During the cold, miserable, flu saturated months of winter, and the sweaty, humid, heat choked days of summer, obstacles can bump up in our lives that make it difficult or impossible to attend practice. However, training fortunately isn't entirely physical and even when we're forced to work overtime crunching numbers in the office we can take a five or ten minute break to pump a little extra kendo into our bodies.
Our brains are truly impressive tools of improvement. Repeated visualization of a motion or a drill is almost as effective as physically doing the activity itself. While in the long run, no amount of meditation can substitute for actually practicing the desired skill, tricking your body into thinking that it's training can be advantageous for those who cannot physically practice with regularity.
The trick is focusing thoughts completely on a desired movement or motion. Concentrating on a muscle group increases blood flow to the area. This is the mind's way of preparing for the activity that it perceives the body is about to engage in. Visualizing the desired motion establishes a 'link' between the mind and the muscle that is a key part of creating the final movement. This repeated mind to muscle exercising separated from the thought and concentration required to actually move continues to develop the muscle coordination learned within a practice.
One can liken it to practicing through watching. Less experienced practitioners are encouraged to observe the practice of their more experienced peers as a form of practice just as important as physically engaging in kendo. When we watch, our brains store the visual information and if we concentrate on what we see, naturally attempt to make the connections with our muscles that we perceive to be the same as those we watch.
The easiest way to get the mind into the mood to train through thought is to empty it. Sit in a distraction free room and concentrate first on breathing. Slow, deep breaths in through the nose and slow, controlled exhales through the lips work best for me. Push and pull each breath from the diaphragm. Feel the stomach muscles expand and contract strongly with every breath. With every inhale, remind the spine to be straight. With every exhale remind the shoulders to be relaxed. 'Ready' for me is when I no longer feel I'm fighting to keep outside thoughts from coming in. My thoughts are entirely on my breathing.
From there I recall a correction that was given to me from a previous practice; a stronger push from the left leg into the hips, for example. I concentrate on the muscle group that I need to focus on. I visualize myself pushing off with my left leg and remember as accurately as I can what each muscle feels like performing that motion. I slow the visualization down in my head and break it down piece by piece. I speed it up slowly until I'm visualizing the motion at a normal speed. When I've analyzed the motion from as many angles as I can think of, I move onto the next correction I need to work on.
So, do we have to sit in the middle of a silent room in seiza with our eyes closed and our hands cupped in front of us? No, but it's helpful. During my first year of kendo my natural tendency for insomnia was increased by my brain being unable to shut off from kendo mode after a practice. Laying in bed my mind would replay again and again a drill or a fight and my muscles would willingly twitch right along with it maddeningly until the early morning hours.
These sort of unscheduled 'review' sessions between mind and muscle can be controlled and structured and made use of during any moment of relaxation or down time. Make room for a few minutes here and there to exercise your mind as well as your muscles and improvement won't be too far behind.
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