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Weapons and Cooking by John Jorschick What do weapons training and cooking have in common? Allow me to explain. I love to cook. One thing has always troubled me — during the preparation of a meal my shoulders and neck would become very tense and sore. I thought this was the price you paid to be a chef. Then along came weapons training — bokken to be exact. During my first couple of shomen cuts, Sensei smiled and said, "Too tense, relax your shoulders." What was Sensei talking about? He must have seen the puzzled look on my face. He then demonstrated what I was doing wrong. Aaaah shoulders too tense, I see. Not becoming tense is hard, especially when tensing seemed the natural thing to do. It's a difficult habit to unlearn. Sensei had been talking about relaxing the shoulders throughout all his classes, but for some reason bokken class had driven the point home. Perhaps it was the repetitive shomen cuts (too tense, shoulders get tired) or any of the bokken techniques where one must move quickly to avoid getting your hands hit (too tense, fingers get sore). I came to understand that you cannot have tension in the shoulders and execute the technique properly. If you're tense you do not sense the movement of your opponent, you see it and then it's too late. Tension can cause a loss of connection. Weapons training has helped me to relax my body and to release the tension. Thanks to bokken, I no longer feel the pain in my shoulders and neck when I cook. I stay relaxed.