It was part of the journey towards black belt.
Train with each of the sempai in the dojo, and for one hour have them share with you what they think is the most important part of the martial arts.
They have one hour to share this experience, no more or less.
Direct and to the point.
What the three sempai shared with me continues to help and direct my training to this day.
If you were training with our group, what would we spend that one hour on?
Once chance to change your movement and build for the future?
The kihon.
Every martial art, our art included has fundamental movements that not only form the building blocks of movement, but also allow your body to move in such a way that it will be able to receive the transmission- capture the feeling of the movement. In our taijutsu training it is the kihon happo, san shin no kata, kamae, and ukemi.
But how can I communicate that in the dead static medium of words, when we are expressing dynamic movement?
Something else that can be expressed in words?
A phrase, a saying from our soke that has carried us through training: Keep Going!
A phrase I reflect on with every class and time in training- good days and bad days of training- Keep Going!