“One day I saw him on the street, and he was all banged up. “What happened to you?” I asked. He didn’t want to talk about it. A few weeks later I saw him again and this time he confessed. He had been attacked by two teenagers who demanded money, he said. “I just stood there. They hit me and then stole my wallet. I didn’t do anything.” He was so embarrassed. His martial arts training had failed him because it had been incomplete. He had not learned to use fear, to use his reactions to his advantage. Instead fear and the stress of the moment had become his enemy. He had trained in technique but he had never trained in how to deal with his emotions and body reactions that had gripped him. And he is not alone. This is an unfortunate limitation to most martial artist’s training.”
Please click here to read entire article.
“I have learned there are four stages of learning. The first is unconscious incompetence where something doesn’t work but you don’t know it. The second is conscious incompetence where something doesn’t work and you know it doesn’t work. The third is conscious competence where something works but you have to stay consciously aware of what you are doing. The fourth stage is unconscious competence where something just seems to work all by itself.”
“There have been numerous times where I have almost added to the threads. The last time was the “Techniques for Self Defense” thread. Where the gist of the thread was “what technique would you use to defend yourself?” My thought on it was no technique just aikido (and trust me no one would say my aikido was of the aiki-bunny vintage) but wasn’t sure how to explain it further until the other night at class.
“Aikido is a defensive martial art. That is pretty much accepted by all. In fact, if we suggest to an aikidoka that they should attack someone using their aikido skills the concept simply doesn’t make sense. Aikido has no attacking moves as such, and we use our opponent’s force in the execution of our techniques.
We have just uploaded another video clip to the Aikido Journal channel on Youtube.com. Aikido Journal Editor Stanley Pranin talks about the making of Morihiro Saito Sensei’s 
“1876 – Nakamura Tempu Sensei was born on July 30 at Oji Mura, Toyoshima Gun, Tokyo Fu (presently known as Oji, Kitaku, Tokyo To). His father was Sukeoki, and his mother was Chou. He was born Nakamura Saburo, their third son.
“As humans we are limited in our capabilities. It’s this that makes life interesting, breeds creativity and generally gives us purpose in life. While tackling problems head on does have its benefits, generally a more sophisticated and intelligent approach is desirable. We know that it is important to have a goal, but even more essential is to have the right goal. A cleverly selected goal will see you gliding through life instead of bouncing from obstacle to obstacle like a pin-ball machine.
Soft hands, strong hara further reflect spiritual equilibrium. Good manners and reasonable behaviours that refrain from unseemly arguments not inflaming conflict enhance the heaven and earth balance. 
“Flexibility in relation to aikido means more than being able to place your palms on the floor. Flexibility relates to your ability to quickly perceive and respond to each moment, particularly when things are changing.
“Last Monday a classmate of mine, Haruko-san, a judge from Japan, came by to watch a clip of Shimizu Sensei on my laptop. She made an observation that really ‘clicked’, which is “Your teacher does not seem to move very much.” Such a simple observation, but one which I missed completely, and to have her say it to me made me reflect on its philosophical ramifications. This article is my attempt to articulate some of these.
The article below has been selected from the 
“n the same way that Morihei Ueshiba created aikido from the Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu of Sokaku Takeda, Masamichi Noro extended his research to the creation of Kinomichi, founded on the technique, principles and philosophy of aikido. This natural process in the world of the Japanese budos does not constitute a denial or an objection to what came before but, rather, the natural expression and evolution of a living art – the opening of a new path and new possibility.