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BETTING

BETTING
Every day I bet for my students. I bet for every one of them, many are rejected by other groups for their way of thinking, their way of "life", but I want to bet for them, I try to offer them a wide range of opportunities for their development. With patience, I reiterate the basic instructions for making them going forward by themselves. For many of them no one wanted to bet, simply rejected them and today they have become incredible human beings, the "masters" of life through martial arts. If you are an instructor, have ever you thought that "in reality" you are someone who must bet without any fear for others and offer them opportunities according to your own possibilities?
In a danger situation, several biochemical factors which act to make you run away to avoid it, or you stay paralyzed unable to move or to deal with it. There is another situation that produces the same, envy. But what is envy? Just wanting something that others have. I have reviewed some proverbs about envy that I share with you:
Jealousy in men shows how miserable they feel, and your constant attention to what they do or do not do the others, shows how much they get bored.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher.

Punishes those who are jealous by doing them good.
Arabian Proverb

Envy is a statement of inferiority.
Napoleon I (1769-1821) Napoleon Bonaparte. French Emperor.

What is jealous? An ingrate person who hates the light that illuminates and warms.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French novelist.

Envy is caused by seeing others enjoying what we want, jealousy is seeing others having what we want to possess.
Diogenes Laertius (third century BC-?) Greek history.

Our envy always lasts more than the happiness of those we envy.
François de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French writer.

Envy is a thousand times more terrible than hunger, because it is spiritual hunger.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) Spanish philosopher and writer.

If you look at jealousy is a disease that occurs since the human being exists, which makes the person who feels it continually unhappy, miserable and bitter. It is also decentralized their own reality and his own self to be all his life focused on what others get and that he would like to have. Ideally, if you want something and is an available goal, it is not necessary "to knock down" those who already have it, because they have achieved through their own efforts, rather you could ask for more ideas about how to do it and leveraging their own experience.

In short, what is a jealous person? It is a person who wants the "good things" without effort and sacrifice that others have, normally achieved with effort and sacrifice. And I wonder if they want the "good things" of others, they also want the "not so good ones".

My JUST IN THIS VERY RIGHT MOMENT Decalogue is:
1. Do not waste YOUR time wanting what others have. If you want something start dreaming,which is a kind of reality and then start working for it, joining forces with the universe and avoiding that the goal justify the means.
2. Do not waste your wonderful time with superficial or deep controversy. The term "controversy", which has its origin in the Greek language, is linked to the tricks used to defend or offend a posture. Most of the time they are meaningless and worst of all, do not let you proceed.
3. Avoid becoming a fan of yourself, of your own ideas, of your own concepts, of your own techniques.
4. Help all you can as your posibilities let you and do not expect anything in return. If you expect something in return, you´ll be frustrated.
5. Build rather than destroy. But if you try to destroy, leave a space to re-build.
6. Do your best. Whether you're on the mat, in the car, sitting, lying down, you can always do something to benefit others.
7. Stop and slow down when you need it, but as part of the integrated motion, not as an isolated event. Do not keep long in the same position. Staying too long in one position has many risks attached.
8. Do what you can for yourself and if you can´t, ask for help, but don´t any expectations about it.
9. Live every moment to the maximum, join with people with attractive and positive initiatives. There are many things to do, there are many needy people organizations and sick people that need volunteers.
10. Love every being deeply.

A big hug, by my side I will go on betting.
Pedro Fleitas

MARTIAL ARTS ARE SIMPLE ….BUT PLEASE DON’T PANIC!

MARTIAL ARTS ARE SIMPLE ….BUT PLEASE DON’T PANIC!
By Pedro Fleitas
I had an illumination. I realized that although I don’t have hair I can brag about it, because every time I wear a black t shirt to give a class, I see the hair of my doggie Tai decorating the textiles. So I have hair, and I make it clear so that there are no misunderstandings. The great thing is that the hair of my dog knows no borders, no passport control, no customs control nor language, just as I see hair across my shirt, usually up and down (to advertise a bit more Isaac Newton), but the fact is that some are also come from the bottom to the top and from right to left and left to right, and so on. They are very sensitive to motion, like those who practice the Kihon Happo, Juppo Sessho, Sanshin no Kata.

In our lives there are many things with us and which we don’t perceive, yet are very important.
I ask, pardon, I ask myself? The existence of the hidden combination of sempai, gohai and dohai is identical to Jonin, Chunin and Genin or equal to Shidoshi ho, Shidoshi and Shihan. There is a hidden combination in every action, every movement, even if we do not know when the movement is in-limited (be careful is a perception not a technique) the plot exceeds the hidden combination to become the re-opening of the essentials?
Today when we "philosophize" we get very serious. We want to take the role, for example, of a perfect martial arts teacher, correct, strict, someone who must be respected for his titles and technical knowledge. What could be Furthest from a martial reality? Reality or illusion? Illusion AND reality?
YES, we all learn from each other, correct, but all are not your master. A teacher is very special and if you're lucky enough to find one in this life, consider yourself fortunate, very fortunate. There are many beings who cannot find anything and look at themselves every day and thinking I am my master, my only teacher, I know all the techniques, I get all the feelings, but how often have you felt a knee that smashing your head on the floor and laugh so you don’t cry. Ten, Twenty, Thirty, have you counted? How many times has your teacher told you: YES and how many: NO? And how many times have you served him tea? Have you cut a lot of wood to develop deshi-iri or ultimately you just want skills and techniques? kanji and kanji. If so, congratulations, you're keeping the least important thing, you are forgetting the core. CONGRATULATIONS. But if you have filled the glass raising the bottle and turning it over, then it won’t be very difficult to turn the glass upside down to empty it. It seems like overdoing. Watch the Children, for example, at the edge of the beach playing with sand and buckets. They fill, empty and refill them. They make a mountain and destroy it, and enjoy that!
Gentlemen, ladies, the experience is personal, but one cannot be a good teacher, rather one cannot acquire the mastery of something if you have not been a student, excuse me, rather as my Uchi Deshi Dr. David Palau says "Without having the heart of a student for all your life" I would say without having the syndrome of: I am here, I want to experience, but what you have to experience or what you choose to experience, if perhaps you have that option.
Today I wrote about unimportant things, about worldly things, about my dog’s hair, on heads being crushed by knees, and above all about chopping wood, lots of wood. This is writing is a little crazy, rather pretty crazy.
I love having this syndrome called "the minimum common denominator sydnrome" from Wikipedia Is the lowest common denominator of two or more fractions, that number is the result of calculating the least common multiple of the denominators of the same fractions, usually with the aim of obtaining two (or more) fractions of the same denominator and equivalent fractions, and respectively equivalent to the initial fractions.
You know, I prefer the lowest common denominator of the lowest common denominator, it is easier.
Every day you hear more "in a few days I go to Japan" or "I was in Japan training" do you have to go to Japan to train? Japan is not the origin of our Budo, the origin of our Budo at least the one we came to know) is a number of people who sought survival through natural movement methods integrating their lives with nature. It seems that the first were from the East.
I state firmly: "I will train with Hatsumi Sensei, my teacher, wherever he is." Anyway I understand that this statement is difficult for many because they would have had to follow Hatsumi Sensei wherever he was, in other words, to be able to cut wood in any forest.
Saying things such as "Good, that so few of us attended training " "Good I was uke" "I had 20,000 trainings" "I am a Shihan" "Tell me when you are going so I don’t". The most important is to train with Hatsumi Sensei and define clear within yourself if you are a contracted party or a contractor, and if you want to be contracted you have to possess some natural abilities and something more and if you want to be contractor you will have to "have something" that can be hired.
Everything is easier. Keep it simple; respect your teachers, even if you disagree with them, at least temporarily. It’s a natural law, not to agree, is not inappropriate, it’s natural. Maybe you do not get theirmessage or you may not understand it. Have you tried to tune the same channel or you just have stubbornly refused to cut wood? Think, meditate, what have you done? You don’t need to leave a comment here, is something for your interior. It’s not something to be neither judged nor trialed, but thought by you. Respect the Sempai (Close students of Soke), the gohai and dohai. Respect yourselves.
Heart to heart, is not that difficult. A big hug. A crazy day.
Pedro, Unryu
P. S. Do not worry because children become adults, it’s natural, nothing happens, that’s not a disease or genetic transmutation.
(translated by Dr. Palau)

TEACHER - STUDENT?

Teacher – Student?

Some days ago i read an article which said

"Researchers at the Durham University found that longer pregnancies and prolonged breast-feeding periods are directly related to brain development in offspring. The research included the study of 127 species of mammals, and scientists concluded that these findings were also applicable to human babies. This explains the long period of dependence of babies from their mothers between humans. 
Specialists indicated that the result of their research constitutes proof that backs up the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) that infants should be fed only breast milk during the first six months of life, and combine it with other foods up to two years or more. 
When analyzing the evolution of animal offspring, researchers at Durham University found that brain size in relation to body size, was directly related to the time the mother spent pregnant, and the length of time spent breastfeeding her offspring. 
According to the investigators, the length of pregnancy influences the size of the brain of the offspring at birth and the time spent in breastfeeding directly affects the brain development of the child after birth. In the case of humans we have nine months of pregnancy and breastfeed our babies for up to three years, all this time is required to support the development of the brain that gets to have an average of 1.300 cubic centimeters (cc) in adults .  Deer have a similar body weight than humans, but their pregnancy only last for seven months, followed by six months of breast feeding, the adult brain of a deer is 220 cc, or six times less than the human brain. 
Robert Barton, main investigator, suggests that species with larger brains achieve a longer life, but until now this relationship is not very clear, "a theory is that larger brains enhance lifespan by making the animal more flexible in their behavioral responses to unpredictable challenges, allowing for slower life histories. However, our findings suggest that the slowdown in life stories are directly related to costs instead of the benefits of developing a larger brain. The profits necessary to offset these costs could come from other sources, such as improving specific perceptual and cognitive capacities, rather than through some generalized flexibility, "Barton stated" 

This information opens the door for me to pose to the students, that many of them leave training before the right time and their "martial immune system" is not strong enough to face the obstacles of life in the most comfortable manner. To illustrate this important relationship in Martial Arts I share this letter from Hatsumi Sensei, published in the Bujinkan Sanmyaku Densho. " Enjoy.

 www.seigancreativo.com

DESHI - IRI

Teachers are essential - and not just for warriors. 
If you find a great mentor and train diligently, you will be able to become a great warrior, but if you go to a martial merchant, it’s very unlikely that you get the real enlightment of martial arts.

In ancient times there were two forms of Deshi-iri: those who entered the martial arts in search of a good teacher (The "Seeker" type) and those that were discovered by a teacher while they trained unaware in the mountains (The "sudden" type). In each case, the teacher judged whether that person was qualified to be a martial artist or not.
Those who asked for Deshi-iri in the past had to do at first tasks such as chopping wood or cleaning. They should cut firewood and seriously clean fromdawn to dusk for several years.
The teacher then examined the student's potential as a martial artist during this period, distinguishing if he had a direct nature and enough guts to be able to stick with martial arts.Then, in that moment, the next step began:  "Come to the dojo I will give you some training."

With continued training, day to day, students learned to value their teacher, learning the depth of his affection and maturing as a true student.

Today, the kind of people that come to me and ask me to accept them as students is very varied. Some are of the fragile type, weak, both of body and mind, and wishing to be strong. Some are intellectual, wishing to strengthen the spirit, some are fighters who just want to be strong in the martial arts, but all are part of a group of "geniuses" who are eager to study budo. I want to tell all these people without reserve:

 "If you want to forge your spirit, train in religion or something similar – in martial arts you will learn superior techniques from murderers. Do you want to strengthen your body? Go for a walk, lift weights and eat plenty of vegetables. What do you expect to achieve being strong in martial arts? You cannot win a trophy, and you cannot create any wealth! "

When I tell them these, I observe their reactions. The reason is that few people who have been allowed to pass through the door will be really able to persevere in training. There are very few people stupid enough to continue to the end, continuing with their intentions without caring what is said about or to them.

Takamatsu Sensei accepted an idiot - me - as a student reciting the following poem:
"In Ten'ei Gannen (1110), martial winds blew
There was a follower of Kopp-jutsu,
Fearless and gallant, defeating wild beasts with a blow
As normally peaceful as a flower or bamboo
Brave in confrontation against countless enemies,
Is there anyone who knows where this warrior went?
No more waiting for he has finally arrived
from the land of the gods he is the chosen one "

This is not pride, I am not boasting. Persons who do not turn crazy will succumb in anything that they do (CF: Edward Phelps: "The man who makes no mistakes usually doesn’t do anything!"). They are, precisely, stylish people who don’t seek anything more than to "appear as good," leaving everything halfway and carrying horrible lives.

What about the relationship between teachers and students?

Both should have a sense of respect for each other. At first, when Takamatsu Sensei addressed me as “Hatsumi Sensei", I found it irritating and incomprehensible. Now, finally, I am aware of this mutual respect, and again I lowered my head for the lesson.
            On the other hand, the teacher is the teacher and the student is only the student. One should not deny your own ways and attitudes; Takamatsu Sensei taught me how to live a nice life. From him I learned life itself.

SPACE AND TIME

The taoist wise man Chand Tzu wrote:



"Fishing baskets for catching fishes, but once you get the fish, the man forgets the baskets. Traps are used to hunt hares, but once they have the hares they forget the traps. words are used to express ideas, but once they transmit the ideas, they forget words".



Human being tendency is to forget what it´s not of interest for him to remember, it´s a curious quality. Unfortunately there are people who get mentally sick and they forget without wishing it, this is really a drama.



Hatsumi Sensei, in an absolute afirmative tone, told:"The Bujinkan of now isn´t the Bujinkan of yesterday" . This sentence it seems very interesting and illustrative to me about life itself.

What was then it isn´t now, but we stick too much in defending ideas that have no sense once time passes by. At the dojo in Nodashi and Kashiwa 25 years ago sometimes we were 3 people, sometimes with luck 10; today Bujinkan has become in a worldwide phenomena; there are thousands of people practising around the world. For example, twenty years ago I remember giving seminars for 15 people and these last years sometimes we have joined almost 300people, bute ven so still there are seminars with 25-30 people. I remember that Canary Taikai 1991 and 1992 leaded by Hatsumi Sensei maybe we didn´t reach 200 people and on that time was an important amount of people, years later, in 1997 at Barcelona Taikai, we joines more than 650 people. I also remember at one Daikomyosai that we were no more tan 30 people training in a dojo in Kashiwa, and this last year (2010) we were more than 300 participants.



In the book “The Tao of Physics” there is a very interesting comment and follows like this:

           “The eastern mystics relate the notions of space and time with particular states of consciousness. Being able to go beyond the ordinary state of consciousness through meditation, they noticed that conventional concepts of space and time are not the absolute truth. The refined conceptions of space and time resulting from their mystical experiences seem at amny aspects similar to modern physics, as it´s cearly demonstrated with the relativity theory“.



It seems that the esential idea of both theories(the space relativity and the general one) is that two watchers that relatively move one aside the other with different speed (if the difference is much less tan the light speed, itdoesn´t result perceptible), they will often get different measures of time (time intervals) and space (distances) to describe the same event series.



Eagerly but relaxed and naturally Hatsumi Sensei tries that all the persons that are close to him stay happy and smiling, but of course al lis relative, therefore when two people, vibrating in a different way (I mean that in their position of balance tensions and deformations are produced) perceive his teachings, they will get different time and space measures, maybe this is the reason why Hatsumi Sensei asks for each one of his uke to explain their feelings, for the vibrations that produced with the interpretation, becoming this vibrations creators of a real field progression and openness.



Openness being cautious I think it´s a very interesting attitude. Absolute secrecy could have a kind of consequences in our budo, sometimes, unpredictable; for example, the lack of contact with other realities.



Evidently and without no doubt, the most important thing is training, and I think is necessary to do it with Hatsumi Sensei beyond the rank you have. This experience will create solid bases in your life. The only fact of seeing my master, seeing him healthy, energetic and happy, makes me very happy and of course I try to do things that, also, make him happy, for example being a viaduct to my students and buyu to reach him and experimenting an exploring his teachings in a straight way.



Let´s see a simple case and easy to understand. When a course organizar or a teacher who gives this course goes to the place of the coursei, normally he´s happy just by the fact of being able to share and give the opportunity to other people to verify their budo; however happiness is an inner state and shouldn´t be altered by external conditions, but being honest, I would prefer 30 people in his classes than 2 if it´s possible. The number would not change the teaching neither the feeling about the training, but it would help, in harmony with cosmos, to get the necessary help at a material level (kinjutsu) to travel and train more, to get a place with better conditions, etc.…



In short, MY REASON for travelling to Japan is, only, training with MY MASTER, Hatsumi Sensei, and I never ask who is going to be at the dojo and how many people comes from one country or from other either, I just go and adapt myself(one of the biggest teachings from Hatsumi Sensei), I open up my senses all that is possible and listen to my Master and when I listen to him all the rest doesn´t exist, no space neither time, and we are alone both together. When he finishes I interpret, trying to adapt it to my life  and I search the way to share it with others. And I say, when Hatsumi Sensei speaks about the person to person relationship, refering to the master-student reelation, soke-student is essential and important, he´s not refering to when you are alone with him when he is teaching, because physically is very complicated being one to one with the number of students that exist.



As Tanizaki writes: “In the West the most powerful ally of beauty has always been light. Whereas the Japanesetraditional astheticthe essential part is to grasp the enigam of shadow“.



A big hug.

Pedro Fleitas González, unryu

(translated by Shihan Richard Atik)

WHAT ALLOWS ME TO ADAPT TO ALL CIRCUMSTANCES ...

What allows me to adapt to all circumstances?

Personally I think that one of the most basic principles that Hatsumi Sensei has transmited to us resides in the phrase "I'm not from here, I'm not from there, I come froma an undefined space that allows me to adapt to all circumstances", in it lives the essence of BANPEN FUKYO, not even 10.000 changes will surprise you.

To adapt, You have to adapt to surveve. Understand his teachings only as a set of techniques can be totally banal.

Adaptation must take place in all possible fields; biochemical: be able to adapt your nutrition to the moment, place and need. In the Physica: adapt your body to the situation developing a natural nagare (flow); Emotional: As with the use of weapons or tools they must be an extention of taijutsu and not the body. Energetic: thousands of rivers flow towards the sea and in relation with the environment, to adapt to the wheather, to many settings in the tatami, for example with little people, many people and many many people.

If there is no adaptation there is no life, if there is no life there is no
Budô. Happy Banpen Fukyo. A budoka trains a lot and complains little, if he has a time to complain.


Pedro Fleitas, dragon of the could

In the day of my birthday, 2011.
(Translated by Shihan Dr. David Palau from Colombia)

EVERYTHING PASSES FAST

Everything passes fast

Today I turn 46 Years Old.
A middle aged man thinks about something today, something that almost all human beings think about, "How quick time passes" and even "Time doesn't exist, it's just a fantasy".

Today I promise myself something else, I face the mirror and i see how I have lived intensely these 25 years, everything has happened so fast but with so many images impossible to forget, so much love received, flooding hospitality, so much refuge, I only have two words THANK YOU.

I Can die today, as if I have lived for 200 years. What else can I ask, wonderful parents, an incredible son, a loving sister in law who is like my own sister, great nieces, a unique brother (now deceased), protective friends, students that are the light of my life, and a teacher that with his love, in the distance, has given a meaning to my life

That promise I left behind in two paragraphs ago, I have not forgoten and I meet it again. I don't want to loose my time with
senseless reasoning and in the name of any invalid nonsense. There are so many human beings suffering, sick people, without food, without shelter... How can I loose my time? while I´m here, i auto assgn the right to help instead of loosing my time.

A big hug to all and thanks for the messages!


Pedro, 46 years old!

Februray the 1st, 2011
(translated by Shihan Dr. David Palau from Colombia)

TWO TRIPS

Here I leave with the curriculum of the Taikai in South América by Shidôshi Sven Himmelmann. Enjoy it.

 

This is a curriculum of our Bujinkan trip to south america, with Pedro Fleitas that united two taikais to one unforgetable event in September 2010 written by Sven Himmelmann. The participants of this trip from Europe were Pedro, Angeles, Ivan (Canary Islands), Miguel (Madrid) and Sven (Germany).

We arrived in Santiago de Chile on Friday morning and were welcomed by friends of the Bujinkan in Chile. Immediatly the fresh air came to our attention that was cleaned from the rain before. Deep breaths were very enjoyable and the view to the Andes from the city was very beautiful. Santiago appered to me as a very welcomming city with wide spaces, nice infrastructure and clean apperance. Studying Bujinkan also meens meeting people and seeing the world, somtimes from a different angle.

Meeting friends in a resaurant right away for food sitting at an international table. Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Spain and Germany. This gave us the Bujinkan feeling again.

The next day the seminar began in the hotel were we stayed. A group of 225 people welcomed Pedro Fleitas very warm and were exited to train for two days. This seminar started with the Kihon Happo the core of the Bujinkan. With these techniques Pedro taught principles like Shinken Gata – the attacking feeling, Moguri Gata – the evading feeling, Yoshin Waraku – benevolent heart and enjoying the peace, that a worrior has to find. Two more principles covered were follow the energy flow and change is more importatnt that advancing in a certain field.

The Godan Test that was performed by Pedro on Nicolás, training for many years and and  with the autorisation of Hatsumi Sensei.

After the first session when the godan test was held in the morning a lot of people were asking questions themselves and the energy of the group was very unstable.

After the second session at the end of the day the training participants were one group with a harmonized flow of energy. Everybody just sat down. The energy was high and the test went through very easily. Great experience again.

After the first day of training the group of people seem to be happy with the course of the day. In the evening the Taikai Party was held with good food and conversations on the experiences of the seminar.

The next morning the Seminar started with soft techniques and after a while went on to Renyo. Here the apsect was that Renyo is one technique. Again the principle of inashi gata appered: 1. Distance and angle, 2. Precision, 3. Flow of energy, 4. Control and 5. Reunification of the above. This principle can be seen in life as well. For example in the relationships we have.

During the training a great confusion came up that went with the practitioners. The confusion is a good part of the bujinkan training which allows to train in the mist and allows the body, mind and soul to learn in a different way. The challenfge here is to accept the confusion and enjoy it. When the confusion goes. The learnings apear. Somtimes this takes hours, days or even weeks. A very nice way to learn.

After this seminar everybody was very tired and we slept very well this night and we relaxed the next morning. The program for the day was relaxing in the hotel, going for a very nice lunch and having a look at Santiago de Chile in the afternoon.

On Tuesday we made a day trip to the skiing station close to Santiago in the Andes. It was an impressive ride from the city level up to 3000m to the station, were we spent half a day. Enjoying the view and the snow on the montains, having good conversations and enjoying the time up there. On the way back Ivan from Tenerife, our doctor, could give emergency to help a young guy that fainted on the mountain. Good job Ivan.

Thank you very much Jorge for taking care of us that well in Chile!

The wednesday was our travvelling day leaving Chile and heading to Brazil. The look crossing the Andes was marvellous and stunning. This was a very silent flight to the large City of Sao Paulo that was waiting for us.

Arriving at the airport we were welcomed by Fernando. It did not take long and we could feel the rough energy in the city, a city of 20 Million. people living very close together with little space. After a long ride through the night we were glad to arrive at the hotel to rest and relax.

The next two days we were enjoying the sun in Sao Paulo relaxing and sightseeing to see the different sides of Sao Paulo. In the japanese quarter, where also Fernando’s Dojo is situated, we were enjoying food in an authentic japanese restaurant. It was like beeing in Japan!

In the evening we had a demanding training seesion at the Dojo of Fernando followed by two Godan tests. Edson  from Brasil and Roberta from Sao Paulo. Edson took his chance and passed right away. Roberta was nervous and did not go with the energy, she had to wait for saturday to go for another chance.

A highlight in Sao Paulo before the seminar was the visit of two Budist Temples. The first one was a very quite place where we could relax and enjoy our time and the second place was even more surprising. We were welcomed by two monks that were gently enogh to show us the premises. The way the monks received us and took care about us with an open heart was amazing. It was a heart to heart communication.

The Taiko drumming session openned the seminar on Saturday, which was powerfull and very intensive and caused a lot of strong emotions. Pedro started the training slowly to allow the group to cope with these emotions and the rough energy that could be felt in Sao Paulo. The techniques went straight to the floor allowing the tensions to relief gently and helped everyone to deal with the strong energies.

The godan test this time with Roberta was very strong and I got the impression of a soft wind going through the hall. A lot of people were touched and cried out of joy. She passed with a marvellous movement.

The afternoon got stronger, the energy was converted into the shinken gata feeling and the group moved closer together as a unit. After this training day most of the people were happy and very tired, like being tired inside. So we closed this day with a nice meal in the hotel and went to bed very early.

Sunday the Taikai started with a very impressive play on the reflection of human behaviour shown by the example of martial arts. Very well presented.

The play gave a good insight in what can happen when humans come together in a group for fun and or work, for sport and enjoyment. And it showed how important it is to develop one’s self esteem.

The training started with the school of Takagi Yoshin Ryu, again going down to the floor.  Followed by techniques with Bo, Bokken and Jo the training become very challenging. Here two principle applied: it is better to catch the feeling than the techniques, since Pedro was changing the techniques very fast and changing is more important than advancing in a certain area.

In the afternoon the training focused on excersise performed by three people, which gives different kind of training, the energy in the afternoon got softer and more harmonized. The Taikai came to an end very softly and everybody was looking forward to the party in the evening.

The Taikai party as well was a great success. The practitioners of the brazilian Bujikan showed their way to party, which we enjoyed very much. Thank you.

With this day a great event in two contries that united two Taikais into one great Taikai was comming to an end. Experiencing two different contries and two different cultures united in one Taikai was unique for myself. This was a great time with extraordinary experiences. Thank you very much for organizing to Jorge and Fernando and their students.

Thank you very much to Pedro for initiating this event and for teaching us the way you teach! Thank you very much!

Keep going and best wishes,

Sven Himmelmann

MOUNTAIN

MOUNTAIN
September 23rd, 2010

Some years have passed since I last visited this mountain, for me, sacred. I began to dig a hole to put my vague memories. For a moment, looked up and saw he had dug so deep that I came to ask me how I was going to get out.
With heart immutable and unchangeable say that inanimate. In a text read that “wisdom is unchangeable when the mind is entertained while you move in any desired direction: right, left, around, everywhere. ”
This correspondence, this, perhaps, “innovative” meaning I identified with the teaching of Hatsumi Sensei says that meditation does not have to be something inert and passive state. This phenomenon of mind expansion, is also seen in the taijutsu with or without utensils when you connect to the source, the whole, the universe, the cosmos. This does not always happen, but when it does get up the floor a few inches and stop belonging to the mundane to erigirte “king” of your own spirituality, in which the connection and you are One is the right height in order to link the sky land and can become a useful human being when you return to touch the ground, and say touch because when you have this expansion and will never again rest on the ground just as before.
So when we meditate, when we practice taijutsu, although attention is diverted, the mind is confounded by external events or internal states.
The Zen Master Hui-neng said, “if you’re open to understanding the teaching of immediacy, not cultivate the practice of clinging to the outside …”
Fudo Myoo is a picture of Buddhist iconography, which is usually standing guard outside the gates of the monasteries. It is conceived as a demon who happens to be become protector of religion, and in this sense represent the anger directed towards overcoming evil.
The round trip is part of the road.
Pedro Fleitas Gonzalez Unryu
“Facing the mirror

LIGHTNING

LIGHTNING
August 20th, 2010

“… And suddenly the sword fell upon the head of the applicant, in unison, their bodies moved in mysterious ways saving the lives and entering the world of gokui …”
Thousands of members of the Bujinkan Sakki have passed the test. Everyone has their own experience, each is moving toward its own destiny. Hatsumi Sensei wrote:
“Perseverance is, to a person who practices martial arts training continues, puliéndose lot, which will gradually understand the spirit of the techniques that lie in the training”
It is believed that all things that exist in the universe consist of the “big six”. They embody the essence of the cosmos and are called “sui-chi-ka-fu-ku-shiki.” Shiki, the sixth, is composed of spiritual principle. One can understand “shiki” as the activity of knowledge. Chi, solid body, Sui, body fluid, Ka, fire; Fu, the gaseous body, Ku, Space and Shiki, knowledge.
The era of Takamatsu Sensei was the lone wolf, using the techniques and principles in actual combat to verify the teachings.
The era of Hatsumi Sensei has been and is trying to get others to understand the teachings and now there are many people who “understand”, we move to third finding was that represents the best way to convey the lessons we have understood. It is very important to ensure that these teachings are kept alive.
The taijutsu is meditation in motion. What makes this meditation is to be performed without the desire to happen. When you train you must have a pure heart. This heart is like the filament in a bulb shines brightly.
A hug and good training.
Pedro Fleitas, Unryu
Hidden in the corner again.

BIRTH

(Thanks to Marcus)

“… These three gods looked down to earth, and saw that there was no order in it, everything was confused and had no sign of progress or life in the inert and powerful.
The gods looked upon the earth and the long time in contemplation, consulting each other about what they could do to bring order and life in it … ”
I always found it interesting so important accumulation of “things and utensils” that Hatsumi Sensei is at home. First in the house “so special” in which he lived in Nodashi, which then became a new home “so special” multi-storey.
I remember when I first came home, my sense of order was laid bare and all my expectations thrown to the wind as if it were ash. But I found over time that this way of feeling the life of Hatsumi Sensei was for one side to the art of prioritizing, first things first and second entropy, which can be regarded as a measure of uncertainty. Can live with that feeling of being deep and not at the same time, with that feeling of “living in another time but definitely at this time” is an experience felt by the great artists and “special human beings.”
As you enter the house of Hatsumi Sensei, the right has a table-free environment in the Canary Islands in 1991 Taikai. This table is the poem of the Sea Canary artist Nestor de la Torre. The Poem of the Atlantic (or Poema del Mar), belongs to the Artist’s life project: the “Poem of the Elements”, which would join the unfinished “Epic of the Earth” and the Poems of Fire and Air, which could only imagine. There are eight tables that form the Poem of the Atlantic, representing the sea conditions and the times of the day within a symbolic content.
The elements make up life. Water teaches us the importance of adaptability and change, to accept change. It is very important to train properly gogyo no kata, being aware of each element in the movement and its implementation. Know and experience will help us to transcend them.
I leave you with a letter from Shihan William Lugo, I urge you to read between the lines to understand the depth of his soul. We only share what Hatsumi Sensei has given us. Every day I am more convinced of the benefit so important for the Bujinkan martial artists are for today’s societies. Enjoy it.
“On August 7, 2010, following the tradition of all the years and for this date in Gran Canaria Richard Atik organizing a class taught by Master Peter, which come from different dojo practicing Spain in which besides the Pedro received master’s teachings all share our friendship and the maturity that martial note of each one of the instructors, so they do, what they say, ultimately by what they say.
The Master Pedro said he would work with the idea of Yoshin Waraku (benevolent heart who enjoys Peace)
Technically it worked Gyokko the basis of Ryu and development with Henka, Master Peter emphasized the basis of our movements, but now we continuously from a level of maturity in our taijutsu. He commented that it is complicated from a technical development as it has been obtained by returning to the kihon instructors, technology base, what I understood about this whole process is that a tree but what we see is the trunk, branches, leaves and fruits, the base is still mainly root and there is where it feeds.
To end the class the teacher Pedro grouping of participants and the shihan asked to speak about the impressions of the class, all of them forwarded its views in a natural way in a vocabulary understood by all participants.
In regard to my impression as uke, in all classes, courses and try to be Taikai zero there are times when I get it and others not, in this particular felt like a candle goes out, comes to my house after the small flight linking Gran Canaria and Tenerife, get my dog and went to bed, was wrecked do not remember giving me a lesson as deep as yesterday, when sleeping, and I changed position of the pain woke me gave me the movement, Pedro told me it was like sensei taught and how teaching is transmitted to the 15 Danish. When Peter finished master every technique I felt peace within me a thrill soaked not let me or talk just wanted to continue training was what I was telling my training partner Richard, go go, do not get up.
I think it is the destiny of every soul feel at peace, thanks to Peter for teaching master. ”
Guillermo Lugo
Note: The original text in italics is from the book “Japanese tales and legends”

GOTAI MANZOKU - PERFECT HEALTH

(Thanks to Marcus for his translation)

In this article I present some ideas to strengthen your immune system. Place the middle finger of each hand into your ears, press slowly. Wait 5-10 seconds and remove the fingers quickly. This balances the pressure in the ears and helps drain the Eustachian tube.
Place your thumb on one side of the trachea and the rest of the fingers on the other side. Trachea moves from side to side. This method breaks the formations around the trachea and release mucus.
Hit with a fist on his chest to the rhythm of 1,2,3 to stimulate the thymus. This method increases the production of T lymphocytes, which is a blood cell originating in the bone marrow, which is in the blood and lymphoid organs. The T lymphocyte is dependent on the thymus, and is involved in cellular immunity.
Use your fists to strike the kidney area and massage in descending into the pelvis. This drains and break the crystals in the kidneys.
Hold one nostril closed with finger and inhales deeply and exhale on the other hand keeping it closed, the opposite side. This method ionizes the air that penetrates into the body, making the oxygen affects every cell.
Sit with spine straight and breathe deeply, forcing air to reach the abdomen. Expires at the mouth making the sound Jissa, s, s with a gentle feeling. This method increases the capacity of the diaphragm, rebalances the 8 flows mysterious and improve breathing.
The following method is used to eject the tiredness and lethargy, when you recover from an illness. Stand with legs shoulder-width. Bend your knees while keeping the back straight. Inhale through your nose as you raise arms outstretched and horizontal to the ground. Exhale through the mouth making the sound jer, r, r allowing the arms go down. Repeat nine times.
With his fist and doing the knuckle bump, hit in the points on the chest known as a lung, hit nine times on each side and then breathe deeply.
Place and press with your fingers under the right side of the ribs and up against the liver. Inhale deeply while holding your hand and when it expires pushes upward toward the liver. Repeat twice more, This move drains the liver, strengthens its role and cleans the blood.
Pedro Fleitas Gonzalez Unryu
(Published earlier in Maru Ichi no number, June 4, 2004)

AND THAT DAY ...

(Thanks to Marcus for his translation)

Hatsumi Sensei reminds us that the martial arts are arts to love mankind, to gain harmony with self and destroy the ego, which prints much suffering to our conscience.
When we speak of Budo martial-arts of the Bujinkan, we speak of knowledge through Nature. Our art is a return to the origin, to the essence we want to recover because it belongs to us.
Keitai
My impression of that class with Hatsumi Sensei was that from the simple and an attitude of constant happiness opens unlimited options for change. The move stems from the mobile.
DIVINE
The day that caught my Sensei to the Hotel to go to pick up the picture he had painted exclusively for the Infanta Dona Pilar de Borbon y Borbon. As we talked Hatsumi Sensei spoke of the similarity of the foreign trips that we make the effort that he conducted to train with Takamatsu Sensei (15 hours away by train). He explained that the divine is connected to the Budo. The Art of Hatsumi Sensei is the art of nature, much higher than a simple martial art.
Wrote Hino Akira Japanese writer in his book “Kokoro no Katachi” on how to move from Hatsumi Sensei: “His taijutsu-body movement, seems an exquisite dance a duet in which no one hits.” “It seems that his movement has no beginning or end ”
Yours,
Pedro Fleitas, Unryu

GAUDI HOTEL - EFERENCE AND FULFILLED A DREAM

We started the month of August. On July 30, taking advantage of the wedding I went to my student, Toni Piqueras shihan and Rosa, I was invited by Shihan Peter Zapatero to teach a class at the Hotel Gaudí. In this first text of August I leave you with the letter of Peter Shoemaker and his feelings after class. I would like to highlight once again my eternal gratitude to my Master Hatsumi Sensei. A hug.
HOTEL GAUDI .- Reference and fulfilled a dream.
The words of Peter, to start the class, were a reminder that for more than ten years, one last class, as a complete cycle, as striking as that Hatsumi Sensei while he was resting there, to return to Japan the next day.
There were many classes in that cold room without mat, where large buyu passed, but the latter kind of Pedro Fleitas, surpassed the unthinkable.
Just fifty people, from many places, but particularly in Madrid, Canary Islands, Córdoba, Logroño, Segovia and more, began to feel a kind of before, where the need for many instructors for training, was compensated in two hours training.
Shinken Gata, Pedro flew over the marble room, something was happening the bujin were there, Peter had fever, took several days sick with flu, not listening, not smell, yet their movements were the most.
Koto Ryu’s work stood out in terms of positioning, shock to the Kyusho, but for me Peter, moved as ROPP Kuji Biken (six directions of cut) the six elements (CHI, SUI KA, FU, KU and Shikin applying the elements of GO GYO, with blows and applying hidden KOKU, emptiness.
Or what is the same on Shinjitsu, the reality of combat.
His students, attacked, but failed to reach him, he hid again and again and Shikin (intention), came and went as usual, as if it were easy.
Continuously, their movements were not focused on the opponent but to the possibility of being surrounded, and there appears his JUPPÉ sessho, feel and intuit about him, “spectacular.”
Kasumi no ho, the true martial artist. With the ability to convey things that can not be explained, Art. KASUMI NO NO HO O Sekai, the step of evolution in Bujinkan when the technique or how it is needed. This is not only a form that appears in very few who can not study or train, which only a few large and Pedro Fleitas, dominate, as it must, without thinking about it.
Sensei I felt there, I note as protected in their movements, their momentum was not on, got it around us. Thanks to all attendees to come and witness once more to these feelings and allowing me to remember a dream and fulfilled. As was to be back training with my teacher at the Hotel Gaudí.
(Written by Shihan Peter Zapatero Mínguez)
(Thanks to Marcus for his translation)

MUSHOTOKU

Hatsumi Sensei talks to the wind as it expands its teachings throughout the world. Now what is called “stay connected” a few years ago was called “not to cut the ribbon” and the teaching was transmitted by Takamatsu Sensei, the importance of not cutting the ribbon on the teacher-student relationship, student-teacher.
Mushotoku The practice of “search for a non-production” is crucial in budo training. It is essential in the practice of a budo that becomes one with your life. Perhaps too many people venture to associate with roads budô esoteric. I remember well, including date and place (1995 at a popular restaurant south of Gran Canaria), when Hatsumi Sensei said in front of everyone present, that perceptions are not important extransensoriales who truly important is the magokoro is say a sincere heart. This open heart is the launch pad to find your own spirituality, to get to your own enlightenment. As stated in the final part of Great Wisdom Sutra “gyate harasogyatei gyate bojisowaka hannya shingyo.”
Go, go beyond the beyond
A true happiness,
A true freedom
Come together
Infinity along the satori.
Master Taisen Deshimaru says: “The kanji KU has often been translated in the West as” empty “but this translation is inappropriate”
“Empty” is just one of the multiple meanings of KU. The original meaning denotes expansion, centrifugal, KU is not a negation of the concept of existence as such but uses the idea that all existence and its constituent elements are dependent on the principle of causality. Since the causal factors are constantly changing, it is said that there can be static existence.
Another sense of KU is zero, a concept that Indians knew very early, long before the West. Zero has no value in itself, but takes the place of missing values in the numbers. It symbolizes all the possibilities, like a cosmic egg that generates and disintegrates indefinitely, in a rhythmic alternation of centrifugal and centripetal movements. KU is the container and contents of all phenomena, which exist in terms of non-existence and the principle of interdependence … ”
Hatsumi Sensei says: “Fumetsu fusei no, Shindo no jikai, shizen ninniku no, no choetsu shizen, Komyo no satori. Unless you to know these five bases, you can not access the path to enlightenment is described in the Tatara Hibun (ancient Japanese documents) ”
As I wrote in www.kankaku.net, number December 6, 2007. These principles are:
1. Fumetsu not fukyo: Offering timeless. Gratitude.
2. Shindo no Jikai: The discipline of the true path. The faith, confidence.
3. Shizen no Ninniku: Patience and perseverance of nature. The art of perseverance.
4. Shizen no Choetsu: The importance of nature. Inspiration.
5. Komyo not Satori: The truth of light. Clarity.
A warm hug,
Pedro Fleitas, Unryu
(Thanks to Marcus Mk for his translation)

SEROTONIN

SEROTONIN

Journalist  Almudena Guerrero in her article “Serotonin and wellness” states that serotonin are neurotransmitters that are placed in several regions of the central nerve system and have a lot to do with the state of spirits.

Serotonin has, among other functions, to regulate the appetite, balance the sexual desire, control the body temperature. Also takes part with the states related to anguish, anxiety, fear and aggressiveness; another function is acting as an inner clock which determines our sleeping and wakefulness cycles.

The practice of relaxation, meditation techniques, doing some regular exercise, open air life, walking, doing new things, starting new projects, help for the serotonin increasing.

I must add that the practice of a martial art also increases the serotonin. To this is contributing the practice of stretching and breathing exercises from the Junan Taiso. Moreover, the good state of spirits held during the trainings, the development of empathy and the self knowledge through continued practice helps in a big manner to have a relaxed mind and a happy heart.

In Hatsumi Sensei´s book “The Modern Ninja” (Seigan Editions, 2005) give us advice with an exercise series that contribute for that. In the same book he writes “The fact of eating corresponds to the medicine needed for living” … “The ninja, in his daily diet, used to have rice, tofu, vegetables, herbs, sesame, dry plums and dry miso soup”. “This diet helps to recover oneself not only physically but psychically”.

Continuing with Almudena Guerrero´s article she states that tryptophan is the precursor of serotonin. This essential amino acid which is the one that is able to cross through the cerebral barriers, cannot be produced by the organism itself, so it must be obtained through food. They are rich in tryptophan pasta, rice, cereals, milk, eggs, soya, chicken, turkey, cheese, banana and grains.

There is a Chinese poem called SHI SOU CHANG SHOU GE (I sing to the Ten Old Men to the Great Longevity), which could be considered as the decalogue to preserve health:

<One day a traveler met with ten old men.

Though they were more than one hundred years old, all of them were full of vigor.

<With gravity and sincerity, he asked for the key of their longevity.

<The first one, touching his beard, said: “I never drink neither smoke”.

The second one, smiling, continued: “I go for a walk after every meal”.

<The third one declared, bending himself: “I follow a vegetarian diet”.

<!The fourth one, with a stick in his hand, said: “I prefer walking than having a carriage”.

<The fifth one, pulling his sleeves up, declared: “I always do physical work”.

<The sixth one, adopting a Yin/Yang posture, added: “I practice Tai Ji Quan daily”.

<The seventh one, rubbing his big nose, said: “I leave my windows opened to get fresh air”.

The eighth one, stretching his short beard, declared: “I go to sleep and wake up early”.

The ninth one, stroking his cheeks, declared: “I avoid burning my skin from the sun”.

<!The tenth one, flattening his long eyebrows, added: “I take care of myself from any worry”.

Hugs,

Pedro Fleitas, unryu (clouds dragon).

(Thanks to Shihan Richard Atik for his translation)