意生身
Ishoshin
Mind creates body
A Mindful Warrior Has No Openings
In budo and in life, change comes down to mindfulness. The word for mindfulness in Japanese is “nen” (念) which is made up of the words now (今) and heart or mind (心). When we are mindful, we have the ability to be consciously aware and with this awareness we can create change. In Japanese the phrase “ishoshin” (意生身) means “Mind creates body.” An interaction with a patient the other day helped me to realize that this. She asked, “What is better essential oils or crystals?” I’m not well versed in either so I said, “I don’t know.” She pressed and asked me how they worked. I said, “I don’t know, but if we boil them down to their essence I am not sure either of them are a cure but what they do is help us to create mindfulness and that helps us to make changes which helps us get better.” We can use external things to help us internally. A crystal can remind us to be grateful and that helps us live a kinder less angry life - that’s mindfulness. Counting calories helps us to not overeat and that enables us to lose weight - that’s mindfulness. Purposefully making an effort to go to class helps us to get good at Aikido - that’s mindfulness. Stopping to smell lavender when we are stressed calms us down - that’s mindfulness. When a martial artist refers to mindfulness they say, “sukima ga nai” or “to have no openings.” An opening is where our opponent gains a victory over us as they slip pass our inattentiveness to strike us. An Aikido teacher once said to me, “Every action begins with a thought.” He was right because our minds create the opportunity for success or failure. Being attacked in training is sobering and that danger forces us to be mindful and life’s trials are no different. Thus, to be successful in budo and in life, all we need to do is be mindful of ourselves and use that mindfulness to create change.
Today’s goal: What mindfulness can you use to create change or achieve your goals?