“Ask some people how they envision their life at 82, and some say they hope to accomplish their life’s goals long before that, or they mention senior centers and nursing homes. Not so for Bernie Mulligan of Salem. Last week, Mulligan reached the highest level of achievement in Aikido, a Japanese martial art. Mulligan, 82, was designated as “Shihan” or Master Teacher from Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo.”
Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.
“Firstly, high tech combat is modern warfare. This involves combined arms battle groups, satellite communications, automatic weapons, aircraft carrier battle groups and manoeuvre warfare. This is warfare utilising modern technology. It is warfare waged by states. It is the methods and tactics used against the Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan.
“‘In fact, with only a small effort, we can handle the jobs easily. That is, ‘to send Ki to all the things to do in advance’. The job to which we direct our Ki willingly is not tiring, however, the one which we feel we need to do because we are told to do so and to which our Ki is not directed, is very tiring. This is the difference between ‘Ki goes in advance of doing the jobs’ and ‘“Do the jobs and Ki comes later.’ Even if the time difference of Ki is only an instant, it causes a very big difference.”
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“When we first start training aikido it can all seem a bit overwhelming. There’s a lot to take on board & our minds are a little overloaded. Hopefully, these hints & tips will help to clarify things by removing some of the ‘noise’ (excessive thoughts & superfluous movements) that can distract you when training in the dojo.”
“The word mindset is often bandied about in combative training, though it doesn’t seem to be easily defined nor well applied in practice. We prefer the term combative intent. While most people who use the term mindset seem to be referring to a “correct” mindset, inherently the word itself is basically neutral: one can either a positive mindset or a negative mindset. Combative intent, however, implies the will or volition to carry out a combative action. Nevertheless, whether using the word mindset or intent, a rose by another name is just as sweet…”
“In mental terms aikido means “letting go”, not relying on physical strength, not depending on the intellectual part of the brain to think of solutions to the problems we face. These are not little things to let go. The thinking part of the brain always wants to tell us that the intellect matters most. It will use that sense of the body that uses out muscles to stay in control.”
“My father was interested from an early stage in educating young people and remodeled one corner of the house into a dojo since his idea was that martial arts were the only means to achieve this purpose. He called the dojo the “Yoshinkan”. This was the predecessor of the Yoshinkan we have today.”
“John Stevens is an internationally acclaimed Aikidoka and one of the foremost authorities on Aikido and Buddhist studies. He is the author many famous books of Aikido which are available in many different translations. He is a respected member of academia, a professor at Tohoku Fukushi University, in Sendai, Japan (just north of Tokyo, on the east coast). I have always found his literary works interesting, thought provoking, and very educational in the study of Aikido and other cultures as well.”
“One of the challenges that all Aikido teachers face is how to get students to stop relying on brute strength to move their partners. It was this challenge that led me to develop an exercise that I call “Aiki Push Hands“.
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