 What does it truly take to become the perfect martial artist? I think we can all agree that mastering the martial arts requires more than just being good at punching and kicking. A physical skill set is absolutely important, but there is equal importance in our mental insight as well. We previously have covered the four Zen states of mind and how they apply to the martial arts. Today, we are presenting all four of those episodes in a combined presentation, but we're introducing it with another budo spirit that can sometimes be overlooked when it comes to the martial arts. This fifth spirit, or state of being, can only be achieved when the first four have been completely mastered. We have already talked about Shoshin, Mushin, Zenjin, and Fudushin. Shoshin, Beginner's Mind, or Beginner's Heart, is the state of mind that tunes out any preconceived assumption or judgment of a situation. We go into a new experience with a fully open mind, and in the case of martial arts, a class ready to learn. We're not weighed down with what we think the situation should be, but we experience it as it is. Mushin, Mind Without Mind, is to be able to focus on the immediate task at hand without detraction. You are able to safe off anticipation and anxiety and keep a clear disposition about yourself and react to the situation as it is presented to you. It is often compared to the expression Mizu no Kokoro, which translates to Mind Like Water. If your mind is like a still body of water, free of ripples and disturbance, then you will be able to see your best reflection clearly. Zenjin is the remaining mind or remaining spirit. It can be summarized as being fully aware of your surroundings, aware of your place in the environment, and dedicated attention of your actions before, during, and after you act on them. Fudo shin, unstoppable or immovable mind, is the drive that keeps us going. It is confidence, it is commitment, and it is the courage to act in the face of danger or what may be perceived as insurmountable odds. As martial artists, we can see a clear benefit to mastering any one of those states of mind. However, what happens if we're able to master all four of them? Well then we arrive to the fifth budo spirit, Zenjin. Zenjin is the purified or enlightened heart or spirit. To reach the state as a martial artist, or as a person in general, you have to completely embrace, digest, and embody each of the four initial spirits. After all, what would a true martial artist be if they weren't fully in tune with their own actions, environment, unsuppable drive, and unrestricted willingness to learn? Online columnist Thomas D. McKinnon wrote a great article on what Zenjin was and what it meant to him. You can find a link to that article below in the description, but he talks about the process of first learning the states of mind, what they are, and how his experience was to embody them. He uses his experience of combat and security to frame up how these concepts would apply to the martial artist. I would like to share a quote he includes in the article, and it says, Zenjin, the enlightened mind of the advanced karateka budoka, holding all life sacred, you strive to protect and be in harmony with all life. Seeing the best in humanity, you endeavor to foster compassion even for those who would do you harm. With Zenjin, recognizing the universal connectedness of life, you understand how one simple act affects every aspect of life. You see the dilemma and the worth of life within your heart, mind, and soul. By mastering all four of these states of mind, you essentially become enlightened and be what he refers to as a full-spirited warrior. Now, practically speaking, is it possible to fully embrace all of these concepts and reach the state of Zenjin? I mean, the state of perfect enlightenment? It could take a lifetime to master any one of these minds, but all four of them? I don't know, maybe, but even if reaching Zenjin seems like an impossible task, it sure is a goal worth working for. In a recent episode, karate states of mind, we briefly touched on the idea of the four Zen states of mind. Shoshin, Mushin, Zenjin, and Fudoshin. Now, the truth is, each one of these deserves a more detailed look and how they can apply to not only your training, but everyday life as well. So today, we're going to look at Shoshin, the beginner's mind. And in all honesty, it doesn't matter if you're a traditional martial artist or only interested in MMA and cage fighting or if you've been training for six years or quite frankly, if you haven't even started training yet. By understanding Shoshin and embracing the beginner's mind, you will elevate your training to the next level. Okay, so that last comment about elevating your training to the next level. In this context, it's actually a really big part of the problem, but it is still true. You will improve as a martial artist, but perhaps not in the way you'd expect. But we're going to come back to that in a few minutes. First, let's answer the question of what Shoshin actually is. Shoshin is one of four Zen states of mind, and they are listed as Shoshin, the beginner's mind, Mushin, no mind, Zanshin, remaining mind, and Fudoshin, immovable mind. Today, we're going to exclusively look at Shoshin, and we're going to cover the other three in future videos. Now, if you're simply looking for the definition of Shoshin, a quick pop on the Wikipedia will give you that. Okay, since you're here, I'll do it for you. Shoshin is a word from Zen Buddhism, meaning beginner's mind. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying the subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner would. The term is especially used in the study of Zen Buddhism and Japanese martial arts. So there you go. It's a pretty simple definition, but now let's dig into this and understand how it can apply to our martial arts training, and how to eliminate the pitfalls and obstacles that often prevent us from embracing it. If you are just starting as a beginner in the martial arts, or if you haven't started yet, but you're considering it, adopting this mindset early puts you on the right track, particularly the part about openness and dropping any preconceptions that you might have. It's very easy to have an idea of something before you try it, but many times it's a very different experience when you actually do it. I believe that this is one big reason why so many people quit the martial arts at White Belt. They had some notion in their mind of what training was going to be like. Maybe they expected to be breaking boards right away, or maybe they thought that they'd be fighters after a couple of classes. In any case, it's very easy to become disillusioned with something if you went into it with certain expectations. Go to class with an open mind, be willing to listen to what is presented, expect to possibly step outside your comfort zone, and forget any notion of what you thought training was going to be based on any movies or TV shows that you have watched. Not many schools are going to have you waxing cars or painting fences, and award you a Black Belt in two months. And if they do, then we have a McDojo video for you to watch. As a beginner, it's much easier to have a beginner's mind, because at this stage, everything is new. You are starting from scratch, and you'll often have that sense of wonder as you learn, because it's an exciting experience to start developing new skills you didn't have before. As long as you keep your mind open and embrace what's being taught, you will find yourself advancing and improving. Now, if you are an advanced student, or you've been training for several years, it's very easy to lose the state of mind. As we get better and advanced in rank, we begin to develop confidence and a deeper understanding of the material, and we become more skilled and improve martial artists, which is fantastic. Now, some of you might be asking, well, what's wrong with this? Nothing's wrong with advancing rank or becoming an expert in a subject. However, there is a psychological side effect humans have when they learn. The more expertise that they accumulate on a subject, the more closed-minded we often become, the higher we advance. The more we learn and understand, the more we tend to block out any contradictory information, or sometimes we develop a habit of not wanting to listen to anything someone else has to say if they've got less experience. Also, sometimes we tend to seek out information that confirms or justifies their beliefs and behaviors instead of questioning them. So in a way, embracing Shoshin as an advanced martial artist is even more important at this level than when we were beginners, partly because we have to remind ourselves to do it. It's so easy to get lost in your own knowledge. There's a very famous quote by author and teacher Shunru Suzuki from his book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. In that, he says, If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind, there are few. I think that this is something we can all digest and relate to in some aspect. I will admit, I've been hit by this reality many times, even in the course of producing this channel and in my own training. I've been studying Kemple for 27 years at this point. The more I learn, the more I love it. Now, many of you have been with us on this channel for a while and know that my past consists of many school closings and moving and having to constantly shift from one version of Kemple to another. So I was always learning and relearning and always maintaining that beginner's mind until I realized I didn't. When it came time that I was bitten by the bug to step outside my Kemple box and explore other arts, I figured, well, this is going to be much easier because I know this stuff. From a construction point of view, I felt like I had a great solid foundation and I could continue to build a skyscraper of my training. I watched YouTube videos to see what other arts were doing and I got excited and I joined a jujitsu slash judo school. You know, I knew how to strike and we did some MMA and BJJ in our old school. So I figured, you know, this would help me and add a few more floors to my skyscraper until I took my first class. It was so different than Kemple and what I was used to, that I experienced a little bit of culture shock. I thought we were just going to add some different stances and throws, but instead I was showing a completely different way to train. A different mentality, a different method of moving and different concepts and principles. I made the mistake of going in with preconceived expectations and that class was so damn uncomfortable and humbling that I went home that night and had to truly evaluate how to proceed forward. Now after the shock wore off, I realized I liked it because I didn't know what I was doing and it was a harsh reminder to me that there's always room to grow. So going back to my comment at the beginning about elevating your training, I think the issue with that is most of us tend to picture a training as that skyscraper. Build higher levels and ranks and keep elevating, but the higher you go in one discipline and mindset, the easier it is to forget what the ground levels were like. Sometimes I think it's beneficial to build out laterally and expand your foundation, such as learning other arts and hearing others' experiences, experimenting with new ideas, and to build upon that. So okay, with all that being said, how can we actually implement the idea of Shoshin into our lives and training to become better martial artists? There are several small changes in habits you can develop that make drastic differences. So first and again, when trying something new, take on the mindset that you know nothing about it and try to let go of any preconceived assumptions. Pretend like you're a child, experience something for the first time, and then pretend to capture that sense of wonder you had back then. Question yourself often. Now I don't mean self-doubt everything that you know, but sometimes it's good to take an idea and analyze it. Test it. Pretend to look at it from an opposing viewpoint. Try to visualize how others might perceive it. In the context of the martial arts, perhaps sometimes looking at techniques from a different perspective can open another door of understanding, and then you begin to digest the material at a deeper level. And sometimes this can lead to one of those aha moments, and then teaching becomes much more clearer. Related to that, realize that you don't have to win every argument. In the martial arts, everyone has the answer, or the best way to do a technique, or the real way it was supposed to be taught. Your experience is your own, and you know what you know. That does not mean you have to try to dispel what someone else knows. In fact, sometimes it's worth listening to their opinion or insight, even if you disagree with it. Instead of telling them that they were wrong, ask them to explain their reasons. Maybe you'll still know better than they do, but sometimes maybe they'll introduce something you hadn't considered, or trigger a thought process that leads to more discovery. You never know what experience or insight someone has. Even if you're a superior black belt, and they're just a white belt, doesn't mean you can't learn from them. Even if you walk away from the conversation and complete disagreement, you still know what you know, but it might be interesting just to understand someone else's point of view in something and realize, wow, they see something in a completely different way. You don't have to win an argument to prove anything. Embrace failure. Failing at something is sometimes the best way to learn how to improve. When you're learning something new, a new technique, for example, and you can't seem to pull it off, don't put such a heavy emphasis on failing, but instead look at it as, well, you just didn't quite get it right yet. It's an exploration. You didn't break that board on your test? Well, okay. Instead of getting upset and storming off, saying it's a stupid drill anyway, take the opportunity to learn from it. Why didn't you break it? Did you not hit it hard enough? Are you striking against the grain? Are you not following through? Are you holding back? And I think this point is actually something that MMA does very well. Going to an MMA school, in my opinion, is a great way to learn fighting skills quickly, mainly because of the heavy focus on sparring and contact drills. You are constantly testing yourself and you're going to have a lot of failures. Did you not land that punch combination that you tried? Are you getting taken to the ground every time you advance? Does that psychic always find a way to get past your defenses and always land? Well, then embrace that beginner's mind and reset. Failing in the classroom is okay. In fact, this is where you want it to happen, where you can make the changes and adjustments. If you are an advanced student or high-ranking in your art, sometimes there is a tendency or even a feeling of obligation to interject your expertise into class or onto others. Now, this is similar to the idea of not trying to win the argument, but here I'm talking about the pressure of having to live up to a rank or expectations. If you are putting effort into expectation rather than exploration, then you might be doing yourself a great service. Drop the weight or the guilt or obligation that you have to always try to live up to something. We talked about this in our episode on the Kemplecrest and the symbolism of the tiger and the dragon. The tiger is the warrior and the physical strength of the art, and the dragon is the scholar and wisdom. In many depictions of these two, the coloring can be very significant. As beginners, we are the tigers because we want that raw power. The tiger is yellow, which is often the beginning belt-rank color, but there are hints of black in the stripes and brown in the eyes, as the beginner urns and looks forward to advancement in the art. The dragon is depicted as red because it is the master of the art that yields wisdom, but if you look closely, there are still trace elements of white, yellow, green, blue, and many belt colors present. This is to remind us that even though we've reached a level of master, we must always remember our past and keep that beginner's mind. It's okay to go back to the beginning and start again, and sometimes it's even okay to say, I don't know. You know, that just provides you the opportunity to learn something new. There's actually an exercise that I find interesting, and it's kind of along the lines of the beginner's mind and kind of going back and resetting. It's a drill, not even really a drill, but something you can do on your own is when you're eating a meal, the next meal that you eat, instead of just cooking it up, mixing it up, putting it in your fork and just chowing down, take a very, very slow bite. First of all, whatever it is, put a little bit of food on it, if it's like a strawberry, take the strawberry, instead of just putting it in your mouth, bring it up slowly, smell it, take in the scent, put the texture on your lips, bite it slowly. Basically, drag out the experience of eating that strawberry over the course of a minute or a couple of minutes. Just go slow and actually observe and pay attention to every flavor, every drop of juice, everything. And it's one of those things when when you do it, you tend to appreciate it a lot more because you're resetting, you're going back to beginning and kind of trying to experience it maybe for the first time. The training can be a lot like that. If you're doing a technique, or you're doing a kata, maybe sometimes instead of just performing it, slow it down. Observe every step, every movement, every little detail. Maybe it'll give you new experience to it and new perspective, something else you can learn from that. If you even want another challenge, do a blindfolded or close your eyes or go to another environment. Sometimes it's easy to get in the pattern of a kata when you're always in the same room, facing the same wall. In our experience, especially with kids, when you turn them around in the face the other way, sometimes they lose their orientation. So always challenge yourself, always try to find a new way to do something because you never know what you're going to learn from that. I don't care what art you train in, or how many cage matches you've won, or how many trophies you've collected from a tournament, or how big of a roster your school has. A true master of the arts embraces Shoshin and understands that they are always still a student. Anger, hate, fear, anticipation, anxiety, frustration, impatience, resentment, tension. I think it's fair to say that the majority of us have experienced at least one, if not all of these things, especially this year. As natural as these feelings are, they can be toxic to not only our martial arts practice, but our everyday lives as well. So how do we stop these emotions from being a hindrance by achieving motion? Today we're going to talk about what that is and a few ways you can achieve it. Oh, and for those of you out there who are Kemplists or critics of Kempo, I'll have a special message for you at the end of the video. We talked about the concept of the four different Zen saints of mind a while back, which are Shoshin, the beginner's mind, Zanshin, remaining mind, Fudoshin, immovable mind, and Mushin, empty mind, which is what we'll be talking about today. We took a closer look at Shoshin in the previous episode and you can find a link to that video in the description. And for those of you who believe that kata is useless, we will circle back around later in this video to show you why it might be more useful than you think. Mushin is actually abbreviated from Mushin notion and it translates to mind without mind. And personally, I think this may be the most challenging and quite possibly one of the most important states of mind to have. But in order to achieve it, we first have to break it down and understand it. The first thing to take into consideration is that while it means mind without mind, it does not mean that you should enter your head like a shell leaving the void, but rather, achieving a state without conscious thought. It might seem like splitting hairs, but it's a very important distinction. It is not a state of relaxation or submission, but rather being fully awake, incredibly aware, just not impeded by the burden of emotion or forced conscious interference. It is the ability to be fully aware of your environment and situation, completely unbiased, and letting your mind react on instinct instead of preconceived thought. This is applicable in so many different parts of life, but in the context of the martial arts, I believe this may be a crucial element in the ability to defend yourself or not. It is also not something you can just read about and learn intellectually. It can only be achieved through experience and being able to let your mind go. In a few minutes, we're going to talk about a few things that can help you achieve motion or, you know, at least how to become more aware and more present and aware in any given context. It is so easy to let our minds get cluttered with noise or a barrage of thoughts that weigh on us every day. And it's no surprise that many people struggle to focus on a task with all that static going on. And I'm going to give you a couple of examples of my own personal experiences and let me know if anything seemed familiar to you. In the early days of my training, we had a really big picture window in front of the school. I could be working on a technique or kata or whatever, and suddenly a passerby stops by that window and peers inside. Suddenly, I found myself applying my energy differently, louder key eyes or repeating emotions that I knew I was good at or taking dramatic stances after each repetition. My mind would get flooded with a variety of thoughts. Are they looking for a new school? I have to represent this one or are they judging me? I have to work harder or any variety of these thoughts. It's stupid and immature and completely novice, I know, but thankfully I grew out of that. But as a young teen just beginning in the martial arts, it was very easy to be distracted by these types of thoughts. Even when I started teaching, I was 17 and helping out in classes. I hated teaching at first and it had nothing to do with actually working with the kids or the teaching itself. But we had rows of chairs that were always full of parents watching. I felt the heat of that spotlight every damn day and of course those same doubts would creep in. Am I paying enough attention to the everyone? Am I explaining it real clearly enough? Are they upset that I'm teaching their kid because I'm not yet a black belt? Do they agree with the lesson or are they going to pull their kid out of the school? Like I said, stupid thoughts and very distracting. I should have been focused on the lesson and the class and whether or not the kids were picking up the lesson. Maybe that's why my instructor put me in that position to get me acclimated to the pressure of teaching and making decisions in front of a crowd. And the funny thing is I didn't realize that I felt this right away. Teaching made me uncomfortable but I finally realized why when about a year later the school moved to a new location and the parents were still able to watch classes but in another room through a window. That little bit of separation felt so much better and I was able to focus a little bit more. And that's the nature of being in the spotlight. It can blind you if you look at it. Instead you have to see through the glares and focus on what's in front of you. This was something I had to learn to deal with over time. So what if somebody was watching from the outside? Why should I stop what I'm working on because they're standing there for three seconds? So what if the parents are sitting there? Most of them are probably lost in thought, happy for a time out or genuinely interested in the lesson. And guess what? If they have a problem with what you're teaching they'll tell you and you can deal with it then. We can only expand our comfort zone by stepping outside of it. Okay so enough of that I'm starting to sound preachy but let me ask you this. How often do you practice chosen class or sparring and you have a partner in front of you just about to attack and your mind is just racing with all sorts of scenarios and all these great defense and combinations that you want to try out? I think we can all relate to that and if it doesn't happen to you now then I bet it did when you first started and that's fine that's a natural response but it's inhibitive. When we get too wrapped up with the what ifs we might not be ready for the what is. And that's motion. Being able to leave those thoughts outside the moment and be receptive and reactive to the immediate scenario. I don't care what art you're training karate, moitai, boxing, tempo, kung fu, wrestling. You should be to the point of proficiency to where your techniques are second nature and you shouldn't have to think to execute them. So an experienced boxer that is fully in the moment doesn't see an opponent wind up and throw a punch and then save himself. Okay, so he's throwing his punch. I should move my head out of the way and then counter punch. He just does it. The mind is engaged for your distraction and as soon as the opponent moves that second nature kicks in and reacts because you've worked on it so much. That is why repetition is super important and that is why resistance training is absolutely necessary to be good at self-defense. You can't possibly develop a natural reaction to a person fighting you unless you spend time working on a person who's resisting you. This is why I feel drills like sticky hands are so beneficial. It's a constant feel of reading and reacting to your opponent's movements. It's always why BJJ and grappling are so good. An experienced grappler will be focused in the moment and when their opponent makes a move intuition and confidence will kick in with the appropriate response. So if you're thinking too far ahead about the moves you're gonna do, you're not focusing enough on the current moment. If you research motion at all there's a particular saying and example that you'll find everywhere and it's the expression Mizuno Kokoro which means mind like water. They use the example of the moon's reflection on the body of water. If the water is turbulent the image of the moon is distorted but if the water is calm still then you can see it clearly. Being in the mental state of motion is like your mind being a still body of water. It's present and powerful but you're not adding unnecessary ripples. So okay, how do we achieve this? I wish it was as simple as saying do this and you'll have motion. There are common measures such as meditation that can help. You know, learning to sit and focus on the task of breathing and not letting yourself get distracted by daily thoughts is a beneficial practice and it can translate to your training too. There is also the practice of developing something called splatter vision that can help greatly with your awareness. You may also hear it referred to as owl eyes or wide-angle vision and the whole concept is to develop and utilize a greater part of your peripheral vision. I believe that in general many people often neglect the benefit of having good peripheral vision. We are so focused on our everyday lives and things that are constantly shoved in our faces as well as putting up blinders when we want to ignore ads or any noise that we may encounter throughout the day. But by expanding and developing our peripheral vision we can take in more of what's going on in our surroundings. Peripheral vision is especially beneficial to seeing or registering movement where our central focus is adept at registering sharp detail. In the martial arts having good peripheral vision can make the difference of detecting your opponent's shift or make a move without having your eyes having the dart all over the place. It also means potentially detecting other dangerous situations such as another attacker or possibly an obstruction to an escape. I put a lot of stock into this concept and it's one of the things that I feel I have toned fairly well in my own training. Whenever I spar my eyes are locked straight ahead often locked on my opponent's eyes but you better believe it I'm absolutely watching both arms and legs. By being aware of peripheral movement I can react without having to look directly at the attack. And whenever we did 201 sparring in class I adjusted this slightly and I would just I would adjust my vision to more of the middle space between the attackers and making sure I could see both sets of legs just outside the edges of my peripheral. This allowed me to keep distance and calm until I detected motion and then that would react and use that person as an obstacle for the other one. There are exercises out there that help with this but there's one really simple one that I really like and it's one that you can even do right now as you're watching this video. Look straight ahead and stretch your arms out directly to your sides that they're about 180 degrees apart. Now you're not going to see my hands because they're going off screen but you can sit in your chair right now and do this. Once your hands are 180 degrees apart start wiggling your fingers on both of your hands while keeping your eyes straight ahead and try to register the motion as you see both sets of fingers. Try to avoid bringing your arms into vision if possible focus more on relaxing and trying to expand your awareness of the edges. You won't see your hands in sharp detail like we said peripheral vision is about detecting motion but sometimes seeing that motion makes all the difference. And by doing this drill you know by stretching your arms out and trying to see both hands at the same time you're actually taking and registering more of your surroundings engaging your mind more on the immediate situation and more activity and hopefully less on any distracting thoughts or feelings. So yes I highly recommend looking more into splatter vision or our eyes for sure. Okay now where does Kata fall into this? I think Kata has a tremendous role to play in achieving motion. There are obvious benefits such as learning bunkai and understanding the relationship of different moves and concepts there is usually a lot of information deep within the forms but Kata I think is a phenomenal training tool for subtle practice when you don't have the tactile feedback of a partner. With Kata once you learn the steps and understand what you are doing and what each movement means you can lose yourself inside of it. Find a quiet spot and just start going through your form. If you worked with it well enough to become fluent then let go of the driver's wheel and let your brain go on autopilot focus on your breathing and immediate moments. Don't worry at this point about practical application but rather developing a second nature of the flow and points of focus and timing move like water smooth natural inhibited. In a way I often use Kata as a form of meditation. Forms I've done for years sometimes feel good to just let go and flow through and for those of you who feel that Kata is no good for real-life application I agree and I disagree. The sequences in Kata aren't generally meant to take and drop into a real fight scenario that's not what they're intended for. They convey ideas and relationships however that doesn't mean that you can't use it. Many Kata movements and sequences are actually derived from combat moves and if it's a form that you were very well versed in then you might be surprised of what you might resort to of the situation call for it. A couple of years ago I had some smart ass sneak up behind me and try to give me a sucker shot to the kidney. I just caused approach out of the corner of my eye and without even thinking about it I stepped off a line of attack I turned I did a drop an elbow to deflect the punch and then I pivoted to a fighting position got my hands up ready and my knuckles were a few inches from his face. I didn't think about it I just saw the moment the movement and I just kind of reacted like that and my brain it was engaged enough to react but I didn't have to think about what I was going to do. It was a move and I didn't decide to do the move my mind just detected the motion and I reacted faster than I could have consciously made that choice. Motion is a hard practice for me my mind is always going a thousand miles a minute but in that particular moment I got to experience it and it was a bit of an eye opening experience. So use that content as a training tool try not to think about the next move but let go and let your passive mind do the driving use your peripheral vision to observe your surroundings while you do so with enough practice I think you can expand a lot of your mental awareness. So speaking of Kempo here is a message to all you Kempoists out there. Kempo often has a bad rap of learning pre-choreograph motions that we are expected to memorize and execute in the right scenario. So anyone who says that you can't choreograph a real fight and a person isn't going to stand there all day while you hit them is absolutely correct but that isn't what Kempo teaches or at least not what it's supposed to teach. Each technique is like a mini kata there is serious bunkai to be applied and a ton of information to be extracted from each one but as beginners we learn the basics and we learn how they work together in combination of these techniques so that when a real situation happens you can recognize specific positions and situations and just respond accordingly. So if you're in a sparring or a real confrontation don't be thinking oh I'm going to away from the punch so I can pull off five swords. Instead get out of your own head focus on the person in front of you with that peripheral vision engage and react to what is thrown at you. If you overthink it you'll get in your own way. If you've been practicing long enough you should be able to react naturally. Those pre-choreograph techniques are not likely to work as they are written more in a future episode but with enough time and practice you should be able to instantly recognize many positions and be able to just react based on what you feel. And that is why resistance training and sparring is so important. You can have all the confidence in the world and your technique until you try to get it to work on another person. You expand your skills and comfort zones by stepping outside of it. And if you're able to implement this into your own training then you are well on your way to achieving motion. Today we're going to talk about the Zen mental state of Zanshin and the role that it plays in the martial arts. So this is actually a continuation of a video series we've been working on in the past couple of years. We did one a while back that was all about the different states of mind the Zen states of mind and how they relate to the martial arts. And then we did two independent episodes the first one on Shoshin which is beginner's mind and then Musin which is mind without mind. Today we're going to go on to the next one which is Zanshin or remaining mind. Loosely interpreted Zanshin is a state of mind that embodies a relaxed awareness where the mind is alert and fully aware of its surroundings. It means being fully present in the moment both in your intentions as well as the environment around you. Now if you do some research and look into the history of Zanshin you're going to see a lot of references to archery. In archery the concept of Zanshin plays a big role in your body posture both in before and after you loosen arrow. It's not so much about hitting the target but it's how you go about approaching your goal. You know you're focused on full awareness on body positioning breathing and the environment is what makes the difference. There are also a few applications of Zanshin within the martial arts and it's really easy to see the importance of being aware of your surroundings. But it goes deeper than just knowing what's going on around you. You have to be cognizant on little details too. In the event of a self-defense situation it's important to be fully calm and aware of your intentions your actions and the situation of unfolding around you. Do you have good traction on the floor? Are you breathing fully or holding your breath? Are you tense and ready to flail or are you reading your opponent? Looking for a telegraph move and ready to act if you need to? Are there more people in the room that you feel could be a threat? Or do you feel that you have proper access to an exit? Zanshin as with the other states of mind is learn and achieve through discipline and experience. It's not really something you can just read about and achieve overnight. It's kind of like learning to develop a new sense. You know you got your taste your touch your smell your hearing your sight all that. This is like learning a whole new sense. It's like intuition being built up. You can't just learn it overnight. But when you do achieve it it can be incredibly beneficial. Now awareness to Zanshin can also be used to prevent a situation. It's like learning or building up intuition. I'm not going to claim to have achieved this because I haven't but there's definitely been moments in times in my life where I've felt funny about a person where I felt like the situation wasn't the best to be in and my intuition told me that I should probably get out of there. One of the most incredible stories I know of happened to us several years ago. My family and I went to Orlando. We went to Disney World and my cousin and his family were visiting from out of out of the country. And one night we were going to Walgreens. We were just kind of stopping off for some stuff for the hotel room. And while we were there my cousin got this really really funny vibe about a guy that was in the store. He's like we have to go. We have to go. We have to go. We didn't really know what was wrong but he's like he goes we just can't be here. So we left. And the next day we're actually going to breakfast and we were going to go to the parks after breakfast and my mom had some leftover food and we were going to go right back to the hotel which was next door. And he goes no no we shouldn't go back there. He goes here I'll just finish it for you. And that way we could leave right from there. Basically what happened is right as soon as we were done eating we got into a traffic light and then we were doing a U-turn in front of our hotel when literally two dozen police cars came flying into the into the complex popped jumped out of the car popped up the hoods pulled out the shotguns and everything was aimed on the parking lot. I hightailed it out of there. I got out of the turn lane I went down and I'm like I'm not sticking around for this. It turns out the guy that was in Walgreens the night before went on the shooting spree that day and he went around you know he started firing at cops he was hijacking or carjacking people in the parking lot he was in our parking lot at that time. So had we gone back to our hotel he was right there there was a good chance he would have tried to hijack us and it was just weird now that probably part was coincidental but what was weird there was my cousin felt something about him he saw this guy he goes something's not right we have to leave so it's being aware of listening to your gut listening to your intuition and understanding not just how you feel but what's going on around you because sometimes if you can achieve this intuition and its awareness you might be able to avoid a situation altogether but again Zanshin is more than just developing an awareness of what's around you it's an attitude and it's a mindset there's a quote I found that I really like from budodojo.com the spirit of Zanshin is the state of the remaining or lingering spirit it is often described as a sustained and heightened state of awareness and mental follow through however true Zanshin is a state of focus or concentration before during and after the execution of a technique where a link or connection between uke and nage is preserved Zanshin is a state of mind that allows us to stay spiritually connected not only to a single attacker but to multiple attackers and even an entire context a space a time an event so to be clear the state of Zanshin is something that's achieved even after the situation occurs and it might be to hold that awareness of what's going on around you for more danger but it's also a way to focus on your own intent and actions and emotions for example in many shodal tournaments they place importance on Zanshin so when you deliver an intended strike and you land it you know they expect you to hold that focus and intensity and intention for at least a moment to show that you're still focused on your task because if you just get the hit and you withdraw and you start celebrating you might not actually get that point now I'm not always big on point sparring tournaments but I do like that they're embedding this mindset in it that it's more about just showmanship it's about getting in there getting the task done but being so aware and focused in the moment that you hold that position and focus and that's part of what your score is I like that you'll also often see it referencing kendo as a state of mind and awareness after striking so don't lose focus on your victory just because you defeated the person doesn't mean your job is done and this is actually a drill that is drilled into us at our jiu-jitsu school my she-hand will teach us to throw a takedown whatever the technique is but he's adamant that we're always aware of our other classmates on the mat when we're doing the technique and especially the point when we're doing our throws we get yelled at if we don't look over our shoulder and assess our environment behind us make sure there's not somebody there and he'll very often have us do drills where he'll allow other students to attack us if we're not aware so I think it's a very important mindset to attain and have that just because you've won the fight doesn't mean you should lose your focus you've got to maintain that state of awareness because you don't know what's next so you've got to be in the moment this is an article I found by James Clear and there's a link in the description of this article but he has another great quote that I liked the enemy of improvement is neither failure nor success the enemy of improvement is boredom fatigue and lack of concentration the enemy of improvement is a lack of commitment to the process because the process is everything so if you're looking at things from a combat and battle point of view the battle's not over when you win or lose the battle is over when you can become complacent and you lose concentration so it's more than just being in the zone this awareness has to be present before during and after a given situation or task while remaining in a state of total calm alertness and those who know me know I love my karate kid references so I just have to throw out that I think a movie character that perfectly embodies the concept of Zanshin is Mr. Miyagi anytime he's up against an opponent in the films he's relaxed look he's not in his fighting stance he's out there ready but look how laser focused and concentrated on his opponent he is that's intensity so back to the archery analogy it's more than just having good aim it's about how you approach the process manage intent how you stand how you breathe and take into measure of clear and calm focus hunters that use bow and arrows you don't usually see them just panic flailing and firing arrows everywhere hoping that they hit their target no rather they take a very slow calm and intentional approach they are aware of all their actions the distance and any environmental conditions before they release that arrow so continuity is key you must be aware through all faces of a situation because the second you let your guard down Zanshin is broken and that's when you might be in danger so Zanshin in the nutshell is an effortless connection between mind body and spirit it comes with a lot of time patience and experience and on that note I would like to close this with a quote by Miyamoto Musashi a thousand days is just to forge the spirit ten thousand days is to polish what you forged so let me know what you guys think about Zanshin what your experiences are and how you've achieved different states of mind or how you're working to achieve different states of mind thank you so much for watching please share your comments down below like subscribe share this video if you enjoyed it and we'll see you all next week as a powerful guardian deity Fudo Mio stands firm and immovable a protector spirit in Buddhism and a significant symbol of the samurai wielding the sword in his right hand to cut through ignorance a rope in his left hand to bind malevolent forces and sitting before a wall of flame to purify and burn away evil Fudo Mio serves as a foundation for Fudo Shin the hardest and most coveted mental state of the martial arts today's video caps off a series of five episodes that explore the four main mental states of Zen and how they were applied and achieved in the martial arts we've previously covered Shoshin which is the beginner's mind and looked at how it seeks to achieve the ability to cast out preconceived notions or assumptions and opening one's mind to new knowledge and taking on the role of a beginner regardless of how much experience one already has by always being receptive to learning we are always growing and improving Mushin is the empty mind in which we are ready to focus and face a challenge free of outside distractions ready to act in the martial arts it is the ability to read a situation and apply a technique without having to consciously think about it and free of distraction it is an analogy of still water we can see a clear reflection of the moon as long as the water or the mind is still but if a stone or distraction breaks the surface and causes ripples we lose that clarity with Zanshin we achieve complete awareness of not only the situation presented in front of us but also everything unfolding around us meaning remaining mind Zanshin keeps us focused not only during a situation or action but before and after as well the follow through in readiness is often just as important as the act itself and dropping that awareness is when we make ourselves vulnerable Fudushin is the fourth state and translates to immovable mind when a student or practitioner has achieved Fudushin they have achieved a state of the highest level of incredible focus there is confidence in place of fear and the mind continues its path towards achieving its goals without being affected by external influences now this is obviously way easier said than done and it may require a lifetime of focus and training to achieve it it definitely has a place in the martial arts especially traditional arts that take on training as a lifestyle it often plays a role in helping the student retain their focus through environmental obstacles such as the cold or harsh weather tune out background noise as well as remain undistracted and confident during a conflict or self-defense situation the constant boils down to nothing is going to stop you from your determined objective whether it be to defend yourself physically or another life goal you are immovable the root constant of Fudushin actually stems from Buddhist mythology Fudum yo is a guardian deity in Buddhism and represents a protector spirit from bad luck and challenges and there are many rituals dedicated to him there is a great little video on youtube that quickly gives an overview and it's by the Asian art museum channel and i've provided a link to that in the description below Fudum yo is often portrayed in the form of a frightening imposing figure sitting before a wall of intense flames that represent a purifying energy to rid the evils of the world in his right hand he wields a sword the cutaway ignorance and delusion and the rope in his left hand is used to reign in bad intentions and violent actions the image and mythology of Fudum yo was often popular among the samurai who often adored themselves with his image as shown in an example from the Asian art museum video so the constant of Fudushin has arisen from this inspiration as a state of mind of perfect focus awareness and being immovable from your path to your objective the constant of Fudushin and this level of focus is present in a lot of Japanese martial arts but it's interesting to see other related perspectives for example in Kendo there is a concept of shikai or the four prohibitions sometimes you'll hear this referred to as the four sicknesses of the mind the four sicknesses can cloud judgment, distract you or cause you to make mistakes these four sicknesses are described as surprise, fear, doubt and confusion surprise can cause you to stop or hesitate in essence it briefly pauses time for you it may cause you to break composure hold your breath or distract your focus falling to surprise can result in a devastating window of opportunity for your opponent fear quite literally makes you afraid of your opponent it can cloud your perception and make your opponent appear larger and more dangerous than they may be and it may also cause hesitation in your action which can affect your ability to move freely or spontaneously doubt is a natural stem from fear if you are afraid of your opponent then you may begin to doubt your abilities you can become indecisive and lose your ability to make calm and logical choices and then finally confusion will completely disturb your composure and ability to act accordingly you may become disoriented lose total focus on your opponent and lose the ability to read their actions you hesitate and lose orientation and as a result your opponent will be able to move faster and more accurately than you so what does that mean for your mind to be immovable? I actually found a blog by TheBudoBum that offered a great perspective and a great way to process the concept I have included a link to that blog in the description it's definitely worth the read but the paraphrase his point he talks about the mind being immovable in a way that it is not caught by a distraction there is an expression that you know something catches our attention which generally means that we stop what we're doing or thinking about and suddenly focus on new information there's a difference in seeing being aware of something and having our attention captured by it he cited a quote from a Buddhist monk that encapsulates this idea perfectly when the eye is not set on any one leaf and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit but if a single leaf holds the eye it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there he goes on to elaborate how this concept may apply in a combat situation you can see something your opponent does but you're not trapped by it if she moves her sword you see movement but you don't get caught by it and miss how she changes her footwork you see her move to her left but you don't become fixated on trying to figure out what that move means you accept it and you move on your opponent cannot catch your mind and fix it in one place your opponent cannot move your mind so exactly how do we achieve foodushin in our lives it certainly isn't an overnight process and it takes a lot of discipline and structure and patience to achieve far too often people tend to set ambitious goals with great intentions but sometimes we ride to check that our willpower can't cash tell me if this scenario sounds familiar New Year's Eve tomorrow I'm going to start my resolution I'm going to hit the gym five days a week well that first week you probably go three to four times and figure that's a good start the next week maybe you go two times because you know it was a busy week and then maybe you're sore and you need to rest or you're tired or distracted with work and you'll go next week it's a slippery slope and one that far too many people myself included get trapped in the key to beginning the path towards achieving foodushin is to start really small habits have to be developed over time they don't just happen because we will them to be start with smaller less ambitious goals and when they become habit slowly increase them so instead of committing to five days a week maybe pick one day and schedule that in and focus on going to that one regularly or maybe set the goal of doing 10 push-ups in the morning over time as it becomes routine you can add more and increase the effort there's actually a really cool phone app that that I like it's called Seven Weeks and basically you enter a small task that you want to make a habit you schedule it in every day and you do the task and you check that day off and the idea is after seven weeks of consistently doing this task it should now be fairly easy to implement into your routine and become a habit we can't force focus or commitment just because we want it it's a lifestyle effort but one that is absolutely worth striving for because if we can find ways to increase our focus and become more resilient and resistant to distractions or anything that will catch our minds the more successful we're going to be it's easier said than done but when we become immovable nothing can stop us so that concludes our series on the four Zen states of mind if you haven't seen the others you can find them in the links in the description below now sometimes you'll find references to the five states of mind or the five spirits especially present in the keto the fifth spirit is sentient which means purified spirit it's a point in which a person has transcended the past to four main states of mind and reached a point that could be considered pure enlightenment perhaps we'll cover that in the future topic but for now we have work to do and regardless of what art you train in the four states of mind can have a positive impact on our training and success