Akuzawa Minoru’s (Ark) and his students clearly have a quality of strength that is unusual. They showed this clearly at their recent seminar and demonstrations in Paris.

Aunkai is relatively simple, and Ark has taken care to make what were considered ‘secret’ skills accessible. Still it is not easy to understand how the method works instantly. My appreciation of Aunkai has changed each of the times that I have trained with Ark, and I expect that will continue into the future.

Learning a method like Aunkai is like climbing a ladder. You need to start at the bottom, then progress sequentially. While each rung is much like the one below, the view changes as you climb. Whatis less obvious is that the first challenge is to find the ladder, and then to recognise the rungs!
Until I can do what Ark does I cannot give a perfect description of how he does it. But I can describe some of the bottom rungs of the ladder, as I have spent time and sweat to identify and explore them.

A summary of Aunkai
Aunkai is a collection of solo and partner exercises that are designed to develop power and movement for use in martial arts. Aunkai is not designed to train technique, but there are certain techniques that come naturally from the shapes and method of movement.

Aunkai develops power by building a kind of frame or connection in the body. It does this through the use of extension in the limbs, alignment of the spine and compression into the legs. During the exercises the body is taut like a pulled bow. The muscles are not deliberately tightened but tension results from the stretched nature of the postures. In application the body remains relaxed, but the connection or frame is still there.

I cannot say exactly what the frame consists of. However I can describe what sensations that I feel with the training, and the mental images that facilitate the exercises for me.
The exercises are designed to make the frame available from a range of positions that can be interpreted as or turned into fighting applications. However the intention is on keeping the qualities that develop the frame rather than any specific technique.

Requirements for trainingExtension in the arms ties them in to the spine. To work this you need to extend through all your fingers. The spine itself is pulled up from the top, and pulled down from below. It feels as if the arms create a funnel that channels force down to the spine and torso. The spine itself has the sensation of being sucked into the pelvis, which acts like a basin catching the downwards flow of force, draining it down through the legs.

For this to happen the pelvis needs to be held in a way that it can catch the down flowing force. Hold the pelvis so that you can imagine it supports or lifts the hands. This will open the hips and quickly tire the thighs. Bending the legs makes maintaining the alignment of the hips/spine increasingly difficult, and increases the overall tension throughout the body.

The feeling of connection starts in the chest where the extension of the spine up and down combined with the stretching out of the hands gives the sensation of a cross of forces. With practise the sensation of the cross begins to spread out through the body, extending down to the hips and feet, as well as out towards the hands.

Related to the cross in the chest is the idea of maintaining force in six directions, up-down, forwards-back and left right. This helps you maintain balance in movement and the ability to change your shape or technique rapidly and easily. You can start to think of this within your spine, then out to the ends of your limbs. If you have a lot of intention pushing in one direction, make sure that you also have the intention to send an equal force in the other direction.

Throughout the movements even as the tips of the fingers stretch away from the body the intention is that force flows not out of the body, but can be accepted into the body without pushing back against it. This is what Ark and his student describe as ‘flip’ in thinking and perception – you do not try and develop you ability to push outwards, but accept inwards through maintaining correct body use.
There is a balance to the inward flow of force that can come from the sensation of the ground coming up through the body. While the connection comes from a tautness and extension, the feeling of the ground comes from relaxation. To get a sense of the ground coming up you need to have the idea of opening and giving your strength back to the ground. When you meet an external force in this way with your hand it feels almost as if the force bypasses your body entirely, and is instead met by the ground at the level of your hand (or a wall at the level of your hand).

If you maintain all the body requirements your thighs will burn and your body will sweat. You may also find your back, ribs, shoulders, forearms and lower legs tire out as well.

If you can hold a posture in a deep stance for two to three minutes you are doing well! Build up slowly, alternate the harder exercises with more relaxed ones so that you have some ‘rest’ and can increase the volume of your training.

Points of caution
Because of the intense nature of the practise I have found it can amplify my incorrect body usage. I have had problems in my neck, right shoulder and hip from forcing these exercises too much. Approach your practise intelligently. Even though it will be painful and tiring, the pain is no virtue in itself.

Keep thinking about alignment, and let go of unnecessary tension. Relax as much as possible, give up as much strength as possible while you keep the postural requirements. Pay attention to letting the chest relax downwards, and softening inside the hips/thighs. Do not go down too far into your stances, and keep the weight flowing through the centre rather than the front of the knees. Loosen up regularly between exercises. Monitor any aches that develop and get curious about what you are doing to create them – then change what you do.

Aunkai is a streamlined method, and it gets results quickly. It provides a new understanding of how to use the body, but this requires attention, care and practise.

You can find more information and ask questions At Ark’s site www.aunkai.net

I’m standing at the bottom of the hill. My heart rate has dropped down to about 140bpm, my breathing is full and even again. I have decided what I will work on next.

I take a deep breath feel through my body and relax. I take another breath and imagine my focus for the next sprint to the top – I picture my spine stretching upwards while I maintain both relaxation from my arms through my shoulders, into my body then into the ground arms combined with speed and intensity right until the top. I picture where I plan to stop, smile and recover before jogging down for the next sprint.

Another deep breath and I kick off to start the sprint. One step after another, my legs feel heavier as I climb, my heart accelerates. The desire to tense up and fight the fatigue arrives. I do not raise my eyes, one step at a time, lifting my spine, relaxing my arms and shoulder down into the ground. One step at a time, there is so much to perfect in each step.

I reach the top, smile, breath lift my eyes open to the glory of trees and sky while thanking myself for the work I’ve done. I feel my metabolism has kicked itself up a notch, an inner fire turning fat into heat and action. I imagine how my body learns and adapts to the exercise, then jog back down for another round.

If you feel caught in an endless track of action spurred by the pressure of cramped schedules, hounded by inner dialogue then you can use your training to create a new healthier habit.

Our lives cycle through phases of planning, preparation, action and recuperation. You can deliberately incorporate this in how you train, and through regular practise make it a part of your daily life, and use this to break the headless chicken haboit of endless action. It is a more efficient way to reach where you want to go, and enjoy the process of getteing there.

1. Planning. Whenever you train you can take a moment be aware of the goal that you want to achieve, and what it will be like when you reach it. That can be for a whole session or just an individual exercise as I have described above.

2. Preparation. Once you know what you are going for then you can picture the key elements, feel them, and describe them to yourself. These are the most important aspects of body use that allow for efficient, elegant action.

3. Action. Then launch yourself into the exercise. Pay attention to what is important in the moment, the key elements of body use. Develop your trust that this will take you to where you want to be at the end.

4. Recuperation. Once you arrive at your destination then it is time to acknowledge and celebrate what you have achieved, to enjoy and learn from it. Settle into a moment of appreciation and simple being before choosing or designing the next goal.

It may take some time to develop your goals, and take practise to picture them swiftly and clearly. I will go into some detail on this in a future post. It is important to know what the appropriate focus of attention is during the action. Teachers and mentors are helpful here – as different foci will bring very different results, and sometimes the most effective foci are not always obvious.

Like any other skill it is useful to put practise these steps in easier conditions at first, and then learn to apply the process in more challenging ones as your familiarity and ability develop.

Now you have read this post. Congratulations, you have successfully made your way through my prose! Now what is next? What result are you going for, and what will you pay attention to take you there?

In many Chinese martial arts you find the principle of balanced, reversible movement. To explain, imagine that while in motion, at any moment your body can either stop, or change to move in any direction – which includes the reverse of your current direction.

If you can move this way then you are most able to utilise any opening a partner gives you, adjust to their attacks, or flow around their defenses. You can move swiftly and catch opportunities, in combat and in life.

Without this quality of movement you will waste time organising your body, and getting yourself balanced before you can move.

Recently I have been searching for a new apartment packing boxes and moving house. During this time, when I had many half filled boxes and no place to take them yet a friend in Asia offered me some very interesting work. I had the chance to fulfill a dream that I first had when living in Taiwan in the early 1990’s. I really wanted to go for it…

…but in my situation I needed to reorganise myself before I could make the most of the offer. To leap for it in the situation I was in would have left me overextended and unbalanced. My boxes, family and business responsibilities would have tripped me up as soon as I tried to move. It was frustrating.

For a moment I imagined the blissful lightness that would come from jettisoning all the extra weight. I could streamline back to a simple monkish life, a small rucksack in a bare apartment. A life poised to move in any direction at any moment.

But there are parts of my life that I am not willing to jettison, and I remembered the pleasure of training with weapons. There is a challenge and satisfaction to maintain balanced, reversible movement in conjunction with the momentum of an external object. If the weight of the wepaon is connected to and in harmony with your centre then you can swing it and change its direction with ease and elegance. A more complicated life need not be an encumbrance.

This principle of movement is ingrained in my body, and I am learning to extend it through my life. I can feel if some part of my life is getting overextended, out of line and pulling me off balance. Then I can make the adjustments that I need. How does that part relate to my centre? Can I adjust and bring it into harmony with my centre and direction? Or does it actually bear little relation to where I need to go and so is easy to drop?

It does not matter whether the parts are possessions, paperwork, ideas, relationships or desires – if they do not relate to your centre, your core values, your highest goals then they will make what could be a dance into a struggle.

Where are the unbalancing pulls in your life? Can you let them go or bring them back into line with your centre?

There are certain tried and tested methods for the promotion of martial arts and martial arts organizations. Some might call them unscrupulous. But as there are many genuine and hard working martial artists struggling to make a living, I believe it’s time to pass on this valuable knowledge. Why shouldn’t the sincere and humble make as much money as bigmouthed bullshitters?

To avoid causing offence I would like to stress that the techniques described below apply only to other schools and styles. Whatever you practice is of course the genuine article.

1. Use superlatives.
When promoting a martial art it is vital to use as many superlatives as possible. One of the best is ultimate as in ultimate street fighting system. Describe practitioners as unbeatable and invincible (see below). Other good words, though not superlatives are devastating, effective, and powerful. To add weight to these prefix them with most. For further impact suffix with in the world. This is important for the geographically challenged. If you plan to appeal to people with speciesist tendencies suffix with known to man (see note 1)

2. Mysterious origins
To have the requisite mystique a martial art MUST have either a mysterious origin or have been taught by an invincible teacher (see points on verification below).

In the case of existing arts, the origin can be a forgotten lineage. Possibly the hidden lineage will predate any known historical appearance of the art. In which case the following applies:
The art should have been transmitted in an unbroken form from either an immortal, or an enlightened being. These words are good because they are pretty superlative. They can be substituted, or used in conjunction with Tibetan (see note 2), as well as each other.

When referring to previous unbeatable and invincible grandmasters of a lineage, it is important claims about their powers be unverifiable. This is easily achieved if they are dead in which case you should play down the immortality a bit. Alternatively place the grandmaster somewhere remote and inaccessible. Mountains in China are a traditional favourite. Remember that for geographical purposes China also includes Tibet.

You can play on this theme by saying that your teacher was not remote but reclusive. Perhaps they were a next door neighbour, or a man in the park. If people wonder why this master in our midst has been hidden for so long put it down to profound spirituality and humility. If you are really crafty you can even claim the same virtues for yourself while in the act of shameless self promotion.

If the teacher is a well known figure it is advisable to claim to be the only one to have inherited the ‘true transmission’. Time and language need be no barrier in the reception of true transmissions. It takes no time to receive the true knowledge through ‘direct energetic transfer’.

3. Special powers and secret knowledge
Any martial art that doesn’t want to be the ultimate street self defense should at least claim to have special powers and secret methods. The following rules of verification apply here of course.
Special powers are only shown or demonstrated on willing parties, whose level of spiritual awakening makes it appropriate for them. For all other people these techniques are too dangerous.

Secret methods are great for two reasons. They get the punters intrigued, and they cost more. To be secret a method doesn’t have to be unique or even special. It just means you need to make your students paranoid about showing it to anyone else (see section on students).

4. Students
It is important to keep the students in a controllable state. This can be done in several ways.
First demand total obedience on the basis that it is traditional in the master student relationship. There are always a few students who want to be dominated in this way. This method has the advantage that it can also provide willing hands for your housework.

On all accounts discourage your students from looking into other styles. It could be disastrous if your students discover their secret methods are widely practiced under less grand titles.
Looking at other methods and styles used to be called heresy in the Roman Catholic Church. People involved in it would be excommunicated (thrown out of the school), or in extreme cases, burnt alive (for their own good). We can learn a lot from the Catholics as their style has survived, thrived and is extremely rich. You may have seen martial arts classes advertised on some of their real estate.

There are two main ways of discouraging investigation and other forms of free thought.
Either suggest that there is nothing worth learning outside the schools as everything else is crude, unspiritual, unsophisticated, bad for you, untraditional and not the true transmission.
Alternatively you can also suggest that at the current stage of development to mix training methods, or energies would be detrimental, and possibly toxic.

5. Don’t be shy
Like the existence of secret techniques, the shortcomings of other styles should be loudly and publicly announced.

It is not so much that other styles have to be directly badmouthed (though that can be fun), more that they are subtly compared to the sublime intricacies of your chosen art and found wanting.
Any challenges that result from either grand claims or provocative language are easily dealt with.
The challenge can be accepted, but only under bizarre or ludicrous conditions. For instance ‘I’ll happily fight, but in the traditional way, in front of a jury of seventeen masters, who will be carefully picked from my students, on the evening of the next full moon that falls on February 29th.’

Challenges can always be declined on the grounds of compassion. The power and technique of the style being too dangerous to use in an uncontrolled way.

On the off chance that some ruffian actually succeeds in anything physical, any perceived defeat can be dismissed as the result of either crude force or a surprise attack.

I’m currently working on software that can produce publicity material according to this template. It’s going to be called Blagwizard, and will work in conjunction with most of the common DTP and word-processing programs. It will include variations to allow the full spectrum of martial arts from spiritual and harmonious, killer street, traditional, original and traditional original styles.

I’m particularly proud of the Asian language generator. It can produce style, technique and principle names in Japanese, Korean, and three dialects of Chinese, with calligraphy! I expect it will be a great commercial success.

I’ve used a prototype of Blagwizard to create adverts on the web, and in martial arts magazines. See if you can spot them. I think you find they blend in seamlessly.

Happy training

Note 1. I train with great White Sharks, Tigers, Grizzly Bears, and Ebola viruses.

Note 2. This only applies while Tibetan spiritual systems are fashionable.

I wrote this originally in 2000, and have copied from where it has been sitting on palmchange.com where it goes under the title Principles of promotion of martial arts , or just Promotion. I edited it a little, then gave it a more sensationalist title for this site so that it would be more likely to spotted and read…go figure…

If you want to progress in your training there is one attitude that can transform your progress. Ignore it and you can find yourself wading through endless plateaus of repetitive drudgery. If each time you train you get curious about what you can learn it will make a huge difference compared to an attitude of knocking off a certain number of exercises, covering some distance or filling an amount of time.

In the past I have ranted about the MTV/CNN exercise culture where people run on treadmills watching screens to anaesthetize themselves to what is happens in their bodies. They may do the requisite number of kilometres, or burn the target number of calories but they do not develop in style, elegance or understanding. If you do not have your mind open to what is happening in your body then you lose opportunities to learn. If you do not keep awareness or attention then you are training your body to be a dumb beast of burden.

No two breaths are exactly the same, and no two movements are the same either. Repetition takes place when you are not paying attention. When you do pay attention you can notice the subtle differences between what externally looks very similar. When you relax and pay attention then you can find different ways of performing movements that externally look very similar. To manage this you need to be fascinated by your movement, by what it can teach you.

Physical earning can take place in many ways. Sometimes during a session you can have a new sensation, not necessarily something easily vocalised or explained, but a new appreciation of some part of your body and how you move. You could realise that you have greater capacity for an exercise than you thought, or conversely recognise a signal from your body telling you that it is time to stop before you go too far.

Every now and then you will come to a new level of understanding where different aspects of your training come together and create an integrated whole alive with potency and poetry.

Whether what you learned is small, and seemingly insignificant it is the accumulation of these understandings that help you progress over time.

If you really immerse your body with awareness it will start to teach you amazing things and will respond to the exercise with healthy adaptation. There are certain kinds of exercises that facilitate great depth of immersion, though with practise you can use any exercise.

Keep a notebook and write about what you get from each session. To tune yourself into the nuances of physical sensation and increase your capacity to describe them I recommend that you practise my kinesthetic streaming exercise to develop physical intelligence. Most of all start each session with an attitude of curiosity and fascination.

What will you learn next time you train? Are you curious yet?

Some time ago I started doing this in a quiet moment. It is very simple exercise I’ve put together and decided to call Kinesthetic streaming. It is similar to a number of other techniques. In doing it the first time I gained some interesting insights into how I think about and use my body.

But first what do I mean by physical intelligence? Well I’m talking about awareness of the structures in the body, bones, muscles, tendons, and visceral organs. Parallel to this is an awareness of emotions, energy and metaphors within the body. Finally there is a linking between awareness of these structures and the ability to move and therefore act, in the world.

I’ll describe the exercise, then write a little about some experiences I associate with it and then about some techniques that are similar.

So now the exercise…

1. Close your eyes
2. Describe to your self your physical sensations, in as much detail and as rapidly as you can. Carry on for from 5-10 minutes.
3. Notice if there are parts of your body that you simply did not notice? Notice any other patterns.
4. Deliberately begin to include those parts of you that are normally outside of your awareness.
5. Re-orient to the outside world.

In doing this you may find you are aware of more than pure feeling. Images, memories, metaphors, synesthesias may well all be woven in. The important thing is that you find yourself discovering more about how you represent your body to yourself, you update your map of your body, you gain faster deeper access to sensation.

The use of words in this exercise act like a bridge between different parts of your mind. They are a focus that helps keep you in the exercise rather than drifting into a daydream. Another consequence is an increase your ability to use words to describe the realm of interior physical space.

For variety you can do this exercise in different postures (sitting, standing, cross legged and whatever else you might want to try). Observe how the postures affect your attention and sensation.
You can also experiment with longer, or shorter periods of practise. The shorter ones could just be a way of checking in with your state in the midst of daily activity.

Some experiences sources and parallels

When I think of this exercise I remember a conversation I once had with a friend I shall call the fool. He explained how he would meet various Yogis and martial artists, and they would talk about qi, or prana or use other names for subtle energy. He often didn’t find these people either grounded or practical, and he challenged them.

‘So you can feel your subtle energy. Mmmmm, now tell me, what is the sensation on the inside edge of the third toe on your left foot. If you can’t tell me that, if you not aware of your physical body how can you talk about your subtle body?’

I agree. In martial arts we can talk about qi, but certainly in the beginning it’s more helpful to think about, time and measure, angles, momentum and vectors. Once these are clear it’s time to get into ‘energy’. If you focus on qi without getting past some basic physical training then anyone with a half decent straight left will be quite capable of dishing out a revolutionary experience for you!

Another person I associate with this exercise is a man who I met on an NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) training. The trainers (not me in this case) referred often to paying attention to somatic information – feelings. This man had been trained from an early age in the Cartesian tradition in which somatic information was of no use, an animal illusion.

It is not that he did not have feelings. He just had lost his ability to notice them, or value them. However his thinking mind was still able to notice that the apparently intelligent people around him did have feelings, did value them, and could use them in ways which intrigued, but escaped him.

During a break he confided to me

‘These feelings they are talking about, I don’t know what they mean. I think that feelings are accessible to women, but not to men.’

I nearly choked on my tea. I’ve spent years immersed in physical awareness, swimming in kinesthetic as one person described the experience. It has taken me a some time to balance that strong kinesthetic with other ways of thinking and acting in the world. I am a man and I am aware of feelings – who was he to imply that was impossible, dammnit!

I didn’t choke on my tea because I recognised that under his blanket statement was a yearning. He recognised somehow that much of his energy was caught up in keeping out the perceived chaos of the body. That meant keeping out much of life at the same time. He chose me to talk to because he recognised me as an exception to his rule, and thus a way into a different set of possibilities. I can’t remember what I said, and I did not have this exercise to offer then. It will be a regular part of my training from now on.

Kinesthetic streaming is quite similar to self hypnosis exercises where you make statements describing sensory reality, interspersed with suggestions to go into a trance state. One difference is that typically in trance exercises is the rhythm, which is linked with the breath and tends to slow down. In this exercise the idea is to maintain a rapid pace, and no suggestions are involved.

It is also a very similar to Win Wenger’s image streaming exercise – in which internal imagery is described as rapidly as possible. Win claims that daily practise of image streaming permanently raise the IQ.

It’s too early to say for sure, but I think that regular practise of this exercise may permanently change the way you relate to your body. Since our bodies are the medium through which we experience the world, and through which we act on the world that could mean a lot.

This is a new exercise. I’m interested in how people can use this and develop it. If you decide to try this out I’ll be very happy to read about your experiences.

So if you close your eyes now, what do you feel?

It is easy to think of meditation as a static, cross legged activity involving incense and mantras. In fact meditation is any activity that repeatedly brings attention back to a single focus. In religious meditation this focus can be a deity visualisation, a prayer, sacred word or question.

Extracted from the religious context then any word, image, sensation or movement can be a focus for meditation. A wide range of studies show regular practise of meditation provides many benefits to mental functioning, emotional stability, health and longevity.

One metaphor used to explain meditation is a stake in the ground to which a monkey is tethered. The monkey represents the thinking mind, which will get up to all kinds of mischief if it is allowed to run wild, and that mischief will become the most prevalent part of the landscape. By tethering the monkey it can be trained, and there is the possibility of noticing the broader landscape beyond its antics. meditation among other things the practise of disidentifying with thoughts.

Within any exercise there is the means to become meditative, as all exercises have a range of possible foci that you can bring the attention back to repeatedly.

Certain exercises facilitate this, others may be more challenging. Generally an exercise with a steady rhythm will be easier to use to get into a meditative state than one where the pace fluctuates.

Taiji and qigong are naturally meditative, because to perform them correctly (by correctly I mean in a way that allows you to progress, rather than perfectly) you need to constantly bring the attention back to key elements of posture and body alignment. Without these as a focus they are simply empty choreography. With the correct focus they reeducate movement, breathing and give all the other benefits of meditation.

In adapting an exercise like running to meditation all you need to do is chose a focus. I suggest you try some of the following. It is a good idea to choose a single focus at the start of each session, or your mental monkey will use the opportunity to leap gleefully from focus to focus, and in doing so it is easy to become re-immersed in thoughts.

1. The posture of the spine.
2. Keeping the body as relaxed as possible.
3. The movement of some part of your body – hips, shoulders, thighs…
4. The sensation within the muscle groups that you are working.
4. Peripheral vision.

The task then becomes not only to run for a period of time, or distance, but to keep bringing your attention back to your focus when it wanders.

One benefit of making an exercise meditative is that encourages you to separate sensation from interpretation. When you exercise at a high intensity it is easy to get into a mental loop or dialogue that goes ‘This is hard…this hurts…I want to stop…I’d rather be doing something else…I am going to stop etc’

When you practise making your exercise meditative there is just the sensation, which is not labelled as either good or bad, desirable or disliked. This allows you to train more effectively, and suffer less.

While you can stop the interpretation, you do not stop your intelligence. So that if something is too intense, or potentially damaging you will become aware of it. In fact you are more likely to notice any negative consequences faster this way than if you are caught in internal dialogue and thought.

If it is appropriate maintain your focus during your warm down. Especially if you have trained intensely. This encourages a faster relaxation response, which stimulates the immune system (which can be depressed temporarily during and after exercise) and puts your body into repair and recovery mode.

top be continued…

Aunkai is a method created by master Akuzawa Minoru that develops the body in a specific way to create unusual internal strength. It is simple, streamlined and physically demanding and about understanding how your body moves. We will mostly practise solo exercises, and some controlled partner training. We will train until about 20H30.

Akuzawa (or Ark as he is known) will be teaching a weekend in Paris October 11-12th. Ark is a remarkable martial artist. I heartily reccomend him to anyone interested in going beyond kicking, punching and throwing. Ark is based in Tokyo, he’s not here very often so make the most of and attend. Given the amount he is charging it is a bargain. Check out the links below.

To get a better idea of what it is about, learn some cool exercises, break some less cool sweat and to make the most of the seminar come and join us in the Jardin de Tuileries next week. I am going to charge a small fee of €15 for the session.

Link to seminar oct 11-12th
Interview with Ark (francais)

Video of Ark :

If you want to progress you need to practise. If you are not entirely sure about what you are meant to practise it can obstruct the motivation to train. Students often say to me ‘I wanted to practise – but I did not want to practise wrong, so I did nothing.’

While it is reasonable not to want to develop bad habits, if you wait until you are perfect to start practising then you will never start.

However for most people any practise is better than none, and quality practise is possible if you follow certain guidelines. I suggest that you explore the following:

1. Start with one simple movement. Sometimes a whole session is too intimidating to begin – especially contemplated from the comfort of a warm bed. But one movement, a few simple breathing exercises, that is easy enough. Once you start you may find that you want to do more.

2. Pay attention. If you mindlessly do a number of repetitions of an exercise you may get stronger, or fitter, but you will not improve your understanding or physical intelligence very much. If you pay attention to what you are doing you will begin to make distinctions that will help you improve what you are doing at home, and ask better questions when you are in class.

3. Minimize. Do as little as possible when practising a movement. What can you relax, let go of or stop doing? Is it necessary to tense your face because your leg aches? How many muscle groups do you need to involve? To make these kinds of distinctions you need to pay attention to your body (see 2). This will develop your relaxation, grace and awareness of movement. There are some other benefits but I leave them to you to discover.

4. Get curious. Or better, be fascinated…there are so many possible ways of moving and you are free to explore them. Not all of them may be ‘correct’ but just the act of exploration allows you to shift more easily from one to another. When your teacher tells you to do a movement differently you will have the tools and the practise to change from your habitual way of movement.

5. Thank yourself. Notice what you are doing that works, pay attention to the little changes that make a difference and give yourself a mental pat on the back. Imagine this session of practise as part of the bigger goal of developing fitness, or health or changing your body shape. A particular session may not provide a great revelation or breakthrough; but it brings you closer the next one that may, and closer to your overall goal. You can take pleasure in that.

If you have any more excuses (I mean reasons) for not practising then let me know. Or perhaps you already know what it is you want to explore in your next session and when you will start…

As I write this I look out of the window and see rain falling on the canal St Martin. Concentric circles blur together on green water. I sip my tea and smile. I’ve already been out training this morning. The moisture in my t-shirt as I returned home was only half rain. Throughout the session I enjoyed the refreshing effect of the drizzle, the cosy covering of clouds and the happy smell of well watered trees.

Space is a premium in Paris – few people have gardens, terraces, balconies. Dogs are common, but room to swing a cat is rare. Each square metre is used for beds, tables, chairs, cupboards. Expanses of empty floor are a luxury – inside at least.

However every arrondissement has outdoor space that you can use for training. In the 19th we are lucky to have some great parks as well as the canal St Martin. But even when there are not big parks you can still find smaller squares.

From the inside on a day like today everything looks grey, cold and uninviting. Get outside and you begin to notice the subtleties in the weather. You can feel the direction of the breeze, you realise that the rain is intermittent, that there is shelter in the lee of buildings and under trees. Raise your metabolism with some exercise and the wildest weather becomes a pleasure and exhilaration.

But that wild weather is rare. There are few days of constant rain, not many fierce storms, and truly cold winter days do not come along very often (and when they do you start with extra clothes until your body starts to glow).

Alongside the pleasure of seeing plants, animals and the elements each park has its own rhythms of human life. There are waves of joggers, dog walkers (cat swingers?), Taiji players, tourists clutching maps, secluded smokers, lovers lost in each other, and petanque groups.

In a world where we are urged to become more environmentally aware training out of doors is a healthy alternative to air conditioned gyms, electric treadmills, bicycles that go nowhere and stair machines for people who take lifts. All that equipment is easily replaced by judicious use of your own body weight. If you do not know how, we will show you.

Get back in touch with the seasons and enjoy the sky above your head that is shared by all nations and all people. Look out the window. What colour is the sky, and how will the air feel against your cheeks?