Mind Set

I've been noticing this trend lately in our dojo when we cut. I do try to encourage mindful cutting practice. Now this means to be aware of your mistakes from previous attempts and to concentrate and fix that particular mistake.

However, what I've been seeing lately is that people tend to think too much during their cutting. This will end up hurting you more than helping you. When you are thinking that much, you tend to disrupt your "rhythm" of things.

What I prefer to see is, before you bow to start cutting, have a goal in mind. Afterwards go and concentrate on that. Don't worry about other things, and don't think because you did it once, that you need to move on to something else. Keep your mind focused on the goal til the end of the target. When you move on to the next target, do the same thing.

Also, before you cut, don't fidget, don't readjust yourself unless you really have to. You should be able to do that in transition. This is why we practice cutting before we actually cut. Think of each cut as if it's in front of an opponent. Keep your "intent" alive regardless. This is where the ideas of kata, and gekken can show through in your tameshigiri