Sensei says... One reason purpose is hard to see is that it is naturally shooting outward, whether you are aware of it or not. And since we typically are focused on outward things, we don’t see it shooting out of us, at least unless it hits something that is reflective, which might then cause us to reflect and say, “What was that?” or, “Oh my, I think I was just purposeful”. Additionally, there are times where it may be productive when it “hits” other people, causing them some benefit, but typically we aren’t even aware of when that happens.

In Jiu Jitsu we learn how to relax and center on a point. We learn how to center on a point within us, a point outside of us, and a point inside of someone else. We learn to do this multi-dimensionally. I can tell you that this takes a lot of training. Very few martial arts teachers are able or willing to teach something like this.

Sensei teaches that we are here to learn how to rotate energy around a point inside of us, to center our energy around that point. And within that point lies whatever we have previously deposited if we have centered on it before. Our purpose is there, along with all that other stuff surrounding it. When we deposit something in there, it stays with us forever. It forms both our karma, and our character and individuality.

So, to learn how to center and balance in our purpose means that we have to be willing to go through the things that we need to go through, in order to achieve the deeper experience. That includes all the things that make up our experience as a person, all of our past, our traumas, our highs and our lows. That's a lot of stuff that ends up accumulating, making it very hard to find our way through it to see our purpose. It's a lot of stuff to have to go through.

Sensei explains that on the way toward our center, this stuff encircles the center. As we learn to become more centered, we initially find the experience to be a very uncomfortable one. It typically puts us in a lot of anxiety. We don't understand that on the other side of our anxiety is our center. Instead, we become repulsed by the experience of journeying toward the center. And, unfortunately, this sets up an association in us that says becoming more centered is a bad or unpleasant experience.