I had wanted to have the power to punch through trees and pick up cars. I wanted to be strong enough to move anything, but I was born as an average size human being. I was looking for magic to take away all the limits.
During a training break later, I got a chance to ask my question in private.
“An-Shu, how do we know what’s possible? What if the only reason we can’t punch through an engine block is because we believe we can’t?”
He smiled generously at my question. “You’re right, of course. No one can know for sure what is and is not possible. But it’s very important to be real. There is no point in fantasizing about what might be possible. Start where you are, study the methods, and get better. You’ll find out what’s possible, and when you go further than any of us did, we’ll come to your seminar.”
It was so practical. It made so much sense. Missing the encouragement in his statement, I flushed with embarrassment that I had shared my childish ideas. “Yes, sir, I will practice.”
Of course he knew my thoughts. “No need to be embarrassed. It’s normal for the mind to leap far into the future. It’s a way for our fears to keep us from actually working on the growth we seek. When you catch yourself, just bring yourself back and get to work on getting better now.”
I was amazed. I had never encountered a teacher so knowledgeable of both the topic and the path to mastery. I had never met a man with so much skill who could be so generous with his clumsy students.
My mind was churning with possibilities, and another question finally formed. “So, if board-breaking is something people can learn about Strength now, why don’t we do it in To-Shin Do?”
“Because it’s not the point of the practice,” he said. He got up without another word and walked out onto the mat. It was time for the next exercise.
 |
Exercise Two – Getting Earthy |
Get a trusted training partner close to your own size and strength.
You will stand in a natural stance, feet about shoulder’s width apart. Your partner’s job is to step up behind you, squat low with a straight back, and pick you up with their arms around your waist. Let your partner try it slowly and carefully a couple of times to make sure they can do it without jerking or straining their back. Remind them to lift from the legs.
The author stays neutral and allows his training partner to lift him.
The first time, don’t do anything special. Just let your partner lift you so that you and they get a sense of how difficult it is for them.
The second time, you will prepare yourself before they attempt the lift. Take a deep breath, and let it out slowly and completely. Imagine yourself as much heavier than normal. Settle your weight into your bones and let your legs soften a bit. Be relaxed and concentrate on your own heaviness.
Let your partner try to pick you up. If you start to get moved or lifted, don’t focus on fighting them. Focus instead on relaxing more and getting heavy.
It will make a difference if you can remain relaxed and focused on heaviness. If your partner is very strong, they may be able to lift you anyway, but they will feel the difference distinctly. It is like when a parent tries to pick up a child who is passively resisting.
The author gets earthy and his training partner cannot lift him at all.
Once you have this trick working for you, try not telling your partner which it will be. See how soon they can feel the difference when they try to lift you.
If you’re feeling particularly comfortable with the exercise, you might even be able to activate the heaviness after they’ve lifted you, and thereby sink back down to the ground against their strength. Be careful, though, because it is possible to hurt your partner if they are not aligned properly for your weight. Take appropriate athletic precautions.
“The patron of the power of Kuji One was called Fudo Myo’o in Japanese lore, or Acalanatha in Sanskrit,” An-Shu Hayes explained. “His name means The Immovable One.”
I had read about Fudo Myo’o (不動明王) as one of the Five Wisdom Kings known to Japanese Buddhism, certain historical ninja groups, and the yamabushi mountain shamans. I hadn’t realized that the image of Fudo Myo’o has existed in ancient India as well under the Sanskrit name Acalanatha.
“We can start with the practice of being physically immovable, but it goes much deeper. Fudo Myo’o also represents how to be imperturbable, unflappable, not distressed by the chaos around you.”
I thought of how in the exercises we had practiced, the physical manifestation of immovability was generated by holding my mind to the right thought. If my attention slipped, or I doubted myself, or I let my training partner’s struggles distract me, I would immediately lose the ability to resist their power.
“An obvious example of the use of that mental strength is the confidence and focus you can generate to bring strength to your martial arts practice,” my teacher continued. “Deeper than that is the ability to hold a space under social and emotional pressure.” He looked right at me as he said this, though I wasn’t sure why.
I raised my hand. “Do you just mean not backing down?”
He looked slightly irritated at my question. “You could put it in simple terms like that, but in real life it is much more difficult to do with intelligence and grace. When I was providing personal protection for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we often needed to secure a space for His Holiness, but we were working with monks, spiritual practitioners, celebrities, fans, and media. It would have been totally inappropriate to just get tough and ugly and throw people out like bar bouncers.”
The group laughed at the image of the Dalai Lama’s protection team roughing up Buddhist monks who had come to pray. An-Shu Hayes nodded at the laughter for a moment, and then suddenly became very serious. “It sounds funny to imagine, but well-meaning people make this mistake all the time. If your idea of strength is mere ignorant resistance, then you have no ability to project intelligent force in the world. In which case, your only choices are to be a doormat or a difficulty.”
The room went quiet while we absorbed that. I remembered role-models in my life, good-hearted people, who had either been pushed aside by the insistent needs of others, or who were pushed until they exploded with too much anger and righteousness. I cringed on the inside remembering loved ones who were not able to harness strength in an intelligent and appropriate way.
“So how do we harness the power of Fudo Myo’o?” I finally asked aloud.
Now he smiled at me. “That’s the right question. There’s a full practice for taking on that energy and power, with a number of safety mechanisms built right in so that you do it in the most positive form possible. Another day, when we have more time, I’d like to walk you through that practice. For today, let’s do an extremely condensed version to give a little taste of what it might be like to own that strength.”
He folded his hands into an unusual shape. It almost reminded me of a shape we used to make with an old childhood
