VKS KI TRAINING NOTES, APRIL '98 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this document is to provide a dialog between students and the instructional faculty on training issues and answer questions regarding technique or training practices or procedures. It is NOT a forum for dealing with philosophy, except as it applies to training, nor business issues associated with the VKS. NOTICES: APRIL INSTRUCTOR'S CLASS The April class will be held on Saturday, the 18st. I will be discussing training in expanding basic techniques and identified shortfalls arising from the April testing cycle and plans for Summer Camp CAMPS The Virginia Ki Society Summer Camp will be held the weekend of 5, 6 & 7 June at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The guest Sensei will be John Eley, Chief Instructor at the Chicago Ki Society. John was a guest instructor at the Dojo several years ago and I received many requests for his return. Well, here he comes. He has a long history in Aikido and a great deal to share with us. Make plans now to attend - reserve the dates on your calendar. MARYLAND CAMP Sensei Dan Frank is currently making plans for a camp in July at Frostberg. He hopes to be able to return Eto Sensei as the guest instructor. Keep this program open in your planning. Sensei Eto is an Aikido Treasure and a person with whom you should train if the opportunity presents itself. OTHER TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES HAWAII: The Honolulu Ki Society is sponsoring the Annual Ki Society Seminar in August, 1998 in Honolulu Hawaii. A welcome party for Master Tohei will be held at 6PM on the 15th. Training schedule is: 16 Ki Aikido 9-12 & 2-4:30 17 Ki Aikido 9-12, Kiatsu 2-4:30 18 Adv Ki Aikido 9-12 & 2-4:30 19 Ntl Instr Workshop 9-12 & 2-4:30 20 Ntl Instr Workshop 9-12, Ki Testing 2- 3, Meeting 3-5PM 21 Day of Rest 22 45th Anniv Banquet 6-10PM 23 Picnic Cost: Compl pkg: All sessions, welcome party, banquet, T-shirt, lunches $970 W/o instr workshop $750 W/o Adv and instr workshop $550 Kiatsu only $200 Ntl Instr. WS only $300 Welcome party only $50 Anniv Banquet Only $80 T-shirt only $15 This will be an opportunity to study with Tohei Sensei and/or his son and take examinations for Shoden, Chuden and Joden. KIATSU SEMINAR William Reed and Kumi Reed, Certified Kiatsu Practitioners will be conducting a training session on April 26. The morning session (10-12) will be devoted to training in Ki Development for those who are not well grounded in the application of Ki energy. The afternoon session (1:30-4:30) will be devoted to Kiatsu instruction. GUEST AUTHORS Ki Notes What Is Aikido? This month we are taking a look at aikido. What exactly is aikido? Why is it important for us to have some idea about what aikido is, what it looks like, what it feels like? Our concept of aikido, the picture we have of "what is aikido?" is like a beacon or lighthouse in the distance that guides our practice. It gives us a focus and keeps us pointed in the right direction. Because we already know in our mind what a technique should feel like, we get instant feedback when we do a throw and it doesn't feel right. We can immediately try and figure out why it doesn't feel right. Practicing aikido without that picture is like trying to find your way in a big city without a map. You may get lucky and find where you're going without any trouble, but you also may wander around for a long time without ever finding what you are looking for. Now that we know why it is important to have our own idea about what aikido is about, what exactly is aikido? I can't tell you that. You have to figure out for yourself what aikido is to you. Because each aikido technique is an interaction between two people, and because each of us is unique, our interaction will be unique and our experience of aikido will also be unique. Aikido is like a great big puzzle. When we start our study of aikido, we haven't gotten any pieces yet. Aikido is still a big mystery. As we practice with the various instructors, we learn various things. Each of the things we learn is a piece of the puzzle. Eventually, we get enough pieces and we can begin to see a picture. The frame around the picture is always the same. The frame is the basic principles, which never change. The picture is different for everyone, because each piece has been filtered through our own experience. These differences account for the differences in style. So I can't tell you what your picture of aikido should look like. Only you can figure that out. I can tell what my picture of aikido is. In my picture, aikido feels easy and effortless because it is powerful. It feels relaxed and unhurried. It looks easy and effortless, relaxed and unhurried. Each movement flows naturally from the one before. There is a fluidity and grace in every movement. It looks like you are surrounded by calm, no matter how much activity is going on around you. Everything comes from our center. In my picture of aikido, ki is extended from my center. All my movements originate from my center. I don't move my center, my center just moves. My awareness is at my center. My thoughts no longer come from my head, but originate in my One Point. The thought and the action are the same. (My mind and body are coordinated.) I no longer think about what I'm going to do before I act. I just act. I can use my ki. I can direct it. With my intent, I can send it in any direction. I can extend my ki around me in every direction. I want to let my ki influence those around me. I want to make my opponent my friend, so he has no desire to attack me. I want my ki to show him he has only one good choice, to forget about attacking me. I want him to make that choice because it's his choice. I don't want to force him to make that choice. (I don't want to force anything in aikido.) Any forced choice is a bad choice. If he has no good choices, then attacking me may not look so bad. If I can surround him with my ki and make him feel stronger, he won't feel threatened and is less likely to attack. I want to defend myself with my ki, so I don't have to physically defend myself. That's my current picture of aikido. Does my aikido look like the picture I've just described? Not yet. Will it look like that in the future? If my picture of aikido hasn't changed, it might. But by the time my aikido looks like my current picture, my picture of aikido may be completely different. Regardless of what it looks like, it will still be there to guide my practice. That's all this time. Good luck putting your aikido puzzles together. Next time: Training Tips. Alan Cyr CHIEF INSTRUCTOR'S CORNER Multiple Looks at Aikido A question often arises about attending seminars conducted by those who are teachiang a style of Aikido different from your own. There are two schools of thought on this subject: 1) Stay home so that you don't get confused about what you are doing and 2) Attend different kinds of training so that you can understand the broad vists that is Aikido and understand how your chosen approach fits into the overall scheme of things. Alan Cyr raises a few of these variables in his article elsewhere in this issue. My personal view is that an informed student is a good student and there fore lean toward approach two. While it is possible that an instructor may lose a student due to their finding a style that appeals to them more than what they have been studying, overall I feel that the results are a wash in that you get about as amny as you lose and the satisfaction on the part of the student is worth it. After all, we are here to train, not indoctrinate. I want thoughtfull students who fully understand why they are studying, what they are studying and who have goals. I would be glad to discuss this with any of you who would like to have a private discussion on the subject. George Simcox FROM THE INTERNET Jill N here. >Jason wrote: >snip... half-committed attacks, insincere locks etc... snip.. If I >wanted to train Ki-Society (notorious aroung these parts for >'talk-kido"...snip Jason, it seems to me that you are "committed to attack" without really considering the reason and benefits of practising in a way different from your own. I have found over the years that whatever situation you are in there is something to be learned by different approaches. My reaction to seeing other methods of practise (and I come from Ki Society background for your information) could be negative, deciding that another style makes poor use of available movement by stopping at each stage of the technique, or by rigidly sticking to a set way of moving instead of naturally adjusting a technique depending on the mind and size of uke, or I could watch and marvel at how it develops over the years to be so similar when you watch the black belts of different styles. I can apply a very strong nikkyo and sankyo if I need to, but chose not to unless it is required, out of respect for the person I am working with. I have been hurt by folks who feel you should always apply a "sincere lock" because I happen to have arthritis in one wrist. As a result, I have learned and try to teach others to be very sensitive about applying a techinique only with the amount of force needed for the particular situation you are in. Yes, it can be very effective without applying pain, but getting close enough that the person knows you are capable- and if done sensitively, it leaves uke wondering how far you would be able to go. If you use full strength each time, what have you got left if it doesn't work? "Talk-ki-do" can be encountered in any dojo that allows freedom of choice on the mats and it depends on the aikidoka themselves to practise as intensely or relaxed as they feel able or moved to. I would imagine that your dojo has very few folks over 35, as the really hard locks applied like a robot are really hard on the old joints, no matter how good your ukemi is. You are missing out on a lot of wisdom when you exclude people who may have a few handicaps to deal with. I would suggest to you that the next time you visit another dojo of your own or another style, you go in with an open mind and an empty glass and see what you can learn from a different approach instead of looking for how much better your way is. Keep learning!!! E you later! Jill N. NOTE: The following is in response to an ongoing discussion about unnecessary violence in Aikido which merits our attention: GIVING YOUR BODY David I for one agree with much of what you say. There are some that even take delight in hurting others. I don't know how much of this attitude is cultural (if any) or raciest (if any) but I have ran across what I consider incidents of both in Aikido. In Karate and Judo, when we did not like each other it was war. We did not willingly give our bodies over to each other for application of technique. Nothing even close to that with someone we did not know and/or trust. However in Aikido we are ask to do just that! This is one of the unique qualities of Aikido. Your ask to trust those you don't know, and some you may not otherwise trust. It's an abiding trust in those that have your life, your future, your families future willing given over to them by YOU. It is not unreasonable to expect that these people hand you life, and body back to you as good, or hopefully better, than when willing you offered it. This trust in one another is one of the reason I came to Aikido. This attitude of helping each other in the "spirit" of mutual trust and budding friendships. s--t, I had enough enemies in my life, I had enough war, strife, sadness, suffering, pain, and disappointment in my life, I needed some friends desperately! That's what Aikido offered me. Only latter did I run across the would be warriors, the I was CIA a-s h---s, the rebels without a clue, Aikidoka. We have to expect them I suppose. There in every walk of life, and every race and creed. However, I don't believe we have to tolerate them. Several years ago I attended a workshop given by a visitor from Japan. He had some of his students with him. They were maybe my age, or a little younger. One of these boys delighted in hurting me. Every time I offered him my body he hurt it. After the class some of us went to lunch. Outside the dojo I ask him he would like to hurt me now, because I sure would like for him to try (I was younger and not long home). He was so surprised, it never occurred to him that he might be called for something he did in the dojo, out in the street. I really believe he was shocked and bewildered at my response. At the time all I wanted to do was hurt his sorry ass real bad. However, after seeing the shock on his face I felt sorry for him. I have not seen him since but I hope he learned as much as I did at that chance meeting. Dennis Hooker ShinDai Dojo TRAVELS The March 28 visit to celebrate the Grand Opening of Sensei Terry Pierce's new Dojo in the World Gym was very pleasant. The first good news was seeing David Huang there - I had a known entity for an uke. The new facility is very nice in appearance and should attract new students. Good Luck, Terry. I will be in Charlottesville on April 25th for a seminar. May will be very busy for me as I will be in Indiana (hope to meet with Jim Karaffa), Illinois (hope to train with Sensei Eley and see the Cheathams), Kansas City where I will teach a Seminar for Sensei Vic Montgomery) and San Antonio where I will be teaching in the First Annual Internet Aikido Seminar. REPORT ON THE TAMURA SEMINAR Following are comments from two persons who attended the seminar conducted by Sensei Tamura. I thought Tamura Sensei's arts were beautifully lacking in physical form. Personally, I like physical forms in Aikido very much. They are nice to look at and interesting to learn as long as their is substance behind them, but I appreciate the simplicity and efficiency of his arts. I also came away with more willingness to emulate his sincerity, whole-hearted faith and intense belief in the principles we practice. Not that other teachers do not have this kind of "aiki" attitude, but I probably have been lacking a little bit in this regard, and seeing him reminded me to be more sincere in my training in the future. It is a part of the teacher's job to show us how much further we still have to go. Sensei has certainly shown me that, and I'm very excited about the direction I'm heading. David Huang Most seminars are aimed toward the beginning student, so an advanced student or instructor is better advised to look for teaching points or to correct bad habits. I often find that what is taught in the Virginia Ki Society is confirmed. The seminar in Greenville, with Tamura Sensei, was no exception. Throughout the seminar, Sensei emphasized the basic principles of ki and aikido, and when he did teach technique, he did so in the context of those principles. For example, we spent considerable time on randori. Sensei taught how to lead the ki of the opponent, rather than specific ways to step or move. It was this way the whole weekend. I was also struck by how relaxed and friendly everyone was. This is generally the norm at aikido seminars, especially Ki Society seminars, but it was particularly noticeable last weekend. My conclusion would be that the tone of the seminar is set by the sensei. Steve Kendall