Equipoise

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Leon Brooks Sensei (L) - Shuji Maruyama Sensei (R)
Maruyama Sensei has pushed Brooks Sensei's bokken
aside and is completing the thrust.
This is a lovely word I read today. It made me think about several things at once.

The first was: the way we react to thoughts that arise during meditation. The mind has been likened to wild horses because of the difficulty of "reining in" these thoughts. A better way to bring about equipoise is the practice of noticing the thoughts and then gently guiding the attention back to the breath or other focus point.

The second thing I thought of was: a sword technique we practice in aikido. Please bear with me while I describe it - it's a simple practice but hard to explain in words.

Two people face each other holding bokken (wooden practice swords). The swords are held diagonally across the body and the opponents' swords are crossed, with each person applying some pressure. This is in effect a standstill. But theoretically one person could push the other's sword aside and thrust forward. For someone defending against this attack, the key is to maintain relaxation and focus. The defender doesn't actively resist the sideways thrust, but, by maintaining relaxed attention, s/he can quickly return to a strong defensive stance before the attacker can recover from his own sideways push enough to complete the attack.

My mind related these two ideas because in this example the defender allows the sideways push (the thoughts) but maintains attention, relaxation and focus. This robs the attack (thought) of its power: it happens, but so what? It changes nothing. Equipoise.

Both these practices, meditation - an inwardly-focused practice - and Kokikai Aikido - which is practiced with partners or groups - have helped me to maintain "equipoise" in situations I encounter every day. For example, I've often been in the middle of a difficult "discussion" with someone, when I can see that they are sidetracking the discussion into another area where we might argue endlessly with no result. In the past I didn't even recognize that this was happening. Nowadays I can retain more equilibrium, keep a bigger picture view, and I can calmly bring the discussion back to the subject at hand. In the end the other person may agree with me, or I may come to understand their point of view, but at least I don't get deflected from the point of the discussion.

Equipoise. It can help you become better at arguments : )

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