the point of madness some days. Commonly, we refer to this as, like, tanren of that pounding.
Adam Mitchell [00:11:42]:
Right? It creates wholeness. It creates longevity. And in each one of the gashikus that we do at our dojo, it's an offering from my dojo for us to take one step, just one step together on during these 6 weeks on this long journey. This is what I wanna offer in my dojo, really nothing york. Just to be able to provide steps like Agashiku. The rest though, the rest is up to us, each one of us as students, But we have to acknowledge that the door is always open. Training is up to you. You have to go for it.
Adam Mitchell [00:12:19]:
You have to go after it. And when you do, you have to keep going. I truly hope that this gave you some food for thought, something to consider, possibly a new way of looking at keep going. And possibly the next time you say that to someone, if you're someone who does say it, you sort of have a new context to it. And if you don't say it, well, maybe now is a good time to start. Shugyo is brought to you by the Yasuragi Dojo, a traditional Japanese martial arts school and nonprofit 501c3 organization located in New York. I'm your host, Adam Mitchell, and I truly hope that you found some value and inspiration from this conversation. If you'd like to learn more about our dojo, yes, it's an actual physical dojo, not just some virtual one made up on the Internet, Find us on the [email protected].
Adam Mitchell [00:13:09]:
The link is in the show notes, or go ahead and access our free mobile app for iPhone and Android. There, you can access our daily training, coaching, live streams, meditations, workshops in both online and in person retreats. Our work depends on the generosity of our supporters, dedicated students around the world, and you by listening to this episode. So if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this channel, and you'll be updated on new episodes and reflections as they roll out. And if you know someone who'll enjoy the conversation that we had today, please go ahead and share. Once again, my name is Adam. This is Shugyo. Until next time.
