Courage

Discipline

Perseverence

 

Mixing It Up!

The idea of "mixing it up" has many applications-social, cultural, artistic, pedagogical... Specialists and artists alike "mix it up" to bring about various outcomes, such as manufacturing tolerance in the face of diversity or generating new creative horizons.

"Mixing it up" provides an opportunity to leave one's comfort zone, where stress (physical or otherwise), anxiety, and risk-taking are normally minimized. As far as I'm concerned, Jiseicamp did just that: it mixed up my life for a week, creating anxiety as well as physical and psychological stress. More specifically, it drew me away from the comfortable learning parameters that I normally set for myself (in terms of time, volume, and intensity). In so doing, it created a new learning space:

1) Time. The early-morning and late-evening classes that I attended daily for a week meant that I had to put my regular life on the back-burner. My sleep patterns were interrupted and fatigue set in. My normal activities were interrupted, delayed, or cancelled.

2) Volume. I had to repeat the same iaido and tai sabaki moves hundreds of times every day, despite the fatigue. I noticed that being tired actually improved the way I practiced: I became more economical with my movements to avoid expending energy uselessly. That somehow made me more efficient and focused.

3) Intensity. Everything seemed more intense during Jiseicamp-the warm-ups, the rolls, the overall pace, the heat, the cold, fatigue, the weight of my sword... (Even sunrises and sunsets seemed more intense.)

Curiously enough, therefore, while the loss of sleep, the disrupted schedules, and the increased physical demands may have raised my stress levels, they also modified my sensory experience, heightened my awareness, and helped me concentrate more on intention. "Mixing it up" helped me learn more about the art of iaido, practicing tai sabaki, and the concept of ma'ai in the relatively short period of one week than I would have during months of regular classes.

- Marie-Claire Dubé