Aikido as a way of life.

Ron and I have been practicing together. We are experimenting with Zoom and getting ready to do a trial class. When we have a clue we will offer a class to our students. Each day I have the opportunity to be positive and to look for the blessings. There are many. I hope you are finding blessings too. We will keep you posted on the Zoom class. I would love to hear about your solo practice. Please share your process with me.

For Ron and I this is not an issue. We have someone to train with and a place to do it. Here are some suggestions you might not have thought of for solo practice. Check out Berkshire Hills Aikido on Facebook and Instagram for some Ki exercises and bokken practice. We will posting short videos to give you ideas. Do your ki exercises at least once a day. Use a short sword for indoor practice or train outside with bokken and jo. Don't break the lights or furniture. :) Practice techniques with an invisible uke. For example, respond to a yokemen attack with a yokemen retreat then go into kokyu nage or shi ho nage. pay attention to your footwork. Are you doing nice dramatic steps or tiny baby steps? Lol. Practice small rolls on a softish surface. Extend ki though a person if you are getting annoyed with them. Remember that we can only feel our feelings. Uke's contribution is a gift. Close your eyes and remember details of what you wre just looking at. Do a mind vis

After years of being whom I thought I needed to be to please others I had no self to be. I am learning who I am by paying attention to how I feel and what I think. I stop and listen to my thoughts as they pass through. I sit in whatever I am feeling, name the feeling and then release it. In the past I tried to perceive what would keep me safe or what would make you like me. I would act however I could to create that reality. As I became aware that those coping behaviors were keeping me stuck, I still resisted change. It was scary. I didn’t know if I changed if there would be anyone behind the mask. Now I accept change after I become aware of the need to change and then I practice small actions to become healthier. These days I embrace this new adventure of seeing who I am, how I feel, what I think and what I choose. If someone advises me to, just be myself, I inwardly say, okay, and step into another opportunity to learn more about my good friend, me.

I was explaining to a new student that as uke we get to be curious.  I demonstrated that when nage turns, I follow to see where they went giving nage motion and energy to work with.  Often an uke will just hang on to the wrist when nage turns or enters.  Nage does not have to do anything because the attack stops and there is no need to defend anymore. We work at simulating an open, inquiring attitude when we uke. Each time we step into the question. We don’t rely on what we think we know or what we expect to happen.  At work, I felt unheard and defensive. After class last Thursday it occurred to me that I could be curious about the situation. I don’t have to understand everything right away. I can stay open and follow. And most importantly just as in Aikido training I can celebrate the conflict. I don’t need to take it personally.  It is just another opportunity to be mindful and peaceful.  Such a challenge every day.  

I had just showed a lovely video regarding our dojo to a work mate of mine.  And she said, “What’s the point? I was flabbergasted. I had no words for her. This was a women who had moved to the Berkshires from across the country, fleeing from the love of her life (her words, not mine) who had blackened both of her eyes. She had 2 beautiful teen age sons whose every move was dictated by her and an ex-husband that she hated just on general principles. Now that I have had some time to think, here is my answer to her: The point of Aikido training: It is not okay for people to hit you. Someone that hits you does not love you. When we exert our will over people they grow to resent us. And no one deserves to hate any one. The hatred poisons us not them. In aikido we learn to let things happen, to reconcile with conflict and to accept things as they are. We learn to be truthful with ourselves and with others. Our sense of humor increases. Peace develops in us and then radiates from us as w