“When this no-Mind has been well developed, the mind does not stop with one thing nor does it lack
any one thing. It appears appropriately when facing a time of need.” - Takuan Soho
The best Aikidoists move with no-mind. In Japanese, when a person worries too much, they are referred to as being atamagaomoi (頭が重い) or “heavy-headed.” When we spend too much time or energy anticipating or worrying about what may or may not be, our heads become heavy, and we lose focus on the present. When we lose focus on the present, our minds linger on something and a suki (隙) or “opening” is created. These weak points are what our opponents exploit to defeat us.
In Aikido, we are supposed to be moving with mushin (無心) or “no mind.” No-mind isn’t a state of apathy or being mentally checked out. No-mind is this fluid state of hyper-focus in which we have learned to drown out all the mental din and exterior distractions and move unencumbered. In sports, this is called being “in the zone.”
When we are attacked, we have to be able to recognize the attack, move in or with the attack, feel our partner’s mental and physical state, re-orient their power, unbalance them, bring their movement into our movement, and then turn their power into a joint lock or throw. And we are not even mentioning O’Sensei’s philosophy of non-violence and caring for our opponents. There is so much going on that our conscious minds cannot keep up and thus we must shift from a conscious mind to a subconscious state to keep up.
In class, we can literally see people’s minds churning as they go from step to step. There is this literal physical pause as their minds check the box for each step. Conscious thought slows our movements down and makes our movements appear choppy. This is just part of the process. However, what is not acceptable is that this conscious thought also opens the door for an internal dialogue of judgement, worry, fear or any other story that we are telling ourselves. This not only slows our movements down but causes undue suffering. The only way that we can learn to turn off our conscious minds is through repetition. With every repetition, our minds go deeper and deeper into a subconscious state. Therefore, the more we train, the more we learn to shut off our minds and flow with the movement. However, we don’t really shut off our minds, we actually just learn to let go of our thoughts.
In the Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi wrote, “Do nothing that is of no use.” What this means is that if something is not productive, we should not be wasting time, money, or energy engaging in it. Author Brian Tracy refers to this as Zero-based thinking. In Zero-based thinking, we take an inventory of the things, people, and behaviors and evaluate them to see if they are productive. If they are not, we stop engaging in them.
Furuya Sensei once wrote, “We are oppressed by our own thoughts and actions. We can become an obstacle to ourselves with incorrect thinking and incorrect actions. Through our training we learn to correct and polish ourselves and come to understand such things about ourselves.” Aikido is a method of learning how to unburden our minds so that we can move unencumbered with no-mind.
Today’s goal: Realize, as Furuya Sensei once wrote, “The most terrible aspect is really just the anticipation or the fear of it.”
Watch this video of Brian Tracy explaining Zero-based thinking.