Ki (as in “The Force”)
It is relatively easy, so to speak, to explain how Aikido techniques work.
And it is also easy I suppose, to explain the philosophy that lies behind those techniques.
But even if someone would use his Ki power to walk through walls, people would still misunderstand what Ki is and how it works.
On top of it all, you have active Aikido practitioners who still don’t get it, or when they do, they “confine” their Ki ability into their Dojo walls.
Meaning:
When you start controlling your Ki (which is the greatest start of all) you should improvise with it in your daily life and not keep it just for the “throw around people” routine.
A Martial Art that makes no prime use of Ki within its techniques looks like controlled violence.
A Martial Art (any Martial Art) that is based on Ki power looks like magic and I would like to explain why.
As I often say, Ki power is invisible to the eye but its effect is unbelievable to the eye!
People look at it and say “that just can’t be happening” or at least say so until they join in…
Now imagine how it feels to the one applying it, or better don’t, because it is beyond words and imagination. So, let’s leave it at that.
There are detail explanations in “The Book In Between” about the use of Ki power, which are supported by a number of photos, and there is a Video demo two clicks to your left… but what’s the use?
Still people, and I mean the majority of them, express their thoughts to me about their experience they once had by reading a book or books, lessons they took with a “guru”, organizations of “enlightenment” they joined, “mind control” seminars they had, and much more of this than I care to remember!
And all this from the comfort of a chair or (believe it) while lying down on the floor.
Looks like I missed something a few decades ago, when I took it up to learn the Arts, and since then torture myself and my students with practice!
Now I know, I have finally seen the light, I should have stayed… lying down!
People who are interested in Ki power matters and everything that goes with it (and it’s a lot!) are often more confused and lost than the ones that aren’t interested in anything all together.
So, what do we do now?
If experience, ability and solid proof can’t make it, what else can?
Maybe a fairytale can! So here you have it.
A long time ago in a galaxy far,
far away…
I don’t know if we should thank George Lucas for his Star Wars or just go ahead and… sue him.
His concept of the Jedi Knights order, the peace warriors code, the training and use of the Force, is soooooooo much Aikido like!
The master-apprentice relation, the ability of insight, the light saber… ok that’s enough let’s sue this guy…
Maybe this fantasy is closer to any reality, at least any reality that can be explained and stop being misunderstood.
In this fantastic dialogue (that stands in the way just about every other day) after having explained for about two hours what Aikido is, comes the bomb question:
-So, you are into Zen and Karate (at this point making gestures and funny noises) and you eat only Sushi?
-No… (desperate) we are training ourselves into something that resembles more to the Jedi Knights.
-Oh! Do you “have” Dark Sith Lords too? (wicked smile)
-If you push it… you never know!
So, by fairytale or not, what is Ki after all, and how can we approach it?
…you must unlearn what you have learned…
Life creates it, makes it grow
Its energy surrounds us and binds us
You must feel the Force around you
Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere
Yoda
(from the motion picture The Empire Strikes Back)
January 18, 2006
Martial math
It is very likely, if you are practicing the Martial Arts, that the day will come (I remember much more than one day of those in my time) when you will put down your “numbers” and try to see what you have done so far.
It is only natural, from time to time, to add your actions into a final… bill, and then see how you will carry from there on.
The only problem in this sort of calculations is, that your counting is impossible to do, because the “numbers” you will be adding are not equal with each other.
But still, when you look at yourself and want to measure your doings, it is one final sum you wanna see, and underline!
Only then you can move on…
Let’s see some of those “numbers” we are talking about…
How many years am I practicing?
How does my Martial skill stand?
Under whom/how many did I study?
What will it take to do from now on in order to push my practice forward?
…and don’t tell me those are not issues to think hard about!
Being a Martial Artist is not as simple as it may look, especially if you do not like to fail in the long run.
They are three different qualities in which you must advance and prosper at the same time. First comes…
The Art
The Art is your tool, or your vessel if you like, in order to become an Art-ist.
The skill developed by the Art must be the best it can be and no less.
But even if you become in time a perfect fighting machine, you should not become a machine yourself. That is why one must practice under…
The Code
Martial skill must be based on control, on a way of thinking, on a moral etiquette and on ethics.
Does The Code stand in the way of ability? No, it does not, on the contrary.
The Code propels the Martial Artist to act beyond ego, in a selfless manner. And last but not least there is…
The Way
By forging himself between The Art and The Code the practitioner will open a path like no other. He will open his personal route to realization and “answer” the questions that man asked from the beginning of (his) time!
He will open The Way.
If you come to a day where you will feel the need to make your “adding” about yourself, use the right “numbers” and get your calculation in line.
In The Art 1+1 makes 2
In The Code 1+1 brings 11
and in The Way 1+1 becomes 1
March 20, 2006
A rear-wheel drive… fountain pen!
Definitely, always and in any situation, it is man that makes the difference.
However, many times, in order to make that difference, one needs the proper practicing tools.
As, for instance (and for this magazine’s… sake) rear-wheel drive will always be the greatest of schools, for those who want to learn the art of sport driving.
In “my universe” it is unthinkable to call captain, one who has no experience in sail-boats (like the ones where you hang out with your… arse in the water).
It is unthinkable to be called a singer, without having classical vocal training along a piano.
It is unthinkable to be an outdoorsman, of any kind, and know nothing about orientation with a “plain” compass (I would suggest that he should be able to make one all by himself).
And somehow, in a similar manner, it is unthinkable to me, to be taught writing without a fountain pen!
In a parallelism, for those who can’t understand, it is unthinkable to me having a keyboard in front of you, and still hunt down words with two fingers, instead of “blind typewriting” with all ten.
And I repeat, all this, in “my universe”…
So I suggest (and that is the main theme of my letter to you) that along with the fountain pen that you grant as reward (an excellent idea on your part!) that you hand out an “instructions manual” for each fortunate winner, about how he can size the most, out of this magnificent “tool”!
On my part, although I am not an expert on this matter (but an “all-time” fountain pen user) I would like to point out, just a few, basic principles of fountain pen writing.
1. A fountain pen is a strictly personal object.
With its use, it shapes into the owners personal handwriting, and you should never “lend” it, not even for a single signature, or else, its tip will be destroyed!
2. A fountain pen pays back in a unique way your clumsiness.
Once your writing is over, you must immediately return it to its “holder” or else the ink dries out in the tips furrow. That is, if you are lucky, and have not already stain everything (and I mean everything) with ink first!
3. The main idea that wants a fountain pen to be the ultimate tool for calligraphy (or at least to improve your writing above a… reporter’s notebook) is divided into two parts:
a. We learn not to press hard the tip on the paper, accumulating the correct “space” between them (besides, press hard, and the fountain pen will… spit)
b. We learn not to hold it too tight, accumulating the correct “speed” in writing.
Now, real finesse comes with the correct combination of the above that will lead, gradually, to calligraphy!
The academic question, of why not learn writing directly on the (many times faster) keyboard, does not exist.
Because like in go-kart racing (where speeds are ridiculous) fast drivers are being born, in a similar fashion, penmanship “lays out your thoughts” better while putting them on a piece of paper!
All the above belong to “my universe” as I said, that so many times did meet the universe of “4Wheels” magazine in the last… 25+ years (and allow me here to say: Step on it! Mr. Cavathas)
Mario-Günter Frastas
April 1, 2006
(This text won first prize as “letter of the month” at the “4Wheels” car magazine (issue 426, March 2006) winning a (wonderful) Mount Blank fountain pen courtesy of Tzannes S.A.)
Coming of age
There is no greater initiation in life than life itself.
And there is no period of life, when this happens in a more characteristic way than the period of adolescence (which is usually placed between the 13th and 19th year of age).
This is the point, where kids are transformed from boys and girls, into men and women.
Once again, societies of this world seem unable to follow and show the proper attention, to this transitive period.
They face it as a “pimple” (and I don’t deny to accept this) that we quickly have to get rid of it (and I totally deny to accept this) leaving a sigh of relief, when it’s all over.
Also, characteristic is the embarrassment of most parents who act as if they are at a loss. I have many times quarreled with friends of mine that happen to be parents, because it’s impossible for them to answer to my one and only judgment-question: “Did you totally choose to black it out, about what we pulled when we were young?”
Growing, some people, still act like little children towards their kids. Little children however, that are not going to meet any adolescence anymore, in their dry and boring life.
I would like to be wrong, in all of my remarks above, but there is always a point in a course (any course) where everything is decided in one moment, and one outcome.
And for the course of adolescence, this crossing of time and place, comes with adulthood.
Ladies and gentlemen, adulthood is not achieved with a nice celebration along with some friends who will say fat words around a fat table.
Neither comes with the right of voting and the keys of a car (if you’re lucky lad!).
And the pat of encouragement on the shoulder for having your “legitimate” birthday, seems like a push (pardon me the language) into the pile of shit that lies ahead!
But let’s see what coming of age could really mean.
Even if we have to use our imagination.
On the planet Vulcan home planet of Mr. Spock (where logic prevails above stupidity and irrationality) every teenager with no exception has to walk for days through a desert, where infinite fatal dangers lie ahead.
Walking through it, they will prove that they have really come of age.
For this trial, they are prepared and trained through their whole adolescence, since if you are not ready, you can never make it.
On this trial, any external assistance is forbidden, and each one walks this course for himself.
But those who will come through will be rightfully considered adults and from there on are treated with the proper respect, which they earned anyway.
Let’s go back to Earth!
Coming of age, the end of adolescence, puts man in his own personal orbit. And if you take a close look around you, you’ll see that a man is more or less “the weight he was burdened” in his childhood plus (or minus) what he decided to choose when he was a teenager.
Yes, it would be a good idea to send our children to Spock’s planet, and yes, even with the risk of their lives.
Because it’s a risk worthy of taking, in contrary of the stupid and dangerous teenage risks, which come exactly by the lack of a “desert course” the lack of a “trial” that never awaits them.
And that’s why, through an irrational wisdom, the youths are taking risks with everything that comes in their way, excesses, drugs and every kind of extremism.
Every time when a teenager is passing the threshold of my dojo, regardless of gender, I look at them like an other adopted father from planet Vulcan with a… shinning eye!
It’s my pleasure to prepare them for my desert, the desert called Aikido. And when the time comes and they are ready, I take them as deep and as far as there can be, and then abandon them, so they will have to find their way out.
And take my word for it, many of my “children” never made it back.
But those who did are champions of life, winners of themselves, true adults (not to mention trained Martial Artists as well!).
When someone comes of age, adults have to acknowledge this. This is the most difficult part for most of them, parents, guardians, teachers, instructors…because from now on, they should treat them as equal, by changing their behavior and attitude.
And the gift-symbol, for this circumstance, should most of all reflect the tally you pass forward.
On Vulcan, with the rough land and the hot deserts, one wonders what that gift could be.
But what else, if not a surviving knife!
(Dedicated to Setu)
June 27, 2006
A Master with meaning
Once upon a time there was a Master of the Arts who would accept students only after “testing” them. The only problem with newcomers was that the Master was highly unpredictable, because he came up for every “candidate” with a different… torture.
You could never be prepared!
This is a story (oh sorry, a fairytale I mean…) of the dialogue between Master and Candidate, narrated by an apprentice who introduced the newcomer to the Dojo.
Day One
Master: What is your name?
Candidate: John Doe
Master: What is the meaning of life?
Candidate: (Hesitates a bit, thinks, and inhales to speak…)
Master: (Interrupts aggressively) …so, like most people, you as well
hesitate to give me an answer on a question that you should
have known even better than your own name.
Your name, you can change if you wish, with another, with a
pseudonym, or a nickname of some sort.
Come back tomorrow with my answer (bows, turns, leaves)
Day Two
Master: Well?
Candidate: (Having lost half his sleep searching between the net and his
books) The meaning of life is to live a life full of meaning!
Master: (Smiles) Ha! I’ve never heard that one before! Sounds good…
could be it! (Smile disappears)…but this is the answer to a
yesterday’s question. You are one day behind with an answer
that did not come from within you.
Come back tomorrow with my answer (bows, turns, leaves)
Day Three
Master: (As he comes near)…I am all ears!
Candidate: (Having lost all night’s sleep thinking) The meaning of life is
something that escapes me, but I must be close after it, or else I
wouldn’t be standing here…
Master: Oh! (Rubbing his chin thoughtfully)
Candidate: (Waits with a silent, but loud, anticipation his eyes wide)
Master: All people die one day. How would you like to die?
Candidate: (Completely loses it, drops a jaw, but makes a quick comeback
in an attempt to catch up with the Master)
Can I come back tomorrow on this one?!
Master: (Trying without success to hide his amusement)
The most important thing in your life is that you’re living it!
And the very reason why this is important, is the fact that you
may die any instant, a thing which happens in the end anyway.
How do you manage to miss the most important meaning of all
by not having it answered for yourself?
(Raises his palm to intercept a possible coming answer) Don’t
tell me, in my “condition” I might not survive your answer.
(And without taking his eyes from the candidate, who keeps his
silence, the Master addresses his apprentice who stands near by)
Suit up our young student for tonight’s lesson, so that he
will be properly dressed for his search of the meaning of life…
(bows, turns, leaves)
No record of date
The Cowboy effect
When you hear the word cowboy, what is the first thing that crosses your mind?
Is it the boots, the hat, the jeans, the six-gun?
Or is it maybe, the spirit of the “old West”? A sense and attitude of freedom, solitude and independence, like to ride across un-fenced open plains?
Does Clint Eastwood’s wicked eye before the fast draw ring a bell? Would a little Morricone coyote cry music help?
Usually the word cowboy bringing in mind one, or some, of the above, but I never heard it to bring in mind…the cow!
The basic concept of stories that include cowboy heroes (with the freedom of variations of course) is as follows:
A “stranger” (if we knew “him” there would be no mystery, would it?) rides unexpected in the small town, that is usually a theater of many troubles.
As he passes through the main road his presence attracts the attention of just about everybody, who react each one in his own way.
Our stranger covered with dust, unshaved and armed, doesn’t take his stare off, from his straight ahead destination.
He will make his “tour” at the city’s pathetic Hotel, the barber and the saloon, without saying much, but everything from the first moment on, will lead him from a short fistfight to the inevitable final gunfight, where he will prove his worth.
As he leaves town riding into a sunset, the place he leaves behind will never be the same and his actions will not be easily forgotten.
More or less, this is how the western stories go, we all know that. But we still go see westerns, or even better, we see one more time the unforgettable classic ones, even if we know how it ends.
But what we usually don’t know is that in reality all these kinds of westerns are inspired from Samurai stories!
Please don’t be in a hurry to turn this down, I could not believe it myself in the beginning. But the documentary I saw, plus the raving research that I did in order to crosscheck, left no room for doubts and errors.
Notorious directors, like Sergio Leone, were inspired by (and sometimes copied) Samurai stories, combining them with the freedom of the “open West”.
Later on, the image of the fast drawing cowboy remained as a fact, but in reality this image had strictly to do with a certain type of Samurai warrior.
In the, more than a thousand years of Samurai rule, some of them were “drifters” (ronin) very much like in the concept of cowboy outlaws.
Those figures where wandering from town to town and village to village, writing their own history. They were hired guns… swords would be more proper to say, that would use their skill for fame and fortune.
One of the most famous of all was Miyamoto Musashi, who was undefeated in just about any duel (with the exception of one) that came his way.
There is no business manager today (with some self-respect) that has not read Musashi’s strategy book “A book of five rings” that is sold nowadays, more than five hundred years after his death!
Wandering warriors of that sort where not respected at all by the casual Samurai, that where in the service of a Lord, and would hunt them down on every occasion. And they are neither respected by today’s Martial Arts Masters, because “they left us nothing”. But people just love them…
It would be a neglect at this point not to mention the only warriors allowed in feudal Japan to carry a sword, except for the class of the Samurai.
Warrior monks!
Many warrior monks were fearless fighters and would take on to duel the Samurai just for the proof of who is best. Who is the “fastest gun” as in the… cowboy term!
Please keep in mind that the title monk had little, or nothing, to do as we mean it here in the west. So, if for example “monk” brings you in mind the word prayer, in the case of the warrior monks we talk about, the only prayer to think about is the one you would whisper for falling into his path!
It is a fact of recorded history today, when that sort of… Desperado Samurai would leave, after having finished his business, he would stick with a suriken (small palm knife) at the exit gate of the town a piece of paper.
On it would be written a poem, a koan or a conclusion punch line.
It is said that everybody would read it, but nobody would take it down, until the rain would wash it away!
Today, even city boys that never rode a saddle, consider themselves to be “cowboys” of some sort. And along with the boots and the jeans, would like to think that their word and attitude is solid, as only a cowboy’s would be.
Well at least maybe some of you have found out today why you liked so much cowboy heroes, but without the… cow!
July 22, 2006
The ID insult
Most people have a name, are from someplace and have a certain origin.
I happen to be a man that found himself stuck between two passports, grew up with four languages, and three different countries constitute my place of origin. Not to mention the constant moving around most of the time.
If you take a closer look at my name (plus adding Wiesenberg that is my birth name) I think is persuasion enough.
When you meet someone for the first time, it is normal that he will ask your name, and where it is you come from. That gives most of the time a first picture of who you are. You can take my word it never works on me, even if I wanted to. (Well unless someone insists and has… 20 minutes)
But who we truly are, has nothing to do with names, passports, origins and certainly not IDs. Nevertheless I have to carry, like everybody else, a number of IDs around with me, in order to prove my… existence.
One form of the bureaucracy monster is IDs!
And it has been fed so well, that it has become an insult to mankind…
The way we are all classified, categorized and listed, from the moment we are born to the day we die, is something that escapes us. But we don’t escape from it!
In the mid 70s I did travel to France for my first summer training.
But the “authorities” on the port of Marseilles did not let me through with my passport, ever though it was okay.
So, I pulled… the other one out of my backpack, telling to the man in the uniform something like “will this do?” The man opened his eyes wide and asked me “who are you?”
You see? At first I didn’t exist for him, he didn’t even look me in the eye and was about to send me back where I came from.
To make a long story short, I made it clear that if he wouldn’t let me through I would call… both of my embassies and let him deal with it!
All of a sudden he looked at me and I could tell from his stare that he thought I was… two people!
After that he turned his back and left, murmuring something that was… French!
The proof of who you are lies beyond the fact that you are just… standing right there. You got to have ID for every little sh.. and of course “sign here please”.
The number of IDs we have to put up with, are endless. At your school (but note: separately for each year or semester). For your credit card, driving license, insurance, passport, business, certificates, telephone company, electric services and… oh I almost forgot, your Aikido grades.
One might argue, saying that IDs are good for our own security, but is that really so? Because the first thing that the common crook or the brilliant thief will do, is fake their ID. And they do it so well, it has become an art.
The only true identity that could serve as recognition of a person, without offending him in any way, is his DNA. Because this is who we truly are!
DNA (at least for now) is the only thing that proves our unique being among everybody else on this planet.
And that includes all those who are born so far, from the human race, and all those that will follow.
I guess it can’t get more personal than this! You can not fake it and it is you and only you.
On the other hand that same DNA proves our relation with our ancestors and all those who are our relatives, so it is a small map of our being along with our connection with other humans.
If you give it some thought, this is the perfect ID, this is saying who we truly are!
There is something though that could not elude my dark humor.
If DNA IDs would become standard for everyone, everywhere, there would be an outbreak of total chaos about who is who, and let me explain.
Most people assume that they truly know their natural parents, because they live under the same roof and share the same name on their… IDs.
And likewise most parents (especially of the male gender) assume their kids are their own.
So, if we have DNA IDs this is not going to look good, along with everything that will follow. And this everything is a lot! Like properties, wills, insurance, you name it…
Maybe that is why the only true ID of a person, that identifies a human as a real being, and not a name and number on a piece of paper or plastic, will remain for… crime scenes identifications.
The Samurai warriors would announce their name on the battlefield while challenging their opponent for the duel, and expected from their enemy to reply to that announcement, by introducing themselves in a similar manner.
Only then they would go on with their fight!
It was considered unthinkable rudeness not to announce and identify themselves, even if they where about to kill each other.
Today’s Aikido Dojo etiquette requires wearing your first name on your sleeve (or on the side of the hakama) and it is the best and only thing that one should wear!
To state your ID and who you are is of importance and for our security, but authorities, any authorities, should make sure that they are doing their jobs correctly (how about DNA passports) and act with the proper respect!
Citizens are not sheep!
As for me, I’m not rich, celebrity or VIP, but I’m about to issue a… third passport, only to see “authority’s” face turn green.
I am a man from "...lots of different places”
Highlander
July 23, 2006
Questions alert…
When the telephone rings there is an automatic urge to pick it up and talk to the other side, even if you don’t know (or don’t bother to see) who it is.
It almost takes… special training to just let it ring.
Something similar happens with questions. No matter how improper or indiscreet a question is, there is an automatic urge to answer it, even if you protest against it in the beginning.
And it sure takes training to just let it go, ignore it totally, but truly not be annoyed.
A Greek saying tells us that “the tongue has no bones, but it breaks bones”
Some people use questions not for the original invention and use, like to learn something, but for intrusion maneuvers.
And as with lies, if you do one thing for too long, it does not become only an automated habit, but you really become good at it.
Even if you have nothing to hide, it is a good idea to use strategy too, and “let the phone ring” on people like that.
Speaking of strategy, here you have a small guide that of course you can improve all by yourself.
One question asked is a representative approaching with a white flag.
(Use an old Indian trick. Behead the representative and send his head back wrapped in the flag)
Two questions mean that you are definitely under attack.
(You must redirect, outmaneuver and crash your opponent)
Three questions is the indirect surrounding maneuver.
(Get out of there any way you can)
Four questions mean that you have lost your ground!
(Ritual suicide recommended)
Five questions mean that you have fallen into enemy hands (no time for suicide or yellow?) and you are now interrogated!
(and I’m out of recommendations…)
The “let you talk” maneuver
The greatest trick of them all, or in other words, that’s how psychiatrists live successfully, doing nothing.
The opponent “invites” you to talk about yourself, or a subject, pressing your ego button. For doing so, there are no questions, there are only “suggestions” and even the question mark (?) is avoided.
It’s brilliant, it’s classic, it always works!
You tell everything, and even more, you have no brakes and you have no clue what happened. In the end your opponent walks away with the loot and a smile.
Until one day, when you find out, and you do the “bang your head against the wall maneuver”
I recommend basement walls for your banging!
Hypothetical questions
“What would you do if you where attacked by a T-Rex dinosaur?”
-I don’t know what I would do! Run and scream with my hands over my head I guess. That’s what you want to hear? Or maybe see?
Hypothetical questions, of any kind, are supposed to be a test of character. Their scenarios are usually stupid, as much as the people who do them.
In my experience you can almost never conclude what would someone do or not do, until the occasion rises.
Sadly, hypothetical questions are being used by modern companies, either in a written but mostly in a verbal form.
Hypothetical questions mean that you have to make something up from fantasy, in order to imagine and assume from there on, what would happen in reality.
If this is not a catastrophe by itself already, the “answer” will surely do the job!
But if by any chance you see a T-Rex dinosaur, start your running and screaming, this might wake you up!
The interview
(This is for the rich and famous)
Interviews have sad endings.
Like for example, you say something and they twist it around, by taking a sentence from what you said that will be your sentence!
There is one interview that you will absolutely, never, ever regret.
And noooo, it is not the pre-urgent, pre-written or pre-recorded interview…
It is the no interview at all!
Say what you have to say through your work and whatever it is that you do and enjoy your success and money…
Going along
One of the most dangerous maneuvers is as follows.
If you go along and answer anything, but anything, that comes your way to a person that uses questions for intrusion, then the only one exposed in the end will be the one who asks.
Because if he realizes at one point that you’re giving him what he wants, he will go further than you can imagine in his asking.
But if one goes far, if one goes too far, it might take him to the point of no return!
“It has been said that social occasions are only warfare concealed” Khan
(from the Star Trek series/Stardate3141.9)
August 23, 2006
Sharp as a knife
A lady comes back from work in the evening, kicks off her shoes and goes straight to the kitchen to make herself a nice salad.
In fact, a nice salad and half a glass of wine was all she was dreaming of all day.
As she draws a chef’s kitchen knife out of its wooden base, she hears a sound that brings chills up to her spine. She was supposed to be on her own that evening and that sound was coming from very near, right behind her.
Among all choices and scenarios of what could be next, one thing is for sure. Instinctively, out of purpose, or both if you like, she takes a tighter grip at her knife. The chef’s knife turned from a tool to a weapon…
This action, or reaction, goes as far back in time before recorded history. Man made his first knife out of stone, and when he put it on the top a stick (transforming it into a spear) he changed his destiny for ever and became the ruler of this world.
Today, thousands of years later, can you think of even one house around the world without a knife?
Please give it some thought when I tell you that it is a pure Martial Art act (one of a Master’s degree) the day you have no choice but trust your children for the first time with a knife!
Because at this moment, you absolutely don’t want to hurt anybody, but at the same time you pass on the prime weapon of all times. And this is exactly the same, when one teaches a Martial Way like Aikido!
Nevertheless, I would like here to take the opportunity and go a bit deeper into a Martial part, seeing the knife strictly as a weapon.
Imagine that you have in front of you every possible weapon that man has discovered, and that he can carry on him.
The one weapon that crosses the line between being armed or unarmed is the four inches blade (give or take).
And there is no way that you could compare any open knife with a folder.
Retractable blades, of any kind, have half the size, can be carried concealed and are secure in their handle that serves as a scabbard…
They are usually very slim and can cut like a razorblade.
Only a human mind can be sharper…
It’s wrong to say that you carry a blade, you wear it! And if it is constructed well with a good clip and has light weight, you totally forget about it…
The next phrase would be… “until you need it” but the point is to make absolutely sure that you’ll never ever need it!
As I said before, all of folders characteristics balance on a thin line between armed and unarmed, very thin line I tell you!
It’s not accidental that in some states you are legal with it, and on some others you’re not (talking about the US) and something similar is going on in other parts of the world.
They practically don’t know what to do with it.
Regardless of what is said by many, it is better (so to speak) to confront someone armed with a gun than with a knife. Knives don’t run out of bullets and don’t burn the wounds as bullets do.
A tactical blade (as they are called) cuts straight through the skin, tissue, veins and nerves, separating them for good. You bleed from the inside, you hurt terribly and it’s very difficult to heal.
Keep in mind that Aikido’s specialty is disarming and neutralization techniques. So, if you are practicing “next man’s weapon” is even better!
"The best knife is the one you always have at hand”
September 1, 2006
“The girl with the Sun in her hair”*
If life was like an empty sheet of paper, that one could write on his priorities and then pursue them, finding one’s mate could be with no doubt at the top of the list.
Of course before finding a mate, and since we are in a Martial Way “book”, we have to consider finding ourselves through practice and ask what I call “the big questions”.
But along with that, if we are not romantic enough to donate ourselves to our significant other, we will always be limping on one foot of an egocentric self.
It is simple and it’s plain. By the end of the day, or even better said, at the beginning of each day I face, I want to share myself with my Girl…
This is an…investment far better than any other, in the pursue of happiness. And sadly, though this is easy for anyone to grasp, it is the first thing that slips away from us, only “shortly after”…
Youngsters keep at it a little longer, by trying again and again, but most people become easily tired, give up and adopt a cynical attitude towards romanticism.
We are restless in hunting what we need, having first created unnecessary needs, under the excuse that these needs must be fulfilled!
So, much like in the Martial Arts, when and if we find love, we do not practice it correctly, we do cage it in a routine and that is the end of it.
What does it take to keep love alive?
Once more I will say that for matters like that, there is no answer. But keeping this very question attentive and alert inside of us, can make a difference.
If I have to make it, up close and personal for me, there is nothing like to see the Sun in her hair and feel her near to my side!
*John Barry music theme
P.S.: The Romeo and Juliet equation
*A couple of opposite gender is always the ideal combination. Three is a crowd (children are excluded as long as they are children and you have a good…nanny backup).
*Friends are good companionship of people also. But the intensity of your inner countdown and the agony to stay "together on your own" again, shows how deep, still, your love runs.
*Making love is of course a highlight. But since it can not last longer than it does, find and cultivate your common action, that you would like to share. (Working, sleeping and sitting around by the couch does not count!).
*There are two kinds of people.
The ones that are in search of a relationship and the ones that want out of a relationship.
Being in love is a lonely club in between, with members of lightning fast expiring couples.
If by any chance you have somehow managed to stick around a little longer, don’t pinch yourself, you are not in the twilight-zone, simply all the rest are not members of the club anymore.
*Aikido love: When you are in love, and I mean really love-struck, your Aikido improves by far, since you are more happy, open, relaxed, positive, not aggressive, and, most of all, totally aware in every direction.
These attitudes and feelings are necessary in order to make Aikido work anyway! If you feel aggressiveness for example, your Ki blocks, and as the Masters say: “No Ki no Aikido”
*People can talk all day long about what true love is (lately scientists have a… chemical opinion about the matter, too) but actions will always stand above words.
Because everything, and I mean everything, is revealed when the end comes. How many do you know that could wish her/him well and let go?
Platonic love rises above any egoism, occasion, circumstance, logic or explanation.
That is why it is so rare!
September 16, 2006
Use your sense/s
More and more, practice of Martial Arts is done in front of mirrors and under the… rhythm of some music.
The mirror is supposed to make you see yourself and thus correct your movement. And the music is supposed to give you rhythm for your practice and… elevate your mood.
I will start with an “irony joke” about both mirrors and music, before getting grimy and serious…
So, if you happen to find yourselves under a real attack or life threatening situation, what is exactly the role of mirrors and music, that has accompanied your practice so far?
Oh, I see…
You will flip up a tiny portable make up mirror to see your own reflection, probably for the last time, and take that hard grimace you were practicing on for so long. And then change station or song on your MP3 in order to accompany your what? Your last… dance?...
Martial Arts can be learned, not only if you execute a technique correctly in the safety of a… studio, gym, or any other happy place, but when those techniques are practiced in an environment that allows you to sink them deep into yourself, making sure they stay there.
The Dojo is a place of silence and emptiness, so it can reflect your own caning. If you stuff it up with images, mirrors, music and noises (be silent when you practice, you can talk later) nothing, I repeat, nothing will reflect back on you.
Masters have it, that in silent practice you can hear the hum of the universe!
Masters must be very lonely creatures among noisy people, I guess.
So, if we stay deaf and blind, to music and images during the course of our practice, then there is a remote chance that someday, something will come through. But if you staff it up from the start, this change is lost for ever…
Another parameter of the above is:
When all hell breaks lose, then one is to concentrate under extreme conditions of “unpleasanties” that can be better described in a Martial manner as “the clang of war”
And guess what! In that kind of situation (of total chaos and confusion) you must remain focused on what it is you’re going to act on, pushing back what you see (that will freak you out) and what you’ll hear (that will freak you out as well)
If you have trained yourself to look at things, as a viewer does when he is in front of his television, and not keep a parametrical view of the whole, and if you have in a similar fashion, trained yourself to hear instead of listening, no matter how good you are you will fail to act as a warrior when you have to, simply because your concentration will be distracted.
The first, and most reliable, of human’s senses is to feel. Not to mention that it is the last of all senses to leave us when we die.
Using one’s senses in a Martial manner is a training on its own, not that it isn’t included in our daily routines of techniques, but you have to give it that special attention in order to bring it to surface.
Our senses are just the brain’s informers, the final judge is always the mind. So, regardless of how sharp our senses are, it is the way that we “scan” with them, that is more important. If you practice your Martial Art correctly you will automatically get yourself in the right mode of using them.
The marksman above seeing will observe what is in his sight.
The experienced musician above hearing will listen to what he isolates.
The good hunter will not only smell his prey but will sniff its trace.
The caning outdoorsman will taste what he will find for food, but will before test it (by placing a very tiny potion under his tongue)
The Martial Artist will feel his “partner in practice” by making physical contact and “read” him, before he throws his technique at him…
Please consider that if your senses somehow could be “too sharp” you would be too jumpy to act calmly due to too much information coming in too fast.
Like a cat for example that can’t travel on a straight line, because she is always absorbed by her extraordinary senses!
The idea should always be to use your senses in order to control your environment as “widely” as possible and not jump to the roof at every noise and sound.
A lot of talk is done about… a sixth sense! When I’m being asked this question I always say something like “learn to use your five, first, and then we will see”
The truth of the matter is that if someone would reveal us a sixth sense, and I mean to all of us, the next day we would be looking for a… seventh sense.
The sixth sense can go under the classic “more is better” axiom, that does not belong here.
Food for thought:
If one is to train himself to use his senses correctly, he will clearly rise above the attention and awareness of the un-trained man.
And finally, it is said that Masters (of Ki/Chi involving Arts) can use their Ki power in accord with their senses, and even more than that…
Time for practice, isn’t it?
November 24, 2006
The perfect failure, list
There is only one way to execute an Aikido technique the right way. Everything else is a miss, a failure and sometimes, a waste of time.
A student should be constantly absorbed in finding that right way and avoid the infinite possibilities of the wrong way.
I know that it may sound… preachy, (only one way and everything else is wrong) but we don’t talk about a theory, philosophy or religion here, we are practical and down to earth to the point of cynicism.
In other words, people don’t fly in the air only to land half a Dojo away because you have a good theory at hand!
The problem with anyone who is in the learning process of Aikido, is that they will probably hit on every possible mistake before doing something right.
This is the vice versa of the flawless Master. A true Master makes no mistakes, absolutely none except one. He, often, destroys what he has created!
The learner’s task is to go through his mistakes, learn from them, throw them away and finally find the right way.
The Masters can do also something to keep themselves at the top (and I consider it a favor to the rest of us when they do, so we can have something to look up to)
And that is, doing absolutely nothing!
(This is very likely to be misunderstood but I will leave it at that for the moment)
This failure list is more powerful than you might imagine. I will make it look funny and amusing, but make no mistake, very few go through it and survive at the end of the day.
This list exists simply because some mistakes are so common, so classic and you hear them so often (like every other day) it seems they have been established…
Please note that the order is of no importance and I will keep a logical extend to a list, that otherwise could literally be unending…
*All Arts are equally good, it all comes down to the practitioner.
This is nicely said, but more of a way out of the impossible difficulty of the right choice! Whenever you have a variety of choices, in any field in this universe, you must finally choose and then live with it.
*A Martial Art that will suit me best.
You can find many things in life that are to your liking, but a Martial Art is something that you will have to adapt yourself to, and not the other way round.
*If I practice more than one Art I will be better.
So sorry, that you will become incompetent on them all. A man progresses according to the limits of his abilities and not an inch further. If you want to become “better” this is what you have to work on, your own limitation. And one Martial Art is pain in the ass enough…
*Combining “this and that” will produce a “new” Art.
Each Martial Art has based its techniques on specific principles. As you can not “cross” an ant with an elephant, you can not cross Martial Arts and have a new… species.
What one can do is take a Martial Art to its limit and then go beyond that point. This act is an evolution of the Art, it is done by Grand Masters, and it sort of “happens” to them, they don’t go about advertising.
*Becoming invincible.
The true warrior does not give a sh.. if he wins or loses.
He cares only to fight as well as he can and will die fighting if need be.
In fact he will jump to his death, volunteer for a final stand, not retreat an inch, save the ass of other people while putting his on the line… that sort of things.
This looks already “invincible” to me. And tell me how could someone possibly win something like that?
Invincible is what the coward wants to be and he never will, end of story.
*I will become a Martial Arts teacher.
It is a sad fact that these kinds of teachers become the most boring of them all to train with!
This is not the university, were you target some position of being a professor… This is the Martial Arts, it works upside down, remember?
The best teachers are always those who are simply being spontaneously followed!
*The best teacher for me.
Okay, but tell me why do you deserve this kind of teacher?
And what are you prepared to do in order to learn your Art?
Because there are practitioners out there that are practically trading their life for what they do, and I mean their carrier, their education, their well being and more. Not for a week or two, a month or two, or a year or two… but for the entire ride.
Are you that sort of student?
Because even if you are, note that any, and I mean any, teacher who is better than yourself is teacher enough for you. The day you become better than him (by the simple act of defeating him) bow and move on!
*Martial Arts can’t answer my eternal questions.
Nothing could be further from truth… especially for Aikido.
Keep in mind that O’Sensei Morihei Ueshiba was very displeased when people attributed to the Omoto-kyo sect any of his Abilities, Insides and Wisdom, that he reached trough his very own Art.
The only “drawback” is that you have to extract your answers from your Art by relentless practice. And not sit around, discussing, reading and assuming!
Stupid thoughts don’t happen only to stupid people. According to our experience we all have… our share to them.
And our mind seems like playing tricks on us, as if we, who possess it, could be somebody else… but in the end we know, that it is just us!
Maybe once too often I meet “students with possibilities” from the past that confess the following: “If I could have thought it differently back then I would have…”
It is not the best of things in life, to realize something only many years after, and then come up with the notion that you should have thought of it earlier!
Can there be an end to this sort of list that distracts?
Yes it can, but again, there is only one way!
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities
but in the Master's there are few”