Within the unpredictable, there is predictable. Use it.

Yamabushi training is an exercise in dealing with unpredictability. Not only can you not ask what’s going to happen next, often the Sendatsu (master) doesn’t fully know themselves.

Of course they have some sort of idea, but they truly don’t know until they go there. They might feel the urge to take a left instead of a right, an up instead of a down. Or perhaps the circumstances dictate that they do so.

With all this unpredictability, it’s easy to get flustered. It’s easy to let it get to you, and that often just makes things worse. It’s best to accept that, yes, the situation is uncertain, but within these uncertainties there are some certain things you can take comfort in.

‘I’ve been through the unpredictable before. I know that I’m going to be tested. But I also know that I have the ability to get through, as previous experience has shown time and again…

Which I guess shows that actually, Yamabushi training is equally an exercise in predictability. The only real difference is trust in yourself to make it through.

Which if experience is to go by…