When the attitude, act and the body interact as one, this is known as SHIN GI TAI ICHI. This translates as spirit, the person and act as one. People confuse modelling with copying which is only a mirror image of the act being copied. Modelling is creating the feel of the act being copied. Hatsumi told us "only the feeling is important here".
Copyright Dennis Bartram Working in the space December 2005
Modelling is miming something until its three dimensionally real. The body, mind, has the ability to give you a "REAL TIME" experience of any situation you can imagine or hallucinate in an associated form. I.e., you are acting an experience kinesthetically and with all other senses. In trance or mime, you literally act out its intended form. This rehearsed reality, gives you the feel of the outcome. Therefore, from a mental experiment or experience, you can feel the act from before the experience as a kinesthetic hallucination, but the neural pathways hold the memory as reality. There is no distinction in the right brain between imagined or real experiences. Athletes when injured or learning a new skill are taught to visualise the act in an associated way. This facilitates speedy recovery of skill level for the athlete following injury.
Article:
Mime is a natural imitation of a movement or an intended act. Children learn by imitation and can imitate the whole physiology, mannerisms and the vocal content even down to the tone of a voice.
Imitation is the ability to steal the benefits of someone else's learning. Scientists have now established that we have meme neurons that give us the ability to copy other people. By using the meme neurology we can copy and transmit non verbal gestures for others to follow.
In humans this has led to a social conformity which is a trait that helped us evolve as social groups. Children in ancient and nomadic lifestyles would have to learn many survival tasks quickly. This ability to mimic and recall the information is a trait that separates us from animals.
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Children "make believe" all the time in their learning and play. Unfortunately, we are conditioned educationally by our peers not to "make believe." This deschooling of a mental resource takes place by about eleven years of age. These skills also had their application in natural medicine principles. We instinctually know to rub or press an area when it is injured. All animals can be observed licking, pressing or stroking areas of the body to stimulate bodily reflexes. As we evolved and developed social networks, we used our instincts less and less.
As people became more specialised in their skills, trades were developed to offer that service. Therefore, for the first time soldiers would soldier and farmers would farm. They would still have their natural potential to use their body movement skills in both practices. Over the centuries, though skills have been mechanised and many occupations include repetitive and single limb kinetic handling procedures.
Few modern skills have still maintained these basic natural movement secrets. Authentic warrior craft in Japan was handed down from family to family as a natural heritage. These skills were taught and kept intact through the governing mentor of the school.
Grandmasters protected the records of the school and produced a lineage of hierarchy. Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi is the 34th grandmaster of the Bujinkan School and is also skilled in the medicine practices of the ancient systems.
Dr. Hatsumi demonstrated several methods of pressure medicine from various countries in the East including China and India. The common denominator between them was physical contact and a way of pressing and squeezing tissue. In these manual massage modalities, the main diagnostic tool was palpation - the feeling of the skin and tissue. Various pressures would then be applied locally or distally to balance out the factors of the dis-ease of the tissue. This way of working predates pathology and anatomical study and relies solely on a feeling.
Dr. Hatsumi explained that the feeling was the most important thing both in natural medicine and warrior craft. This feel, this Tai Jutsu would also extend to any physical skill. Farming, pottery, construction would all have their Tai Jutsu. This feel has been captured by many cultures in their dance and their Budo - or martial ways.
The Bujinkan School encompasses nine separate schools of warrior craft skills. These skills were developed in the wild from nature. Borne of nature they embraced the feeling of our natural surroundings.
I have studied these movement patterns under the guidance of Dr Hatsumi for twenty years. For the first ten years, I researched and integrated these methods into the therapeutic approach of my physical therapy. Dr. Hatsumi acknowledged the work with a Master teaching credential called a Menkyo Kaiden. (The teaching rights from an ancient school of preventative and remedial secrets). From 1995 onwards, he has guided me towards developing this feeling further.
The school was known as the school of the secret of the opening flower, which translates to Hichi Buko Goshin Jutsu. The doctrines were taught to those who had mastered the martial art first. Its essence lies in its Tai Jutsu or natural movement behaviour. Moving with this skill your body can be shaped behind contact points to apply pressure on body parts as a therapeutic touch.
Inside his martial teachings are techniques that involve every conceivable direction of escape. This concept is called TONS:%$#332; NO JUTSU, which allows for thirty-six methods of escape in six directions. The movement patterns inside these techniques are the same for the application of Anma and Seitai principles of Amatsu therapy.
Copyright Dennis Bartram Working in the space December 2005
This way of moving is omni directional, effortless, natural and develops power with minimal muscle involvement. Its power base is hidden inside its multiple walking patterns.
Hatsumi teaches that you must learn to float inside your walk and he is the epitome of this art. In Budo, there are three distinct ways of walking from which to take action, explore and evade obstacles. These methods allow us to walk on all kinds of terrain and climatic conditions. This would require omni directional body movements safely to follow the terrain and walk through many varying underfoot surface conditions.
Modern people tend to walk on flat surfaces with poor shock absorbency. Their direction is linear forward, left or right. This also reflects itself into modern gym equipment and exercise regimes. They are designed to follow muscle contraction over a short linear direction. This is known as an isotonic muscle contraction and is designed to approximate the origin and insertion of the muscle in the shortest distance. In this example, the bicep flexes to lift the weight. Towards the shoulder
This approach to exercise is based on Newtonian principles of a fixed point a fulcrum and a lever. Although a muscle trained in this way will develop in strength and size if fails to integrate the action holistically.
This isolates the bicep and is popular with athletes to strengthen a muscle specifically. Natural movement however, is non-linear and uses minimal muscle activity coupled with body movement to produce its power.
With our global sensory intelligence or proprioception we can stand effortlessly with minimal adaption to gravity.
Modern research has shown that just walking on a cobbled surface for thirty minutes a day lowers blood pressure and improves balance, ancient man had no flat surface to walk on.
Inside of the walking patterns of Budo are many Kamae or postures that link the spine and limbs into integrated patterns of movement.
"Inside the Aruki walking patterns of Budo are all the elemental physiologies in movement expression." (Hatsumi p.118)
This develops the power and dexterity to form Ningu (physical body postures that allow integration of the limbs to develop power omni directionally without strain). Ningu is the total involvement of the body to work with a limb as a tool.
When we began to use weapons and tools they had to give us a benefit or advantage beyond our bare hands. In fighting fierce animals a spear used by several attackers could corner and wound the animal from a safe distance. When we carry objects-such as water, food, clothing, we have to adapt and merge with it into our normal body feel.
When people have lost a limb some report the fact that they can still feel its presence as if it were still there. When they are fitted with a prosthetic limb, their motor system can encompass the limb as a whole. Movement with the prosthesis is natural and integrated through the emprint of our gait or movement patterns. This connection integrating the limb to our whole body automism of walking or moving to produce a somatic intelligence or feeling.
The limbs of the body combined with fingers, toes, knees and elbows form shapes as we move. This skill goes beyond ambidexterity to being a total synesthesia of the body parts to focus and move on one place at one time.
Our bodies are capable of connecting with a false limb with a neurology acting like an extending pseudo-podia (neural extension of a simple organism seeking food or light). This pseudo - like awareness allows our neurology to expand into the limb.
This is the same sense we adopt when using a tool or a weapon. Hatsumi explains when you are using a sword act as if you don't have one, and when you have no weapon act as if you have. This encompasses this extended feel of spatial surroundings to being a bigger presence; he describes it as a bigger 'NOW'.
This way of moving behind the tool has equal freedom and dexterity from using several limbs of the body in a balanced equilibrium. From these multidimensional body contacts, you can alter your control from any one, whilst maintaining equilibrium.
"It is important to train like this so that you can begin to understand your own limitations of movement and adjust to overcome them" Dr. Hatsumi
Copyright Dennis Bartram
Working in the space December 2005
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