Volume 5 Number 1,
First Quarter 1999
What is Shugyo
Written by Gwen Boyd as a testing requirment for the rank of ShodanShugyo: intense physical/internal training to perfect character and realize one’s true nature. AAA Student Handbook
"Shugyo refers to the deepest possible spiritual training." Daihonzan Chozen-ji
"Shugyo means "determined training that fosters enlightenment". Its purpose is to "tighten the slack", toughen the body, and polish the spirit."
Aikido Shugyo Dojo TorontoShugyo is:
the present moment
constant training
perpetual student
dedicationAll of these statements and words do a good job at describing the indescribable: shugyo. Shugyo is a concept best experienced to begin to understand. For me, shugyo is the place where your mind and body operate in unison and time appears to stop. Hard training and dedication lead to a place where you have learned a skill in the very core of your being. You are able to execute without thinking. What you have been working toward learning happens effortlessly.
My first experience with shugyo was found in music. I had the fortunate opportunity to be a member of a state-renowned concert band. Our instructor drilled us for hours on the fundamentals of music and truly drove home the concept of practice, practice, practice. There were many occasions when I would leave our band practice sessions sweating. You would expect to have that response with sports, but not with band! One of the more intense things about our practices were the challenges for seating positions. First chair was held by the best player of the instrument in the band. These challenges would come unannounced and would be played in front of the entire class. There are few things more frightening to a kid than performing in front of one’s peers. I had just switched instruments and played the Tuba. Since I was the new kid in the section, I sat in the last chair. Then one day our turn had come. The seating challenge was on for the Tubas. The piece selected was William Tell’s Overture. The music was fa started on a high note for a bass instrument. We all suffered through four painful renditions of the song before it was my turn to play. The students were bored and didn’t relish the thought of having to endure one more version of the number played by the person sitting in the last chair. The first note was a killer, a high B. My first attempt to hit the note failed. I tried again and failed. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see the others restless in their seats and hear their groans of "Here we go again." I took a deep breath, focused and made a third try at the starting note. I hit it and was off and playing. It felt as though time stopped. I wasn’t reading the music I was playing the song from a place where my mind and body worked as one. I didn’t know where the music was coming from, but suddenly a flawless version of William Tell’s Overture filled the air. Mouths dropped, heads turned. When I finished the song, the instructor made only one seating change. I was moved from last place to first where I stayed for the rest of the year. All the hours of practice had paid off. The experience of playing music by becoming the music created a sensation that has stayed with me over the years and one that I have searched for time and again since that first feeling. I finally found another means of achieving the union of the mind and body through Aikido and I now know that sensation as shugyo.
After the end of a long hard day, your mind and body are often slow and tired. But you to go to Aikido and concentrate, focus, do the best you can to complete the techniques. You make it through class and feel wonderful at the end of the adventure. You realize as you walk out the door that suddenly a difficult technique flowed, a move was executed with new effectiveness with less effort. You find it difficult to put the feeling in to some logical understanding. Your body and mind met in a place that can only be reached through constant and vigilant training, the place where learning begins. Seek it out, make the most of it and enjoy!
What is Tai Chi
Written by Kathy O'KaneT’ai Chi is an ancient Chinese form of healing exercise that has been practiced for more that three centuries. In China, it is traditionally practiced in the morning before work. If a particular area of the body is tense and tight, T’ai Chi helps take the tense energy and redistribute it throughout the body, thus reducing tension. T’ai Chi is a slow, relaxing martial art with expanding movements which provides a total body workout. Not only does T’ai Chi loosen muscles, it also loosens up the spine, ribs and organs. Its healing effects also include: preventing disease, helping to maintain circulation, reducing hypertension, gastric ailments, arthritis, heart disease and anemia.
The Japanese martial arts were influenced by the internal and meditative disciplines inherited from India and China. T’ai Chi’s theoretical perspectives consists of the universe being an interrelated organism, i.e. everything working together to reach harmony and balance. Aikido training stresses form, mutual cooperation, awareness of others and the coordination of the body’s movement with a calm state of mind. Thus, both martial arts have a similar perspective. In Aikido, nage is always trying to maintain balance, and it is essential that nage and uke work together (in harmony). Aikido is shugyo, an intense physical and spiritual training to perfect human character and develop true wisdom; another example of balance between mind and body. Aikido also helps to release stress and tension in the body which helps to redistribute energy. Individuals who complain that T’ai Chi is “too slow” a work out are advised to take a deep breath and slow down, especially if your day has been stressful, and to try the martial art before judging it.
Information from:
Fredericks, C.L. (1997, September/October).
The Golden Age of the Golden Years: Aging Positively. Wingtips, 17, 16-19.
Dr. Yang, J.M. (1996). The Theoretical Foundation of Taijiquan. Canada: Quality Books, Inc.
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