Article

THE SWORD-PERSON

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QUANTUM PHYSICS

"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by
forces over which we have no control. It is determined for insects as well
as for the stars. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to
a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper."
- Albert Einstein

"In the Japanese language words that use the concept of ki are common.
Gen-ki means "root energy" or one's "personal health'.
Ten-ki relates to "heavenly energy" or "the weather".
Hon-ki relates to "original energy" or "the truth".
Yuu-ki relates to "brave energy" or "courage".
Ki o tsukete means "attach your energy to what you are doing" or "be careful."

"Think of the freely flowing water of a powerful river that comes upon a series of fairly large rocks spread out across the river bed and extend up beyond the water's surface. These rocks affect the flow of the river but they do not change the nature of the water itself. Ki flows like that.

The nature of ki is nature herself, a power indefinable that does not link all people and all things but is, rather, the essence of all that is."

ENERGY

This picture of a crop circle has all the hallmarks of phytomodelling, or Biochemical Bonding . What is the significance? A symbol has only a meaning but an icon has both a meaning and content. Is it a cosmic art of information-sharing, or a warning? Is it a co-resonance of "molecular memories" triggered by Gaia (the living, organic intelligent Earth); a Spherical Standing Wave of the Universe?

Spherical Standing Waves: Each star "looks" at the other along an interconnecting "beam" of "light"

Earth and Us -
On the Element of Water

~~ Water: 1 part hydrogen, 2 parts oxygen
~~ Hydrogen is the energy of stars
~~ The heart of every cell of the human body is hydrogen

The Earth is largely made up of it. As are we . . . And yet about it we know significantly little.

Actual photograph of water

Until the groundbreaking work of a pioneer Japanese researcher whose astonishing discovery about water, documented photographically, changed most of what we didn't know . . . and led to a new consciousness of Earth's most precious resource.Dr. Masaru Emoto was born in Japan and is a graduate of the Yokohama Municipal University and the Open International University as a Doctor of Alternative Medicine. His photographs were first featured in his self-published books Messages from Water 1 and 2. The Hidden Messages in Water was first published in Japan, with over 400,000 copies sold internationally.

"In the Japanese newspaper, 'Yomiuri Shinbun' (a daily newspaper which has a circulation of over 10 million and is the biggest in the world), the following article was reported on the 30th of December 2004.

"To my surprise, in the aerial picture of the tsunami that attacked the coast of Sri Lanka that accompanied this article, when looked closely, a figure that clearly resembles a dragon can be seen amongst the waves.

Copyright (c) DigitalGlobe/HitachiSoft

"The title of the article: 'The Rampage of the Dragon God". In Japan, dragons have long been worshipped as the god for water. In other words, this article is expressing that the irony of the tragedy that hit the coast of Indonesia on the 26th of December, was a result of the God of water, the dragon, expressing its anger."However, as a researcher of water, I felt that this expression was completely justified. What I mean by this is that water is essential for the sustenance of life; however, for how long have us humans been ignorant about water? Answer: Forever, and do not know anything about water. I don't think that it is an exaggeration when I say that people are really, 'ignorant' when it comes to water."For instance, some of the questions are such things as: why can't we survive even for a single day if we were denied of water; why do ice float in water (with other substances, the solid weight is heavier than its liquid form so will always sink to the bottom); why are there things such as surface tension (theory) and capillary phenomenon; why is water its heaviest when the temperature is at 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit; how can water dissolve anything; how can water change its state interchangeably from its solid, liquid and gas form? Although these questions can be answered scientifically, the root of the mystery has not been uncovered in an adequate fashion."Speaking of humans, we are all composed of mostly water. When we are just a tiny fertilized egg, the water content is at 96 percent. A newborn has about 80 percent, and at the adult stage, we are composed of about 70 percent water. Therefore, it can be said that physically speaking, we are mostly water.

"Despite these facts, we still do not know anything about water; thus meaning that we really do not understand who we really are. Although we no longer protest the fact that, 'water is the source for all things' (which was taught by the Greek philosopher, Thales, about 4000 years ago), and understand the importance of water, we really do not understand the essence of it.

"The dragon, the God of water, probably wants to say, "You humans! When are you going to try to start understanding the essence of water, your birth mother? Contrary to this, all you do is not only ignore water but worse, pollute it! I am angry now….!" http://www.thank-water.net/english/index-urgent2.htm

Quote:
"When our system facilitates the free flow of ki, we maintain a state of health, well being, and creativity. 1. There is a dynamic life force (ki) which pulsates through each of us. Most people have developed a tendency to inhibit the flow of energy and movement created by ki when presented with challenging situations. When the natural flow of ki is inhibited, the natural flow of information available (images, sounds, feelings, and "solutions") is also inhibited. Allowing a free flow of energy and movement throughout our system facilitates a free flow of information and thus high quality learning and adaptation. 2. Ki flows best in a system that is balanced in structure, porous, flexible, expansive, and well oxygenated. Therefore in Seishindo we suggest any and all physical exercises and mindfulness training that helps you to accomplish just such a state. This is the kind of state that increases your resilience, adaptive and healing powers, and energy flow. Aikido, Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, Gyrontonics, and various Seishindo practices are excellent for this. The idea in all of these practices is to increase your awareness of what is taking place in the moment, while entering into an experience where you "stop stopping" yourself, and your thoughts and reactions transcend the limitations of your habituated "everyday" pace and rhythm. When we use more of all of our self and less of any one part of our self, our system will tend to be healthy and highly responsive.

3. Breath moves ki and delivers oxygen to the system. Oxygen and ki are highly supportive of health, well being, and the formulations of solutions. Every thought we have and every emotion we experience, affects the flow of breath and thus ki, within our system. When we are able to maintain a relaxed breathing process appropriate to the situation at hand, we maintain a free flow of ki, our emotions tend to be balanced, and our thinking tends to be solution oriented. There are many different disciplines that offer various breathing exercises. Any well conceived breathing exercise will be extremely helpful in "training" you to maintain sufficient amounts of oxygen in your system. In my last article I presented the Heartbeat Breathing Practice. You can find this practice here.

4. Under normal life conditions, when a system receives a "shock" it adapts and rebalances. Extreme life conditions such as trauma result in extreme adaptations, and quite often the rebalancing part of our recovery does not take place. Usually during times of trauma the person's energy, musculature, and thought patterns "lock" part way through the cycle of experience, and the natural and necessary rebalancing back to center, does not occur. When we block the natural flow of ki in our system, we block the flow of the "river of life." Meaningful and lasting change requires shifts in the autonomic, peripheral, and enteric nervous systems, to occur. Such change requires a provoking of the natural wisdom of the body and its capacity to re-balance so that we release the locking of our musculature, and a new higher level of system-wide organization can be allowed to unfold."

(Full article by Charlie Badenhop at: http://www.seishindo.org/articles/cultivating_ki.html)


Training

What all of the above aims to have us understand that our perceived limitations are simply that - perceptions. The truth is that we are limitlessly embroiled within the life-force that is, in Iaido, called ki, and that once the mind engages in this reality it truly affect the way the student expresses their training.Many students new to Iaido think too much about what they are doing. We're conditioned to do so and, initially, it's because we are trying to remember what the instructor is saying and showing us - the form - the pattern of the kata (waza). I observe new students and they are tense. They attempt to use the bokken or iaito as a club; to be strong and forceful with the weapon. I'm constantly asking them to relax; to lighten up, and I see how they feel that they must be the cause of the cut, rather than the intention. I explain that it is the sword that does the cutting and that for the sword the act is effortless. For us, also, the act must be effortless and we must merely be the intention that initiates the sword.

The Soul of the Sword

The relationship between the student and the sword must become symbiotic. The sword has a knowledge of itself that goes back to its ancestors' inception. It knows what it is and it understands its purpose. That is why we bow to the sword at the beginning and end of training: we honour it as a living entity - not as something inanimate. Understanding this is very important: each sword has a soul and the symbiosis that is established between you becomes the intimate communion of your two souls. When the soul of the sword is honoured the blade will sing when we perform a cut. When we attempt to over-ride the sword by implementing our own will over the relationship it does not sing, because we are not trained sufficiently.

Very often this occurs because the student has come back into his or her own head and is not working the ki. It happens when the student does not project ki; when the eyes look down during a cut; when the mind is distracted; when one thinks about having a sword in one's hand rather than acts with intention but without the slow process of thinking.

Ki is effortless: the outcome is already achieved before the sword has left the saya and the cut will never be seen.