I find myself getting tangled up in words often, but I think there's a lot of value in unpacking the language we use in our art, and in adjusting our definitions as we learn. Today, we worked on relaxing our back muscles, and "relax" is one of those simple words that I've really had to think about over the years. When I first started training, I found that if I just relaxed my muscles, I would often wind up losing my structure entirely. I thought of relaxing as just "emptying my body of tension," and I'd get really floppy, and I'd be unable to actually perform a technique. Often, I'd just wind up gathering myself. I'm starting to understand relaxing as a much more active process. I am intaking breath, and softening my vision, and yes, relaxing my muscles, while activating my fascia and filling my body with the energy wave. There's a lot of active presence and subtle work required to truly relax. As much as we "do less" with our muscles, we are doing a whole lot more with the rest of our body parts. What are some of the definitions you've had to expand as your training has developed? And what are your thoughts on the complexities of relaxing?

When we think about training it is often about sword techniques (or techniques from your respective system) and proper movement. Of course that is training but we can find ways to incorporate training into our every day lives. Today I really had to work on applying relaxation and remaining calm! I start work at 630am and today my computer didn't work. I had a lot of issues and the IT person, who was quite nice, was in Dublin with a very heavy accent. I could not actually work until noon! I caught myself several times letting frustration get the best of me so had to refocus. I was fortunate to have a coworker who is much better with computers help me and at one point we had to take my computer back to the server room to connect it there. Of course no table to put the computer on so I took that as another training opportunity. While my coworker was working on the computer, I used the least amount of muscle needed to hold the computer working on posture and breathing. So how do you incorporate training into your every day life?

Happy New Year everybody! We're already two weeks into the new year. Hard to believe, right? I've been thinking how time flies, and how important the small everyday routines and practices are for making progress in a focused direction. There's a lot of talk and discussion about discipline, but I like to emphasize the value of "routine" instead of discipline. I used to think discipline was the key, but once discipline fails, progress and mindset can weaken and fall apart. Last week's discipline can turn into this week's regrets. I've had the greatest success with progress and training when I've incorporated into my everyday routine. For example, when I'm in the kitchen getting a snack I practice classical movement, becoming light and relaxed, and moving with proper balance and alignment. I started doing that ever since I began training in Nami Ryu in 2008. Every time I'm in the kitchen, I automatically go into classical movement without thinking about it. It's like brushing my teeth before going to work or bed. What are your thoughts on discipline versus routine. For those of you who are new to the study of kenjutsu, have you started to incorporate any routines in your training?