Breaking bad habits – part 1

Hello, I’m the Kendo Cat, Haru-chan!

Today, I’d like to share something I heard from my senior senpai (Celery-san) that made me think, “Oh, I see.”

The other day, I was trying to improve ki-ken-tai no icchi, so I spent about 10 minutes before practice to practice men-uchi with Uncle Bob.

The moment I struck the men, I realized, “Oh no! My right foot was on the ground first again! No good!”

Wanting to erase that mistake, I didn’t even get into Kamae, I did another men in a hurry again, then, I failed again,

Without any thinking, I kept striking men again and again…

So, in the end, I just kept hitting the men, panting nonstop.

Celery-senpai, who was watching me, said to me.

“Haru-chan, maybe you should try more slowly.”

“Oh, Celery Senpai!” What on earth are you doing with two celery sticks on your head?

Celery Senpai continues.

“Haru-chan, I understand you want to quickly fix your bad habits, but especially at time like this, ‘Haste makes waste’. First, try practicing the correct movements slowly.”

Slowly?…

Well, I want to be able to hit correctly in tournament or Ji-geiko, so there’s no point in striking men if I don’t hit quickly.

Celery Senpai’s eyes gleam sharply.

“Haru-chan, you’ve just thought, there’s no point in doing it slowly, haven’t you?!”

Celery-senpai sighed, then slowly shared her own experiences with me.

“I know I sound like I’m all high and mighty, but the truth is, a few years ago, I did exactly the same thing as Haru-chan.

I wanted to break my bad habits as quickly as possible, so I worked really hard, practicing Suburi a lot, traveling all different dojos to do De-geiko, and did many Ji-geiko with various type of senseis.

But I’ve never be able to fix my bad habits and I ended up hurting my shoulder and foot from too much kendo practice.

So one day, I reluctantly started doing Mitori-keiko.

Then, as I watched all the different people practicing kendo, I suddenly thought,

Hey, maybe all those Suburi and Ji-geiko, which I’d been so desperately trying to break my bad habits were actually just drilling those bad habits into my body even more.”

“In other words, back then, I was practicing hard to correct my bad habits, but I was just going through the motions without really clarifying to myself what I needed to do to correct them.

I guess I was just thinking to myself, if I practiced hard, I’d eventually correct them…

I guess I thought that “doing practice” itself works like a ♡charm♡.

But if I practiced like that, I’d end up practicing with my most comfortable way.

In other words, I was always practicing with my bad habits, and every time I practiced, my body was getting more and more familiar with my bad habits. So, my body ended up becoming good friends with my bad habits.

In the end, what I did wasn’t to fix my bad habits, but to “reinforce” them. You know what I mean?”

“You know the proverb, ‘The child is father of the man’.  This proverb means that the personality and temperament formed by the age of three won’t change even at age 100. I think this is exactly what bad habits in kendo are.

So, bad habits you pick up as a beginner aren’t easy to break, even if you become a Yudansha-ranked kenshi.”

“So, once you’ve acquired a habit, it’s usually not something you can fix in a short period of time. It’s important to prepare for the long journey.”

“So, without rushing, you should develop a strategy to steadily, step by step, move towards improvement.

I think the first step in that strategy is to try doing the correct movements slowly.

The reason is that when you try doing the correct movements slowly, you realize something important.”

“When you try doing the correct movements slowly,

First of all, I think everyone will feel a great sense of “discomfort.”

This “discomfort” is the gap between your incorrect movements and the correct movements, that is, the one you need to fix. That’s the key point.

Anyway, I think it’s really important to let your body and brain experience this “discomfort.”

If I had to put it into words, it would be something like:

“Ah, it’s not that feeling, but should be this feeling.”

Once you experience it for yourself, you’ll know what “sensation” to pursue in order to correct the habit. The important thing is to make your body memorize this sensation thoroughly.

It’s probably hard to experience this “discomfort” when moving at a fast speed, so it’s important to do it slowly.”

“Even if you’ve identified what needs to be corrected, can you immediately perform the correct movement? Remember the proverb ‘The child is father of the man’- it won’t be easy to change it right away.”

If you’ve ingrained bad habits in your body, In order to completely reform them in the right direction,

you have to

consciously,

continuously,

persistently

send the correct information to your body and brain.

If you don’t do that, your old bad habits will just keep coming back unconsciously.”

“So if you just carelessly do many suburi or do lots of Ji-geiko, your body will end up moving in the old, incorrect way. Sadly, even if you start to move in a positive direction, you’ll just be drilling those bad habits into your body again. It’s like taking one step forward and three steps back.

So by consciously and patiently repeating the correct movements slowly,

you can teach your body and brain to move correctly by telling them,

Not like this, like this!

Not like this, but like this!!!

I think it’s absolutely, absolutely, absolutely necessary to go through this stage of hammering it into yourself over and over again!

Oh, Celery-senpai, you’re so excited, your face gets be so reddish…

So rather than doing suburi 100 times,

doing it slowly, focusing on the correct movement, even 10 times,

will steadily bring your body and brain closer to your goal.”

“Well, I’ve been talking like this for a long time, but even for me, once I fix one bad habit, I have to fix the next bad habit, so I’m still only halfway through a long journey.

Just like Haru-chan. So, let’s both work hard and not rush.♡”

With that, Celery-senpai ran off with a refreshing smile.

One of the two celery sticks stuck in her head seems a little wilted, but I wonder if it’s okay?

After Celery Senpai left, I faced Uncle Bob again.

Uncle Bob looked at me and nodded silently.

As Celery Senpai instructed, I visualized the correct movement and I slowly hit Uncle Bob with men.

Oh…

“Discomfort feeling” !!!!! ━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━!!!!!

Uncle Bob seems to be smiling at me kindly

I see…

Breaking bad habits is a long process.

So

Don’t rush, take it slowly, but steadily…

Okay, I’ll do my best!

I’ll go to practice again tomorrow ♪