Nanbanote.com » Blog Posts

Power in Perserverence

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:04:23 +0000

Maruyama Koretoshi Sensei, Founder of Aikido Yuishinkai

From Method to Mastery

One of the wonderful things about learning Aikido is that it takes you step by step into a world that is beyond steps. Training takes you from the world of technique to the realm of art, from method to mastery.

My teacher Maruyama Koretoshi, founder of the Aikido Yuishinkai, is a Master of this process, and has captured its essence in a way that rewards perseverance and practice. Anyone, regardless of age or experience, can reach a level of mastery if they persist on the path. Genius and talent may give you a head start, but like the hare in Aesop’s fable, it is more often the tortoise that wins the race.

Having trained directly with the founder of Aikido Ueshiba Morihei, Maruyama Sensei’s career in Aikido extends over more than half a century, and at age 72 he is incredibly fit and full of energy. A Japanese proverb says that Perseverance brings Power (keizoku ha chikara nari, 継続は力なり). However, Maruyama Sensei points out that perseverance requires power, and the source of this power is actually training, the mastery of forms which with practice become an integral part of you.

Mastery is a kinesthetic process, learning with your body. Such learning does not abandon you over time. Once you learn how to swim, how to ride a bicycle, or how to speak your native tongue, it sticks with you for a lifetime, even if you are away from it for a while. By contrast, how much do you remember of the subjects you studied in school? Could you still pass the tests now that you once passed years ago to graduate?

Did you see that?

For those who have not experienced the magic of training over time, the martial arts may seem to be more about mystery than mastery.

How is it possible to detect the movements and intentions of an opponent before they actually occur?

How can you successfully subdue a person who is much larger or stronger than you?

How can you keep your center and remain calm when those about you are losing it under pressure?

How can a small turn of the wrist result in such a dynamic throw?

Aikido training may begin with the mechanics of movement, but it quickly progresses from method to magic, as the dynamics become more subtle and sophisticated. The untrained eye may altogether miss what is happening, because beginners focus on following the obvious rather than attuning to the opportunity.

A real Master of Aikido can do both the mechanics and the magic, and will adjust their teaching in such a way that anyone, starting from any level, can move quickly from where they are to where they can be.

To see Aikido in action, to feel its power, is still magic despite decades of practice. There is certainly more to it than meets the eye, which is why when you see an amazing throw in the dojo, all you can say is, “Wow! Did you see that?”

Power of Ritual

Without practice you will end up with more froth than finish. This applies as much in life as it does in the dojo. In fact whatever you do, even not doing something, is actually practice leading to habits, good or bad. The key is to find the best practices which enable you to leverage the power of ritual to a favorable result.

What happens if you drift along without discipline? You end up becoming a victim of your own bad habits, or as some would say, stewing in your own juices.

Samuel Johnson (1709~1784) remarked brilliantly that, The chains of habit are too weak to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken.

If you want to start now forming good habits that will serve you for a lifetime, I can think of no better place to start than Aikido.

Fibonacci Numbers Put Power in Your Ritual

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:02:24 +0000

Can Fibonacci Numbers put power into your physical training ritual?

From my experience, the answer is a resounding YES!

In case you missed The DaVinci Code, you can click here to learn more about Fibonacci numbers and their fascinating recurrence in masterpieces of art and nature.

The sequence begins with 0 and 1, and continues indefinitely by adding the last two numbers to get the next.

0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144,233,377,610,987…and it continues to grow exponentially from there. The simplicity of the formula is remarkable when you see how it occurs over and over again in nature, in the form of proportions of spirals from flowers to galaxies, in population growth with rabbits, in masterpieces of art such as the Greek Parthenon, and in Geometric sections such as the pentagram.

Fibonacci was an Italian who lived in the 13th Century, and is famous both for discovering the sequence of numbers which occurs in nature and art, as well as for introducing the decimel system.

So how can Fibonacci numbers improve your physical training ritual?

This idea was discovered by Joseph Mullen, a practicioner of fitness and holistic wellness, and described in his book The Da Vinci Fitness Code. While I don’t subscribe to his particular approach to fitness training, I found his idea of applying Fibonacci numbers to physical training rituals to be extremely helpful.

In a nutshell, you establish your exercise routines based on repetitions or numbers of minutes, always working with Fibonacci numbers. As a practical matter, you are most likely to work with numbers in the sequence up to 89 or 144.

The way I use it in my daily physical routine is to practice Nanba exercises in 3 minute lengths, Bokken (wooden sword) cuts in units of 55 each side, Zen Meditation in 8 or 13 minutes and Breathing in sets of 13 or 21. If I lose concentration and go over the Fibonacci number, I simply continue until the next Fibonacci number, which can be a daunting challenge, if you shoot past 89!

You can expand or contract your practice session by selecting larger or smaller numbers, and you can be quite flexible by applying the number either in counting repetitions, or if you prefer using a digital timer to count minutes.

Is this approach superstitious? Perhaps. However, if it is good enough for Mother Nature and the masterpieces of Genius, then I think it is at least worth a try! Though belief is also an enhancement, I have found in practice that it doubles or triples my energy to perform physical training rituals, and makes the discipline much more engaging and fruitful.

My exercise routine is based on Nanba and Aikido, whereas Joseph Mullen takes the approach of Western body building. However, I see no reason why you could not apply this approach to Yoga, Running, Dance, or any form of exercise that you prefer.

Why not give it a try, and let me know through your comments below how it works for you.

Off Your Seat and On to Your Feet

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:53:47 +0000

How much of your life do you spend sitting, lying down, or eating, without exercising or using your legs?

Unless you are planning to spend a lot more time that way, think twice about the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle.

Have you considered the now well established connection between positive attitude and health?

Negative thinking can spoil your relationships, ruin your health, and shorten your life.

Some people have learned how to connect the two, using your legs in walking or running, and improving your attitude. Two birds, one stone.

Read more about it in my syndicated article, Getting on Your Feet.

Get off your seat, and on to your feet!

Taiko Tap at Toho Gakuen

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:46:31 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Taiko Tap at Toho Gakuen

As a Nanba Instructor, I teach Tap Dance at Toho Gakuen College of Music. This school is also the center for Nanba training in Japan, and a number of teachers in the Physical Education Department specialize in applying Nanba to specific courses, such as dance, martial arts, and sports, and because it is a music college, we also help students apply Nanba movement to improving their finesse and performance skills as musicians.

Getting ready to attend the Japan EXPO in Paris in July, I am working on finding Tap rhythms that work with Japanese music. Part of my performance there will be Nanba Tap.

This 1’22″ video is a glimpse of the fun improvising and finding ways to weave the Tap rhythms in with the Japanese Taiko drum, played here by fellow Nanba Instructor Koya Sensei.

Nanba is perfect for improvisation, because you focus on how your body feels inside, and connect that to what is happening outside. The basic principles of Nanba help you find physical finesse in whatever you do.

Stage Fright is in Your Favor

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:45:04 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is a 3’45″ video clip from my Nanba Tap Class at Toho Gakuen, where I teach Tap Dance to classical music students. I am speaking to the students, but here is a summary in English of what I said in Japanese.

Do you ever get nervous before a performance? I think most of us have experienced stage fright, when we have to perform in front of people under pressure. We feel like our nervousness is not only obvious to everyone watching, but that it might seriously spoil our performance.

We tend to believe that being nervous will prevent us from doing our best, and might even lead to serious humiliation if we fail.

Have you ever heard of whistling in the dark? It is what you are supposed to do if you find yourself afraid in a dark place. The problem is that it is easy to whistle when things are going fine, but almost impossible when you are nervous. How do you get yourself out of trouble when you are in trouble?

Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine, who has college age kids like you. When he was in Junior High School, he was a 13-year old nervous kid who had played the trumpet for only about six months, but for some reason decided to try out for the band. There were over a hundred kids auditioning for the band, and to his horror, the band leader insisted that each student audition in front of their peers, the entire group!

Names were drawn at random, and each student had to perform. It wasn’t so much the audition itself, as doing anything in front of his peers that terrified him, teen-aged boys looking for any chance to look cool or make someone else the fool.

My friend was nervous to the point of fear, and prayed that his name might not be called. But no one was to be spared this ordeal, and when his name was called, his hands were shaking badly as he put the trumpet to his lips. He was sure that everyone was watching his every move, and that he would not only fail the audition, but would be the laughing stock of the school for months to come.

Somehow he managed to play to the end of the song, but instead of ridicule and laughter, he was overwhelmed by applause and congratulations!

His nervousness and hands shaking had inadvertently produced a beautiful vibrato effect in his trumpet playing, something he had never been able to do in practice sessions! He was suddenly a hero in front of his peers, and not only passed the audition in colors, but was awarded first chair in the band!

It is the same in Tap, when you dance in front of others, or when people are watching you dance, it is easy to get self-conscious. When you perform on stage in front of a large number of people the pressure is even greater, and you may find yourself like my friend, caught in less than positive imaginings of what might go wrong.

However, if you learn how to use the vibrations of your nervousness, the vibrato of your body’s energy and excitement, you can actually end up performing better than you do in day to day practice.

In any case, nervousness is nothing to fear. Stage fright can actually be in your favor.

Nanba Chaplin Step Makes Roadrunners

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:43:16 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

In mid-May, I took a group of Waseda University students who are members of my Shunsoukai (瞬想会, Quantum Leap) Group, (my Physical Finesse Dojo, and we did a Nanba Run around the Nippon Budokan.

This shows a warm up exercise we do to lighten our step before a Nanba Run. If upper and lower body are not coordinated you cannot move this fast. It also keeps you floating like a butterfly, and makes you a faster runner.

After an incredibly enjoyable warm up session, we made our 5 km run in about 40 minutes. Though none of the students were experienced runners, the group managed the Nanba run smoothly without muscle soreness or fatigue.

Nanba shortens the learning curve and increases both speed and endurance for any runner.

Here is some photos from the warm up session.

Real Nanba Roadrunners! Catch me if you can!!

We also tracked it with Nike+iPod, and here too are the results.

Some months we do a Nanba Walk, visiting areas of Tokyo that have interesting history.

Find Freedom in Finesse

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:40:44 +0000

Find freedom in finesse

How good it feels to move. Movement frees us from stress, and we seek freedom in music and physical motion. We love to watch animals in the wild, and pets please us with their constant movement and antics. Walk and run, revel in rhythm, sport, and dance. Free as a bird.

Movement is both a measure of freedom and a celebration of discipline.

But can you relate? For many people movement is more about effort and avoidance than joy and freedom. They would rather ride than walk, be a spectator than a player.

Is this avoidance really from laziness, or could it be due to the discomfort of moving without finesse?

If you tend to avoid movement, you may be finding yourself less flexible, more easily fatigued, and drifting slowing toward a sedentary life. Head down that road too far and you may reach the point of no return. This is not a natural consequence of aging, but rather of the habit of inactivity.

A better solution is to improve the quality of your movement with Nanba, or physical finesse.

Download the quick-guide-to-nanba to find out more about the origins and applications of this approach to movement. Though it is well-rooted in Japanese culture, its contemporary applications range from improving performance in classical music and sports, to enhanced quality of movement in daily life at any age.

It can rejuvenate your body with natural movement in daily life, and can even protect you from harm or injury. If you feel physically awkward, out of alignment, or outflanked by fatigue, it can help you recover freedom in finesse.

There is a series of exercises and applications for this art, but its most ready application is in Nanba Walking.

We are in the process of forming a Nanba Association to promote awareness and training in Nanba movement, though currently the primary sources of information are still in Japanese.

eLearning in Osaka: Calligraphy, Aikido, and Nanba

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:37:12 +0000

I just returned from a full day of filming for a new Wii program for eLearning at Otemae University in Osaka.

Up at 4:30, on the train to Osaka by 6:00, storyboarding on the bullet train, high-definition video recording in demonstrations of Calligraphy, Aikido, and Nanba (physical finesse) throughout the day, and back in Tokyo by midnight.

The program will feature a multimedia introduction and demonstrations of cool elements of Japanese culture under the theme of WA (和, Harmony). It will be an interactive blend of flash, video, audio, and text, mostly in Japanese, but with some points in English.

You can see a panorama of the campus and get an idea of the format by clicking on the links at Otemae University and their program overview.

The program goes into editing and production now, and will be released for viewing online by the end of January. You will hear more about it on this blog, along with a series of eLearning projects which we will launch in 2009.

The Nanba portion of the program was largely improvised, and will feature Nanba walking, running, dance, and philosophy.

It will feature for example samurai movements such as running at a good speed and then suddenly dropping to your knees as you draw a sword.

It will contains a section on the basics of Nanba walking and the rhythm of Nanba movement.
Next year we will make Nanba training available to a global audience through the medium of high-definition interactive video.

One of the more interesting improvisations was done on the spot with a Japanese student who had no previous experience or knowledge of Nanba.

Nanba is based on feeling and image, more than theory, and if this is conveyed properly a person can get it in a Quantum Leap.

There is a phrase in Japanese meaning to keep step with, or keep cadence (歩調を揃える hochou wo soroeru). It has both a physical and a metaphorical meaning, but you cannot get the timing by thinking about it, only by direct kinesthetic perception.

My experiment was to ask the student to stand beside me, and without any verbal signal walk in step with me at the same pace when I started to walk briskly forward. No instruction. As expected, our movements were out of synch from the start, which is obvious from the picture shown here.

Stepping out of Synch (thinking too hard)

We then tried it with very simple instructions, a metaphor designed to help the student feel my movements without looking or thinking about it. I suggesting imagining that we were joined at the hip by an axle, like the two front wheels of a car. Then just to feel it and move with me in step.

This time she moved with me in perfect synch, and kept the cadence throughout.

Stepping in synch (feeling with image)

One of the themes that we will emphasize in the Nanba program is that while we spend lots of time in school learning how to think, Nanba can teach you in no time how to feel and perform better.

Stay tuned, and be sure to subscribe to this blog if you want current information on the eLearning programs we will be launching in English and Japanese in the early part of next year.

Nanba Run at the Creative Edge

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:32:23 +0000

Regularly I meet with the members of the Shunsokai (Quantum Leap), and we study various aspects of the Entrepreneurs Creative Edge.

One thing which any entrepreneur needs to succeed is Energy, and no amount of motivation will help you if you don’t have a strong physical energy base to work from. Nanba running is a superb way to develop physical finesse, energy and stamina, as well as confidence that you can go the extra mile over and over again.

Although we started the Shusokai group with student members from my Alma Mater (1972~73), Waseda University, it is open to participation by students from other universities, as well as adults who want to participate. We meet each month, there is no charge for participation other than use of facilities when needed, and the momentum we build will be Quantum in Quality!

On 22 November 2008, we held our group training session on Nanba running, and ran a course around and in the park at the Nippon Budokan in Kudanshita in central Tokyo. We had 9 participants, and perfect weather. We met first at the Runners Station, a facility in central Tokyo that serves urban runners by providing showers and coin lockers, so that you can make running a part of your daily routine, as well as enjoy some of the beautiful parks in Tokyo.

Though most of the participants are not regular runners, and most are also learning Nanba running for the first time, after about 30 minutes of introductory training in how to do Nanba running, we ran just over 5 km (just over 3 miles) in 39 minutes, at a pace of about 7.3 min/km, burning 460 calories. I know this, because I tracked it on my iPod, using the iPod+Nike application, a brilliant collaboration between Apple and Nike that enables you to select running courses with Google maps anywhere in the world, download running music and training programs, set goals, track your performance, and post the results online! Here is a screenshot of today’s run.

It is surprisingly easy and comfortable to run this distance with Nanba running, and you only get better with practice. Because Nanba emphasizes awareness, enjoyment, and internal coordination, it is the opposite of the traditional ”no pain, no gain” philosophy. One of the things that Nanba helps you understand is how your body and environment are always changing, and how much more comfortable it is to ride the changes, rather than oppose them.

In Nanba the arm and leg movements are coordinated in a same side rhythm, so that when you step on the right foot, your right palm matches that movement with a vertical downward motion. This is quite different from the traditional horizontal arm pumping which you see many runners doing.

There are many subtle aspects to the training which are easier to demonstrate in person than to describe in print, but the result is a stressless running style that exercises the whole body and does not strain any particular part. Even people who have not run or exercised in a while are able to run with relative ease, without feeling fatigued or out of breath. It seemed to us that we were running as fast or faster than many of the non-Nanba joggers who were out running in the fine weather, and judging by their faces, certainly a lot more comfortably.

Moreover, Nanba running can be very fast for short sprints. Simply by leaning forward to accelerate, you not only pull way ahead of the others, but experience the effects of a turbo charger on your running legs! You reach your top speed so fast, that you almost want to put the breaks on shortly after you start. Incidentally, this is a technique that can be used in Nanba self-defence, where after you break free you simply break away and remove yourself from danger as fast as possible! A nice survival technique for any number of situations.

Waseda students are planning a 2-day 100 km walk (62 miles) in May 2009, and my students are already keen to do it in Nanba style. After all, this was the standard form of transportation in the Edo Period in Japan, and people both walked and ran distances that are almost unthinkable for modern people accustomed to riding in vehicles and sitting down most of the time.

In our future monthly Shunsokai sessions, we are planning to do more urban orienteering with Nanba walking and running, exploring some of the history and beautiful scenery in Tokyo. We will keep you posted on our Nanba Run at the Creative Edge!

Nanba Run for Physical Finesse

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:29:29 +0000

Nanba is the Art of Physical Finesse. I define it as the physical art of being creative in crisis.

There are many ways to practice Nanba, and one of the best is through running, because it is challenging enough to put your body in a mild state of crisis, without putting you in any danger.

What are the benefits of Nanba Running?

Balance and tone your body with natural running
Extra energy from improved use of your body
Free yourself from stress and mental blocks
Anti-aging effect through better posture and rhythm

Where can you learn and practice Nanba Running?

If you live in Tokyo, there are opportunities each month to learn more about Nanba. You can become a member of the Shunsoukai (瞬想会), through which I meet regularly with students from Waseda and other Universities.

We meet at the Runners Station, which has coin lockers and showers, change to running clothes, and then go to the Nippon Budokan Park.

I conduct training in Nanba running for about 30 minutes, and then as a group we will run a course of about 5 km in length (roughly 40 minutes) around the beautiful Nippon Budokan.

In case of rain, we have an alternative activity planned at the nearby MOMAT Art Museum. In any case, please contact me by e-mail in advance if you want to participate. Participation is free, but you must sign up to register.