Zen with Len: Change Your Mind

by "Kensho" Len Silverston
Instructor, Mondo Zen Meditation
Student, Castle Rock AIKIDO

Since Aikido is about developing the mind and body, how interested are you in "changing your mind?"

As conditioned human beings, we often do things that do not make sense. My Zen teacher, Roshi Jun Po, refers to this phenomenon as the "hysterical historical." When someone insults us or says something that we do not like, our conditioning may lead us to anger, shame, judgment, violence, or repeating the insult many times in our mind, even though the person only insulted us once! Our minds are often conditioned to react, instead of respond intelligently.

If instead of reacting unconsciously, as we often do, we train our minds to respond with a combination of wisdom and compassion, we can completely and positively transform our lives. Is this possible? Gautama the Buddha, frequently taught that "experience, itself, is the great teacher." In my experience, while substantially changing one's mind is very difficult and requires a great deal of practice, it is possible, and it is the most worthwhile thing one can do. In my life, I changed my mind and the way I think, and my life has been transformed. I have transformed my life from having very frequent and long states of depression, to hardly ever experiencing depression, having a relationship where my wife was just about to leave me to a wonderful, strong, peaceful and intimate relationship with this same wife, and from being a stressed workaholic to living in a much more balanced way, while still enjoying professional success. My point is that we can change our minds!

So how can we change our minds? So how can we change our minds? There are many ways. The Hoffman Institute provides a powerful program, framework, and toolkit of effective techniques that help us identify and transform the patterns in our minds . Dr. John DeMartini has numerous program such as "The Breakthrough Experience" that provides a method to recondition our mind by "collapsing" negative thoughts which zap our energy.

Vippassana meditation is a technique that helps us to see things as they really are, not how we want them to be and "aims for the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation." Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism offering a form of meditation called "Zazen" that is designed to "calm the body and the mind and experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment (satori)."

Hollow Bones is a Rinzai school of Zen that offers a way to change the mind called "Mondo Zen," which involves a dialectic protocol of koans (questions) designed to liberate us and has two parts of "Awakening to Clear Deep Mind" and "Transforming Your Disturbing Emotions." Techniques such as "Kouk Sun Do" and "Qi Gong" are designed to build chi and balances our mind, body and spirit, thus changing our minds. I have mentioned these in particular, since these are some of the techniques that I have personally used to change my mind. There are countless other schools, techniques, forms of meditation, and teachings that can help us change our minds.

What do these techniques share in common? They all focus on awareness, and more specifically, becoming aware of our conditioning, so that we can stop reacting, transform ourselves, and become more conscious, allowing us to think and act more wisely. We, as human beings, live a great deal of our lives unaware of important things, for example, how our minds work.

If you would like to learn about and practice ways to "change your mind", come to a "Zen With Len" held at Castle Rock AIKIDO in Castle Rock CO. For current schedule, visit: http://www.craikido.com/Zen_Meditation_Classes.html

Iaido - Samurai Sword Classes beginnning in April at Castle Rock AIKIDO!

After repeated requests, we are finally ready to start offering instruction in the Japanese art of sword drawing called Iaido. Iaido (pronounced 'ee'-'yai'-'doh') is the traditional Japanese art of drawing, cutting, and retracting the Japanese samurai sword or 'katana.' The word Iaido literally translates as "the way of mental presence and immediate reaction." Iaido is a distinct, non-combative form of martial arts intended to cultivate a practitioner's spirit. Like Aikido, Iaido is purely a defensive martial practice.

Iaido classes will be taught by sixth degree black belt, Hideki Iwakabe Sensei. Iwakabe Sensei was born in Japan and has trained in the martial arts from his early youth. Thus, he was raised with the true spirit of Bushido, the code of ethical conduct of the Samurai based on personal valor, honesty, integrity, and patience. Iwakabe Sensei holds black belts in Shotokan Karate, Kendo, Iaido, and Judo. In 1975, Iwakabe Sensei returned to Japan to study Iaido with 9th degree black belt, Master Danzaki Tomoaki Hanshi. Two years later, Iwakabe Sensei, began teaching Muso-Shinden-Ryu Iaido.

Beginning in April, Iaido classes will be held Thursday evenings from 7pm - 9pm. Castle Rock AIKIDO students will receive a substantial tuition discount for training Iaido. You do not have to be an Aikido student to participate in these classes. Iaido is a great martial art for adults of any age. For more information, please call us immediately at (720) 221-3665. Class size is very limited.

Getting Centered with Aikido (Expansion Part 5)

"The key to good technique is to keep your hands, feet and hips straight and centered. If you are centered, you can move freely. The physical center is your belly; if your mind is set there as well, you are assured of victory in any endeavor."
- Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido teaches us to move, feel and, to some extent, think from our center or what the Japanese call our "hara." It is the place that we are strongest. It is the origin of our power. Our core is where we are eternally abundant. Physiologically, our core is our viscera our gut and it is where our real strength comes from. Many think big muscles are where strength comes from. However, big muscles don't work if the lungs and heart aren't strong enough to pump blood to those big muscles.

Fear produces a neurological response in the body call "fight or flight." This is also known as a sympathetic response. During a fight or flight response blood is shunted away from the internal organs - the hara – and, instead, goes to the muscles of the arms and legs for fighting. Therefore, the body actually loses core body strength. But ironically, a fight or flight response produces only a very short-term bout of strength. In the long run, flight or fight responses exhausts the body faster and actually weakens one’s core strength considerably.

In Aikido, we train to create the very opposite of a fight or flight response. Our goal is to create a relaxation response – or a parasympathetic response. The power of all Aikido techniques derives from one’s ability to relax (expansion), not to tense up (contraction). Physiologically, relaxation responses produce the exact opposite of a fight or flight response. In a relaxation response, blood shunts away from the muscles of the arms and legs and brings it back to our hara. This is exactly what happens when one takes a nap or eats food. A state of warmth, comfort and relaxation is produced. Warmth is an attribute of expansion, while cold is an attribute of contraction. Contrary to what most people think, the key to strength in Aikido is a product of relaxation responses like those produced while meditating. That is also why, for many people, Aikido is a moving meditation. Aikido, when practiced dynamically, produces the same physiologic responses and mental, emotional and spiritual benefits as meditation and meditation-like practices such as yoga and tai chi.

This expansive, relaxation response may seem counter-intuitive to many. However it is essential that the Aikido student embrace his or her surroundings and circumstances (a form of expansion) in order to practice effectively. Through training, one can learn to look at attacks, such as shomenuchi or even a tsuki, not merely as an attack against us but rather an opportunity to create a new expansive experience. If we perceive an attack as an opportunity to create and to reconnect, we can relax and become one with our environment which would include the incoming attack. From this expansive, relaxed state we can create a physical connection with our Aikido partner/attacker, which ultimately holds the potential to alter their intent of aggression. It provides for the opportunity for oneness… even friendship.

On the other hand, if we perceive our Aikido partner/attacker as something separate from us, we tend to contract. When we dissociate from our environment in both a psychological and physiological way, our muscles grow tighter and we either over-breathe or under-breathe. This causes constricted blood vessels in the brain. This, of course, changes blood and other fluid pressures in the body and ultimately does not allow for oxygen or glucose to be adequately fed to the brain. In short, we don’t think straight lose control of ourselves and, of course, our technique suffers.

Aikido is always challenging to describe in writing because the experience of Aikido transcends the written word. Aikido is meant to be experienced firsthand, not read about. The practice of Aikido represents an opportunity for transcendence on physical, mental and even spiritual levels of existence. Come discover how Aikido can serve as a catalyst for tremendous growth and expansion in your life. We invite you to come try a class at our Aikido school in Castle Rock, Colorado for free.