aikido wisdom

[kirkcudbright]

lyonesse and I went to her regularly scheduled aikido class tonight (as in, she was supposed to teach), and, predictably, no one showed up. But you never know who's going to be around and bored the day after Thanksgiving.

Anyway, we talked about the philosophy of aikido, and the things that don't make it onto Sensei's Four Basic Principles. We made a list

Comments

[lyonesse]

you should post this to the aikido community, see what it provokes there :)

[iabervon]

Stand like a normal person

Followed by the more advanced "Walk like a normal person". The funny thing I've noticed since getting this advice is that normal people actually stand and walk really awkwardly, even when they're really not doing anything. Of course, in order to notice this, you need to know enough to take the advice correctly despite its actual inaccuracy.

Reminds me of words of Winston

[anonymous]

These reminded me of some pearls from Ou-san from the old U Chicago Kokikai site - had to go to the wayback machine to find them, but here they are:

"Here are some reminders for my students. If they're of any use to others, even better."

Before everything, eliminate the self.

Lead the mind.

Cultivate the intuition; listen to nothing.

Don't lie to yourself. You are that jerk walking down the street.

The more tension one encounters, the more one should relax.

Zero physical force; a lot of nothing.

Extend up, extend down.

Great fullness comes only from great emptiness.

Weight underside

Open the muscles; open the mind; open the heart.

Relax into the present.

The seven virtues of budo: compassion, rightness, courtesy, wisdom, faith, friendship and piety.

Practice in a such a way that you could practice without stopping for one year.

Please stop sweating so much.

Take the slack out, keep the slack out

Open the joints

Head suspended from a string, back of neck slightly taut

Consciously develop a body awareness / sense of morality

No muscle