Bye Aikido

Wow, the changes.

No more Aikido, farewell. I've changed a lot in these past few years, learnt a lot. I'm more skeptical, analytical, thoughtful. Eventually I came to realise the almost religious fervor of Aikidoka (myself included).
I don't like religous, irrational, emotionally motivated fervor, it worries me. Now my life turns more toward the scientific application of physical training, a positive turn!

Onwards and upwards!

The Pain of Yonkyo

Sporting a beautiful, grey bruise on my wrist, I have to question the place of Yonkyo in Aikido. Aikido, the peaceful martial art. Why then should it be necessary to inflict such pain? I have never understood the technique of Yonkyo or its place in Aikido, easily the most painful technique by far (others by comparison are enjoyable!).
Perhaps I will learn the necessity of Yonko.

Breakfast

I have heard it is healthier, being human, to awaken in the earlier hours of the morning, sometime around dawn. Just after sunset is the coldest time of day, luckily for me it's summer.
At 6:30 this morning 6 relentless Aikidoka, not including our Sensei, could have been seen through the activity room window at the local swimming pool. Windows slightly steamed from their exertions, rolling backwards and forwards, throwing each other seamingly without effort. They smile as they do so, 'how peculiar' one may think.
All in all a refreshing and inspiring experience. So much so, I would be happy to start each and every day at the break of dawn, if it meant I were able to practice Aikido every morning.

Lunch

Acupuncture can perhaps be traced back to 3000BC, believe it or not, where (somewhere in China) needles of rock were used - unlike today's modern and sterile needles and low voltage-shock system. I told myself how lucky I was that the practitioner was using sterile needles as opposed to those ancient devices, and still it felt moderately uncomfortable to have a dozen needles inserted throughout my body. Had she told me before hand that three of the needles would be inserted into my skull, I may have had second thoughts.
The voltage started low, and after twenty minutes was amped up. On the verge of painful, but not quite, and somehow... relaxing.
Perhaps a good method for helping my body to adjust to the new morning Aikido classes, I just pray it thanks me rather than punishes me for the treatment I received at the hands of my friendly chinese acupuncturist!

Morning Energy

With the once a week only Aikido training over the past 3 months, I've become concerned that I have slowly lost touch with the skills I was beginning to develop.
Starting this Thursday there will be morning classes, 6:30 to 8:00am. How will this work for me? I hope it will be a *good* thing to train before work, perhaps there will be more energy during training as our teacher suggests.
Slightly apprehensive, but we'll see how this pans out. I will certainly be attending, but I have suspicions the attendance rates will be quite a bit lower than usual. In any evernt I look forward to returning to a twice weekly rate of Aikido training.

Mindfulness of Action

My second lesson of the year and I'm beginning to fall back into that comfortable groove of Aikido-minded training. We are acclimatising to our new Dojo, I have to say that I find the view from our Dojo somewhat distracting at times - being able to see directly out to the inviting water of the swimming pool does little for my concentration, but it does help me feel a little relaxed whilst training.
An overseas student joined our class last night, black belt, though I believe from a different stream of Aikido. How is it that Aikido can feel so awkward and non harmonious from somebody who I am supposed to listen to and respect? The hierarchy in Aikido can be confusing at times. While I am supposed to respect those senior to me, how does this work when they have glaring deficiencies that are difficult to overlook?

Perhaps it is a matter of respect being earned, and not simply given on the basis of the fact that one is wearing a Hakama? I would think that this is true of all levels, regardless of your belt colour. If somebody is a different level to me, whether higher or lower, there are certain abilities and skills they will have that I do not, and vice versa.
Regardless, I believe one should not give advice to their partner, *unless* it asked for or you are the teacher of the class! This works both ways. If am senior, I will not give advice unless a junior obviously wants it. If am junior, I wouldn't even consider giving advice unless my senior made his desire absolutely clear.

In the matter of a senior student with.... deficient abilities, I would simply keep my mouth shut and do my best, while avoiding the temptation to judge them.

How can I be a good Uke or Nage if I am busy judging them?
On that point, I have often found that when I slip into the roll of concentrating on what my partner is doing, rather than what I am doing, then both of us suffer.
I believe mindfulness is key. Do not worry about what everbody else is doing, worry about what *I* am doing.

A New Hope

This week started out somewhat depressing in the knowledge that our sister Dojo in the eastern suburbs had begun classes again this year, while we were still "dojo-less".
Things look positive at this point, not only has my teacher already located a new Dojo months sooner than expected, but it is located within walking distance of my house! (if you consider 40 minutes walking distance, I certainly do...)
I look forward to the mixture of morning and evening classes, and of course the benefit of having the dojo close to home. In the past we were unable to train Keiko after class due to the club closing times, but hopefully at this new venue we can Keiko to our hearts content!

I hope things continue in this positive direction, after such a long break I need something to reinspire me for my Aikido practice. Already I feel overwhelmed by the prospect of winter Gasshuku, a nearby Dojo's weekend Gasshuku with which we are affiliated, and the upcoming Japan trip in May.

What's that? Sorry, have to go... my Jo is calling me!

And Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting, Ooh! Ah!

Jason wanders off into his own private fantasy world, flying through the willow tops jung-ho styly, while in the background popular Taiwanese singer Jay Zhao sings 'Uding'.