Zenryoku-kai is an artform many years in the making. It has actually gone through several changes of name, presentation, and focus. As with nearly every aspect of the Jedi Way, it got its inspiration from the mythos, with the introduction of the first acknowledged martial arts system, Teras Kasi. As one who found his connection to the Force through martial arts, the idea of an artform focused enough to make up for a person’s lessened abilities in the larger acts of the Force was very intriguinging. After all, in the mythos, a practitioner of Teras Kasi was said to be able to beat most Jedi in hand to hand combat. What better way to shore up our real-world inadequacies in our mastery of the Force?
As is expected, that mindset quickly faded. It was too narrow, too centered on extreme violence. The next few evolutions passed through several filters: dragon styles due to their balanced nature of hard and soft, freeform styles because of the disconnected nature of the Jedi Community, and strictly technique-driven styles because of the difficulty of transmitting a single-person form at a distance. Each piece played its part.
As my view grew, I began to see that the Budo Arts would be incomplete without the core training arts that I had picked up along my personal journey, but had not yet taken into consideration. Force development, though stationary and active breathwork techniques, were never part of my formal training in the arts, but they were something that I did on the side as part of my Jedi training. Mental training techniques, spiritual refinement processes, even physical conditioning exercises: they were all part of what I had become, and so must also be present, if my endeavor was to take solid form.
“Zenryoku” means “Whole Energy” or “Complete Circle”, and the “-kai” addition in this application means “Group/Style/System”. I am one who has been shown time and again that the Force does not take us down any leg of a journey aimlessly, and because of this, I have spent the last decade working on the Jedi Budo Arts, incoporating the various steps I have taken along the way.
The dichotomy of hard and soft has always been present in the martial arts, but some styles focus more on one than the other, which does not lend itself to harmony. Forms are still difficult to transmit at a distance, but the technical base of the forms is not as important as the principles behind the movements, which always express themselves a little differently from one person to the next. The invention of smart phones, and the eventual development of powerful onboard cameras, video streaming, and Learning Management Systems have made this transmission of both form and principle a reality, even if still somewhat limited. This also aids in the teaching of passive active and stationary breathwork exercises, voiced guided meditations, and even methods of body conditioning.
Now is the time, and this is the place, for the Jedi Budo Arts to begin to grow into more than just a personal project, but a foundational piece of the Jedi Way moving forward.