When I first started training, I took private lessons from a brilliant young sensei, who took me through all the basics. He told me something that has guided me ever since. It went something like: “However you feel, bring it to the mat. If you feel angry, bring it to the mat. When you feel sad, bring it to the mat. If you have no energy, bring it to the mat. If you have too much energy, bring it to the mat. Whatever you feel, whatever’s going on, bring it to the mat.”
Sensei was on point about everything else he was showing me, so I scheduled my life so that I could always come to class. I kept showing up at class through all my ups and downs both on and off the mat, through injury, and even through some of my worst times. I found that being on the mat made everything else go away for the time I was there. It was a dose of sanity for a few hours a week when everything in my life and around me was falling apart: a place of focus, discipline, satisfaction, and inner quiet. All the unfairness, all the grudges, all the worries dropped away as I spent hours on the mat. And that is the one thing that has not changed in sixteen years of training.
So, if you want peace of mind, bring that desire to the mat. If you need to get away from all the voices around or in you, bring that need with you to the mat. Bring your misery, your moods, your fears, your weariness: bring it all to the mat. And working on the mat will bring you what you need.
Comments