I often think of Aikido in philosophical terms. When a teacher gives advice about how to do a technique physically, I sometimes translate it into advice on how to live my life. It doesn’t always happen, and I’m not always sitting in class listening to my sensei (teacher) and thinking, “hmm, now how could that …
Aikido is energy training. The name itself speaks of this energy; the ‘ki’ in aiKIdo means energy or life force. Put together, the word Ai-ki-do means ‘the way of joining energy’ or ‘the way of harmony.’ I recently spent a weekend at a seminar with Hiroshi Ikeda Shihan, a 7th degree black belt, who teaches …
In the movie Hitch with Will Smith and Kevin James, Hitch, played by Will Smith, is the ‘Date Doctor,’ a man who hires himself out to help other men get dates with women, often unattainable women. Albert, played by Kevin James, is just such a man, shy, clumsy, and awkward. He wants the beautiful, rich, …
Today, April 26th, is the anniversary of the death of Morihei Ueshiba, or O’Sensei as Aikido practitioners call him, which means ‘Great Teacher’. Morihei Ueshiba created the martial art Aikido. Although O’Sensei is no longer with us, his art lives on in all Aikidoka all over the world. There are different “styles” of Aikido, but …
“If you have not Linked yourself To true emptiness, You will never understand The Art of Peace.” ~O’Sensei, The Art of Peace I’ve been contemplating what the phrase “linked yourself to true emptiness” means in this poem, at least in an Aikido context, for over a week. What is “true emptiness”? Is it a feeling? …
Posture…something I’ve been thinking about again. This week during Aikido class, I watched people do ukemi. Ukemi (oo-KEH-mee) is what we’re doing when we fall or roll or get taken down into a pin. It is also the initial attack that precipitates the whole technique (someone has to attack in order to teach us how …
**Today my dojo is participating in our town’s annual Peace Fair. I decided to repost this blog about the practice of peace in honor of the event and in the ideal of peace.** “The choice between love and fear is made every moment in our hearts and minds. That is where the peace process begins. …
Every time I tested for a dan rank, I listened to one particular song or one particular band every time I drove to the dojo. This went on for the three months or so that I prepared for my test. I’m not sure why this happened, why one song would hit me so hard as …
**This is the latest of the essays I wrote before a black belt test. I wrote it April of 2014.** Lining up to bow in to class one afternoon, the teacher (a fellow yudansha) said, “Look to your left.” We all looked to our left. “Those are all the people you are responsible for when …
**I wrote this in 2011 when I was preparing for my second degree (nidan) black belt test. If you’d like to read the essay for my shodan test, it’s here.** “Move like a beam of light; Fly like lightning, Strike like thunder, Whirl in circles around A stable center.” ~O’Sensei The above quote perfectly encapsulates …
