Breaking bad habits – part2

This is Haru-chan, also known as Kendo Cat.

Today, I’ve made another new discovery, so I’d like to write about it.

The other day, taking Celery-senpai’s advice to my mind

I tried practicing “slow” men strikes, aiming for ki-ken-tai icchi.

Of course, with Uncle Bob…

It’s true, when I try to do it slowly, I feel a sense of discomfort, like, “Whoa, what’s this?”

Good, goodヾ(・ω・｀) Feeling that discomfort is the first step, so this is OK.

I’ll try to strike the men slowly, maintaining that discomfort.

However, no matter how many times I tried, I still felt like it’s not quite right.

I should set my kamae like this, move like this to feel that discomfort, not like this, and strike the men there! I tried to be conscious of my body movements, but somehow, I just couldn’t come up with a satisfactory striking.

Then Celery-senpai appeared again without me noticing. She had two celery sticks stuck in her head again.

Celery-senpai said, “It looks like you’re already making an effort to do things slowly. That’s impressive.”

I replied to Celery-senpai, who had praised me.

Celery-senpai nodded and said, “I know! That’s what happened to me, Haru-chan. I kept the sense of discomfort and was doing the correct movements, but somehow it just didn’t work. Let’s find the cause together. Now, try hitting men in the same way again.”

Following Celery-senpai’s instructions, I once again aimed for Ki-Ken-Tai icchi, and hit Uncle Bob’s men in the same way as before.

Then, Celery-senpai said to me,

Relax my body?

“That’s right, try doing it more relaxed.”

Ha! I see…

Indeed, in order to strike men while maintaining that sense of discomfort,

I was telling myself, “Put your hand here like this, keep it still, and while feeling the movement of your feet, do this, do that…” and I think I was unconsciously tensing up too much.

Especially in the last moment, when I was about to strike men, I was thinking, “I have to strike now!!” and completely tensing up.

Celery-senpai continuously told me,

“Relax, relax! OK? Relax your body and try another strike.”

Okay, relax, relax…

I tried striking another men with focusing on relaxation.

And then…

Huh? Um…

I’m happy that I managed to do it, but it’s a strange feeling, like I was bewitched by a fox.

I’d tried so many times before, but my body wouldn’t move the way I wanted, so why did it happen so smoothly when I just relaxed a little?

I wonder why?

What’s different between me now and who I was before?

I thought about it.

I get it! The reason I couldn’t do it before, and the reason I can do it now…

Actually, this is elementary school-level “physics.”

In other words, whether you’re going to hit men, bringing up and bring down shinai, whenever you tense up your body, the “weight” of the effort you exert is added to your movement.

Normally, the weight of the shinai alone should be enough to easily control it, but by adding the weight of my own strain, I made my shinai heavier, and as a result, I couldn’t swing it the way I wanted… I think that’s what happened.

In terms of my body movements, by straining my legs and upper body, I was having to carry more weight forward than I actually did, making it more difficult.

As a result, I was creating a situation where I had to “fight” with the shinai and my own body to strike men.

The shinai and my own body should work together in harmony when performing kendo, but without realizing it, I was doing the exact opposite.

Looking back, one of the things my Sensei always told us was, “Be relax.”

I’d completely forgotten!

Even though my Sensei had told me so many times,

I’m sure that up until now, I’ve always thought,

Be relaxed…?

I wonder if it’s really that important?

If I strike with being relaxed and releasing all tension, won’t my strikes be sharp and powerful?

Somewhere in my heart, I was skeptical, and I don’t think I’d really thought about it seriously until now.

But now, I clearly realize.

One of the objectives of striking while relaxed is

to avoid applying more force than the natural weight of either shinai or my own body.

Because I’m not using unnecessary force, you can move your body and your shinai lightly and easily…

Or,

you can immediately transition to the next movement…

Furthermore,

When you’re relaxed, you can also be more sensitive to feel your opponent….

That’s what it means.

By the way, last weekend there was a big boxing match, and I was watching it on TV.

There were a lot of fast, sharp punches…

Those are moves that the boxer can only pull off because they are relaxed and not tense up…

Hmm, I feel like I’ve had another epiphany ♡

Oh man, Celery-senpai, thank you for always reminding me of important things!

Huh?

Celery-senpai was gone without me noticing again….

Oh, there’s a stalk of celery on the floor…is that the one that was dying the other day?

Celery-senpai made me realize that when trying to correct a bad habit,

“Do it slowly.”

“Relax.”

With these two things in mind, I’m going to try my best again with Uncle Bob, striving for the Ki-Ken-Tai Icchi.

Hmm… but when I face Uncle Bob, for some reason, I immediately feel my body tense up.

If I try to get even more fired up with my Ki-ai like, “Yaaaah!”,

I feel my body stiffen completely.

Hey, isn’t it actually a very advanced skill to be able to stay relaxed and calm while increasing your Ki-ai?

Eeek, I still have a long way to go.

So,

I will go to practice again tomorrow! ♪