Training

After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little.
– Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (1973)

Training Principles in Cat Stevens' Lyrics

For this week's deshi assignment, we were asked to find song lyrics that reflect some common themes in Aikido practice.

Song lyrics are immense in scope, so I decided to research Aikido themes that were reflected strictly within Cat Stevens' lyrics. I picked Cat because I was a kid with 5 older sisters in the 1970s. I still remember how sad my sister Charlene was when he decided to stop releasing music.

After each set of lyrics I've added a short explanation. I hope these are interesting for you.

from Sitting: 

Life is like a maze of doors
And they all open from the side you're on
Just keep on pushing hard, boy
Try as you may
You're going to wind up where you started from...
You're going to wind up where you started from.

I like these stanzas because they capture the notion that you cannot move your training or learning forward without being willing to open yourself, mentally and physically.

from Don't Be Shy: 

Don't wear fear
Or nobody will know you're there
Just lift your head, and let your feelings out instead
And don't be shy, just let your feeling roll on by
On by, on by...

I think of randori when I read or hear these lyrics. In the song, Cat Stevens repeats the last few words over and over, about a dozen times. You can imagine a group of ukes flying away from a whirling nage.

from Can't Keep It In: 

No I can't keep it in
I can't keep it in, I've gotta let it out
I've got to show the world
World's got to know
Know of the love
Love that lies low

I have occasionally been told that I smile too much when practicing, but I can show you picture after picture of O-Sensei smiling on the mat. There is always joy in Aikido, and the world's gotta know.

from Into White:

I built my house from barley rice
Green pepper walls and water ice
Tables of paper wood, windows of light
And everything emptying into white

When I started in our deshi program, I was asked to do at least one hour a week of my own practice. It could be mediation, writing, calligraphy... anything like that. It seemed hard to get that one hour in back then. Now, almost two years later, I practice yoga, meditate, and write many hours each week. You build your house from a lot of materials.

from Drywood:

Like drywood takes to fire, the truth will come to you
Like streams that seek the ocean, they will find ways through
Like morning meets the night's stars, my love will guide the way
It's time to wipe your eyes not, and awake

These words remind me of the idea that all movement in Aikido is natural and authentic. If you are true to that concept, and patient, you will find a way through.

from The Boy With A Moon And Star On His Head:

As years went by the boy grew high
And the village looked on in awe
They'd never seen anything like the boy
with the moon and star before

And people would ride from far and wide
Just to seek the word he spread
"I'll tell you everything I've learned,"
And "Love" is all he said.

These stanzas give an image of a miraculous boy in complete harmony with the himself and the world around him. The boy didn't need to practice to attain this, but I do.

Training Principles, in my words

Our assignment this week is to rewrite O Sensei's "Training Principles" in our own words.

Training Principles, by Morihei Ueshiba:

1. Aikido decides life and death in a single strike, so students must carefully follow the instructor's teaching and not compete to see who is the strongest. 
2. Aikido is the way that teaches how one can deal with several enemies. Students must train themselves to be alert not just to the front but to all sides and the back. 
3. Training should always be conducted in a pleasant and joyful atmosphere. 
4. The instructor teaches only one small aspect of the art. Its versatile applications must be discovered by each student through incessant practice and training. 
5. In daily practice first begin by moving your body and then progress to more intensive practice. Never force anything unnaturally or unreasonably. If this rule is followed, then even elderly people will not hurt themselves and they can train in a pleasant and joyful atmosphere. 
6. The purpose of Aikido is to train mind and body and to produce sincere, earnest people. Since all the techniques are to be transmitted person-to-person, do not randomly reveal them to others, for this might lead to their being used by hoodlums.

In my words:

1. Aikido can be very dangerous, so you must be careful and follow the instruction given to you exactly, so that you don't hurt your partner. This is not a competition to see who is stronger. 
2. Aikido teaches you to deal with threats coming from all directions, so you must practice this in your daily life, and build awareness of things going on around you in all situations. This means being constantly observant, whether in your own home, on the street (with pedestrians, cyclists, and traffic), or in the dojo (with things going on on the mat), whether or not these things are happening in front of you or behind you, or whether or not they involve you at the moment. 
3. You should try to train with a positive attitude. When you are training mad, you are less receptive to instruction. A good atmosphere makes it easy for everyone to be engaged and attentive. A bad atmosphere makes everyone unhappy and less receptive, when people are concentrating on the negative aspects.
4. The instructor teaches the physical aspect of the art, and the techniques relating to that physical aspect. The application of aikido is much broader, however, and extends through all aspects of life. You must treat every encounter as an aikido encounter, look for all potential applications in life, and practice them constantly.
5. Carefully learn the basics of the technique first. Once you have the basics memorized, you can begin to be expressive with the technique, and train more vigorously. Aikido movement is natural and based on the movement of the body, so anything that is unnatural or forced will not work, and may cause injury. If you follow this rule, everyone can train, even the elderly and the young.  
6. Aikido is difficult and takes a long time to learn correctly. As you go through the training process, you undergo emotional development process. You begin to become more earnest and sincere in your daily life. Without this emotional development accompanying the physical training, aikido could be used for bad purposes, so you should never teach a technique to someone who is not undergoing the training.

正直な心を持つ実践

Good reminder. From Aikido for Beginners:

'When I trained in Iwama under Morihiro Saito Sensei many years ago, every so often he would say something like, “Sunao ni keiko shite kudasai” (Practice with an honest mind) to admonish students to practice sincerely and in a spirit of cooperation. An example would be when he saw a student resisting another’s attempt to perform a technique using his foreknowledge of the technique being practiced. Let’s assume that we are practicing tai no henko. I know that uke will be pivoting to the outside while extending his arms in front of his center. 

Instead of merely grabbing his hand firmly, I lift it up forcibly to prevent him from turning and executing the technique. What I have done is simply to take advantage of the prearranged nature of practice to thwart uke’s attempt to perform the technique. I am not being “sunao” or honest in my training. Such an action on my part would be entirely self-defeating and a show of disrespect to the teacher. If I were to lift uke’s arm upward in tai no henko, he could simply continue the upward movement and swing his arm towards my face to throw me down. 

The following was a true story that occurred at the Iwama Dojo many years ago. I was practicing with a strong partner. Every time, he would use his knowledge of the technique we were practicing to block my movement. This of course was a cause of frustration to me. To make a statement, I proceded to block his technique in the same manner, but only once to prove a point. He continued every time to stop me, and from then on, I just resigned myself to continue until the end of class vowing to never train with him again. I knew that Saito Sensei was watching us as we continued in this manner, and I saw him becoming upset out of the corner of my eye. 

Finally, Sensei shouted, “Dame! So iu kudaranai keiko yamero!” (Stop that stupid training!). We all sat down while Sensei exploded at my partner. He explained that anyone can block a person’s technique if they know in advance what they intend to do. That this kind of training totally defeats the purpose of practice and that one cannot progress by training this way. Sensei then proceded to ban my partner from practice at the dojo. The man was totally humiliated and immediately left the dojo with his head hanging down. Sensei eventually let the man back after about a month. From that point on, he trained in a respectful way and became an exemplary student. I trained with him several times after that and it was an enjoyable experience. He later established his own dojo and is still active.'

More subtle etiquette

From "Aikido for beginners," "The Dojo Layout and Structure of Place"

Joseki (上席) – consisting of the kanji for “top” and “seat” (as in a place for sitting), this is the “most comfortable seat in the house” and is a term used in general Japanese etiquette. For example, the dinner table, train and taxi will have joseki. In a taxi it is the seat right behind the driver (first to get in and last to get out) and in a train it is the window seat facing the direction of travel (second place goes to the other window seat if there are facing seats). Other sources, including the discussion on Salmon-sensei’s blog, states this is the lateral wall adjacent to the kamiza and furthest away from the door. I somewhat disagree that this is the exact definition of the joseki though for convenience’s sake I will also refer to this wall as the “joseki” wall. However, in my view, rather than it being a wall, it is an orientation vaguely towards that corner but in front of the sensei, since joseki is one extreme of a continuum to the shimoseki (more on this below). If the entrance were on the right/east side of the dojo, then the joseki would be towards the left/west side. The joseki is where a VIP will sit, such as a visiting high grade sensei, dignitary or someone more senior in the organization who does not necessarily take part in the training (e.g. school principal, company president, police superintendant, etc.). Sometimes a resident sensei may sit here but from what I can tell, this is usually only the case if the resident sensei is a higher grade than the dojo leader sensei.

Something to remember when going out to eat or traveling with Senseis.

Uke's job

"Uke’s job is to feel."
~ Robert Nadeau Shihan

Your Own Words

We have a deshi assignment to rewrite O Sensei's training principles in our own words. Here is my post on this. I hope it is interesting :)

Aikido is precise

• It's also dangerous. Please do things exactly as demonstrated, with only as much force as required. 

Radiate awareness

• Like driving on the freeway or walking in a crowd, see everyone around you. 

Aikido always has joy

• Sometimes it's a tiny drop, sometimes it's a sweeping torrent - but it's always there. 

Practice broadly

• Classes are the primary way of learning, but there are additional ways, too. Work on flexibility, meditation, reading, writing, and solo practice are examples. Be curious and explore. 

Aikido movement is natural

• Practicing should feel smooth and fluid, no matter what your abilities or skills are. 

We practice Aikido together as a community

Deshi Assignment: Your Own Words

Rewrite O Sensei's "Training Principles" in your own words.

Training Principles By  Morihei Ueshiba

·               Aikido decides life and death in a single strike, so students must carefully follow the instructor's teaching and not compete to see who is the strongest.

·               Aikido is the way that teaches how one can deal with several enemies. Students must train themselves to be alert not just to the front but to all sides and the back.

·               Training should always be conducted in a pleasant and joyful atmosphere.

·               The instructor teaches only one small aspect of the art. Its versatile applications must be discovered by each student through incessant practice and training.

·               In daily practice first begin by moving your body and then progress to more intensive practice. Never force anything unnaturally or unreasonably. If this rule is followed, then even elderly people will not hurt themselves and they can train in a pleasant and joyful atmosphere.

·               The purpose of Aikido is to train mind and body and to produce sincere, earnest people. Since all the techniques are to be transmitted person-to-person, do not randomly reveal them to others, for this might lead to their being used by hoodlums.

Tsuki Ikkyo

This is a tanto attack from tsuki. I like it because the blend from nage leads so naturally into this particular ikkyo ura variation. They start quite far apart, with uke's footwork moving from gyaku hanmi into ai hanmi during the tsuki. Due to the ma-ai and footwork, nage blends with an irimi tenkan. We would more likely use a simple tenkan blend for nage, and have uke start closer with footwork beginning from ai hanmi.

You can see on the slow motion replay how nage rolls uke's arm forward and down after the tenkan, then into a threat of hyperextending the elbow. As nage moves into the pin, the forward foot is placed under uke's upper arm where it meets the shoulder, similar to how we would pin for a reverse kotegaeshi to increase the pressure on uke's elbow. I assume there is a similar motivating effect here.