IAIDŌ
Iaidō (居合道 in Japanese and transliterating means "The Way of the Union of Being") is the Japanese martial art of sword (katana) drawing.
This discipline has roots as old as the history of the Samurai, the caste of warriors loyal to Bushidō (the code of honor whose purpose was the achievement of perfection in every gesture).
Iaidō finds its inspiration in samurai duels where the death of one (or both) contenders usually occurred after one or at most two exchanges.
In these conditions, the technical skill required was maximum and it was also possible that a duel ended with the drawing of the sword and only one subsequent single slash.
Second chances were rare. Most of the time, those who were not truly present with all of themselves or the opponent surpassed them in mastery, the only possible ending was death by the sword (one's own through Seppuku, ritual suicide to preserve one's honor from defeat, or that of the opponent insisting on fighting).
It required extreme dedication and absolute determination that through the Shin (spirit, soul, energy).
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Nowadays, the study of the katana has acquired a purely internal value, as an investigative tool for self-discovery.
It is on the basis of this aim that iaijutsu, the lethal discipline of the samurai, evolved towards iaidō.
The essence of iaidō is contained in the phrase "to win in the scabbard" (to win without drawing the sword), which means to have and demonstrate such knowledge as to induce the opponent to abandon the contest even before having started it.
In practice it translates into literally showing and feeling all one's energy (or Shin, as it is called), demonstrating a will of steel and absolute precision.
In my Iaidō courses, through the twelve kata or predefined fighting forms of the Seitei-iai school and some Koryū forms, you train the "here and now" understood as total presence, will and precision.
"To know life in every breath." cit. "The Last Samurai"