In Uppsala

A day of Bujinkan training in Uppsala dojo is going to it's end. I'm so happy to meet up with and learn from Pete again. And to train with and talk to my old and new Bujinkan friends. As always it's stupidly hard to try to put down in words what I've learned during the day, since it's not techniques but rather concepts, different ways of looking at how we train, where we want to go and how we get there.

Studying how we move has been one of the things that has been most important for me during the last year, and I've found a couple of principles that I can apply on everything I do. Stepping without telegraphing your movement, shi ho dori-lines, how to keep control of your uke without force and not give any information to him/her is a couple of them that were brought up during today's training.
It was great to get different aspects on these principles during today's training. Little adjustments on kamae, distancing, timing. And some new thoughts that will be developed in the upcoming months.

It was good being reminded of how important it is not to fight, but to move without intention. Letting uke make his/her own trap and consider how you most effectively can get out of the situation.
Can you choose to act in a different way? Do you need to hit them down? Can you get the will of fighting out of them without doing harm?
I think it's important to remember that these principles aren't restricted to training in the dojo, they apply to life. They are actually the principles of life, that we train in the dojo, where we have a safe environment to "test" them out and fail and try again.
The only thing we now is constant, is change, and being successful is all about being able to adapt to that change. That's what training teaches us, how to adapt to the changes in our life, without resisting. Knowing how to benefit from them.

Since I came home from Japan  in May 2012 this have been one of the big lessons to learn for me. And I'm slowly getting there, to the place where I can look at all the changes in my life without putting a label on them. In the end I hope not to look at changes as good or bad, but just as changes. And adapt in the best way possible.
Being with friends and doing training like today really boosts this process, thanks to all of you who have shared your day with me!