Ninjutsu conditioning training is often overlooked in Bujinkan Ninjutsu. Here is how to ensure you are conditioned to be ninja.
Physical Efficiency (body mastery)
Ninjutsu conditioning training starts with the physical counter part. Every activity requires its conditioning through suitable physical practise. Physical exercise also helps to regulate the 5 energy systems (solid glands & organs & muscles, liquid blood & hormones, heat, air, and life force). Exercise also stimulates the endorphine hormone which is a great replacement for the pleasure hormone dopamine. Most importantly, it detoxifies the body, especially with perspiration.
Besides, even though Ninjutsu does not require much strength (especially through the arms), it still requires it in the lower body in its low postures for stealth & stability, and for jumping techniques such as jumping kicks (especially with both feet) and dive rolls. Overall, it helps to get fit especially in terms of core to maximize energy & effectiveness, & to minimize injury.
Even though Ninjutsu emphasises good posture therefore minimizing sprains and maximizing energy flow, I have seen too many unfit / fat Ninjtusu practitioners who do not care about their diet nor exercise, and found them to be unhealthy (which does not make sense because martial arts is partially aimed at survival / self defense, not self attack caused by bad lifestyle habits), and have low energy. Afterall, the mind is influenced by the body, so to have a sharp mind it helps to have a fit body.
Fitness is especially important within taihenjutsu which can use a good cardiovascular system especially in the case of escaping, for joint flexibility to prevent sprains, and for muscle strength for jumps (sometimes using arms especially in the case of high obstacles) especially when making contact with the ground to avoid landing strains and to help protect bones. Evasion also has a lot to do with core because there is a lot of jumping, reaching, tucking (crunching), crouching, and twisting involved without which will cause a lot of excess strain on the back and legs especially.
Being fit helps immensly with shinobi iri (stealth movement for escaping / espionage / assassination / etc.) for obvious reasons such as balance & placing minimal weight on the floor especially in case of any noisy floors & obstacles.
In the case of fighting: it is also important for grappling (jutaijutsu) for joint flexibility to avoid easy sprains, and for striking (dakentaijutsu) especially when being striked to help protect bones. Even though movement should be minimized, it helps to have a good cardiovascular system because you can tire out in case of fighting multiple opponents or a single skilled one especially when the air / nasal passages are not clear, that in addition to extra energy lost due to stress.
Therefore, it helps to have a healthy low resting heart rate which is possible by intense cardiovascular exercise to strengthen the heart muscle and to burn calories, and light physical exercise to burn fat (50 to 60% of maximum heart rate per 60 seconds obtained by subtracting 220 from your age then dividing by 6 to measure it over 10 seconds).
Generally speaking, strength training helps improve posture & endurance, obviously aids with any strength requirement (such as lifting, yourself included), reduces chance for injuries (partially through increasing bone density), boosts heart health, improves cholesterol levels, and slows aging-related fat conversion strength decline. It even increases fat burn through improving metabolism and through the afterburn effect.
Intense strength training (even if just walking up steeper terrain / Tao Chi Jogging / Nordic Walking) especially through Calisthenics / Circuit Training / Cross Fit / HIIT helps burn off calories at the same time.
Most import are the long term effects of strength training: muscles boost metabolism which is especially important to prevent fat build up including inside arteries (which lead to heart attack & stroke). Not only that, but it leads to calorie burning even after the workout for up to 2 days due to EPOC (Excessive Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) / the afterburn effect due to microtrauma / repairing of stressed muscle tissues.
Last but not least, muscles reduce insulin resistance therefore slashing chances for wide-spread & dangerous diabetes because some muscles (especially the masculine white-tissue) consume sugar especially for explosive strength (dynamics / power lifting), while the feminine red-tissue muscles consume fats (available especially in nuts, seeds, avocado, coconut, and other healthy oils) for stamina.
I especially condone of working out outdoors (which is easily done by calisthenics and parkour) because there is more life force in nature (even if just fresh air), which also contains phytochemicals that battle cancer. You also get to ground your negative energy especially barefoot.
When it comes to chosing what workouts to do, it helps to get into practicing postures especially the Ninjutsu ones, limb conditioning by applying striking techniques into strong objects, tao chi jogging (to strengthen knees & ankles, as well as cardio system, and to help with evasion), swimming (overall cardio & strength), Pilates (to aid in proper posture during movement), and especially Calisthenics (especially involving barz / branches / walls to aid in climbing and taihenjutsu especially Parkour). Calisthenics, like most martial arts, does not rely nor on build separate muscles, but the core as a whole; in other words: there is no separation.
Check out these awsome calisthenics tools:Parkour aids your taihenjutsu. It is partially found in the Ninjutsu school of Togakure, and especially from the lost Ninjutsu schools of Kumogakure & Gyokoshin. Try to mix what aids in Parkour in your calisthenics workout, though I recommend proceeding with the entire Ninjutsu Taijutsu (non weapon combat) before Parkour for safety to learn the rolls & breakfalls properly, and to learn to use the elements properly especially through thinking.
Cold showers also raise metabolism aside from refreshing the body especially to aid in waking up early to ensure training before work. It also reduces inflammation, aids in muscle recovery, strengthens immunity against cold weather and viruses in general especially by preventing inflammation.
HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training of 20 to 30 seconds high intensity exercise thrice or more followed by half or less the time in rest in 3 or more sets) especially helps boost metabolism. Avoid much weight lifting because it builds the habit of resistance, when martial arts especially internal ones like Ninjutsu do not rely on strength.
Ensure to start your training with some joints warm up (even if it’s just self tapping) and to always wrap up with proper stretching to cool down and to maximize flexibility therefore minimize chance for sprains & strains (especially next day microtrauma). I have met some people who have muscle contractions such as spasms and fibromyalgia just because they don’t stretch after their workout.
To increase flexibility you must hold the maximum stretch for at least 10 seconds while inhaling and exhaling into the level past the maximum stretch.
More sample workouts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSl4rN5XmP-KnUMLROnVyd_0MpuoVOwf .
Pilates playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSl4rN5XmP_XFwx_4faz4o1DehgDuIR-
Calisthenics playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSl4rN5XmP9iVsvUVRBkCsCX1vnm0Jcy
Parkour & Tricking playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSl4rN5XmP_Vlstidbs2JP_DanOeItQG
Diet
Nowadays we do not move much in our life nor work, so it becomes extra important to watch your diet. It especially becomes important to watch your diet for Ninjutsu to minimize your physical conditioning training.
When it comes to diet, because ninja need low body weight to easily carry themselves, they avoid oversaturated fats (basically in meat and dairy) & simple carbohydrates in favor of vegetables and whole grains. Yes it is a complete myth that protein is only found in meat & dairy.
In fact, dairy is the worst because it not only is oversaturated (especially as butter), but contains too many calories (especially as cheese) due to lactose (a sugar), contains too much sodium (therefore causes weight gain as water retention), is an allergen (reduces energy) especially after infancy (no lactase, milk also has blood & puss remnants btw), and these days even contains harmful chemicals such as steroids & antibiotics (kills good bacteria needed for digestion therefore good health). Finally, it must be pasteurized therefore loses all good bacteria and most minerals anyway.
Also, avoid messing up your metabolism & microbiome with processed simple carbohydrates such as sugar (even minimizing the natural type), white rice, and white flour.
Both processed sugars and oversaturated fats are not good for health (especially heart) as they end up clogging arteries (which complicates your life both during stillness and movement). Yes excess sugars ends up being converted to fat through a process called lypogenesis. Sugars (especially processed) feed bad bacteria by the way.
Make sure to always balance energy output with energy input by sitting less & moving more (e.g. take the stairs), and since nowadays we move very little, we need to balance that out by eating less quantity and even more quality (more whole / unprocessed low calorie foods) than we used to (however the opposite is happening).
By the way did you know that you can make your own home made ice cream, without any dairy (or processed sugar), with utmost ease? I recommend these:More info on adopting a healthy diet @ https://nodojoninja.blogspot.com/2020/10/veganism-civilization.html & https://nodojoninja.blogspot.com/2021/02/how-to-go-vegan-to-aid-health-ethics.html .
Also, fast regularly (at least 17 hours a day) to burn fat through ketosis and flush out toxins (due to conventional agriculture chemicals) and to restore the liver & pancreas to aid in metabolism due to all the pressure placed from an unnatural diet full of processing and chemicals. More info on that @ https://nodojoninja.blogspot.com/2020/10/fasting-benefits.html & https://nodojoninja.blogspot.com/2021/02/Breatharianism-eat-air-prana-diet.html .
If fasting is too difficult then try water detox during fasting hours for now at least:
More health tips can be found @ https://photos.app.goo.gl/xdvMnrRQZd3pirmp7 .
Diet is actually really important for spiritual growth also. The body is not really meant for meat or too much raw, and should not expend so much energy for digestion. More info (especially from swami Satyananda Saraswati of Kundalini Tantra) on adopting a spiritually conducive diet can be found at https://photos.app.goo.gl/LaUNP4y2HFA9dkEz5 .
I also recommend these Pressure Cookers that also air fry, roast, bake, dehydrate, slow cook, rice cook, steam, sauté, and probably do your laundry too!Mental Efficiency (mind mastery)
It is a common misconception that ascension (raising karma / clearing its deficits) must be painful. In fact, the best meditation does not involve the thoughts nor senses as going with any desire (higher: improvement / being Warrior or Teacher by acquiring skill or knowledge or lower: indulgence) of those drain energy and involve descent (lowering karma / adding to its deficits) especially during indulgence because thinking and sensing depletes energy. Improving one’s body or mind is the one that requires pain (not too much of course) because you are resculpting (recreating) them by breaking and rebuilding them, and as long as it involves any desire therefore sensing or thinking for learning or succeeding, then it raises consciousness basically only from body to mind.
All ascension mostly requires is meditation (latin for measure) meaning presence / nowness / awareness / objective observation / middle way / oneness / detachment / indifference with whatever is happening in body-mind, preferably in austerity (minimal sense stimulation) for combined physical-energy efficiency. Ironically, that right-hand feminine method of eliminating (not being) the 5 dual elements is not easy due to attachment to body-mind. Therefore, the left-hand masculine method of improving body-mind by balancing the elements is also recommended, which doubles to lessen suffering to self & others.
In fact, life is the one that is truly painful cause the more you are attached to it, the more you must balance pleasure with pain otherwise endure its resulting problems otherwise make effort to try to prevent those, endure efforts (and slavery) to attainment, and endure energy lost during attainment. Ascension is about detachment from life therefore losing association to the dreadful ego self, the false body-mind self where duality (separation between good & bad / pleasure & pain therefore attachment / possessiveness) therefore even more suffering lies. Either way, thoughts and senses drain energy regardless of pain, physical or mental.
Meditation is the key to character transcendence (being beyond body-mind), aids in perspective adjustment, concentration enhancement, discipline development for being beyond desires especially survival instincts (earth) for unhealthy primal stress response and beyond pleasure instincts (water) for unhealthy indulgence. This is done through perfect posture, boring stillness or slow smoothness of motion therefore energy efficiency along with calmness & clarity of mind, and serotonin hormone stimulation (another good replacement for the pleasure hormone dopamine).
What does perspective adjustment mean? In a nutshell it means enlightenment / liberation through Self realization. Instead of seeing yourself from a 1st / 2nd person perspective (you being a body / object / figure or mind / subject / character looking at other figures / characters), you need to learn to see from a 3rd person perspective (you looking at yourself / subject / character / mind looking at other objects including “your” body equally) then 4th person perspective (you looking at yourself / player / actor / soul looking at other minds / subjects / characters including “your” mind equally). In other words, you need to lose your body-mind-soul identification, instead being an unknowable Spirit.
By succeeding at perspective adjustment, ego (selfishness & illusion of separation) is removed therefore seeing everyone (& everything) equally (including to your own self) and objectively. This ends up removing fear and raising intelligence (by cutting through the instincts of the senses due to body identification), improving concentration & minimizing energy expenditure by removing excess sense interaction by form affixation, then overcoming concept attachment by mind identification therefore also ensuring good health including enhanced healing, and most importantly enabling austerity to minimize problems therefore stress to begin with.
Meditation also gives you siddhi (supernatural powers) such as the ability to heal (self & others), 6th sense (predicting future), telepathy, telekenisis, aside from ensuring natural intuition (feeling thoughts & vibrations and feeling rather than thinking or researching the right thing to do). Also, once you get it right, you won’t even have to practise it anymore because it will be applied within life itself. It also supports 5th element (intuition & creativity) therefore energy efficiency, because it the soul’s tendency.
Anyway, technique by itself is insufficient, yet Spirit by itself is still not enough. Sword (Spirit without the 5 outer sheaths) and mind must be united, for the greatest warrior is He who conquers himself. As the Samurai saying goes “7 zen 3 ken” meaning zen (enlightenment) contributes 70% importance to any victory (or solution to any problem).
Here are some tools to aid you in your meditation:First, go for moving meditation, which is especially good at sunrise especially for life force because:
- It is meditation which stimulates life force. In fact, any meditation stimulates life force (prana / ki / chi) which is stronger than muscles and bones, and especially aids in healing and protection (therefore replacing food).
- It is light exercise. This stimulates blood flow and life force.
- It helps conserve energy during motion, especially in reaction, even in combat. This is very important in martial arts, especially Ninjutsu, which doesn’t rely on strength or speed. Enlightenment is also obviously aided by having more energy than is spent.
- It clears the mind because it is meditation and a relaxed energy-conserving constantly-flowing motion of the body aids in calming mind.
- It strengthens joints especially hips & knees therefore reversing aging.
- It is an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) technique called Modeling for balancing opposing forces of yin & yang by inhale & exhale / up & down / left & right etc. This stimulates life force because that is where the 2 opposing masculine & feminine meridians meet: 5th element / chakra being ether / life force.
- the sun aids with life force because fire is yet another medium for it.
- the time of day influences the mind to clarify and settle down.
Pranayama (breathing techniques) is also good, for it indicates prana (life force) extension (ayama). Air is yet another medium for life force.
Afterwards try observing the mind (through its 5 senses and thoughts) using still meditation using a posture such as seiza (vajrasana) and sawari gata (sukasana) which will especially aid in energy conservation & joint flexibility. Still meditation aids not only in removing stress (due to awareness over ego mind’s response to problems and challenges), but more importantly in renunciation of worldliness due to its simplicity and austerity. You can progress to harder postures such as fudoza, padmasana, siddhasana, and bhadrasana after the former become easier. This is in order to develop better flexibility, stability & better energy flow.
However, you may start systematically (dharana / effortful concentration) but as attachment therefore ego dissolves, it will be more natural and within day-to-day activities (dhayana / tai chi) such as walking, sitting, cleaning, talking, exercising, or working.
You should not over do it before you start your actual Ninjutsu training because practicing martial arts is meditation. Meditation is the key to dealing with the challenge / evil of temptation (especially via renunciation especially still meditation) & otherwise resulting problems (through any difficulty such as being attacked or a difficult – preferably risky – technique) by going neither with the right / lower / past / water brain (glamorize / dramatize) nor the left / higher / future / fire brain (obliterate / destroy), but instead by being Spirit (middle way) by neutralizing evil. In other words, spiritual practice is about going beyond flight (right) & fight (left).
I recommend you practice meditation at least twice daily especially in a quiet minimal stimuli environment & time (such as sunrise and sunset) to save energy & aid in concentration, preferably the same one everyday to build up a peaceful & purified atmosphere.
For still meditation, observing the breath’s sound and feeling is one of the easiest and best methods. I recommend you try 3LAW meditation method which encompasses all the elements through depth, senses, and consciousness. You may contact me @ www.NoDojo.Ninja to learn it.
Did you know you better do your meditation on a Yoga mat to prevent earthing the root (muladhara / perineum / hara) chakra? The earth pulls your energy downwards, but the mat isolates you from it.
For moving meditation, I recommend you try some QiGong (I know the 4 element QiGong as well as anti injury & joints-aging reversal forms) and Tai Chi Chuan (I know the 8 form very well, especially the fundamental 4 elements form). I also do other meditation, visualization, chanting, & mirroring methods from Kijutsu, Tao Chi, Element EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), Satchakra Bheda (piercing the 6 wheels), 3Level Alliance Way (using 5 senses with 4 depths, Tao Chi element elimination, & breath-based element balancing & elimination), and a few other methods such as Kaya Kalpa & various Simplified Kundalini Yoga exercises that you can learn by contacting me via www.NoDojo.Ninja, or by having a KoFi.
Mantra / Shingon (oral invocation) is also beneficial at activating chakras and summoning / creating beings from other dimensions to aid you. This is a kind of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) called Incantation, which is similar to affirmation by regularly repeating what is desired, preferably with the right frequency by feeling it, and in this case each chakra has its own as follows:
The Sanskrit “Om nama Shivaya” (basically meaning “we bow to the highest”) is one of the best and can be used especially well with a rudraksha (Shiva’s tears) mala (rosary), but should come with certificate of authenticity.
Mudras / Kuji is also beneficial as shown above and earlier at the end of https://nodojoninja.org/home/9-element-takamatsu-den-ninjutsu/elements-in-ninjutsu/. Those come with the Japanese shingon for each chakra. This is a kind of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) called Modeling, which mimics a desired result through body language called position, which again is intended to match the frequency for each chakra. Also, each part of the hand is connected to a part in the body, which are connected to the chakras.
Cleansing (Satkarma / 6 actions): https://photos.app.goo.gl/vTCa3iCEJ9vzdDQu6
Chants (mantra / shingon) playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50A8C228B615A5A5
Breathing (pranayam / kokyū) playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSl4rN5XmP85hy-u6SGkv_C-Ei5sqBBo
Finger-positions (mudra / kuji): https://photos.app.goo.gl/MEy6H3SWCV7XAA4p7
QiGong playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSl4rN5XmP_vwFVd1PYgTw4c21ZPTbrv
Tai Chi Chuan playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSl4rN5XmP8VsZk-9slcL70I35X1H4MX
When it comes to cleansing / clearing the body-mind, the simplest is Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing especially focusing on exhaling all the air that the body naturally inhales.
Even though element elimination (not being the 5 elements) is most important, one better put some effort on element balancing by equating body-mind left masculine (earth & fire) and right feminine (water & air) meridians (channels) with special emphasis on the higher fire, air, & ether elements to help them live a successful but happy life. For more info on them, especially in activating the right feminine channel, check out this post.
On account of an inharmonious lifestyle (with especially poor eating habits) that ignores the laws of nature, the 2 meridians no longer work in balance due to excess or lack of any element (implying unnatural). Therefore the 3rd eye (soul consciousness) necessary for enlightenment cannot be awakened because all 3 – especially the central meridian, influenced by the two since they sometimes intersect – power it.
Therefore, especially if not adopt a more natural lifestyle (tips on that under Going Natural), cleansing / detoxification is required via fasting (as we tend to overeat, unnaturally processed foods, with chemicals), breathwork, and preferably perspiration are especially required in this day and age.
Also, try the following to aid in balancing the 2 meridians:
Nadi Shuddhi (meridian clearing) by breathing through one nostril at a time especially the opposite side of the brain-side needed to activate. This is especially good if done with Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing / 4 seconds in 6 seconds out because that would do cleansing at the same time. By the way either nostril is usually more clear which indicates which activities are more suitable at that time (right nostril for left masculine brain and vice versa).
When it comes to exercise, it is best to do techniques that demand doing things on the uncomfortable side, or through the center. For example, if it is uncomfortable to do a vault (jump over an obstacle) with the knees pointing to the left (probably because of a dominant right / feminine brain) then keep trying. Afterwards, try it with knees pointing forward in the center. The same applies to turning-vaults, handsprings, or flips, but start with soft padding on the ground.
For chants / mantras: Vishnu sahasrananam is for masculine (ida) channel and Lalita sahasrananam is for feminine (pingala) channel. You can find those in the playlist above.
Element postures (shown in next chapter) especially from the lacking elements may also help, but the 9 powerful element balancing & elimination katas (Chapter 9) are designed for character / brain element balancing. Otherwise there is element breathing indicated earlier in Elements in Ninjutsu.
Either way, find some meditation that works for you by enabling you to be in a meditative state in life so your character’s element imbalance don’t dictate all its actions, especially the lower desire for survival of earth element, for comfort & pleasure of water element, and for anger & vengeance of fire element.
This is a pretty good one by the way, probably from QiGong 🙂
“Without a fight, winning was worthless. Naa, the fun wasn’t in the having, it was in the getting. I score lotsa wins, but not always. And when I do win, it’s something to savor.” -Kano. The steeper the climb, the better the view. Ultimately, fulfilment is in the journey itself, and the difficulties simply make it more worthwhile; what stands in the way is the way. He who loves walking will walk further than he who loves the destination. Most people dont even start, less don’t continue, even less give up, and the least are the last ones standing… the Winners.
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -Confucius. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.” -Bruce Lee.
Think of problems / setbacks / obstacles as rest areas on a trip. When going somewhere, I especially liked those, more than the destination itself in cities full of pollution, crowds, confusion, and crap. The secret and free joys of traveling are those rest areas: fresh water, green grass, picnic tables, and a place to nap. Oh the joy of journey! Therefore, do not run from shortcomings oh young warrior, for it is only your aversion (water) / vengeance (fire) that hurts. Life afterall is only 10% sunsets but 90% rowing, so row row row that boat consistently down (or up) the stream 🙂 .
That concludes our Ninjutsu conditioning training recommendation; happy training! Remember, no matter what: ganbatte (pronounced “gambatte” meaning keep going; persist, never give up, and keep trying. The Universe does not respond instantly!).
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