The Mushin Way to Peak Performance

Chapter 7 Kokyu: Breath-Power

In this chapter, you will learn how surviving cancer taught me a new awareness of the power of each breath. You'll hear about an exercise I use in my aikido classes to teach students to use their natural breath-power, and you'll learn why that exercise also teaches students to let go of their ego and stay focused. You'll encounter some strategies for learning how to harness and control your breath power in stressful situations and in day-to-day life. You'll learn how and why to take exhale moments that will help you let go of ego and fear in order to make better decisions and reach peak performance.

I lost half of a lung to cancer. I'd been through treatment already for testicular cancer. Then the cancer spread to my lungs, so I'd gone through months of exhausting, debilitating chemotherapy. Then, after all that, there was still a spot on my lung. The doctors said it could be scar tissue left over from the brutal chemotherapy, but I didn't want to take any chances. I chose to have surgery to be sure.

I still remember waking up after that surgery with all these tubes coming out of me. For 24 hours after surgery, I was on a ventilator. A machine was breathing for me. Gradually, they weaned me off the ventilator. I had to learn how to breathe again—with half of one lung missing. Normally, we don't use our full body to breathe. We use our lungs. ...