The Making of a Sword

The symbolism of the sword throughout history is profound It represents power and the ability to preserve life by taking life, to cut through to the core of truth, ie to discriminate between reality and nonsense and stand for what is right

The traditional Samurai sword, or Katana, has generally remained at the pinnacle of sword technology for many reasons, balance, shape, cutting power etc. But it's the making of the sword that is the most interesting to me as it has so many lessons for life.

Iron ore and a tiny amount of charcoal are smelted  together in a furnace to produce steel. The swordmaker pounds that into a long flat bar which he then rolls over on itself, heats it again, pounds and rolls it again This heating, pounding and rolling process is repeated over and over, until a unique shape and quality is achieved. The process must be masterful, achieved by a highly skilled and experienced artisan, who learnt by being apprenticed to a master craftsman,  for if the steel is heated too much, the sword becomes too hard and not resilient, so not only is the blade difficult to sharpen, but sooner or later the steel will break in two. And if not heated enough it becomes  brittle and cracks at the slightest impact, easy to sharpen, but of no practical use. Only after that process is complete can clay then be applied along one edge. The nearly-sword is gently heated a final time before being plunged into ice-cold water, forcing the steel to curve more on one side than the other, giving it that unique 'Samurai sword' look

Some time is then spent on adding the hilt and decorative aspects which relate specifically to the new owner. And finally the sword is sharpened to the highest degree possible, where it can unhesitatingly make the difference between saving the owner's life, or taking it. It is a priceless, unique and totally effective instrument

We too are made from two different 'elements', an ovum and a microscopic sperm cell, smelted together in the furnace of our mother's womb. The birth process is our first 'pounding' and we arrive into the world a different shape than we were in the womb. Life then continues to heat, roll and pound us until a unique  identity and attitudinal shape is formed.

This process, mostly performed by our parents, is crucial and best performed by highly skilled and experienced artisans, who have themselves been mentored by their masters (grandparents). Too much heat in the form of inappropriate expectations, conflict, frustration, anger and conditional love, can lead to hardness without flexibility and resilience, the intellect is difficult to sharpen and eventually 'the last straw' will cause a breakdown of emotional control and damage will result, usually externally in the form of rage, lost jobs and hurt relationships.

Conversely, not enough heat, for example in the form of lack of conflict management, lack of discipline and focus and affection instead of love, can lead to a brittle emotional state and low self-esteem, where the intellect can be easily sharpened but is essentially dysfunctional due to the lack of emotional mastery.

Life by its very nature also pounds and rolls us in the form of hardships and challenges which we must accomodate and bounce back from in order to live a successful, fulfilling life; relationships, finances, family, funerals, work and the plain unexpected are the swordmaker's anvil on which our attitudes, thoughts and feelings  are shaped and formed.

There are several crucial periods in our life where this pounding takes on a special significance, where we transition from one period or phase of life into the other. Two years old, seven, fourteen and twenty-one are those traditional times, where the elders of the tribe would guide us through a particularly rigorous initiation to prepare us for what lies ahead.  These initiations were formalised and celebrated so the whole community knew that the youth coming through had received the necessary experiences to continue to contribute to and safeguard the whole community. The elders were our uncles, aunts and older cousins and in all non-traditional societies they have all but disappeared and/or no longer have the expertise or experience to guide us through the necessary heating, pounding and re-shaping.

But Life doesn't know that yet, and the circumstances, conditions and hormones necessary for the process to occur still takes place. The drive to challenge and risk life and limb, to grab it by the horns, is part of our hardwear, particularly in young men, who were traditionally mentored to become the providers and protectors of the tribe. Nowadays we call these periods 'developmental phases', so the vague awareness of such processes are still with us but we lack the wisdom of the mentors to help us through. Consequently our youth are driven by unconscious forces and find their own initiatory experiences in binge-drinking, car-hooning and extreme sports. Or we have dumbed down versions of the ceremonial aspects of initiation in our debutante balls, schoolies weeks  etc, which have only a negligible community 'coming of age' welcoming aspect to them. And so the experiences are sought over and over because they have never been taught or completed by meaningful community acknowledgment in the first place. That's how 30, 40 and 50 year old men (and women) get to behave like 18 year olds, along with the lack of understanding of responsibility as a positive, empowering force.

Quite amazingly though, many of us DO make it and so by the end of school, the sharpening and decorating has already begun. We get good at being able to discriminate and tell the difference between truth and nonsense, we get to understand that problems are challenges that help us grow and that not everyone tells the truth or means what they say. We get rewarded and remunerated for our work and in many instances are literally decorated (esp in the military forces). Our intellect has become sharp, our body, mind and emotions are resilient and flexible, we have become a unique, priceless and totally effective human being.

- to be continued...

Perseverance (Pt 2)

Perseverance is an easy concept to think about, 'toughing it out', 'to keep putting in' easily spring to mind and we all somehow believe or sense we have enough to get us through most situations. Most women who have been through childbirth have direct experience of it, most men who have undergone hard physical training also know more of what they are capable of than those who haven't (at least physically)
The difficulty arises when we need it the most, when we're actually in that ongoing, hard, difficult situation and lose that clarity and can't see the wood for the trees. When we're tired, stressed, don't have enough money, and other situations when we're in extreme discomfort. Neurologically, we go into our back brain - the alligator brain, pure reflex 'kill or be killed' sort of stuff. And we do that because the higher centres, of clear rational thinking and sensitive feeling are under threat and will eventually shut down almost completely if the 'threat' continues for too long. I think this partly explains the fear-based attitude society currently has on the economic situation (but that's a whole other blog!)
So obviously in business, as in life, a certain amount of perseverance is required and the more the better. It optimises your chances of being able to go beyond 'survive' into 'thrive', to get through those inevitable difficult times with less stress and discomfort, which again optimises your ability to maintain a cool head, responsive feeling and creative intuition when you need those qualities the most. And thats how you are able to become more and more successful
As many of you know, I have been teaching and learning the Japanese non-aggressive martial art of Aikido for some 21 years now. Physically, Aikido is a throwing and joint-locking self-defense art. So that's 21yrs of being thrown down to the mat over and over - and getting up for more. 21yrs of having every joint in my body twisted, turned, manipulated and placed into positions of varying degrees of extreme pain again and again - and coming back the next day to do it all over again.
Am I mad? maybe - (but thats another blog!) I do it because Aikido teaches me far more than the small price of temporary pain. It tends to attract people who are thoughtful and like-minded (like Kurek), it is non-competitive and there are no tournaments, so we all do it purely for our own personal development. And in terms of perseverance, well, I can't think of anything better. We train in the heat, the cold and everything in between ... with raw uncoordinated beginners and simply amazing masters of the art who could literally kill with their bare hands ... when every cell in our body is screaming in pain or discomfort and we STILL haven't learnt the technique properly ...when you get thrown onto the mat sometimes awkwardly sometimes like you've been hit by a truck ... well I think I've learned a thing or two about perseverance ...
And here are some ideas about how I think this crucial human quality can be developed:

1/ Goals - seems obvious doesn't it and it is ... why should you put yourself through hell for no reason? no way. As Kurek often says 'your goals drive you forward' and the more value you place on your goal/s then the more willing you are to endure periods of discomfort in order to achieve it/them

2/Awareness - when you find yourself moving into a period of stress or discomfort, bring your awareness to it as soon as possible and do some positive self-talk. For example, that you have endured many other stresses before and you understand how to de-stress yourself, you know the process, even if that process is just time and waiting it out. That perhaps there was something you were telling yourself or imagining that brought this situation on in the first place and now you can go about correcting that. Bring your awareness to HOW you endure or persevere, what works, what doesn't, what's different. And most importantly, what are you now learning? about yourself, your life and others?

3/Support - EVERYONE at some time or other has been an alligator in the swamp of Despair and even though it may feel like it, you are not alone, there is bound to be another alligator in there somewhere who you can cooperate and share ideas with. Or better still find an eagle who USED to be an alligator and find out what they did to become an eagle and fly so high. The knowledge that you have teamates, companions and mentors is absolutely huge and its a genius strategy to never NOT ask for help/support/assistance/friendship

4/Practice - sounds strange I know, but if you always stay in your comfort zone, then by default, it will automatically shrink, because everything else around you is expanding, getting faster and more complex and the larger your comfort zone the more you can take Life in and enjoy it. One of the best ways to do this is to find something that you enjoy, but which stretches you at the same time. Hardcore team sports is perfect as you'll be put into difficult situations AND at the same time be relied upon but you'll also have your teamates all going through the same thing to support you. Then bring that awareness, confidence and certainty into your identity of who you are (I am...) as someone who can endure and persevere hardship in life whenever necessary.
To find something where you get to PRACTICE difficulty and discomfort (and even 'failure') in a supportive environment that also coaches you how to manage it is a gift, because it changes who you are and your idea of yourself and helps make your life larger. I think you'll agree that having confidence and certainty in your ability to persevere is a WHOLE lot better than hoping you'll be ok at the time!
Yoga, the gym, even meditation or playing chess will do the same work if you apply your awareness to it, of expanding your resilience skills, of HOW you endured.
So thanks for taking the time to read all this and I hope it helps or at least gives you something to think about

Martin Nagle - Owner/Manager BodyBrain Training Institute - Queensland, Australia - Australia

Martin Nagle - Owner/Manager BodyBrain Training Institute - Queensland, Australia - Australia

FOCUS

The ability to focus is often thought of as being able to concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of everything else – wellll … maybe not quite true. In fact, that definition is actually one of the symptoms of ADHD, where all your attention is caught in one thing for short periods of time (short because it's exhausting!). So the teacher may be yelling at you or the house may be burning down but your hearing and smell is temporarily switched off. Real focus, I would say, is the ability to concentrate on one thing AND still remain aware of your surroundings and other events without having any of your attention engaged by them.

The metaphors for 'single-pointed' focus being like an arrow seem true and yet if the arrow was sentient and had awareness, you can be certain that it would be totally aware of the tautness of the bow, being held back by the bowman, flying through cold air pressure and speeding to a point on a target in relation to everything else in its surroundings.

How can focus be developed? Practice practice practice - and being taught by someone who knows how to disengage attention from the unimportant things.

Try this ...

BodyBrain Training

And where does focus live in the body? It's probably different for everyone, I feel it in the area between and above the eyes (brow chakra). Brain Gym describes the area related to focus as being the front and back hemispheres of the brain and there is a connection to the back and the front sides of the body. So if you imagine a division going down through the centre of your body which divides front and back … then rock gently towards the balls of the feet without overbalancing, come back to the middle, pause, than rock slowly towards the heels without overbalancing – keep breathing, and back to the middle. Where do you feel more comfortable? What 'feels right'? When you're in the middle, are you REALLY in the centre, or slightly forward or back?

Now do the same exercise while imagining a task you need or want to complete … in which direction is your body more comfortable?

(Meaning?. . . forward is a range between 'inclined to' ... to ... 'overfocussed' for that task. Back is a range between 'disinclined to' … to … 'underfocussed' for that task, middle is neutral.

Keep breathing...

Martin

Perseverance

Perseverance is something that tends to grow and mature naturally like a seedling to a great oak tree, solid in its presence and resilience. The danger is in the seedling stage, where too much water in the form of inappropriate expectations can kill as equally as too much heat in the form of frustration and 'pushing'. Teens generally begin to learn that a bit of perseverance can get them what they want, especially if they're not seduced by the promise of instant gratification as portrayed in their media and digital world.
I n fact many young teens will naturally begin to enjoy the new-found strength that kicks in at the post-adolescent stage. Encouraging this is a great way to teach perseverance, by encouraging particpation in physical sports (and this is the time to experience the positive aspects of competitiveness), active games, even play-wrestling, all teach at a cellular level that perseverance has a pay-off.
Physically perseverance is felt in the lower abdomen below the navel, that's why we have expressions such as 'a gutsy effort' and 'gutsy determination' etc and this is intricately connected in a direct line to the middle chest area (heart chakra) and so we say ' … a big heart' or '… a lot of spirit', 'hale and hearty' etc. So the inspiration to persevere lives in the middle chest and the ability to persevere lives in the lower abdomen. You can actually strengthen your perseverance by strengthening your abdomen – more crunches, here we come!
Try this...
Close your eyes and breathe, remember a time where you had to endure under enormous pressure and you just kept going no matter what ... Now what parts of your body feel most switched on and alive? I know you'll say your head because you're thinking about it, so try to re-live the situation inside your body and get a sense of it that way...
Keep breathing …

About Me

From the time I was quite young, maybe around 10yrs or so, I was really interested in the physical differences between people, their physical build and overall appearance; within my family, school, community, society and across cultures. it was perhaps more subconscious back then but something about how people looked and moved really fascinated me.
I was fairly physically active, played sports and lived near the beach, so my fascination was endless. I remember internally 'noting' how the big guys in the rugby team were picked to be forwards, and the slimmer guys (me) were the backs. It makes total common sense now as an adult, but to a young boy I was curious about how well that system worked. And not only that, I also noticed that the bigger guys seemed to have a particular kind of personality, and the backs another, both on and off the field. The differences were often very subtle, but to an open-minded, uncorrupted-by-limitations-mind it was noticeable.
In my later teen/early adult years, I continued to literally 'play' with my notion of the connection between physical appearance and personality type by following random people on the street and copying their every movement exactly (yes I know, I was probably lucky I didn't get arrested - but I was very good at it and never got 'sprung'). Sometimes some people would have a limp and I could pick whether it originated in the hip, knee or ankle and I would imagine the difficulty they would experience in life by their lack of mobility/flexibility. Later I began to get intuitive 'flashes' of how that person lived their life, their possible family, relationships, hobbies and occupation. Were these 'flashes' ever verified? yes sometimes - but that's a whole other story ...
I trained and registered as a Psychiatric Nurse (New Zealand) 1974  and the connection between the mind and body was still a near-constant, background theme. It was noticeable that people who moved in a 'disordered', uncoordinated, lack of self-awareness way, also tended to be like that in life. I was lucky enough to train in the days of an apprenticeship style in a Psych hospital rather than at a nursing college. It was in the days when nurses were able to be assistants in all the programmes, so I learned about group therapy, Gestalt therapy, Dream therapy and Bioenergetics.
When I travelled to the UK I started to look into Oriental medicine, Acupressure massage and first started learningAikido. Oriental face diagnosis and Acupressure are all about being able to 'read' someone by how they look and move - I was in my element! I also first learned about what is now called 'energy medicine' and how the ancient Chinese knew all about quantum physics without knowing that term.
Aikido also taught me a lot about movement and what it is to be un-centred, ungrounded and inflexible. It also taught me about perseverance, resilience, cooperation, confidence, decisiveness and the ongoing evolution of life-energy (Ki, chi, prana). I have been training now for 21 years (2011)
Later, here in Australia when I started to see the amazing difference Aikido training had on kids, in their behaviour and academic performance, I studied Educational Kinesiology - now dumbed down to 'Brain Gym',  Rhythmic Movement Training, which is about the integration of early primitive and postural reflexes EFT (emotional freedom technique) and picked up on acupressure massage again.
I've been so lucky to now have my boyhood fascination as part of my adult life, in fact in many ways it IS my life, it'smy income, my vocation and my continual interest. It also happens to positively transform people's lives at adeep, core, holistic level - and that is more satisfying than anything