Iaido as a Path to Self-Mastery and Personal Fulfillment

The term of Iaido is a combination of three kanji. “I (Iru)” is the first and it means sense of being or stillness. The second is “Ai”, which means harmonize or combine. The third is “Do” and means path or way. All of this means “the way to a harmonious being”. This means that one moves through the stillness into action without apprehension and having purpose, focus, awareness of being in the present and precision.

Personal Fulfillment

Iaido training is more for the development of oneself and personal fulfillment then about self-defense. Our own person is the opposition. The practitioners of Iaido do not go around with a sword in their belts, so the techniques learned in it are not very street worthy for defense.

Our lives on a daily basis are helped with this practice of moving with purpose, precision and focus regardless of what we are trying to accomplish and this ultimately leads to personal fulfillment.

We can train ourselves to be mindful constantly through learning Iaido, which is an essential part of personal fulfillment.  It is easy to use these skills in the rest of our daily activities, when we perfect moving with purpose, precision and focus with Iaido. This means that Iaido is an ideal method for training the spirit, body and mind, essentially personal fulfillment.

This practice is many times not fully understood, (especially in regards to personal fulfillment) even by those experienced in other types of martial arts. Many times, this practice is seen as some type of sword dance similar to the moving meditation of Tai Chi. However, it is much slower and the practitioners execute four movements numbly repetitively. It appears as a physical mantra would until the practitioners become bored. Even individuals that think they understand Iaido completely are shocked to learn of the katas that exist.

Meditation is often used to describe Iaido, but this is a mistaken term in this instance. Concentration or intense focus are terms that are more appropriate. The practitioners of Iaido obviously are not doing it to excel at sword fighting.

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Instead, the sword skills gained help the practitioners reach their goals. This means, the main purpose of Iaido is not to learn how to kill someone with the sword. The practitioner will focus completely on getting rid of an imaginary opponent effectively within the rules of the kata.

The mental part of Iaido is the most important action that occurs in this discipline. How simple the physical movements seem is very misleading. Many times, the simplest of movements can be quite difficult.

You could have been told that Iaido includes solo training. However, this information is a bit incorrect. While learning, you may want to be alone in class some of the time. The instructor constantly notices your every move and tells you bluntly each wrong move you make. He corrects your feet position and direction.

In addition, he tells you when your cut has missed your enemy and that you will lose your balance within the next few seconds. Your instructor will also tell you need to concentrate more on your opponent without being distracted just because he is correcting you. Your clothes will be soaked with sweat in fewer than 10 minutes and you will be breathing hard.

Inexperienced spectators are often puzzled by the moments where it seems like nothing is happening and it looks like the swordsperson is on break. They usually expect non-stop activity, with swords cutting down opponents as fast as possible accompanied by some Highlander-type twirls.

The practitioners of Iaido do work on anticipating their opponents, so their actions are timed appropriately enough with no need to rush. Proper spirit and technique is more crucial than the speed of the movements. In addition, speed comes eventually without faster movements, but eliminating unnecessary movements. Ishido Shizufumi sensei states, “If you are so very fast, you should rather be running away.”

This discipline of Iaido is mainly an activity of the mind that calls for complete focus, alertness and control. None of these is apparent with the untrained, and all these are needed for self-mastery and personal fulfillment.

We will be experiencing Iaido at Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior Intensive…among other warrior crafts to help you live a life of power, purpose and passion!