Ever have one of those days when nothing goes right?
The alarm clock is blaring yet you hit the snooze again for the 5th time dreading the prospect of getting up and facing the day. When you finally drag yourself out of from under the covers and realize just how late it is, your heart jumps into overdrive as you rush through your morning routine desperately trying to get out of the house to make it in to work on time. If you have small children to get ready for school, daycare, or other activities as well, that simply throws more chaos into the mix.
In your rush, you forgot to eat breakfast and left your steaming mug of coffee sitting on the kitchen counter while you ran out of the house. Traffic sucks, of course, because you’re late, and when you finally get in to work there are 6 messages from your boss wondering why you missed the morning project meeting… and your day goes downhill from there.
Some days it just seems like the universe is conspiring against you and this time it’s personal!
What do you do?
How do you respond to the myriad changes and vicissitudes life throws at you?
Do you find yourself tossed about like a small boat on a rough sea constantly overreacting and over-correcting with each wave?
Or, do you have a quiet calm reserve of energy and strength that allows you to maintain a state of fudoshin – “immovable spirit”?
Fudoshin is a state of mind that remains undisturbed and not easily upset by either internal thoughts or external factors. It is the even keel that keeps your craft steady and on course during rough seas of life.
How do you develop fudoshin though? How do you cultivate that quiet reserve of strength and energy?
Prepare Yourself Daily
Daily preparation is the key. A reserve of strength must be built up gradually and nurtured daily, even when you don’t need it, especially when you don’t need it, so it’s there when you do. Like a savings account you invest a little bit each day so that when the unexpected happens the funds are there for you to draw upon. So let’s get to the nuts and bolts.
How do you prepare yourself daily? Here’s what I do…
- Get up earlier each morning. Yes, earlier. Allow 30 to 45 minutes BEFORE you actually need to be up to get ready for the day.
- Grab a cup of coffee. I love my coffee; there’s nothing like that first sip in the morning. Feel free to skip this step if you don’t drink coffee. 🙂
- Head outside for a breath of fresh morning air (feel free to bring your coffee). According to Chinese Medicine, early morning is the springtime of the day and thus best for planting seeds to cultivate good health.
- Stand tall, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, spine straight. Raise the arms laterally up over head breathing in slowly and deeply with the movement. As you inhale imagine the oxygen and energy carried by the breath is filling up your entire body. Hold the full breath for a moment or two, then slowly exhale completely bringing the arms back down. On the exhale, imagine the body is expelling tiredness. Repeat 3 to 5 times. Feel free to add other imagery to this exercise as well. For example, on the inhale imagine drawing in the positive qualities of strength, health, and confidence, and on the exhale imagine the breath drawing out and expelling negative qualities of weakness, sickness, and fear.
- Perform a full, head to toe joint mobility routine to further wake up and enliven the body. For a complete discussion on joint mobility work and much, much more, see my book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts.
- Depending on how much extra time you have, relax a few more minutes enjoying the strength and energy you have cultivated – and finish that cup of coffee before heading in to start your day!
Life is Stressful – Prepare Yourself!
