When Shihan Doron Navon went to Japan in 1969 he had no idea that he was going to become part of Japan's most ancient surviving warrior tradition. He made the move from his native Israel simply to study and compete in judo and other well known martial arts.

He describes the art he found as, "the Encyclopedia Britannica of martial arts." After being introduced to Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, soke of the nine schools of the Bujinkan Dojo, Navon became the first non-Japanese to be accepted as his personal student.

In Japan he was also introduced to the Feldenkrais method, a movement training system developed by Israeli physicist Moshe Feldenkrais. The system, which has roots in a variety of sciences as well as in the martial arts, was developed to allow people to make more efficient use of their bodies. Navon feels that practice in the Feldenkrais method is a useful supplement to martial arts training and travels extensively teaching both.

While in the United States to conduct a seminar for the Bujinkan Ki Oni Dojo, Navon granted the following interview in which he shares some of the insights he has gained in his two and a half decades of training in the art of ninjutsu and the Feldenkrais method.

Perry Thompson: How did you become involved in ninjutsu training?

Doron Navon: Well you know, my name, Doron, is a word that was used by the ninja which means to disappear. The ninja used to put their hands like this, in this kuji, and say "Doron" and he would disappear in smoke. So I was meant to go to this art by my name. Doron is an Israeli name, it means a gift, but in Japan when you say Doron, it means a ninja disappearing. I didn't know it when I went to Japan.

I did judo and jujitsu as a child. When I went to Japan I was regularly practicing in the Kotokan, and doing a little bit of other things like karate, stick fighting, kick boxing and aikido. And I thought to myself it is really interesting that everything is separated. Why is it that this one uses sticks, this one nunchucks; can't it be together? It would be more easy, more simple. That is when I met Hatsumi sensei, and I saw what I wanted. Here is an art, actually nine schools together, that incorporates everything. It had the basic taijutsu, which was empty-handed technique, and on that same movement all the weapons were built. So it was perfectly what I wanted. And also I understood that in the olden days that's how the arts were. They had a base of the empty hand forms and on the empty hand forms they had all kinds of weapons.

(PT) How has the training changed over the years?

(DN) Well, those years when I came it was very rough, and very, very painful. Through the years Hatsumi Sensei has said it is like a child growing up, and now we are adults. Sensei discovered, through many years of training, the right way for teaching.

In those years nobody cared so much about teaching. They cared more about mastering the art than teaching it. To teach it on a very large scale you must find a way to eliminate the danger from the dangerous techniques. And if you want to teach many people you must teach it in a form that will lead many people to train.

I think we have reached a stage now where training is playful, very interesting, very creative. In this way, in the early stage of training, in the first few years, they can play with the movement, with the techniques, with the weapons. So when you play with what you learn you put it into yourself in a more natural and harmonious way. Then later on, when you master it, you can put on hardship. That is the right way of teaching. And I think that the way it is taught now is a very good way. Many people introduce danger in the early stage of learning and what it actually creates is the opposite effect, because it hinders movement in a stage when you are not ready for it. You never see a lioness introducing dangerous things to the cubs unless they are big enough to go out by themselves and fight for their lives. Actually it is the opposite, they protect the cubs.

It is the same way when you take a martial artist and you put him into a very dangerous situation in the beginning of his training. This is a mistaken concept and very few people come out of it healthy. You need to introduce the danger at the right time, when the person is ready. Tiger cubs play, have war games, many times so when they become old enough they can use it. The mother teaches them, but they don't fight for their lives. So when sensei saw that he had to deal not only with one successor, but with thousands of people who wanted to learn this art, he started to change the way of training to suit an art that is now all over the world.

(PT) I know that you also have a high rank in judo. Do you recommend that students study another martial art or do you feel that ninjutsu has everything you were looking for in an art?

(DN) Yes, I think ninjutsu has everything we need. But there comes a stage when a martial artist must learn other martial arts so he can stand against them. When you get good enough I think it is good to go and study other arts. Not to go too deep into them, but just to know them enough so you can protect yourself from them in a time of conflict. If you know only your art it is not enough for self protection, you must know all the other ones a little.

(PT) What do you feel is the purpose of ninjutsu training?

(DN) What is the purpose of ninjutsu training? Is there a purpose? I could sell you all the "blah-blah" that any Hollywood star sells. But simply, it will make you a much better human being. It enhances learning and takes violence and puts it in a form in which you don't hurt other people. If you have any aggression you take it out in the art and not on the street or on your family. And also, you go through a process of learning. For example, when I came to the martial arts I was only interested in becoming strong. In my childhood I had been in many street fights and always needed to take care of myself. I moved from school to school and in every new school you have to fight for your place. All of my life as a child it was constantly necessary that I protect myself. So the dream of becoming a martial artist was very powerful because I thought, "Then I will be strong." But then when you start it and you get past the "becoming strong" you start enjoying it for the art itself and all that nonsense and all the aggressiveness toward the world just disappear. I also always wondered why just the bad guys are strong. They beat you up, they take your basketball, they throw knives at you. I said, "Why don't the good guys get strong?" So I started martial arts very early and I'll tell you that I have only used it for self defense when I needed it. Also, the better I became, the less I was interested in conflicts.

You get more and more respect for human being and any living thing. You respect it because it is alive and you see that your job, if you want to use the martial arts, is to help preserve life, not to destroy it.

(PT) What do you think is the key to understanding ninpo?

(DN) An open heart; flexibility of the mind, then, when you have this, you have flexibility of the body too; endurance; and a love for what you do. And intelligence which will be built through your years of practice.

(PT) The Feldenkrais system is an important part of your training. How did you become involved with it?

(DN) I was a student of Dr. Feldenkrais. I learned a lot from him in the last ten years of his life. He also came from the martial arts, and we met in 1969 when he came to visit Japan. The reason I came to him was when I lived in Japan I was injured a lot. After a few years those injuries started bothering me and my whole body was in pain. Because I knew several students of Dr. Feldenkrais, I was introduced to the system and I got to know him. First, I had to cure myself. I found that there is a way to move in which pain is not necessary. Even if I have injuries I can learn to move in such a way that the injuries won't bother me any more. When the body works in a very integrated way even if you have injuries they don't bother you. And even if they bother you, you have a way of dealing with them. It is more from the quality of your movement and how you do what you do than in trying to heal a painful spot. It is a real look at the state of the body and mind relationship.

(PT) Could you talk more about Feldenkrais and its relationship to the martial arts?

(DN) It is very simple. It consists of two things: Awareness though movement, which are group lessons, which are often done lying on the floor with very delicate movements, in which we learn to pay attention to the way we act and move and help improve it. Many of the movements come from the process of growth of the child in early childhood and many of them come from the martial arts. There are thousands of different lessons.

The other part is called functional integration. And this is when you put your hands on a person and you teach him through manipulation. It is a method which you can do to another person to help him improve his use of himself. The Feldenkrais method is built on those two parts. I use a lot of awareness through movement lessons because they give the person control in his own hands. And you learn what you do that is not good for you and you learn what you can do that is very beneficial to you. You can find out in the way you move and act what can be helpful and how you can improve yourself. So it is not only for dealing with injuries, it is for people who want to improve their martial art or their sport or their dancing. You can advance 100% faster in whatever movement or art you are in by learning it because it heightens the understanding of the self, especially in the body and the motor system, much more than anything I have ever seen. I am not boasting about it, I have used it for many years and I can see it working with my students. I have taken people that had no chance of becoming good martial artists and they have become great martial artists just because of the Feldenkrais method. It allowed them to go beyond the limitation of what they could have done if they just did martial arts. I think it is a tool that allows the talented to be more talented and the non-talented to be talented.

I am working on a book about the Feldenkrais method and the martial arts. It is called "The Subtle Power". I wrote it in Hebrew and now I am translating it into English to publish it around the world. I think this book can be very beneficial to martial artists in learning to use themselves efficiently. Feldenkrais teaches you to be very powerful without investing a lot of power. When you look at great martial arts masters you see that the way they move is so flawless, easy and light, yet still very strong and accurate. Most of the students can not do it, they all need effort. The Feldenkrais method deals with the essence of movement. When we see a master we try to imitate his movements, but imitating his movement externally does not give you the ability. The ability that he has is an internal combination of his movement, mind, and personality. Feldenkrais will allow a huge percentage of people to become very good because it teaches the secret to the way we, as human beings, move.

Moshe Feldenkrais, an Israeli physicist and judo player, originally developed his system of movement exercises to treat a chronic knee injury. He did extensive research on human movement that combined his own knowledge of physics and the martial arts with sciences such as anatomy, anthropology, bio-chemistry, learning theory, neuro-physiology, and psychology. The resulting system not only helped him end the pain in his knee, but also improved general quality of movement for Feldenkrais and his friends to whom he had taught the system.

Unlike most exercise systems that seek to stretch or strengthen various muscles or to burn excess calories, the Feldenkrais is designed to retrain the brain to make better use of the students' existing physical capabilities. Feldenkrais believed that when given a choice, the brain will adopt the method of movement that causes the least amount of strain. His theory is used by performing a simple movement until the brain finds the most efficient method of performing the action and imprints the new method of movement into the memory. These movements are generally performed while prone, to counteract gravity and remove concerns about balance, thus allowing the student to concentrate fully on the movement.

Because the Feldenkrais method seeks to train the body to function as one integrated, efficient unit, the effects of a given exercise are seldom confined to the areas which you believe you are working. For example, I have done exercises that were supposed to help with my own chronic knee problem and discovered that they also added tremendous power to my punches and Navon Shihan teaches a balance exercise that also strengthens hip throws. - Perry Thompson

The following is an exercise based on the Feldenkrais method.

To achieve any benefit from this lesson it is vital that you move very slowly, relax, and remember to breath. Do not force any movement. Learning is achieved by relaxed repetition as the brain finds the most efficient method, not by simply forcing your body to work the way you think it should. You should not tremble as you perform the movements. Trembling is a sign of using excess force.

Begin by scanning the state of your body. To do this lie on your back with your legs a comfortable distance apart and your hands above your head. Your hands should be far enough apart that your right arm is approximately in line with your left leg and vice versa. Close your eyes and try to feel which areas are in contact with the floor.

Now raise the upper part of your right arm, using only shoulder movement, until your upper arm just lifts off the floor. Let the arm drop back to the floor. Repeat this movement 25 times. Make a complete pause between movements so that each one is a separate action.

Bring the arms slowly down to the sides of your body. Do this slowly to avoid causing pain in the shoulder you have been working. Draw your knees up into a bent position and rest while observing the differences you feel between the left and right sides of your body.

Now turn over onto your stomach with your arms and legs spread as before. Raise your right elbow using only shoulder movement, note that the hand will not necessarily raise this time, and let it sink back down. Repeat this 25 times. When lifting your arm, is your wrist remaining straight or is it loose so that it bends as the arm raises? If it remains straight there is unnecessary effort in the muscles of your forearm. Only the muscles in your shoulder need to work. The rest of your arm can relax.

As you continue increase the movement until your entire arm and shoulder raises from the floor and it feels as if no effort is required. To do this you will have to begin using the large muscles in your back. Relax and let your brain figure it out as your shoulder muscle begins to fatigue. Now lie on your back in the bent knee position to rest and observe the feelings in your body.

Remain on your back and stretch out your arms and legs as they were in the first movement. Very slowly raise and lower your right arm and leg together, just enough to lift the back of the hand and the heel off of the floor. Repeat the movement and pay attention to which limb returns to the floor first. When you decide which one goes down first you will also realize that it lifts slightly before the other as well.

Now raise and lower the arm and leg alternately. Observe which vertebra lift from the floor when the leg is lifted alone. Did they also move when the arm and leg were lifted together? Turn your leg (i.e. your hip joint, knee, and foot) to the right. Now slowly lift your leg. How does this position affect the movement of the vertebra. With repetition it will become clear that when the arm and leg are raised together in coordination with exhaling, the work is done by the stomach and chest muscles together and rather than raising the vertebra are pressed into the floor. This creates a feeling of lengthening in the body which accompanies most correct actions. Rest and observe the changes that have been made in the way your body contacts the floor and in the sensations on each side of your body.

Roll onto your stomach with your arms and legs spread as before. Observe which way your head naturally faces when you lie down. Now make sure your right cheek is on the floor and raise your arm and leg. Do this several times then repeat with your forehead on the floor and finally with your left cheek on the floor. Which required the least amount of effort? For most people it is with the left cheek down. Repeat the motion about 25 times and note how the pressure of your body on the floor shifts to the left side. Continue for another 25 repetitions but now also raise your head, letting your eyes follow the movement of your hand. Turn onto your back and rest.

Slowly get up and walk around. Feel the different sensations in each side of your body. Does one side feel lighter or longer? Look in the mirror. One side of your face will look fresher and the eye will be open further. Do not fight this feeling of difference; observe it as it diminishes. If you do not encounter something that causes a great deal of tension the difference should be noticeable for several hours. During this time see which side of your body functions more smoothly.

Slowly perform the San Shin a few times on each side. Does it feel different than normal? Is it smoother on one side?

After observing the difference for a while work on the left side by repeating the above movements with the opposite side. What changes does this cause in your body?

Now raise your right arm and left leg together. Repeat 25 times. Observe how this feeling differs from raising the limbs on only one side. After a short rest raise your left arm and right leg 25 times. Next raise all four limbs together and your head while you exhale. Repeat this 25 times. Now repeat 25 times raising only the limbs, leave your head lying on the floor. After a short rest repeat these combination of movement while lying on your stomach. Finally lie on your back and observe the new sensations in your body. Begin at your feet and work up. How does each part feel as compared to when you began the lesson?

To get the most from this lesson you should repeat most of the movements each day for the next week. It is not necessary to go through the whole thing each time. Just do them as you recall them for as long as it takes to regain the feeling you had when doing the original lesson.

For further information on the Feldenkrais method, get Feldenkrais' book Awareness Through Movement or contact the Feldenkrais Guild (1-800-775-2118 or e-mail fldgld@aol.com) which can give further information or help you contact an instructor in your area.

Perry Thompson began studying ninjutsu at the University of Michigan Ninjutsu Club. After four and a half years of study, he is currently a Shodan under Sensei Otto Cardew at the Bujinkan Ki Oni Dojo in Dexter, Michigan. He may be contacted at: pbt@umich.edu.