Category Archives: Reflections Along the Way by Steven Shaw

Learning keeps us young and flexible.  Even as our bodies begin to stiffen from the demands of living, we work and train to maintain our flexibility.  The same need applies to our minds.  New skills, new techniques, and new perspectives all stretch our minds. Continue to look at skills and patterns of thought to determineContinue reading “Flexibility”

Training is a gift. Every moment in the dojo is an opportunity to grow. Sometimes the lessons go beyond technique and enter the realm of history or social construction, but every moment has the capacity to stretch our minds and bodies. I remember a time when I was in the dojo training and I hadContinue reading “Focus in Training”

People are very interested in things that are exotic or new. In a study about discrimination, babies will look at people of a different ethnicity than the ethnicity of the babies’ primary care givers longer than people of the same ethnicity. There is something attractive about the new and different. When new people come toContinue reading “The Role of Sempai”

Instant gratification permeates all aspects of our culture, but that is not the way of the dojo and training. When we are given time to train on our worst technique, that’s what we should do. It is singular focus. Last week I posed this approach to my students and I received varying responses. One learnerContinue reading “One Piece of Rice Paper”

A Japanese sword is designed to slice. An ax is designed to chop. The mass and balance of a sword is designed to slice at the tip, instead of chopping near the hands. Since this is the case, a sword’s tip should move along the greatest arc from a center point. By applying the principlesContinue reading “Using the Arc”

Iaido, as a path, always teaches its practitioners. There is always something new. A true student will go beyond the moment and unpack all its meaning. Some moments are small and some are momentous, yet each is equally important. Most of us don’t listen to the lessons in every moment and require more dramatic eventsContinue reading “Iaito Fatigue & Failure”

There are many paths we walk. Sometimes they are groomed by our teachers, and sometimes we must carve them out of the wild using the techniques and methods of our teachers. This path leads to a shrine O’Sensei helped create on the Northern island of Hokkaido. Keep training to stay on the path.