The Mindset
Jiu Jitsu Class, 03/02/23
We have been studying issues related to both resistance and to the ability to be sensitive to the moment. This includes learning to adopt an improved approach both to our Jiu Jitsu and to a better way of living. For example, we know that if an attacker were to grab us that our natural tendency is to resist or pull away, to struggle against the grab. This reactivity often carries through into our everyday life, as well.
Recent Jiu Jitsu classes have been delving into the mechanics of what occurs when resistance emerges. But more importantly, we have been learning that there are glimpses of awareness that can take place, but typically only if we have ‘the eyes to see’.
To achieve this type of insight, we first need to find and acknowledge that place within ourselves that isn’t so compulsively reactive to the grab or the attack. In our daily life, for example, these impulses are often subconscious. We subliminally fight against someone’s attitude, or are resentful of having too many things on our plate. We stress over money or relationships. Perhaps we succumb to negative emotions or bad feelings.
Yet, in these moments, there are opportunities to turn in a different direction. But how do we spot those opportunities? Because, at least initially, those moments are - at best - often just a flash of awareness, a faint flicker of recognition.
In our Jiu Jitsu studies we have been using the metaphor of Mercury the Winged Messenger to represent a personification of those moments or flickers of awareness. Mercury is a messenger of awareness, who is always trying to remind us of a better choice, or a better direction, or perhaps simply a different (not necessarily better) direction. In a sense, the challenge becomes one of training ourselves to become more and more aware of these flickers of reminding, until the flickers themselves become less sporadic, less chaotic and instead eventually transition into a constant stream of awareness.
It is within this briefly described context that I wish to share something I observed within my own behavior this past week.
3/9/23 - Looking Back on Last Week’s Class
I was wondering why I suddenly have more of a ‘spring in my step’ today. And it’s so obvious. It’s a mental switch, an orientation or polarity shift.
I’ve been slugging and punching my way through work and other tasks. For weeks and weeks. It’s been tiring and at times exhausting. And then, yesterday afternoon, there was a work break. And today there is another one. I am living inside a day or so of being able to breathe more freely. Which has given me a mental break. And that space, that gap, has brought about a re-alignment. Because I upped my game of awareness.
Look, I strive to be aware even on my harder days. Yet this break in work responsibilities has given me an opportunity to observe some of the mechanics regarding how this actually works.
The experience of my shift is similar to back when I was a kid. I often hated getting up in the morning… unless something very exciting was on the schedule for that day. When that happened, I’d pop out of bed with boundless energy. It was only some years later that I realized I could grasp that very same ‘boundless energy’ - even on a more boring day.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that we can overcome everything with a change in our outlook. Or by faking a spring in our step. Because changes in outlook aren’t the sole precursor to shifts brought about by improved awareness.
So what is this 'thing' that tilts us one way or the other? In light of our studies about Mercury the Messenger, and about having the ability to hear or spot the messenger when it appears, I think this is a key element: I heard Mercury whispering in my mind today. Actually, it was pretty loud.
Another way of saying this is, which way are my senses, my emotions, my mental attitudes tilted? Do I have an ear poised to hear? Or are my ears, instead, conditioned to listen to the din, to the noise, to the disruption of equilibrium? Do I allow the onslaught of work tasks, life obligations, or relationship challenges to suppress the inner whisper? Because the thing is, I don’t want my habits and conditioned reflexes to block me out from a better approach to living.
A Few Class Notes
To revisit last week's Jiu Jitsu class, "It's very much a mindset. The mindset, in Buddhism, is called Budh."
From class notes:
In Jiu Jitsu we are feeling and looking for a way to adjust to our goals within the context of not resisting, not challenging. The eternal quality is a zero state; it's not in a particular form. The zero state is not about resisting or challenging.
The real oneness is at the zero line. As we deviate from that position we are expanding or compressing the 'stuff' of resistance.
When we are doing our Jiu Jitsu we gave a goal, which is to get back to this state of oneness. Otherwise, you are going to be learning to be 'against' something. And resultantly, you are going to be training in becoming more and more resistant.
The 'something' is the 'pushing against' the oneness or against other stuff (i.e., other somethings). Resistance is made up of ‘pushing against’.
We are resisting the oneness to be something against the oneness, to be not fully one.
In this context, a grab represents a moving away from the oneness. The attacker can't hold the grab forever. Why would you want to encourage that resistance? Why wouldn't you want to move toward the Oneness?
You think, erroneously, that the whole is all of these separate parts all put together. That is incorrect.
When you have it, it's captivating, it's love, it's connection.
CLASS WAS TAUGHT by Scott Walter, Shihan. Great River Jiu Jitsu is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. This article was written by Mark Walter - I attended the class virtually, from California.