TRAINING The August instructor class will be held on the 19th at 1:30 PM. We will continue our practice of randori with multiple attackers and attacks. September training will not be held because of the celebration of our 26th Anniversary with Sensei Terry Pierce as the visiting instructor at the Dojo in Merrifield. AROUND THE CIRCUIT Senseis Maxine Wright and Chizuko Suzuki traveled to Columbus, Ohio to discuss our Sunday Detainee program with Aiki Extensions. This is Chizuko's report: "Ai" "Ai (Love) seeks "Ai" (Harmony) Blindly and Unconsciously What I learned and felt at the Aiki Extensions Conference 5/20-21/00 By Chizuko Suzuki I had no idea about "Aiki Extensions" when Maxine asked me to go to Columbus, OH for the conference. She told me that we would present what we have been doing at the Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center. It seemed that the odds were against us at the beginning of the trip; Simcox Sensei's cancellation, uncooperative weather and Maxine's post-surgery shoulder discomfort and my severe shoulder-ache. It was almost midnight when we arrived at the hotel after nine hours of driving in the rain. The conference started at 9am on May 20. Aiki Extensions is a professional association for Aikido practitioners who teach Aikido or Aikido principles in non-traditional settings such as business, psychotherapy, schools, arts, and law enforcement. This was its first solo national conference. There were about 25 people who had come from many different places, including one from Germany. At the opening, Paul Linden, the host and the owner of the dojo, mentioned that Simcox Sensei couldn't come. It was obvious that many people were very disappointed. I was very happy to find out that Simcox Sensei is famous even outside of the Ki Society. Then everybody was asked to introduce him/herself. There were many PhDs, and some M.D.s. Whether it was good or bad, we were the first presenter. After Maxine's brief introduction of our program, she started with stretching exercises. I led Ki exercises for health with counting in Japanese. Maxine introduced four basic Ki principles, standing posture with mind & body coordination, unbendable arm forward and sideways, and leaning on a partner (Maxine got bruises on her toes while assisting the falling uke). Many people were taking notes. Of course, they knew about the posture and unbendable arm, but Maxine illustrated very well how to apply those concepts. That was new to them. If you are not centered, "not only you but also people close to you will fall or get hurt." If you lean on your partner without keeping your one point, you will fall. "You may fall when you totally depend on someone. But if you are centered, you will remain stable and in control." Both of your hands are held up front, and if you try to do the "tekubi kosa exercise" with pushing back, then it will not work. "Don't go back, but start from where you are now." Everything was very clear and simple yet very important and powerful. The only regret we felt was that we didn't have enough time for Ki breathing and meditation. Anyhow, there was no doubt that Maxine gave a lot of people new insights. I was very proud of her and honored to be her assistant. Our dojo is so lucky to have her. The following are my brief comments for other presentations and dialogues. *Bringing the Spirit of Adventure to Conflict Resolution to Children (Christine Steerman, PhD and Mark Grey, PhD) More than 2000 students are physically attacked on school grounds each hour. Four Cornerstones of Aikido: Keep one point. Progressively relax. Maintain good posture. Maintain a positive mind. Their goals are very similar to ours, but I didn't quite get how they teach them. They say that they don't teach forward rolls because kids are afraid of them. The kids at our dojo roll forward and backward much better than adults. *Aiki Body Work (Paul Linden, PhD) He calls this "Being In Movement". He doesn't want to separate mind from body. So he writes "mindbody" training. He made us stand, walk and sit with various postures and intentions. Negative emotions generally involve physical constriction and/or collapse and a muscular twisting or imbalance. By reversing the physical changes involved in imbalance mind/body states, the whole Self can be balanced, and performance can be improved. This sounds remarkable, but it was very ambiguous. I felt that he pays too much attention on "body" movements and often goes too far from Aikido. *Psychotherapy and Aiki (John Ogram, M.D.) When it comes to dealing with a problem or conflict, there are three types of people; those who freeze, those who attack, and those who stay calm. Which techniques should we apply accordingly? "Tenkan" can be effective for those who freeze. If this was an art, it would be a Picasso's painting. It was different and interesting in a way, but too highly academic and professional. I felt that categorizing techniques for certain types of people was meaningless. *Aikido in the College Classroom (Don Levine, PhD) Don Levine started Aiki Extensions. He is open-minded and well-read (he knew a lot about Ki Society). He is a professor at the University of Chicago. One of his recent seminars was titled "Beyond Freud and Ueshiba: On certain parallels between psychoanalysis and Aikido as practices that enhance personal growth." His Ki development goes (1) Mode: Generate a bigger supply of Ki (2) Benefit: Health and longevity, more energy, less tiredness (3) Method: Diet and rest. I was glad to know that Aikido is taught as a college course, Sociology "Conflict Theory and Aikido". He uses a lot of difficult Japanese words. I am very much interested in taking his course, but the practical side of Aikido was not clear, at least not at the conference. His presentation often became vague and too academic. *Mediation and Aiki (Rod Windle) This was my eye-opening experience. All Aikido messages of being a good mediator were very clear. It is important to be centered. Being centered allows a mediator to stay calm ("fudoshin"), which enables him/her seeing things clearly as well as how to blend and lead clients. Rod was a wonderful mediator to lead us. He also introduced us to the concept of "Force seeks force blindly and unconsciously" by using a jo. Your opponent keeps pushing a jo with both hands. You are pushing back with the same amount of force, which means the jo is not moving because of the equal force from both sides. But you gradually change the force to sideways from forward, and take inside hand away. Your opponent still keeps pushing, still thinking he is pushing forward instead of sideways. I was so fascinated by this. I realized what "leading" really meant. At the same time, if you fight back with force, your opponent can easily detect you and attack you again. *Aikido Instruction Programs for Youth and More (Bill Leicht and Shelly Wax) It was not only me who couldn't figure out the purpose of their exercise. I heard "What am I supposed to do?" a lot when the fourth person was thrown by three people in a circle for five minutes. It was also strange that we had to come up with "questions" to promote Aikido for youth. Even the video tape they brought did not convey clearly what they wanted to show us. During this one and a half-days extremely intensive conference, I did not hear any negative nor destructive words at all. Most of the attendees were extremely intelligent and well-balanced with warmth. They had very loving attitudes toward Aikido, people and the world. Just discovering these people was well worth driving for nine hours one way. What we did at the conference was share idea about how to use Aikido off the mat since Aikido is eminently practical, with nearly endless applications for home, school and office for every aspect of our physical, emotional, social and spiritual life. We should practice Aikido not to be strong but to be able to avoid collisions both on and off the mat. However, even many well-known Aikido sensei are infamous for their bad behavior or ill personality. In that sense, our dojo has many people who exercise Aikido in their daily lives especially Simcox Sensei. I truly respect him for that. Moreover, he has warmth, compassion and passion. There was one more aspect given by this conference. After three or four days I came to understand one of the most important Aikido concepts. I always had a hard time understanding O-Sensei's saying, "True budo is not to fell an opponent, but practice God's love within ourselves. As ai(harmony) is common with ai(love), I named my budo Aikido." Some people look down at Aikido because of this, since they believe budo has nothing to do with love. Although I LOVED Aikido, I could not get O-Sensei's "ai" concept. However, thanks to this conference, I could finally connect love and Aikido. I could feel enormous warmth and passion at the conference. Nobody used the word "love". But there is no doubt "that warmth and passion" was "love." All of sudden, Rod Windle's sentence transformed to "Love seeks harmony blindly and unconsciously." Bill Leicht said, "O-Sensei's spirit is here." I truly believed it. And I was quite certain that O-Sensei was very proud of us. We were trying very hard to promote world peace by integrating all social elements into Aikido with love. And after all, isn't this the true goal of Aikido? FROM THE INTERNET The following article by Peter Boylan appeared in the Finnish Aikido Publication, "Nakaima". I think you will find it interesting. Aikido as a spiritual practice For many western practitioners of budo (Japanese Martial Arts), budo are viewed as form of spiritual practice. The idea that budo is a form of shugyo -ascetic exercise - is quite common, with several books, and numerous magazine articles published every year about how the practice of various budo can improve one as a person, or take one closer to enlightenment. This is true of all budo, from karate-do to iaido, but the idea is almost overwhelming within the Aikido community. Aikido's founder, Ueshiba Morihei, wrote a great deal about the principles of Aikido being spiritual or religious. For Ueshiba, Aikido practice was an extension of his religious practice as a devout member of Omoto-kyo, a faith founded in the 1890s by Nao Deguchi. He wrote numerous teaching poems describing Aikido as a spiritual practice, including the following, quoted from the anthology The Essence of Aikido (pages 55 and 61). Techniques of purification taught by futomani and the gods. Aiki[do] was established by the Divine. Foster and polish the warrior spirit while serving in the world; illuminate the Path in accordance with the Divine Will. From these it's quite clear that Ueshiba saw Aikido as a religious activity, one founded by the kami. In the first poem, Ueshiba says "Techniques of Purification". The term "misogi" is loaded with cultural baggage not apparent when looking in a dictionary or reading a translation. Specifically, misogi are practices for becoming spiritually pure, so that one can draw closer to the kami (the defining characteristic of kami is that they are pure, and it is humanities spiritual impurity which separates it from the kami). Within Japanese religion, purification activities are endemic, from walking over fire to standing under waterfalls chanting Buddhist sutras. The 1000 day marathons embarked upon by the monks of Hieizan are primarily purification exercises, and indeed, those few who complete the full 1000 days are seen by many as having become so pure and spiritually charged by their ordeal that they are "living kami". The above poem when taken along with what Ueshiba wrote about misogi are revealing. In short, misogi is a washing away of all defilements, a removal of all obstacles, a separation from disorder, an abstention from negative thoughts, a radiant state of unadorned purity, the accomplishment of all things, a condition of lofty virtue, and a spotless environment. In misogi one returns to the very beginning, where there is no differentiation between oneself and the universe. (Ueshiba 1993, 98) To Ueshiba, Aikido was both a martial art as well as a form of intense religious practice for spiritual development. Ueshiba was part of a culture where such things were not unheard of. It was however, very, very unusual. Although Takuan Soho makes a valiant effort to transform swordsmanship into a spiritual exercise in the Fudodhi Myouryoukui, translated by William Scott Wilson in "The Unfettered Mind", there is no evidence that the idea became widespread in Japan. It still strikes most Japanese as an unusual, though not impossible, idea. So how did the idea of budo as spiritual practice get started in the west? The idea can be traced back to one major source, D. T. Suzuki's Zen and Japanese Culture. This was the first time that the two ideas were linked together for Western audiences, and it remains the principle resource for the idea outside of Japan. With the principle exception of the writings of Ueshiba and many practitioners of his art. But is the art they practice a spiritual one? There seems to be a belief among many western Aikido practitioners that merely by practicing Aikido they will gain spiritually, or at the least, automatically develop into better people. This may be because people are reading the writings of Ueshiba outside their native context. Ueshiba practiced spiritual exercises, not just Aikido, rigorously, and daily. In Japan, pretty much any activity can be seen as a form of ascetic practice, if it is practiced with that intent. In this way, not only martial arts, but also flower arranging, calligraphy, and making tea can become a spiritual practice. But only if they are practiced with a focus on that idea. Most martial arts practitioners don't go to practice every time seeking to perfect themselves. There are in fact a number of reasons given by practitioners for their continuing practice. Being part of the social group is one of the biggest, but within Aikido circles the spiritual and personal development aspects are also strong motivating factors for people, with nearly two-thirds of practitioners in one study (Boylan, 1999) seeing their Aikido practice as a form of spiritual or religious practice that helps them develop as human beings. Given that this large a percentage of people who do Aikido see it that way, the next question is, is Aikido really a means for them to develop themselves? That question hasn't been studied yet, but I think the answer has to be a qualified yes. What is actually studied and practiced in any budo, are combative techniques, tactics, and strategies. In Aikido, these are techniques such as joint locks and hip throws, tactics such as irimi and tenkan, and strategies like harmonizing and blending. These are all effective combative elements, and these are what practice in the dojo consists of. So how can they promote personal and/or spiritual development? If these things are only practiced in the dojo, they can't. People are often amazed when a high ranking martial artist turns out to have at least as many foibles as the rest of us. We fail to remember just how often those who specialize in spiritual and personal development, priests, doctors, psychologists, monks and teachers, fail to achieve their own goals of personal development and do things like have affairs, or hold petty grudges. These are things that in others are looked down upon, but are accepted as human mistakes and shortcomings. We expect our martial arts teachers to be more perfect than we are, not just as martial artists, but as human beings as well, and all too often we are stunned when yudansha and teachers display familiar human shortcomings. Is it realistic to expect martial artists, even those who have been training for decades, to be above our human frailties? I really don't think so. There isn't any sort of organized program for teaching personal and spiritual development within any of the martial arts, even those with the greatest reputations for it, Tai Chi Chuan and Aikido. The way practice in the martial arts is structured is for technical, not spiritual, development. 20 years of practicing nikkyo will give you a great nikkyo, but it won't necessarily make you a better person. This is not to say that the lessons of Aikido, and budo in general, are not highly transferable to life, it's just that without active work on each persons part to make these lessons a part of their non-dojo life, actions, and heart, it won't happen. It has been my observation that most people don't make this effort, even those who have studied and practiced for decades. It's very unusual for people to make the effort to apply these lessons to their lives. The reason for this is probably quite simple. It's a lot easier to take criticism of a technique you are doing than a life you are living. To apply the lessons of your art to your life is a lot harder than just learning the art. Just as you take criticism of your techniques and understanding of Aikido every day when you practice, you have to be ready to criticize yourself, your reactions, and even your values if you want to really develop and progress as a person. This is vastly more difficult than taking criticism about your ikkyo. It means accepting that the very fundamental elements of who we are may not be as good as they should be. Considering how much time I spend rationalizing my actions, having to stare at myself, those actions, and my motivations without the comfort of a few rationalizations is a scary prospect. It takes frequent correction, sometimes from people I like to believe I'm better than, just to keep me from getting worse, much less to improve. It's the same for everyone, whether they are accomplished budo masters, great chefs, or average people trying to get through the day. Spiritual development is not an easy road, even for those people such as priests and monks who make it their life, and many of them fall down at it frequently, even as they keep on trying. It's even more difficult for people who are living regular lives. And I suspect that being an accomplished martial artist makes it more difficult, rather than easier. When you're good at something, you have a lot of pride in what you do, and people compliment you on your skills. It's a lot easier to focus on what people are complimenting you on than it is to face those areas of your life where you aren't skilled, and may even be a wretched failure. If martial arts in general, and Aikido in particular, are going to be ways of personal and spiritual development, then we have to work just as hard at fixing the weaknesses in ourselves as people as we do at fixing the weaknesses in our techniques. Peter Boylan References Boylan, Peter W. (1999). Aikido As Spiritual Practice in the United States, M.A. Thesis. Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University. Soho, Takuan. (1986). The Unfettered Mind. New York: Kodansha International. Suzuki, D. T. (1959). Zen and Japanese Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Ueshiba, Morihei (1992). The Art of Peace. Boston: Shambala. Ueshiba, Morihei (1993). The Essence of Aikido. New York: Kodansha International. AN INTERESTING QUESTION TO CONSIDER: The Aikido Fairy Godmother appears before you and says, "Honey, I have something for you. You may have either a set of 50 specific techniques which you will execute perfectly every time you try them for the rest of your life, or you may embody Tohei's five basic principles permanently and intrinsically. You have a day to decide. Write it down on a slip of paper and put that under your pillow tomorrow night and you'll wake up with your wish. G'nite now, sleep tight!" It doesn't have to be Tohei's principles, by the way, it can be whatever you see as the principles of aikido. Looking forward to your responses, mle EVENTS AND TRAVELS Sensei Hal Abramson from Philadelphia Ki Society is scheduled to be at Merrifield on November 4 & 5. Save the date on you calendar as it will be a real treat you will not want to miss. In October I plan to attend the 3rd Annual Aikido-L Seminar in Boulder, Colorado on the 7th and 8th. I plan to drive out an take a leisurely visit through the mid-west visiting Senseis Susan Chandler in Denver, Vic Montgomery in Kansas City, Mark Rubbert in St. Louis, John Eley in Chicago, Jim Karaffa in Indiana, Tony Verhoeven in Chatham, Ontario, Dick Miller in Pittsburgh, Peter Bussell in Ottawa and Bill Bickford in Kingston, Ontario. More details as they emerge. Thank you for bearing with me during Norma's illness. I am back at work now and plan to be a bit more consistent in my Aikido activities. Thanks for your prayers on her and my behalf. They are greatly appreciated. Norma's body is resting in Arlington National Cemetery on a gentle slope facing Washington, DC and the Pentagon. If you are in the area, pay her a visit in Section 65.