Aikido as a way of life.

Accept what is, blend and move on. This is my new mantra for getting through February. This month is seems like everyone is going south and getting warm. I have customers that call and ask what the temperature is here. I tell them 25 degrees and snowing with a stiff wind. They chuckle and say it's 80 and sunny here. I know I could have planned a February vacation but I didn't. So thank god it is warming up a bit and we had 2 straight days of sunshine.  The weather is much easier to accept than people's moods. It has been a hell of month of disgruntled people. I have gotten thrown off my center at least 4 times this month. This last time I couldn't sleep because of my anxiety about not being perfect. Toss in my new way of eating the includes no potato chips, French Fries, bread matter, rice, pasta or mashed potatoes and we have a recipe for touchiness. So here I am. My equilibrium brought back by chatting with trusted people, prayer, meditation and finally cl...

Last night I was very tired and a little off as I went into class. I offered a 6 move jo kata to class.  We worked on it separately for a few minutes. Then we started doing it together on both sides because we could transition easily to the other side by flipping the stick over after the last yokemen strike. I was merrily doing all my strikes when I suddenly noticed that I was way ahead of everyone. In fact, a couple of students had just stopped. I asked what the problem was. Turns out I was going too fast. I had forgotten that I had practiced several times in my office during the afternoon. The moves felt very familiar to me. Sheepishly, I apologized for my self-centeredness.  We started again much more in sync. That was just the beginning of an awkward class.  I offered a shomen uchi kokyu nage with the note of throwing while barely touching uke. After the students went through of round of throws, I asked them if they thought it would work in a real life situatio...

I noticed Ron open his shoulders while I was throwing the circle of ukes.It was a subtle cue for me to open mine. I am always surprised when I think I have great posture. I take a correction and find that it could be fixed. I opened my shoulders and immediately felt more relaxed. My arms could now move freely as the shoulder joints were at their maximum expansion. The relaxation in my arms spread though my body. The whole exercise became easier and felt better for me and probably for my uke. I had a hard time with correction after my 3rd dan test. I felt like had been training for ten years and was ready to do aikido. I was outwardly polite. Inwardly, I chafed at any suggestion that Ron made. I spent a few years like that. Then Ron started coming to my class as a student. I loved the idea of Ron training in my class. The reality was another thing. He could be a grouchy student. I would ask him to do something a bit different. Not because he was wrong but because I wanted him t...

Entering from my center can be a challenge. The attack was tsuki with a bokken…the defense… just a turn of the bokken with a slight irimi. My center came up most times I was attacked. I felt a slight movement backwards…hardly seen but felt by me. After class I asked Ron to attack me until I could enter and turn my bokken without flinching. Without moving back …without moving my feet…or just my head …oh so slight. By the time we left I could enter, turn my bokken and my center stayed down. My first step was asking for help…then I could acknowledge how rattled I was. Now, I am looking forward till class tomorrow when I get to do it again…a little stronger and less afraid.

Tenkan is by far my go to move...I love the feel. The turn creates drama and effect. Why do nages deprive themselves of this wonderful feeling? Tenk....is boring, ineffective...listless even. Uke gets to rest and lean and just overpower users of tenk.... What is tenk you ask? It is a little over half of tenkan. Tenk is that pitiful move that so many do when they could be doing tenkan...rather than sweep their foot in a dramatic circle creating space and energy for themselves and their uke they turn a little and then back peddle. Ukes moves in… settles down and nage feels frustrated and overridden. Why? Because nage is overridden…Uke is not resisting…Uke is resting…Why? Because by doing tenk nage has provided a perfect place to rest! Most people do a beautiful tenkan without an uke...then uke attacks and they revert to that horrible tenk.... Let us praise tenkan!…Dare to let go of tenk…and rejoice in tenkan!

Having a beginner in class is such a gift. As people who have practiced together for a log time we can go to sleep. You grab me I do this. You hit shomen, I do Tenkan.   It is all beautiful, graceful and lovely. I truly love it. A beginner brings back those eyes of: what if? How come? Literal questions and questions that rise from their movements. It gives us all an opportunity to celebrate the real and the now. To accept what is and move on. To enjoy the purity of movement not learned yet. Such potential is promised with beginners in class.