People come to aikido for many different reasons. Some are looking for a martial discipline to augment their life. Some have heard about aikido's reputation as a form of "moving zen" whose practice can lead to realization and enlightenment. Others come just to learn self-defense. For whatever reason you desire to learn aikido, it is important to understand a few things about its study.
First, aikido is not easy. Proficiency in the techniques will come only after regular weekly practice over a period of months. I like to tell new students that if they wish to see progress, they must commit to practice at least twice a week for nothing less than 90 days. I certainly do not want to discourage others from coming only once a week if that is all your schedule permits. Just understand that practicing less will make the development of any level of proficiency difficult and can lead to frustration if you are not careful.
Second, aikido is not only a physical art, it is a distinct philosophy of how to live one's life. The "do" at the end of aikido means "path in life" or "way of life" in Japanese. The philosophy of aikido can be summed up in the Japanese phrase "take musu aiki". Literally translated, this means "martial creative harmony energy". To render more intelligibly, "take musu aiki" means to harmonize the energy and activity of life through the martial way of life. This concept is very difficult to grasp, and unless one has been practicing aikido for some time, augmenting one's martial practice with the study of aikdio's development and history, and meditating on how the meaning of this phrase relates to one's aikido practice and life, its deeper levels of understanding will remain elusive. But it is these deeper levels that reveal life's ultimate reality.
These realizations cannot be fully expressed in words. They must be experienced to be fully understood. But their basic principles are simple: a respect for yourself, others, and the world around you. We are all deeply connected. We may not be able to see these deep and fundamental connections on the turbulent surface of our daily lives, but through a steady, honest, and disciplined practice of aikido, we can reveal these connections. They lie in the depths of our being, a part of us with which we have lost touch due to the ever increasing complexity and urbanization of our modern lives. Once revealed, we clearly and unambiguously understand our interconnectedness in the world and a deep sense of personal responsibility for others and the world becomes rooted in our daily lives. This realization is so complete and so penetrating, we cannot but spend the rest of our lives cultivating these connections, refining them every day through the practice of aikido. This is "take musu aiki".
I encourage all of you who practice to pursue the deeper levels of understanding. It will take discipline, commitment, and time, but the reward, a greater understanding and appreciation of yourself and the world around you, is well worth it.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Choice
All of us in this life walk along a path. That path is a product of our choices. What I have found in my short 38 years of life is that good choices make that path easier and more fulfilling to walk. Then the question becomes, "What are good choices?"
All of us have inside us an innate sense of what is right and what is wrong. Going against those feelings (or not having them in the first place) and choosing something that is not "right" will create discord and suffering in our lives and the lives of those around us. All of us at times have made a wrong choice whether intentionally or unintentionally. And, more than likely, we had to live with the painful or embarrassing consequences of that choice.
Sometimes, we do not immediately recognize when we fall off this path by making a poor choice. It might take awhile to see the consequences of our actions. But once we see those consequences (usually in the form of increased suffering in our life or the life of those around us) and recognize the mistakes we have made which caused those consequences, we must acknowledge personal responsibility for those mistakes and resolve ourselves to climb back onto the honorable path. Eventually, we learn that making poor choices and falling off this path is not worth the pain and suffering it causes. This realization is key and is a turning point in our personal development as martial artists and as people.
On the mat when we practice aikido techniques, if we make the wrong choice we can immediately see the result usually in the form of tension or struggle or, in the worst case, an injury. During practice, it is up to each and every one of us to recognize tension and struggle and adjust ourselves to relieve it. Do not wait for your partner to change. You must adapt to whatever situation your partner presents. This does not mean to give in and succumb. It just means to find a way around the problem that does not cause additional struggle and pain and is beneficial to both sides.
Always remember that aikido is not about "winning". It is about a mutually beneficial solution. This is why we do not teach how to break arms, necks, or joints. This is also why we don not have competitions. The art of aikido is in harnessing the energy of violence and using it for constructive purposes. In aikido, our constructive purpose is to use this energy to end the violence in a calm and controlled manner. To do so is to manifest, through the techniques of aikido, an honorable character. This is the goal of our physical practice and the external manifestation of our honorable path. You should think about this daily and make it your goal every practice.
Will we occasionally fall off this honorable path? Absolutely. We are human. But to recognize when we have stepped off it and to resolve ourselves to step back on it is the ultimate goal of our training and our life. This is how we develop our character. Through daily practice, aikido helps us develop the skills necessary for this recognition.
There is no destination with life's path. It is the journey along the path and how you conduct it that counts. Owning up to our mistakes is a sign of integrity and honor. Learning from our mistakes is a sign of maturity and wisdom.
Thus, the path becomes easier and more fulfilling to walk for us and those around us.
All of us have inside us an innate sense of what is right and what is wrong. Going against those feelings (or not having them in the first place) and choosing something that is not "right" will create discord and suffering in our lives and the lives of those around us. All of us at times have made a wrong choice whether intentionally or unintentionally. And, more than likely, we had to live with the painful or embarrassing consequences of that choice.
Sometimes, we do not immediately recognize when we fall off this path by making a poor choice. It might take awhile to see the consequences of our actions. But once we see those consequences (usually in the form of increased suffering in our life or the life of those around us) and recognize the mistakes we have made which caused those consequences, we must acknowledge personal responsibility for those mistakes and resolve ourselves to climb back onto the honorable path. Eventually, we learn that making poor choices and falling off this path is not worth the pain and suffering it causes. This realization is key and is a turning point in our personal development as martial artists and as people.
On the mat when we practice aikido techniques, if we make the wrong choice we can immediately see the result usually in the form of tension or struggle or, in the worst case, an injury. During practice, it is up to each and every one of us to recognize tension and struggle and adjust ourselves to relieve it. Do not wait for your partner to change. You must adapt to whatever situation your partner presents. This does not mean to give in and succumb. It just means to find a way around the problem that does not cause additional struggle and pain and is beneficial to both sides.
Always remember that aikido is not about "winning". It is about a mutually beneficial solution. This is why we do not teach how to break arms, necks, or joints. This is also why we don not have competitions. The art of aikido is in harnessing the energy of violence and using it for constructive purposes. In aikido, our constructive purpose is to use this energy to end the violence in a calm and controlled manner. To do so is to manifest, through the techniques of aikido, an honorable character. This is the goal of our physical practice and the external manifestation of our honorable path. You should think about this daily and make it your goal every practice.
Will we occasionally fall off this honorable path? Absolutely. We are human. But to recognize when we have stepped off it and to resolve ourselves to step back on it is the ultimate goal of our training and our life. This is how we develop our character. Through daily practice, aikido helps us develop the skills necessary for this recognition.
There is no destination with life's path. It is the journey along the path and how you conduct it that counts. Owning up to our mistakes is a sign of integrity and honor. Learning from our mistakes is a sign of maturity and wisdom.
Thus, the path becomes easier and more fulfilling to walk for us and those around us.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Kindness Is Not Weakness
One idea that many beginners have is "Aikido seems too nice and too soft to be a valuable martial art in reality. This can never work." This thought usually comes from two things: 1) the difficulty which beginners have at developing a level of proficiency in the art, and 2) the fact that aikido teaches to resolve conflict through non-violence or at the most, controlled but safe violence, a skill that is counterintuitive to our instinctual reaction to meet violence with violence.
But what I tell beginners who hold these ideas is: "Never mistake kindness for weakness." Just because someone is kind to you does not mean that they are also weak, in character or in body.
When practicing any form of budo, we must always cultivate the self while moving along two different but parallel paths. The first and most obvious path is the physical form of the budo we practice. In our case, this is the physical practice of aikido. On the mat, we work to develop our bodies physically. We learn how to protect ourselves when we fall, we learn how to move our feet, hips, and hands, and in general how to control our body in relation to our opponent in a violent situation. This practice helps us develop the physical form of budo and is done to element bodily weakness and cultivate strength, flexibility, and agility.
Parallel to this physical development and just as important is the development of our mind and our worldview into one that is infused with kindness. In this mental development, we focus on three elements: 1) control of our mind through the disciplining of our desires, 2) calming our mind during times of mental and physical excitation (violence, for example), and 3) cultivating a sense of oneness with the world around us. By cultivating these principles, we consider everything in a situation and its impact on ourselves and, just as importantly, the impact on our partner. We learn not to only focus on the impact to ourselves, a very selfish and potentially dangerous worldview. As such, our budo becomes much more humanistic.
This last element is especially important. If we cultivate a sense of oneness with the world around us, we begin to develop a very personal sense of responsibility in everything that we do. Why add additional suffering to the world just to make ourselves (seemingly) suffer less? To do so will not ultimately reduce our level of suffering. To think so is nothing but egotistical self-indulgence. Cultivating a deep sense of personal responsibility to the world around us will begin to change how we treat the world and everything in it. For example, when we begin to realize that everything we do has an impact on everyone else around us, we then feel a deep sense of personal responsibility to make everything around us better for us and those around us since, ultimately, everyone is born the same, suffers the same, and dies the same.
To develop these two paths in synchronicity is of utmost importance. History is littered with the legends of martyrs who refused to fight back on a principle of humanity and peace for its own sake. What good is a philosophy of peace if it results in an unnatural death? Who will then be there to carry it forward?
It is admirable to be kind. We should all be kind and do everything possible to cultivate a kind manner in all things. But when faced with death, kindness by itself can only take you so far. We must be prepared to enter fully into violent conflict to protect ourselves and those around us if necessary. But this does not mean that we are not kind during violent conflict. I know this sounds contradictory, but it is not. When we use violence infused with kindness, we attack an opponent's attitude vice their body. We attempt to influence rather than to injure. Using the controlled violence of aikido techniques tempered with our deep sense of personal responsibility to everything in this world allows us to reconcile what seems to be a contradiction: kind violence. It allows us to successfully diffuse violence rather than to escalate it.
Thus, we should always remember in both our physical practice and our mental practice of our chosen budo that weakness is not a necessary condition of kindness. In fact, kindness should become a necessary condition of our strength.
If we practice this way, we can never go wrong.
But what I tell beginners who hold these ideas is: "Never mistake kindness for weakness." Just because someone is kind to you does not mean that they are also weak, in character or in body.
When practicing any form of budo, we must always cultivate the self while moving along two different but parallel paths. The first and most obvious path is the physical form of the budo we practice. In our case, this is the physical practice of aikido. On the mat, we work to develop our bodies physically. We learn how to protect ourselves when we fall, we learn how to move our feet, hips, and hands, and in general how to control our body in relation to our opponent in a violent situation. This practice helps us develop the physical form of budo and is done to element bodily weakness and cultivate strength, flexibility, and agility.
Parallel to this physical development and just as important is the development of our mind and our worldview into one that is infused with kindness. In this mental development, we focus on three elements: 1) control of our mind through the disciplining of our desires, 2) calming our mind during times of mental and physical excitation (violence, for example), and 3) cultivating a sense of oneness with the world around us. By cultivating these principles, we consider everything in a situation and its impact on ourselves and, just as importantly, the impact on our partner. We learn not to only focus on the impact to ourselves, a very selfish and potentially dangerous worldview. As such, our budo becomes much more humanistic.
This last element is especially important. If we cultivate a sense of oneness with the world around us, we begin to develop a very personal sense of responsibility in everything that we do. Why add additional suffering to the world just to make ourselves (seemingly) suffer less? To do so will not ultimately reduce our level of suffering. To think so is nothing but egotistical self-indulgence. Cultivating a deep sense of personal responsibility to the world around us will begin to change how we treat the world and everything in it. For example, when we begin to realize that everything we do has an impact on everyone else around us, we then feel a deep sense of personal responsibility to make everything around us better for us and those around us since, ultimately, everyone is born the same, suffers the same, and dies the same.
To develop these two paths in synchronicity is of utmost importance. History is littered with the legends of martyrs who refused to fight back on a principle of humanity and peace for its own sake. What good is a philosophy of peace if it results in an unnatural death? Who will then be there to carry it forward?
It is admirable to be kind. We should all be kind and do everything possible to cultivate a kind manner in all things. But when faced with death, kindness by itself can only take you so far. We must be prepared to enter fully into violent conflict to protect ourselves and those around us if necessary. But this does not mean that we are not kind during violent conflict. I know this sounds contradictory, but it is not. When we use violence infused with kindness, we attack an opponent's attitude vice their body. We attempt to influence rather than to injure. Using the controlled violence of aikido techniques tempered with our deep sense of personal responsibility to everything in this world allows us to reconcile what seems to be a contradiction: kind violence. It allows us to successfully diffuse violence rather than to escalate it.
Thus, we should always remember in both our physical practice and our mental practice of our chosen budo that weakness is not a necessary condition of kindness. In fact, kindness should become a necessary condition of our strength.
If we practice this way, we can never go wrong.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Chudo
Chudo is Japanese for "the middle way". We should always try to manifest chudo through our aikido. To manifest chudo in aikido is the ultimate physical goal of aikido. By doing so, your technique will be light and flowing, not heavy and stilted. No matter whether you are receiving the technique (uke) or executing the technique (nage), you should try and maintain chudo with your partner. Each of you should work towards this goal as you practice.
But chudo also has a philosophical manifestation.
As human beings, we view the world through the prism of dualism. Light/Dark, yes/no, strong/weak, push/pull, happy/sad, good/evil, etc. The world moves in natural cycles of extremes. The cycle of a day naturally moves from light to dusk to dark to dawn to light and on and on. Seasons move in cycles of hot and cold. Weather moves in cycles of sunshine and rain. It is the contrasting nature of this dualism that informs our worldview with perspective and contrast.
Though this dualistic distinction can be useful to our worldview, it can also be detrimental. Instead of working within the cycles of nature, many times we, through the misguided use of our reason and ego, try to fight against them. For example, when someone pushes us, we push back. When someone does something bad to us, we look for revenge by doing something bad to them. Though these reactions seem natural, they actually add to the chaos in the world by fighting against what is natural. It is like trying to swim upstream.
One must remember that without pain one would not experience pleasure. Without periods of sadness one would not experience periods of joy. These cycles are natural and should not be resented or avoided. One could not exist without the other. This is what I meant when I say:
"Nothing in life is special because all of life is special. Nothing in life is common because all of life is common. Because of this, the special and the common are the same."
This does not mean we just sit back and allow ourselves to be taken advantage of by the inequities of life. We must engage and blend with that which is at odds with us in order to help dissipate it. This is at the heart of aikido. We use what we learn in the dojo to engage violence or confrontation, whether it is verbal or physical, blend with it, and help bring it to a non-violent conclusion.
We should try and seek chudo in our aikido and, ultimately, in our life. In doing so, we begin to understand why we experience pleasure and pain, why we experience gain and loss, and why we experience suffering in general. By understanding the interplay of these opposites and their existential relationship to one another through our aikido practice, we gain a greater appreciation for, and a more robust ability to control, our reactions to the vicissitudes of life outside the dojo. We can then begin to live in accordance with these natural cycles and our sense of suffering will naturally begin to dissipate. Thus we will live in harmony with the world as it is and not how we wish it to be.
This is living in chudo.
But chudo also has a philosophical manifestation.
As human beings, we view the world through the prism of dualism. Light/Dark, yes/no, strong/weak, push/pull, happy/sad, good/evil, etc. The world moves in natural cycles of extremes. The cycle of a day naturally moves from light to dusk to dark to dawn to light and on and on. Seasons move in cycles of hot and cold. Weather moves in cycles of sunshine and rain. It is the contrasting nature of this dualism that informs our worldview with perspective and contrast.
Though this dualistic distinction can be useful to our worldview, it can also be detrimental. Instead of working within the cycles of nature, many times we, through the misguided use of our reason and ego, try to fight against them. For example, when someone pushes us, we push back. When someone does something bad to us, we look for revenge by doing something bad to them. Though these reactions seem natural, they actually add to the chaos in the world by fighting against what is natural. It is like trying to swim upstream.
One must remember that without pain one would not experience pleasure. Without periods of sadness one would not experience periods of joy. These cycles are natural and should not be resented or avoided. One could not exist without the other. This is what I meant when I say:
"Nothing in life is special because all of life is special. Nothing in life is common because all of life is common. Because of this, the special and the common are the same."
This does not mean we just sit back and allow ourselves to be taken advantage of by the inequities of life. We must engage and blend with that which is at odds with us in order to help dissipate it. This is at the heart of aikido. We use what we learn in the dojo to engage violence or confrontation, whether it is verbal or physical, blend with it, and help bring it to a non-violent conclusion.
We should try and seek chudo in our aikido and, ultimately, in our life. In doing so, we begin to understand why we experience pleasure and pain, why we experience gain and loss, and why we experience suffering in general. By understanding the interplay of these opposites and their existential relationship to one another through our aikido practice, we gain a greater appreciation for, and a more robust ability to control, our reactions to the vicissitudes of life outside the dojo. We can then begin to live in accordance with these natural cycles and our sense of suffering will naturally begin to dissipate. Thus we will live in harmony with the world as it is and not how we wish it to be.
This is living in chudo.
Bias
All beginning students bring biases with them. That is only natural. But the amount they bring and the extent to which they infuse them into practice is different. Many beginners will want to "challenge" the art and the techniques. They will say, "Yeah, but if I do this...." to everything the instructor shows or to everything their partner does. These are the hardest students to train, but at the same time they are the ones who need the training the most. There is nothing wrong with challenging the art, but there is a time and place for it.
Many students have previous martial arts training either formal or military. It is understandable that they "default" to this training while on the mat. Muscle memory in many ways forces them in that direction. But to progress in aikido, one must throw all of that training away. Even in aikido, as you progress, one must continue to throw the training away. Get rid of all the "ideas" of what aikido is about.
This leads to us mushin. Mushin is something very difficult to understand and even more difficult to implement. But here are some thoughts...
Everything that comes into us from the world should go back out exactly the same with no modification. This is to live naturally. Usually our views of the world, provided to us through our sense perception (site, hearing, taste, etc) get modified by the "filter" of our life experience. After going through this filter, our perceptions then get processed by our consciousness into the way we view the world. Some of this is good. For example, we all know that it is not good to place our hand on a hot stove.
But some life experience, through a lack of natural understanding, mutates into ego driven biases and prejudices whose sole purpose is to make ourselves feel special and are not necessarily grounded in anything resembling natural truth. For example, "I went to Harvard therefore I am smarter than you," or "I make more money therefore I am better than you." These are extreme examples but valid nonetheless. To live without these types of world dividing biases takes 1) recognition that we have them, and, 2) discipline to keep them at bay as they will always want to creep up into our worldview. The vast majority of people do not want to face these biases because to do so would undermine the entire foundation upon which they have built their life and sense of self worth. What they unfortunately do not see or understand is that this foundation is hollow and vulnerable to collapse under the weight of life's pressures (look at the alarming rates of addiction and/or substance abuse, for example). This weakness can be overcome with the right direction and effort but it takes work and time and most people do not want to take the time or put in the work for results that they do not understand and therefore do not value.
Our minds should "reflect the world as a mirror". We should represent, through our actions and character, how the world actually is in its raw form. In other words, as naturally as possible. Gaining an understanding of mushin will open our senses up to the world as it is and not how we wish it to be. Then we can tear down that hollow foundation and replace it with a solid one that can, through the force of validity, withstand life's pressures.
To understand this concept, reorient your life to it, and apply it can have dramatic consequences. One manifestation of this understanding is a much more natural and flowing aikido. It is only when we stop to analyze our aikido through the crusted filter of personal bias that has built up over the years that our flow stops and becomes stilted. Beginner's (and even some advanced practitioners who have yet to gain sufficient control over their ego) experience this interrupted flow and stiltedness every practice. Our goal through aikido is to slowly but thoroughly clean and then eliminate that filter. To do so will allow us to see the world as it is and not how we wish it to be.
This idea is much better stated by English poet William Blake from his poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."
Many students have previous martial arts training either formal or military. It is understandable that they "default" to this training while on the mat. Muscle memory in many ways forces them in that direction. But to progress in aikido, one must throw all of that training away. Even in aikido, as you progress, one must continue to throw the training away. Get rid of all the "ideas" of what aikido is about.
This leads to us mushin. Mushin is something very difficult to understand and even more difficult to implement. But here are some thoughts...
Everything that comes into us from the world should go back out exactly the same with no modification. This is to live naturally. Usually our views of the world, provided to us through our sense perception (site, hearing, taste, etc) get modified by the "filter" of our life experience. After going through this filter, our perceptions then get processed by our consciousness into the way we view the world. Some of this is good. For example, we all know that it is not good to place our hand on a hot stove.
But some life experience, through a lack of natural understanding, mutates into ego driven biases and prejudices whose sole purpose is to make ourselves feel special and are not necessarily grounded in anything resembling natural truth. For example, "I went to Harvard therefore I am smarter than you," or "I make more money therefore I am better than you." These are extreme examples but valid nonetheless. To live without these types of world dividing biases takes 1) recognition that we have them, and, 2) discipline to keep them at bay as they will always want to creep up into our worldview. The vast majority of people do not want to face these biases because to do so would undermine the entire foundation upon which they have built their life and sense of self worth. What they unfortunately do not see or understand is that this foundation is hollow and vulnerable to collapse under the weight of life's pressures (look at the alarming rates of addiction and/or substance abuse, for example). This weakness can be overcome with the right direction and effort but it takes work and time and most people do not want to take the time or put in the work for results that they do not understand and therefore do not value.
Our minds should "reflect the world as a mirror". We should represent, through our actions and character, how the world actually is in its raw form. In other words, as naturally as possible. Gaining an understanding of mushin will open our senses up to the world as it is and not how we wish it to be. Then we can tear down that hollow foundation and replace it with a solid one that can, through the force of validity, withstand life's pressures.
To understand this concept, reorient your life to it, and apply it can have dramatic consequences. One manifestation of this understanding is a much more natural and flowing aikido. It is only when we stop to analyze our aikido through the crusted filter of personal bias that has built up over the years that our flow stops and becomes stilted. Beginner's (and even some advanced practitioners who have yet to gain sufficient control over their ego) experience this interrupted flow and stiltedness every practice. Our goal through aikido is to slowly but thoroughly clean and then eliminate that filter. To do so will allow us to see the world as it is and not how we wish it to be.
This idea is much better stated by English poet William Blake from his poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."
Recognize Ego
One should never struggle with their partner. An attitude of mutual cooperation is necessary for improvement. If one relaxes and flows like water, it is easier to go around your partner's attack vice straight into it. Thus the struggling is avoided.
This thought should be carried with you everywhere you go. This does not mean to shrink away from conflict. But one should not seek it out either. Our ego loves conflict. It validates our ego, helps to prop it up, and adds to its growth. In Aikido, we wish to reverse the ego's growth.
Aikido (and any budo for that matter) is first a tool for development of the character and elimination of the ego. It is a martial art second. The first step to eliminating the ego is recognizing the ego. If you recognize the ego, you can begin to understand the affect ego has on you. Once you understand this affect, you can begin to control the ego. Once the ego is controlled, it can begin to be eliminated.
One of the reasons we practice aikido techniques is that they bring out our ego and expose it for all to see (especially in the early stages of one's practice). Continued daily practice in the spirit of cooperation with our partner will begin the long process of chipping away at the ego that has hardened around us over all of our years. Once this chipping away gains momentum, one will begin feeling much freer, lighter, and happier.
This path is long, narrow, and difficult to walk, but the result is mastery of the self and a more refined and honorable character.
This thought should be carried with you everywhere you go. This does not mean to shrink away from conflict. But one should not seek it out either. Our ego loves conflict. It validates our ego, helps to prop it up, and adds to its growth. In Aikido, we wish to reverse the ego's growth.
Aikido (and any budo for that matter) is first a tool for development of the character and elimination of the ego. It is a martial art second. The first step to eliminating the ego is recognizing the ego. If you recognize the ego, you can begin to understand the affect ego has on you. Once you understand this affect, you can begin to control the ego. Once the ego is controlled, it can begin to be eliminated.
One of the reasons we practice aikido techniques is that they bring out our ego and expose it for all to see (especially in the early stages of one's practice). Continued daily practice in the spirit of cooperation with our partner will begin the long process of chipping away at the ego that has hardened around us over all of our years. Once this chipping away gains momentum, one will begin feeling much freer, lighter, and happier.
This path is long, narrow, and difficult to walk, but the result is mastery of the self and a more refined and honorable character.
Keiko
The philosophical focus of our practice is elimination of the ego. In the words of Epictetus, a Greek Stoic philosopher (AD. 55–AD. 135):
"Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one's desires, but by the removal of desire."
The ego is the root of all of our desires. How does our ego show itself in practice? One example is frustration. Aikido is difficult and frustration (and in its extreme form, anger) is a common reaction from beginner's. I suffered through it myself. Everyone wants to do well and the desire to do well causes the pain of frustration and anger when one's expectation of "well" is not met. Many people will quit because of such feelings. But remember that the process of learning is itself a test of character.
The solution? Do not put so much pressure on yourself to do well. Many Western students want proficiency immediately. This is an unintended consequence of our instant gratification culture. Immediate proficiency will not happen, so do not focus on it. By putting such pressure on yourself, you become tight and inflexible both in the body and in your mind. This will do nothing but impede your progress. Come to class with no expectations. What is important is daily practice (keiko, in Japanese). This will get you where you want to go both physically and mentally.
Just practice. That is all you need.
"Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one's desires, but by the removal of desire."
The ego is the root of all of our desires. How does our ego show itself in practice? One example is frustration. Aikido is difficult and frustration (and in its extreme form, anger) is a common reaction from beginner's. I suffered through it myself. Everyone wants to do well and the desire to do well causes the pain of frustration and anger when one's expectation of "well" is not met. Many people will quit because of such feelings. But remember that the process of learning is itself a test of character.
The solution? Do not put so much pressure on yourself to do well. Many Western students want proficiency immediately. This is an unintended consequence of our instant gratification culture. Immediate proficiency will not happen, so do not focus on it. By putting such pressure on yourself, you become tight and inflexible both in the body and in your mind. This will do nothing but impede your progress. Come to class with no expectations. What is important is daily practice (keiko, in Japanese). This will get you where you want to go both physically and mentally.
Just practice. That is all you need.
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