“When asked about his decision to move to the US, Saotome said “I meditated on Ōsensei’s (Ueshiba’s) spirit for three days and three nights and I felt it was his wish that I should go. This country is a great experiment, a melting pot of people from many different cultural backgrounds living together, the world condensed into one nation. The goal of aikido and Ōsensei’s dream is that all the peoples of the world live together as one family, in harmony with each other and with their environment. The United States has the opportunity to set a great example.”
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Whenever you watch an instructor you have to ask yourself … why is he/she doing aikido the way they are doing aikido?
When you figure out the answer, it usually leads you to another direction other than you thought. It leads to more than meets the eye.
What gets me going is … most teachers, and practitioners, not all but most .. don’t pursue the deeper meaning and application of what they are practicing or how it applies to so many other disciplines in a whole variety of martial arts.
You need to look at the pressure points that are being activated if you strike, push, or rub instead of being so kind as we are for Aikido, not do them .. but be aware of them.
You have to look at what weapons could be applied to the movements you are practicing and if you need to slightly modify those movements to accept those weapons you have in hand.
You need to step back and watch what the class is doing as well as what the instructor wants you to do, and figure out … what you are trying to take from this class.
Is it skill? Is it confidence to overcome fear? Is it something that will integrate itself into your life or just another hobby that will fall away if you become sick, ill, or simply bored because you can’t find the deeper meaning of what you are practicing or it’s many varied applications?
Sometimes I think the hardest thing to do is to ask an instructor if they see what you see, then shut the hell up when they don’t.
I was at one seminar and I told the instructor he was doing small circle jujitsu when we met at intermission, which he denied, but damned if it wasn’t everything that I had learned in small circle being shown for Aikido. So, when he was in denial .. I thanked him and shut the hell up. Yep, you can learn a lot .. if you get around … everybody can show you something you will want or need if you just pay attention. (this has nothing to do with this teacher except the relevance of the story is that you can suddenly see more than meets the eye)
Pay attention when you watch the teachers and instructors of this school … ya might see some interesting stuff!!
Always enjoyed Saotome’s classes… (even though he talked a lot, rambling, somewhat comprehensible… My legs went to sleep from sitting, and only came alive enough to hurt in the brief training breaks.
) Learned a fun sword form. Once had the technique of “passing on”, as in Musashi, demonstrated. He temporarily disroiented my ability to attack. Body language? Facial language (i.e – The Diogenes Project).