Imagination
(Visuo-jutsu)
Anyone who has dreamed of becoming a martial artist has imagined him/herself to be nimble, flexible and powerful. What if imagining ourselves to be quick and powerful were more than just daydreaming?
As children, for many of us our imagination was one of our favorite toys. What happened to this toy? Fortunately, there are still many who use their imagination on a regular basis. The most successful among us use their imagination most often. Even Albert Einstein said, "Imagination is far more important than knowledge." There are many who would argue with that now days, but what was Einstein trying to say?
What is the definition of imagination? "The formation of an image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses," is one of the more common usages. Although we can imagine with any one of our senses, visualization is probably the most often used method. Visualization is used any time we "see" with our minds, with eyes open or closed.
Most people are able to visualize easily. For instance, we could imagine ourselves sitting on a beach, under the bright sun, watching the waves of an ocean gently hitting the beach. For those who find visualizing more difficult, try to remember what you had for breakfast this morning. See yourself this morning, sitting or standing (or driving in your car, for those busy folks), eating and drinking what you had for breakfast. Next, try to imagine yourself eating supper later tonight. Once these visualization skills become easy, try to imagine yourself in all sorts of positive situations. Always keep visualizations positive.
Why is the skill of visualization worth writing about? The answer is because every effective method for achieving goals and success I have been exposed to uses this skill, regardless of whether the method is for attaining financial success, romantic success, self-healing, enhanced memory, or a particular athletic skill. I find that very interesting.
A famous quote, "Whatever the mind can conceive, the body can achieve," is now nearly a cliché. However, there is now a wealth of scientific data that clearly indicate "what we merely imagine has exactly the same effect on the brain and body as the actual physical experience or event." Judd Blaslotto, Ph.D., a world-class powerlifter and author of a number of books on mind control, stated, "Not only does a visualized experience condition the human brain, but it will also program the human body."
The idea of the mind-body concept has also been given more credence through the use of high-tech studies. In fact, the mind-body concept brought about by visualization has now been referred to as the video-motor concept. As your mind conceives an act, it produces impulses that prompt neurons (brain cells) to perform the movement being imagined through transmitting those impulses from the brain to the muscles. "In other words, if you close your eyes and visualize yourself performing a particular act, your body's movement/actions are 'programmed' in exactly the same manner as if you actually performed them," stated Dr. Blaslotto. Hence, there is an increasing amount of data indicating mental imagery trains our minds and creates the neural patterns in our brain to teach our muscles to do exactly what we want them to do.
Western scientific interest in using mental techniques to improve sports performance actually began about 25 years ago, after Americans noticed that Russian and other Eastern European athletes were gaining more gold medals in the Olympic games than they. When they sent observers to Russia to see how its athletes were being trained, they were shocked to learn that it consisted of 25 percent physical and 75 percent mental training, the exact opposite of what the Americans were doing.
When the Americans increased mental training and included other disciplines such as meditation and visualization, their athletic performance improved dramatically. This was dramatically validated and confirmed in an experiment conducted in one American university. "At the University of Chicago," reported Dr. Blaslotto, "a study was conducted to determine the effects of visualization on the free-throw performance of basketball players." The results were dramatically in favor of visualization.
How do we make this work for us, as Aiki Ninjutsu students and practitioners. We learn the mechanics of the skill or kata, add the lessons/mitsu, and then have mental picture of how the skill or kata should be performed correctly, either through having performed the act correctly a few times or through having watched Do Shu perform the act. Then, close your eyes and get into a relaxed state by means of your favorite method, and finally begin to imagine/visualize yourself performing the skill or kata correctly. Simple! The difficult part is having this become are regular part of your practice.
And lastly, as there are several Mitsu with which to perform Aiki Ninjutsu effectively, there are "secrets" that allow visualization to be more effective. One of those secrets is instead of just watching yourself performing the movement or kata on a "movie screen" in your mind, "see yourself performing the act through your own eyes." In other words, visualize yourself performing the act from the vantage point of inside your body.
Daniel J. Cardona, M.D.