Concentrating on the present

by Thu Reign
(Myanmar)

Kendo helps me to concentrate on the present things.

This is the benefit I've gotten from learning kendo.

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thank you for your post. Concentration is a great benefit we can get from kendo.

In kendo, we have to pay attention to all the movements our opponent makes. So we cannot focus on one movement or one particular part of his or her body. We have to focus on every part of our opponent's body and movements and also small details as well. It is called Enzan no Metsuke.

And also we must look at our opponent with our eyes and also feel what the opponent is going to do/is thinking. This is not quite "to read our opponent's mind". It is hard to explain but probably it is more like intuition that we have learnt from experiences after years of training. It is called “Ken Kan no Metsuke”.

Kendo certainly helps us to concentrate on the moment we live. Each moment we live is valuable. The concept of “katana” applies here, doesn’t it? We must concentrate on the moment we live because we do not know when we will die under our enemy’s katana (Japanese sword). This is one of the concepts we have in kendo.

Thank you again for sharing your experience.