This minor dojo incident is embedded in my memory. Minor it may have been but the outcomes will be of immense consequence for some.

During a class, a geek who had not been training for about five years, was practicing with a retired battlefield hardened warrior of immense field and dojo experience paralleled only by a few.

This true gentleman was being kind and, as he does, modulating so that the uncoordinated, lazy, nerd could recapture the years of lost training.

I could not help hear the conversation.

In another world I would have personally trained with the arrogant geek and made sure that if he did ever deign to come back, his ego would be left at the mortuary before ever setting foot in this dojo. The true Budo tradition requires it, if you want that student to return alive from service in the field.

Better the ego killed in dojo than the asset in the field. But some people choose to remain liabilities, even to themselves. It feels more comfortable.

In this instance, it did not matter so much. The nerd serves society quite well in his field of keyboards and screen. He would never be chosen as being fit for matters of real world consequence.

So I let it go as he being in good hands.

But it again caught my attention, based on his executive knowledge of nothing but a keypad, this ignorant fellow kept insisting on doing the technique wrong. The senior was being too kind and trying to explain verbally. A fatal error. Only object lessons sustain in Budo.

Any Japanese of my era would have educatively hurt the guy and kept hurting him for the duration of the class until he either got it or left.

But our gentleman warrior friend is often too kind.

So he tried to verbally correct the nerd. Who responded arrogantly, “I DON”T THINK SO!

I was truly surprised that warrior did not drop him, HARD!
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“When life takes you away from training, do not worry. Because Aikido is natural and follows the principles of the Universe, it is like a food garden. When you have been away and return, it may have become overgrown with other herbs, but when you return and clear it there will be a rich crop growing quietly underneath…” – Morihei Ueshiba

The fallow field principle was well know for renewing and enriching the earth before the days of unbridled ignorance and greed in mere mortals, fostered the illusion that recently invented and ultimately obsolete, toxic chemical imbalance somehow knows better than eternal God and Nature.

In a like manner, recovery time enriches us as human beings. Everything in the Universe progresses in cycles. Time out is a natural thing.

When you return to training or any skill there will be some work clearing the, “rust and dust from the joints..” but you will find that the accrued credit from previous training will have gained interest. It is a natural law of the universe. Don’t let your mind play tricks on you. You’ve in truth lost nothing. It is lying fallow, waiting to be resurrected.

Do this gradually and progressively, with care and attention.

Indeed there will be times when a change, a break or a good rest from training is the best thing you can do. It will allow the accrued interest to mature and multiply. That inner kingdom which is yours to augment is of immense value.

Whilst you may not consciously notice the gain immediately, it soon becomes evident.

Ever had a break, and on your return newly inspired, people ask; “Where have you been training?” I’m not sure how it works but it works as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. Perhaps your training during the break was on the “inner realms,” where the natural wisdom of the unconscious (or superconscious) mind made vital augmenting adjustments.

Don’t feel bad about it. Allow the time out to take its course. Allow the rest and recovery. Allow yourself to be. Allow the universe to wrought the new refinements and changes that augment your being. Allow yourself to relax into the process. It is entirely natural.

The neuronal file paths of the body-mind connection never leave. They may sometimes need a rest but will always revive better than ever if you train well and true.

After a few weeks of renewed training practice you will find that you will be sailing again and this better than ever before.

Learn to observe and understand the cycles of nature. They give Life! Aikido, at it’s core is the life giving principle of accommodation that inevitably reconciles all possibilities, if not sooner, then certainly later.

Nev Sagiba
aikiblue.com

“Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt..”

William Shakespeare

“Normal” is a conformist concept born out of fear and doubt and everything that stifles our expanding, bright, light generating, natural creative potentials. “Normal” is the noose around the neck accepted by most people conforming fearfully to the sheeple trends of the time. Fit in. Be afraid. Mimic everyone else’s retarded, restricted, in-the-Matrix, self hypnotized, don’t-rock-the-boat etc mentality. I think “normal” is a disease. “Normal” people seek instant gratification and get exploited by predators thereby. There is no such thing in nature. Everything has a price.

We are designed to be OUTSTANDING. At least at one thing but preferably in everything we do.

But once infected with the sorry attitude of a conformist “normality,” we don’t want to upset anyone. Nobody who contributed to the advancement of humanity EVER fitted in. They were always rocking the boat and were generally uncomfortable to the status-quo quagmires of mediocrity. This is not to a say be a destroyer, the over the edge extreme. Not at all. The destroyers of history are forgotten in well deserved ignominy.

All variables of human love are about CHANGE, the nature of the Universe itself. Well directed change is mostly a tad uncomfortable at first but invariably pays huge dividends in happiness after. Through change it is earned. A new athlete suffers for about 8 to 12 weeks during which a TRANSFORMATION takes place. After that it’s all the reward in well earned: bliss, happy juices, endorphines and naturally generated glycogen-peak highs the body produces during brief physical intensity.
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“You are relevant! Do not EVER let anyone suggest otherwise!”

“It’s only me!” How often do you hear this? Only! Only?

Conversely, that same deep insecurity gives rise to much posturing and aggression in males. Notwithstanding, it arises from the same fear of absolute annihilation that resides deep in the core of each human soul; right next to that Divine spark which is a particle of the Godhead Itself! The Eternal part.

You are not the dancing shadows of poverty, struggle, human suffering that take such great personal courage to endure. Nor are you the passing phases of illness, addiction, paranoia, foolish behaviour, money-fear of losing it, anger or aggression.. endless lists of the attitudes, afflictions and actions of futility.

Does life have purpose? Some say it does and others say it does not.

Regardless, we are here, now. We live. We can shine. We can reclaim ourselves. It does not matter what method, what arts, what sciences, what personal disciplines you use to reclaim integrity and personal responsibility for deliberately navigating life… It is possible!

You don’t have to measure up to anyone else. You don’t have to beat anyone else. And.. you don’t have to try to be anyone else! You are you and you are you perfectly. Don’t let this sleep. You are full of latent possibility, talent, ability and creative potential. No one exists who is not!

Why then? Why then are most of us drones? Why do we fear and kowtow to wrongful, misused authority? Why do we strangle ourselves with debt? Why do we allow ourselves to be duped into believing the lie, the greatest lie of all time.. that we have little or no worth?

No-one exists who has no worth. No one can. You, we each, contain the wisdom of infinity, the radiance of a million suns and the life force of eternity. Sure, much of it is locked, but if we exist for any reason at all, it is to find ways to unlock our true potential. Eating drinking, defecating, passing wind and water is merely incidental to maintaining the machine of consciousness, sentience and mobility, the Hito Jinja, the Temple of the Living God, if you will.

So the temple has to be maintained, swept, nourished.. but is that the all of it? The resigned to indignity make of it a hovel of insanity and sad habits. No-one is bound to ignominy. We each and all have the power of choice, even if by the smallest increment we choose to move towards our goals.

The River of Life, Kannagara no Michi sweeps us along faster than we can take control. Life is too much of a roller coaster from birth to death; BUT WE ARE HERE TODAY!
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“No matter how bad people seem, I always treat them with the utmost respect possible. They feel that and usually reciprocate.”

Some of my Aikido students have worked in security related professions. One in particular stands out. I’ll call him D… to protect his professional anonymity.

Where it is possible to do so, he quietly approaches the suspect and says, “You’ve been caught..” speaks quietly with them. At least 60% of the time they follow him in quietly. No physical contact is required. D…’s Zanshin is sharp. Recently when walking to an embukai together, I was getting a running commentary on who was walking out which store with what, which thieves were professional or amateur and other details of the profession which must remain classified. “Put it down, D…” I said; “You’re off duty now.” I learnt to put it down years ago, I still notice, but I let it go. Even superman would get tired being on the case full time but D… still enjoys the job. Anyway after quite a few years D.. recently got promoted to an administrative position. Well earned, I might add, and as a result we might see him back at training soon.

D… does not look ‘tough’. As with most of the better security personnel I have had the privilege to know, you could not pick him. In fact, when there’s a movie star in town and the bodyguards are short staffed he always gets assigned because he has the looks and blends in nicely. He enjoys these rare occasions and the reprieve from the violence of the store floor and street on such assignments.

D… is a quiet, modest and gentle soul who prefers ‘the easy way’. Over time, there’s been knife, gun, syringe, armed gang attacks.. you name it. When the other security staff run in fear, they call out: “Where’s D…?” and always he resolves it and brings in the suspects. And yet he’s the only staff member who consistently, over many years, has never sustained any injury in the job. Even on the occasions he had to rescue several police from very vicious attacks in holding cells.

I could go on. War stories can be both fun and educational, but become trite in the face of such consummate skill at de-escalation and notwithstanding, good record of successful task performance.

What is it this guy has got the others don’t? I mean they do some stupid things because most of them do not train and become confused by their own fear. And there are many badly handled incidents. For example, one of the ex-senior staff is being sued for wrestling a 50 year old lady to the floor, tearing her clothes off and injuring her. On mere suspicion!! How do you spell stupid? The other staff have sustained numerous injuries and even been hospitalised in the aftermath of brutal attacks and reprisals. And yet when things go really bad they always call for D…. He trains Aikido. The Japanese police require Aikido training as mandatory. Good move.

Many security guards do not have a clue. Worse so, some have sociopathic tendencies and hide behind the role so they can get an opportunity to hurt people. Happens regularly, a mere arrest turns into a murder. It’s a disgrace and a black mark against the industry. Thugs and cowboys belong on the other side of the metal bars.

Anyhow what is it D…’s got?

After quite a few years, he does not train at the dojo now, though everyone wants him back,  (Now in training, with D… this pure soul if you don’t do the technique right, nothing happens, yet he brings the same gentle power and respect into the dojo).

“What do you put your success down to?” I recently asked him.

Invariably the reply is: “Aikido training and the fact no matter how bad people seem, I always treat them with the utmost respect possible. They feel that and usually reciprocate. They must have their own inner struggles. Just because I’m arresting them does not mean I have a right to misbehave. Nor does it make me in any way superior to them.”

“What, even when laying on of hands?”

“Yep, I see it as a form of healing,” he says. “They seldom do struggle to the point of a break, really small percentage, but notwithstanding Aiki heals the mind of violent tendencies.”

D… can back up his gentleness with thunder when called for. But D… does not hold people’s foibles against them, rather behaves with compassion even in the midst of violent necessity. He says, “My job is not to judge anyone or to mete out any punishment. That’s for the courts. I’m just helping minimise crime in the best way I know how. It’s just a job.”

And in making it easy for others he makes life easier for himself too.

D… genuinely loves people and he takes charge of situations with an attitude of quiet respect, a smile and a friendly word and only uses ‘backup’ if and when necessary.

Now that, as far as I can see, is good practical Aikido at many levels.

Nev Sagiba
aikiblue.com

This girl is a keeper!!!!
It happened at a New York Airport. This is hilarious. I wish I had the guts of this girl. An award should go to the United Airlines gate agent in New York for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo. For all of you out there who have had to deal with an irate customer, this one is for you.

A crowded United Airlines flight was canceled. A single agent was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.

Suddenly, an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS.”

The agent replied, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these folks first; and then

I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”

The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”

Without hesitating, the agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. “May I have your attention, please?”, she began, her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him with his identity, please come to Gate 14″.

With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the United Airlines agent, gritted his teeth, and said, “F*** You!”

Without flinching, she smiled and said, “I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to get in line for that, too.”

Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain…

Found online – thank you to the writer for inviting to share this!

Nev Sagiba
aikiblue.com

“The best time to train is when you think you are “too tired” to train. That’s when the, “juice” begins to extract!”

When cowards meet in the field of combat nothing happens. They all slink away.

Paradoxically this may also seem to happen with the enlightened, giving a similar appearance.

We’ll come to the distinction later.

Before the sporty mindset ever entered into the consciousness of man, battle was a strategic event which required killing the opponent.  Killing is hard work as no-one dies easily. Unlike the movies appear to portray, battles lasted for a few hours and then withdrawal to rest and refresh became necessary in-between waves of activity, unless the resources could afford to work in shifts, as did for example the Roman Empire’s killing machine used for invasion.

A great deal was learned by the survivors of those ancient battles. Often by way of error. Strategy arises when resources become low and fine increments begin to matter. Exhaustion gave rise to the relaxed or tired essential movements of jujutsu, in-yo or aiki. Aiki is the basis of all strategic competence.

Quite early it was found by all but the most retarded of egotistical dunderheads, most which were exterminated in the field, that clashing, force to force is mostly an exercise in futility, unless you have infinite resources. Where are the Romans now? They ran out of oomph. The case rests on this repeatedly proven fact of history. War is ultimately more expensive than the perceived returns. This will never change. A good reason to keep war as a last resort when everything else has been tried and for those rare instances where none of the alternatives have worked.
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“Watch, copy and repeat. Refine endlessly… ABSOLUTE HONESTY is the criterion set by the Founder of Aikido… Pay attention to the teacher and to yourself in action…. NOTICE, NOTICE, NOTICE!!!”

The Founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshuba, had it right. He explained the techniques non-verbally. My best teachers including Seiichi Sugano also minimized words in the dojo. But they exemplified impeccably with Ki no Musubi. And this functionally. Proven so. No room for “war stories” here but this kinesthetic teaching method speeds up the skill curves exponentially EVEN BEFORE YOUR INTELLECT HAS CAUGHT UP.

Just like a real event, your training, if good, steps in to save you and you don’t get to analyze anything at all for days, sometimes years later. But it saves you and that’s all that really matters.

What is “understanding” when it comes to Budo? The ability to mind chatter incoherently for years then hoping for clarity. Or the actual ability to instantly notice and survive imminent and deadly situations?

Clarity comes when the chatter ceases. Beware of casehardened preconceptions.

Why?

This is a science these gentlemen intuited naturally.

When you hook up a person to an MRI and other sophisticated equipment and the subject observes, the brain lights up in one way. When the subject moves, in a similar way.

When the subject talks and listens to words being spoken, an entirely different and disparate part of the brain, mostly unrelated then lights up. There is nothing wrong with the analytical parts of the brain. They simply serve other purposes, not action.

But it’s good for business. Lots and lots of words get in the way of natural direct perception and generate mystery where none exists and therefore prolongs the imaginary learning curve. For a price. And the waste of your precious time. Life-time.

Intellectual clutter, verbiage, explanations successfully destroy NOTICING! In nature, descriptives form a distraction. Combat survival is the original and oldest natural skill set embedded in our instincts. Ai-ki, harmonizing is the future newer “operating system” drawing us into the light (hikari) of future potentials for sustainability. If we fail to sustain we will become extinct. The old paradigms stuck in dark machinations and aggression are insufficient to the task.
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“To convert aggression, violence, attack, indeed any challenge into a steppingstone is the prize..”

What makes Aikido different? How did it come about? Yes, yes, we all think we know because we’ve read something, but let’s assume for a moment that all writings and the opinions and biases that come with them suddenly did not exist and you stepped into a time machine and got sent back in time.

How would you arrive at something like this? And why? How would Aikido emerge naturally from attrition.

Did Aikido come about because of an opinion or because of real die hard necessity?

Opinions are not worth much. In the final analysis, what works, works because it does, not because someone’s ego thinks it should. That is why governments, hyper cerebral academics and anyone disconnected from the actual, without on-the-ground hard experience generally make so many faux pas.

I’ll give an example. Ever watched a movie and in a few minutes an apprentice to a master becomes a master himself and wins the battle and having identified with the protagonist hero you walk out thinking you are too. Until you trip or walk into something. Then you wake up from the dream.

The movie was trying to portray the passing of many years of grueling, regular, hard discipline. Instant gratification generally leads to decay. Work, regular work is the price demanded by existence, innate in the nature of the universe to achieve a goal.

Aikido, began in the killing fields. I venture a guess that some tired, older, more experienced dudes were set upon by younger, fitter, fresher men and yet they still survived using the principles of efficiency to win with economy of motion, pivotal leverage and doing less to achieve more. Necessarily, even if surprised at the outcome, the clearer thinkers would have sought to study and refine this. Over time it was researched, reworked, refined and so jujitsu, or aiki evolved.

Interestingly for the hundredth monkey, at about the same time that the jujutsus were unfurling in the East, in the West such notables as Newton were unlocking the scientific principles of physics, efficiency, gravity and all the other attributes which comprise and compose quality jujutsu.

An attitude of mind arose around this that can and does lead to personal mastery. And it is this. Whilst many whine and acrimoniously excuse themselves as victims of those who steal resources to hold power over others, this natural principle of aiki, innate in the very nature of the Universe totally steps outside the all-lose bully-victim pathology by simply tapping the energy generated by the attack to one’s own advantage. And it can devolve into all areas of life, inner and outer, social and physical, mental and spiritual. Why struggle? You risk losing. Resistance is futile. So is surrender. Where is the advantage hidden in the situation? Challenges can be made into steppingstones by a shift of attitude, which opens the mind to myriad other possibilities and potentials missed by the fixated, stuck, entangled mind.

Nature does not yield her secrets too easily. To say this is easy and while the principle is simple, it has to be consciously addressed to be earned and a lot of letting go of erroneous opinions are required to step outside of the matrix. We are species that tend to cling to older methods with a, “better-the-devil-I-know..” attitude. Once freed from our own entrenched self-hypnotism, biases, prejudices, opinions and fixations that we make into self-fulfilling prophecies, the freedom of ki flow, we give rise to the Takemusu that makes anything possible. The authentic freedom can control appearances without force, fakery or manipulation. They have to be worked and we needs-be surrender our prejudices of mind, body, attitude and spirit.

To convert aggression, violence, attack, indeed any challenge into a steppingstone is the prize that Aikido, the universal Kannagara no Michi yields to the serious practitioner. It cannot be faked. Aikido, to be real requires a measurably really challenge, for in a challenge resides stored energy that can then be tapped.

Let the attacker go for it. Let the attacker wear himself out. Let him spend the money. Learn to get out of the way with skill and if necessary, at the proper moment, you can capture the moment to lead the energy to resolution. The attack will dissipate.

Challenges are steppingstones. It is possible to develop the skills to see how and to better navigate life.

Aikido is the physical art that teaches the mind to embrace, understand and deploy this principle of aiki in all things. A worthy way of life.

Without this principle at the core of our intentions, if we still want to do things the hard way, if we still seek struggle, clumsiness and loss of integrity, ulterior motives or any other sideline that’s not in accord with the Great Harmony of the Universe, Aikido would be a futile pursuit which will fail to yield its secrets.

Aikido is not yet another calcified, casehardened set of opinions about “style”, but rather the most refined way to do anything and everything. Indeed the best research is to be found in the worst attrition under life and death pressure. (Many more discoveries are made during war than peacetime.)

And it’s a perennial work in progress. As the Founder said, “Aikido is the discovery of the universe and its possibilities. It is a vast path without end..”

The challenge principle is at the foundation of the weaving of the universe itself. Challenges are designed to be steppingstones. Find out how and everything changes.

Nev Sagiba
aikiblue.com

“There is more to violence than, “the street”…”

When we hear about violence, often “the street” is mentioned, as if that’s the only place that violence takes place. Well I’m here to disillusion you. Only a small percentage of violence takes pace in the mythical “street.” But it is often serious, so not to be taken lightly.

Violence is all around us. Violence is when a line is crossed that infringes unto the boundary of others. Some violence is unconscious. Much of it deliberate. There are many shades of violence.

Whether bullying at school or the workplace, child abuse or domestic violence at home, sexual abuse or rape (most goes unreported), whether theft of any form, inflated prices or interest rates, any totalitarian tactic, the creation of unjust laws or the misuse of law to bring about a breach of justice, poor or unjust governance, the corrosive effects of poor relationships, office politics, poor job conditions especially around remuneration and occupational health and safety. Wherever someone becomes, “interested” in something not rightfully theirs, but belonging to someone else, deception, cheating, any form of exploitation, infringement, transgression and the causing harm of any kind constitutes violence.

In recent war footage on the news, I heard an anchor man say that the local inhabitants had the temerity to be engaging in “violence” while the invaders were bombing the smithereens out of them. Such a level of idiocy and mental entrapment borders on the microcephalic. The modus of war is aggression and violence on a grand scale. Whether plain dumb and hypnotized by propaganda or intended as deceptive “spin” such attempts at dressing it up as something else are never helpful. Any normal person would strive to defend the land of their birth. It’s the inalienable birthright of every sentient being alive!

The list of violent, violational and violatory possibilities is virtually endless and these are the battles of life everyone experiences and participates in to some degree or another, depending on where they live and the conditions around them. Violence always causes pain. Change is the nature of the Universe. When change moves too fast, spiritual blindness may arise and infringement will tend to happen. When it does, we have no alternative than to learn to “dance” with it as best we can, in order to protect our integrity.
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“Generating harmony, not because it is easy but because it is not easy, despite all opposition. This is true Aikido…..”

For millions of years, preceded by billions, certain predispositions of physics and cause and effect tried, tested, proved and became habituated as foundational instincts.

These are not about to go anywhere.

They are embedded deep into the survival predispositions of all living creatures. Indeed matter itself. This constitutes the old OS, comprising the hardware, being the universe, planetary system and the solid components of earth. The firmware resides in our DNA (genes).

The software is always being renewed and reformed from the expansive nature of the Universe, this being Light, the future where new variables and possibilities (memes) not only reside but are constantly being revisited and refined just like a Japanese car.

Each generation is superior to the previous. This is the innate and immutable nature of Nature and the Universe. Those rotting in old habit will, with stagnant mind, disagree and find fault because they fear change. But change is life and variety, as the old saying states, the spice of it.

All an adult can teach a child is old stuff. The children teach us the new, newest and newer. IF WE LISTEN, WATCH and HEAR with the eye of the soul.

Make no mistake of it, the old jujutsu teachers studied children at play as well Nature at work and all the denizens of the vast panoply Earth is heir to.

In this, they witnessed the ever renewing Kannagara no Michi at work and realized that the Human is designed to bridge Heaven and Earth as a Hito Jinja in all things. Morihei revived this.

If you don’t get this you have not begun to practice any Aikido of any kind whatsoever.

Mimicking forms is not Aikido. Serving each other is. Providing a challenge safely. Imparting viable methodology. Hiding nothing. Transparency. Teaching against all odds. Bringing the caring spirit of Budo into all life. Correcting yourself. Generating harmony, not because it is easy but because it is not easy, despite all opposition. This is true Aikido.
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“The pusher was bending down to pull out a pistol from a boot holster he would have used before any of the unconscious crowd could even begin to know what happened.”

Appropriate preemption is a rare thing because it requires a measure of clarity that some people imagine as “mind reading.” Not so. It is the clear and lucid reading of intention which makes itself available with regular practice of good budo, especially Aiki Budo where your practice partners know how to attack without telegraphing as do beginners and the unskilled.

Morihei, Gozo, Koichi, Seiichi and Morihiro had it. Most of the others fake it and that poorly.

Preemption is one of the epitomes of budo skill that separate the true budoka from children.

The thug, the bully and the idiot does not preempt. He merely initiates aggression. This is the pathology we are trying to heal in the species.

In order for true preemption to become available the protector must have a clear and unmitigated knowingness of the attackers intention to attack. Then be able to discern, evaluate, decide and act in less than two seconds.

The following is true recounting of something that happened:

A budoka had a job as a waiter in a large restaurant. Whilst serving a table he casually sauntered up to one male person and delivered a knockout strike. A furor ensued and as it turned out he was arrested and charged, and needless to say lost his job.
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