Community Concepts (April 2023)

Community Concepts (April 2023)

04/06/2023

Dojo Philosophy for Everyday Life

Since the pandemic I’ve noticed a change in the way adults approach their own personal development. Many people adapted to some sort of online training or solitary practice during isolation and have become hesitant about returning to groups or pursuing long term goals. The world just seems too inconsistent and unstable! People are feeling cut off from human interaction but still hesitant about breaking out of their solitary routines. Social media makes people feel plugged in, but it also magnifies extremes and makes people feel like the world has gone mad! This month I want to talk about one of our philosophies meant to reconnect us with our development and deep human balance.

Five F’s for Training
1) Fortify Your Body 2) Find Your Own Way 3) Fly Your Spirit 4) Feed Your Soul 5) Flow Your Ki

Even though some goals are mental or spiritual, all our efforts have to pass through our bodies, and if we treat them poorly then our results will suffer. Imagine trying to study for an exam when you’ve filled up on greasy food and only got three hours of sleep the night before. Fortifying your body through stretching, exercising, eating well, and getting consistent sleep aren’t just the laws of fitness. They’re also the foundation of mental and spiritual growth.Finding our own way is where we’ve made great strides during isolation. So many seemingly unbreakable institutions crumbled and had to be reinvented from our homes. As those institutions reemerge, we now know we have more choices. We also know that those institutions can grind to a halt at any moment so we’re learning to better understand what we can and can’t do without. Now we need to use that new knowledge to further our development.

Flying your spirit is critical to success. You can’t wait for certainty! When your plans and goals begin to form in your head you will be tempted to keep laying plans until you have it all figured out and then wait to act until you’re sure to have a 100% chance of success. Things will never be all figured out and 100% sure to succeed! Listen for the whisper of opportunity and take flight on the partial plans that you have so far, or else you’ll never start. At the dojo we regularly hear people say they want to start training once they get in shape, get more flexible, etc. Not one of them has ever started.

Feed your soul means that once you start putting your energy out to build, grow, learn, or create, you can get caught up in the results and not pay enough attention to whether any energy is coming back! When you undertake a challenge, you are like a ship at sea trying to reach a destination. You can read your instruments, correct your course, and cruise forward, but if you don’t take care of the boat, you won’t make it to the destination. Is your pride in accomplishment enough to feed you? As I’ve said before, if your goals serve shallow motivations, they’re easy to discard when things get tough. Try connecting your goals to your community, using your work to motivate and serve others, and tying your projects to your family and friends. When your goals are for love and community, they can endure hardship.

Last on this list is to flow your ki (chi). If you’re not familiar with ki, think of it as the electrical impulses that connect your intentions to your body’s movements. We’ve also measured these connections within networks of trees, mushrooms, and plants all working together to sustain each other. When we refer to actively using that energy, we’re talking about becoming aware of the connections between yourself, your health, your goals, and the wide community around you. Then simply enjoy the flow of energy and do your part to keep it moving!