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At my first aikido class in Japan
back in 1987.
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I noticed something in the first
five minutes
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that was completely different
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from what I had experienced in the dojo
that I had been training in in the USA,
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and that was the senior students.
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Yes, they were warming up physically,
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but they were also warming up
their attention.
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As soon as they walked into the dojo,
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I noticed, oh,
this is a little bit different.
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There was a βkombanwa.β
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That was it.
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Hello.
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Good evening. And then get changed.
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They were focused on each thing, rather
than just kind of having a social hour.
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It was very different from
if we got there early in the US.
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In the US when we got there early
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we would warm up
but we'd chat while we were warming up.
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Some people wouldn't
warm up at all physically.
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They would just be hanging out
and chatting,
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having a nice social time beforehand.
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That didn't happen.
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I think it's happening
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a little bit in our Japanese dojos
sometimes,
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but not nearly to the extent
that I see it in the USA and back then.
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Not at all.
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Not at all.
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And nobody took this personally.
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Like nobody wants to talk with me.
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It was just
there was a hush over the room,
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and there were 20 or 30 people
warming up physically.
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But also you could see that
they're warming up their attention.
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So one difference is that, first of all,
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we never called it stretching.
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the term that we used in Japan,
I think I think most or all dojos in Japan
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βJunbi Taisoβ preparation exercises.
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Right.
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And my sensei, Takeda Sensei, he would
he would say to me sometimes, Lia,
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what's all this.
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The why are people warming up at the dojo
and doing all this stretching?
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Canβt they do that on the train?
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And then
we had a 15 minute walk to the dojo.
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So if you're in your 20s or 30s,
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that should be enough.
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Maybe if you're older, maybe you do need
more time to to stretch your muscles.
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But anyway, so there's Junbi Taiso
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and I believe that this Junbi Taiso
the preparatory movement
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and exercise is really to get all of us
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in sync before we start the class,
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just get in sync and you are in charge
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of warming up your body,
but also warming up your mind.
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Try to empty out
from the day at the office
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or kids or,
you know, whatever you've got going on,
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whatever you just left behind
before you came to the dojo.
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At a certain point, I even noticed that
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walking to the dojo,
people were kind of warming up mentally.
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And yes,
there would sometimes be conversation.
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I remember meeting Takeda sensei
a few times, just a few times
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getting off of the train,
and we would walk to the dojo together.
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First of all, we walked at a good clip
and it was like
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he was just eating up the ground
and we would have conversation.
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And he was always positive.
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Always positive.
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I know he must have had some days
that weren't great,
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but he didn't let on.
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So that was really cool.
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Like already on our way to the dojo,
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there was this positivity
that was building.
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Then when we got to the dojo,
we would go in, we would bow in
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and of course onto the mats
right there at the door.
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So, you know, you go into the
changing room and then come out what?
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You prime at the beginning of the session
or before the beginning of the session
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is really what you're going to be training
for the next 90 minutes.
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So if you start off with all this clutter
in your mind
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and feeding that clutter by talking
and having these social conversations,
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that's how your brain is going to remain
to a certain degree
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for the next 90 minutes or 2 hours
or one hour, whatever your class is.
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So working on getting rid of that
from the moment you step
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in, step through the door
is really, really beneficial.
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And arriving at the mat,
getting on the mat already listening
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is to already put yourself in a meditative
frame of mind.
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And it's also a technical choice.
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You're going to benefit more technically
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if your mind is empty and free and relaxed
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and focused.
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You know, I was always amazed
when Takeda sensei seemed to read my mind.
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when I had had a frustrating day,
it seemed,
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for example, we're doing shomenuchi ikkyo.
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And after a little while
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he would say, okay, Lia here, grab tight,
and he have me do
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ryote mochi or morotedori,
depending on what you call it.
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Two hands on one, he'd say.
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Grabbed tight, tighter, tighter, tighter.
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And then bam!
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Kokyunage where you bam, right?
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And I don't know why,
but that was always a reset for me
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taking that ukemi
for that exact technique.
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I was like
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Especially if you're the teacher,
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if you are quiet and you quiet your mind
at the very beginning of the class,
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and then you see this person
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comes through the door,
that person's comes through the door,
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you can read them more accurately
I had my own English school
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in Japan, so I would
sometimes be stressed from work.
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I had some employees.
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But anyway, the time,
the few times that he did do that
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just break from whatever he was teaching
and then like,
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okay, Lia needs to be thrown
until she can't stand up anymore.
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They were really times
when I was so incredibly stressed.
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So, like, how did he read me?
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He was open to it.
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The mind was was, attentive and receptive.
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another thing that I find more in Japan,
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listening internally
when they quiet the mind like this.
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What's available today?
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Right.
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What's available in me?
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What is sensei doing?
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He's doing Shihonage, Ah, got it. No.
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If the mind is really quiet, then
look to see.
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Is there something different about the way
he's doing Shihonage today?
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From yesterday.
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And then if you're
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looking really carefully,
then you might get chosen for ukemi also.
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In which case you can feel
really carefully if this is quiet,
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if this isn't quiet,
you're going to miss so much information.
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So how do you apply this
when no one's modeling it for you?
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That's really a challenge, actually.
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So back in the US, it's kind of a custom
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in a lot of dojos
to be friendly and nice before the bow-in
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and have a nice little chat,
catch up with somebody.
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I don't do it.
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And a lot of times
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people see me as being antisocial.
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I'm sorry
if you ever see me on the mat before
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bow-in, like, especially like five minutes
before bow-in.
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And I'm not engaging with anybody,
and I don't answer your question.
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Please understand. I'm getting ready.
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So you
get ready however you want to get ready.
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But that's how I get ready, because that's
what I experienced in Japan.
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And I, I noticed the benefit.
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There was a huge benefit.
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So I like to arrive early.
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I usually check my phone when I get there.
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I wish I could wean myself off
my phone more,
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but anyway, once I've checked my phone
and then gotten on the mat, if I'm taking
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someone's class, I try to get on the mat
ten minutes before bow-in.
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I warm up my body, I warm up my brain.
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I empty my brain.
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That is, if I'm teaching,
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I still like to do that.
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And then sometimes I'll step off the mat.
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Well, sometimes not, sometimes I'll stay.
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But anyway, I warm up the body.
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But more importantly, even,
warm up my brain.
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Try to empty it out.
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So if you want to try this.
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It might feel a little weird.
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And it might be a little unnerving
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to your partners and your friends.
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Just tell them, hey,
for the next two weeks,
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you know, don't say just for tonight,
because then you have to explain it
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to everybody, and then tomorrow
you're not for the next two weeks,
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for the next month,
for the next three months, whatever.
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I'm going to try this thing that
Lia Suzuki was encouraging people to do.
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I'm going to like,
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try not talking to anybody
before the bow and just explain it.
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So the first couple times
you're going to have to tell people that,
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and then after that keep doing it and see,
see if you like it.
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And I think that most or, or
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all people will go like, oh okay.
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Cool.
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Yeah. You do.
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You all right?
I bet you'll really like it.
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when you do that, take an honest
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reading of what
you're bringing to the mat.
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And if you feel lousy that day,
you had a terrible day.
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Be honest.
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Own it.
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Yeah, man, I sure do feel terrible, man.
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But I got here, man.
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Who was difficult.
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It was tempting to go home.
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Right?
Whatever it is, or I feel fantastic today.
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I can't wait to get going.
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Get get going with this class.
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If you're a teacher, you don't
you don't need to explain it
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to your students every time,
but you might want to give them 1 or 2
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heads up,
just like I, explained previously.
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So anyway,
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if you see me at a seminar
and I do have some seminars coming up,
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I've got one coming up
actually this weekend and in Montana.
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So all you people in Montana,
when you see me,
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if I don't answer you or I seem unfriendly
or something, look at the clock.
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And if we're, like, 5 to 10 minutes
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away from Bow-in, that's what's going on.
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Don't take it personally.
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Join me.
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Just sit down right next to me
and do your warm
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ups to silently
so that I really like that, actually.
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So anyway, by the way,
if you're interested in more topics
00;10;27;05 - 00;10;30;15
like this,
I have a weekly video training newsletter
00;10;30;15 - 00;10;33;28
that goes out, so you can jump on that
in the link in the description.
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So I really do recommend
that you give this a try.
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The practice
our practice starts before the practice.
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If it starts before the bow-in and see
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how much earlier
you can make your practice start.
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If you're taking the train already
on the train,
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be preparing, preparing,
preparing on the walk.
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Don't be like looking at your phone
while you're walking.
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Just prepare, prepare, prepare.
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Get your attention primed and see
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how much further
you can stretch that out before bow-in
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What you bring to the mat in those opening
few minutes really sets the ceiling.
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It raises the ceiling for you.
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You'll be able to go further, and you will
contribute towards a more meditative
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and probably more meditative
and intense in a good way,
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atmosphere in the dojo.
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So give it a try and come back to this
video and leave a comment.
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Let me know how it goes
or send an email when you jump on that.
00;11;40;25 - 00;11;45;24
The newsletter,
the weekly video training newsletters.
