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Transcript: Budokon

Printable version

Zen Living
Episode “Budokon part 1”

Nicole Tomlinson: What do you get when you combine the strength and agility of martial arts with the grace and flexibility of yoga? In the first of this two part series will take a look at Budokon, a Zen workout for the mind and body.
I would like you to meet John Barton one of the teachers of Budokon, hi John.
John: Hi how’re you doing?
Nicole Tomlinson: I’m great and I’m really interested to know, what is Budokon?
John: Well Budokon is a martial arts Saystem that uses yoga and some meditation and brings it all together in a comprehensive conditioning class.
Nicole Tomlinson: So really combines all elements of this mind and body together?
John: Absolutely.
Nicole Tomlinson: Where did it originate?
John: Well it originated with Kancho Cameron Shayne who is the creator of the system; it is just a combination of all the different places that he trains.
Nicole Tomlinson: So what is the basic philosophy of Budokon?
John: The basic philosophy is a Zen philosophy, one of a beginners mind coming to the practice that you’re not necessarily trying to gain something new as much as it is rediscovering an old treasure that has been buried for a while.
Nicole Tomlinson: So you say beginners mind, you don’t have to be very strong in yoga a martial arts to start this?
John: The conditioning aspect of the class is really open to all levels you set the cadence and practice at the levels that you are looking to challenge yourself.
Nicole Tomlinson: How is this better than just yoga alone or martial arts alone?
John: Well just yoga alone is really martial arts frozen so when you’re in a specific posture there is no transition really with any type of intention, you are either coming up off of the mat or going down onto the mat the transition to something else where Budokon is really dynamic and it is integrative, where you’re constantly transitioning from one position to the next, so it can really become seamless in its practice once you cultivate it.
Nicole Tomlinson: And how is it different from martial arts?
John: We look at Budokon as the ability to express movement in many different ways, two of them being yogic elements in our movement, and then there are martial elements of our movement. We do the yogic movements of our practice, the conditioning class and that prepares us for more grace and efficiency when we are doing are budo or our martial movement.
Nicole Tomlinson: It seems like this is something you really have to physically do to understand all of the way.
John: You have to absolutely get your hands on the practice to understand what it is all about.
Nicole Tomlinson: Is there a couple of basic things that you can show me?
John: There sure are absolutely.
Nicole Tomlinson: Let’s get down and do it.
John: So the first one we are going to do is rolling wave, and so from a down dog make sure your shoulders are latterly rotated and getting nice firm grip with the mat, you draw your feet together, so on a inhale I rise up on the balls of my feet. The pelvis is reaching high and the tailbone is reaching low, tuck that pelvis, nice then one vertebra at a time, follow my finger and keep that chin tuck to your chest. Keep it tucked, keep looking, keep looking and hold right here. Once you get to a plank, or this is called a cobra hood you see how, can you feel how that really opens up the scaffoldus, they really move laterally.
From here you release your chin and you drop the pelvis down slowly to an updog, so you’re pushing the ground away you are not collapsed in your shoulder but you are pushing the ground away. Come up and extend up, there you go all of the way. This is where you are from here, the chin tucks into the chest, you push the ground away so that you reach right here, slowly, slowly. Right so you are reaching, that is it you roll all the way back, nice and slow we’re not in a hurry. Now your heels come down to the mat and that is it.
Nicole Tomlinson: Wow. That is really difficult, is this a basic move?
John: This is a staple of the practice.
Nicole Tomlinson: OK.
John: A staple of the practice. From the down dog move your right heel behind you towards the sky, nice hold right here and then we point the foot, so your foot is extended in your toes are flexed. A martial arts foot, so extension and flexion, nice line, pelvis is neutral and the heel is reaching, not a lateral or external rotation it is a neutral pelvis. You want your shoulders laterally rotated and your fingers are spread so your palms have a nice firm grip and here we go, you are pushing into the mat with your hands and you are reaching towards the sky with your foot.
Do you feel that capacity to move in two directions? So here is what is going on here, that heel comes down, and you have a 3 point base and you are reaching, they heel folds back to the back of the thigh and then you roll that knee to your forehead. Shift your weight forward rolling the, nice. So if you are here you just pick your foot up like a kick stand and then you can roll back and extend it to the sky and then the foot comes down, rolling knee.
Nicole Tomlinson: Alright now that I know the basics I can’t wait to get started.
John: Awesome.
Nicole Tomlinson: From all of us at Zen Living thank you so much for watching I am Nicole Tomlinson and we will catch you next time, peace.