I recently had an interesting exchange with Kei Murauchi, a Japanese artist on a posting of his on CreativeRoom4Talk. He shared his “traditional Japanese concept” on maximizing creativity and productivity. Our interaction follows a brief description of the concept.
Immediately after reading Kei’s post I found myself relating the concepts to the development of Pilates’ teachers as well as devoted practitioners. Kei explains three main stages of arriving at peak performance with the Japanese translation.
- Shu (protect)
- Ha (detach)
- Ri (leave)
In this first stage, Shu of maximizing creativity and performance a student needs to:
- Learn basic theories, principles and techniques about what you would love to master
- Apply them to your own reality
- Experience the following 3 phases, (a) to understand them, (b) to master them, and (c) to get expected results
From a Pilates’ teacher’s perspective appreciating the development of one’s creativity, as a teacher demands time for all the above phases. Moreover that is just the beginning of the learning process. This thinking also applies to students of the Classical Pilates’ Method. The growth of a Pilates’ practice at any level entails developmental stages that require hours of consistent practice and study.
In the beginning one must learn the exercises, basic principles and techniques of all the various mat and apparatus exercises, applicable to your body’s intricacies. This learning process contains plateaus, peaks and probably a few valleys just as any type of study. A Pilates’ education is colored by training with an experienced teacher, self-practice, observation and personal investigation of the work.
Slowly throughout the education one begins to apply the knowledge to their particular reality. In Pilates’ terms, own body. In colloquial language we call this “having it in your body” and why a strong Pilates practice demands endless physical hours of training not simply theoretical analyses.
As teachers we also get to learn through observing our students and their “own realities.” Thus, our mutual learning has adapted to the reality of life, which is ever changing. Reality is affected by constantly changing events such as aging, travel, health, physical and mental well-being, nutrition, desire to learn and much more.
During the process of understanding exercises both physical and mental appreciation for the work advances to new levels. This is not necessarily a linear progression but what I call a layering advancement. One acquires the ability to see similarities in exercises and peel away the noise to get to the essence of the exercises. Through consistent practice you deepen the ability to understand the art.
Then comes the “master them” part. This is what I call, the big dive in. Practicing, Dissecting, Studying, Reviewing, Repeating, Practicing, on and on. So let’s return to my exchange with Kei.
I mentioned to him that I feel we often lose the commitment to the mastery phase. We get in a hurry or individuals say they are “too busy” to commit the time needed for mastery. Or maybe if using Kei’s structure they move to soon into the second main stage, “detach”?
Below is Kei’s response to me and I was totally fascinated by this concept of busy being “lose our heart and mind.”
“the necessary time”, indeed, Krisna. In Japanese, “busy” is “忙“. “忙” = “心(heart and mind)”+”亡(lose)”, so “busy” means “lose our heart and mind”. Enough inner reserve (room in our heart) is one key for effective reflective learning.
Excuse the teenage usage but it blew me away. That’s right, if we don’t have the time or are too busy than we lose our heart and mind for the work. Then, to quote my father, it’s time to move on to something else.
I think in the end it all comes down to time and passion. From my own perspective I feel I’m somewhere between understand and mastery phase. Meaning I understand many concepts but for mastery that maybe a life time ahead of me.
Maybe in our rush to make things new and improved the concept of mastery is overlooked? Thank you Kei for the eloquent reminder.
It’s also an interesting philosophy in regards to the ongoing debate between classical and contemporary Pilates. I dare to say maybe in order to reach the detach phase Kei describes you must first “master” the original work? Just a thought!
Physical fitness cannot be attained by wishful thinking nor outright purchase.
Joseph Pilates
Check back for a follow up post on phases two and three, detach and leave. I encourage you to read Kei’s original post.
