闲人

I did Kendo for a couple of months way back when. There was a practice called 'suburi', 'plain swing', where we swung the bamboo sword repeatedly to practice the correct form. The teacher said that back in his day, they used to do a thousand repetitions (which, for better or for worse, we didn't have to do). The sheer volume of practice helped polish their skills, but more importantly, he said, because of the exhaustion involved, they learned to move efficiently, to maintain the proper form with the minimum amount of energy.

In practice, I suppose most people's forms started breaking once they started to tire. But I think the theory is sound. If one has the proper form in mind and the determination to maintain it regardless of one's exhaustion, I believe that one will eventually be able to maintain it regardless of one's exhaustion.

I also believe that it applies to one's frame of mind. If one determines to maintain a certain frame of mind regardless of conditions, then one gradually learns better ways to maintain it while overcoming external conditions as well as one's own exhaustion. However, unlike physical movements, which a teacher can correct, a frame of mind is abstract and personal. The difficulty lies in the point where one feels resistance; should the frame of mind be changed because it is misguided, or should one persist so that one learns to maintain it regardless of conditions? Is there even a 'correct' frame of mind?