Ki Test Story
Jake Jacobe
(Email from the ki-info mailing list)
Editor's note: I found this ki-info email (from July 17th, 2001) to
be a really remarkable testimony on the effect of mindframe on
physical stability! The bold-face headers are mine; the rest is
Jake's email, which was a reply to a question about "easy" ki
tests.
"Ki testing" is the application of varying types of pressure/force
to a person in order to see how centered/stable the person is -- and
hence whether the person's mind is calm or not.
Too Serious?
I took jokyu along with two of my seniors. I was in a festive mood.
They were both in very serious moods. Kashiwaya Sensei stands in front
of me, a few feet away, gets a very serious scowl on his face and moves
quickly toward me. As he gets to me, he gives me a simple standing
test. I was amused by the test, laughed aloud and passed it easily.
The other two guys were each pushed backward. A simple test of standing
that both of them had passed hundreds of times, but Kashiwaya Sensei's
demeanor made it seem anything but easy in their minds on that
particular evening.
Pressure to Succeed?
When I spent four months in Virginia, I anxiously went to my first
Friday night class with Simcox Sensei. George always started class by
having us line up and giving us a ki test. That first Friday, I tried
very hard to pass, thinking "I must prove that St. Louis Ki Society
training is valid ." I was easily moved. The next Friday, I thought,
"I must regain honor for St. Louis Ki Society." I was easily moved.
The third Friday, I thought, "I'll show this SOB he can't push me
around." Yes, as you would guess, I was moved. Finally, by the 4th
Friday, I no longer cared one way or another. I stood calmly and
remained unmoved. :-)
Summary
The point I'm trying to make is that on any given day each and every one
of the tests can seem difficult or easy, depending upon the frame of
mind of the person being tested.
Jake
Editor's note: I am reminded of a story in the marvelous book
The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Boston
Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander. A student wrote to Benjamin
Zander, recounting how Zander's admonishment to make "NO MISTAKES"
made an already tense rehearsal worse -- until Zander, seeing the
tension, added that any mistakes would result in a five hundred pound
cow falling on one's head! From then on, the rehearsal went a lot
better.
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