Adventures in My Mind
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Jul 31, 2001
There is a Shinto concept called misogi. It is a ritual purification of the body and mind through concentrated physical labor. I first became aware of it in my studies of Aikido, a Japanes martial art. A basic tenet of Aikido is that you don't have to be in the dojo or even practice technique to practice Aikido. It is in the way you live, the way you behave, the way you interact with others. Aikido is everywhere it is believed.
Misogi is much the same. It's weeding your garden. It's cleaning your garage. It's building a house. It's working out at the gym. The key is state of mind, the attitude with which you approach these activities. It is believed that, with the right mindset, you can transcend the physical world and enter the world of the mind. It is then that you can purge yourself of impure thoughts and negative energies. The activity becomes the lens through which you focus the light of the mind, buring away impurities in body and soul.
I have experienced misogi both in and out of the dojo. Tonight, I experienced it while washing the car. I have been sick for several days and I needed a focus point to gain a better mental picture of me as healthy and illness free. There was nothing in the house to satisfy that need. Then I remebered that earlier in the day Sami and talked about washing the car. That was it. I'd wash the car.
I approached the activity like a ritual. I got out all of the equipment and arranged it neatly in the yard. I untangeled the water hose and coiled it near the driveway. When everything was precise and ready, I began washing the car, using the same repeated hand motions and washing only small sections at a time. I rinsed each small section and moved on to the next. I progressed this way until the whole car was done. Drying was next. Using a microfiber cloth, I began removing the beading water from the vehicle. When the cloth was too full to absorb any more water, I wrung it out and continued drying. This was when misogi really set in.
The wringing of the cloth became a metaphor for removing all thoughts of my illness. Each pass of the cloth over the vehicle removed water and its accompanying negative energies from my mind and body. Each squeeze of the cloth purged both water and illness. Negative energies streamed away as the water ran down the drive and into the gutter.
Immediately upon finishing my chore, I had a much better outlook and felt much better. I still do several hours later. This illness will bother me no more.
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