Aikido of Irvine 武産合気真如道場

When you bow,

Breathe out.

That is your old self leaving.

When you rise,

Breathe in.

That is your new soul.

If it feels too difficult...

If you want to give up...

Think back to all the times you felt that way on the mat and pushed through.

THIS is what you've been training for.

THIS is the REAL test.

Don't give up.

Reach out to your team mates and have them cheer you on.

You got this.

The universe favors the decisive.

There is value in not getting an answer.

There is value in not talking on the mat.

Learn to observe.
Learn to be curious and figure it out.

If your training partner is confused, not getting it...
You don't have to give them the answer.

You don't have to rob them of the opportunity to develop their kinesthetic problem solving skills.

That frustration is part of the learning process, the discovery process.

If you just give them the answer, then they have to substitute your judgement for personal development. They have to remember rules that are highly idiomatic for each scenario instead of discovering underlying principles that are universally true.

So the next time you want to be a Moses descending the mountain with stone tablets....

Consider being a goat that gets chased up the mountain... so the pursuer gets to have their own experience.

If you remember the productions possibilities frontier from economics (PPF), and you imagine on one end there is you and the work you put into it, and on the other end is your sensei/ senpai and their insights....

Then know that if you show up to class and you can't remember what you did last session, then you're probably operating within the frontier, rather than on it.

I.e., output is suboptimal.

So don't worry about your skill level...

Growth isn't linear.

Just worry about putting in your share of the work.

O'Sensei had 6 Rules for Training in Aikido

Rule 4. The instructor teaches only one small aspect of the art. Its versatile applications must be discovered by each student through incessant practice and training.

A lot of talk about the need for 'safe spaces' has me thinking.

Contrary to popular belief, a dojo is a safe space.

A dojo is a place where you can safely calibrate the intensity up and down, so that you can do the work of facing your fears and your limitations without being overwhelmed.

This work is important because the world needs people who don't give up in the face of difficulty...

people who keep their word when it isn't convenient anymore...

people who make a decision and have the strength to follow through...

Maybe that's not where we are yet. But if that's where we want to go, if that's the person we want to become, then it is almost certainly not going to happen overnight.

It happens gradually, through practice.

You pick one place, one hour, and commit to being your absolute best there at that time. And you have a team call you out when you aren't doing it.

Do that enough times and you become what you were pretending to be.

Why start new students with weapons?
Isn’t it impractical to study weapons?
What is the probability that you will get into a samurai sword duel?

First of all, if you have a samurai sword in your home you should take at least one class that requires you to practice your sword work...

(otherwise you’re like Mac from Always Sunny: constantly showing off your karate moves but having never taken one class…)

More importantly, swords and spears are like steroids for your brain’s ability to measure angles.

Being a martial artist requires a level of subtlety and nuance and precision that has to be developed over time…
and swords and spears are just line extensions of your hands that amplify angles.
The parallax created by extending the lines makes subtle changes in your hands more exaggerated and obvious...
making it easier for your eyes and brain to detect what is still too subtle for your kinesthetic sensibilities!

Lastly, all the open hand movements in Aikido come from sword work/ sword culture: the body mechanics, the emphasis on angles, the constant concern for multiple attackers, one cut one kill… all of this comes from sword work.

In short, weapons illustrate how a small change here can effect a large change over there....

So make a small change in your life today.

Future you will thank you.

The verdict is in: for the next two weeks the morning weapons training will be Suburi (basic elementary movements; think of all those anime scenes with students doing the same sword cut over and over).

A fear I have now that I didn't have when I started: becoming one of those guys that talks but doesn't train.

We all know them, their jaw muscles do more reps than their hands do.

I'm not saying there is no place for talk.

But as a preventative measure, I think we should all adopt a rule:

we can only talk for as long as we've trained that day.

Today someone asked me about the significance of the belts, the purpose of having them.

This reminded me of a thought I had while I was in China, about to take my Shodan test:

The Sensei awarding the black belt has the ability to discern who has the skills and who doesn't, so he doesn't need any visual cues.

The student being awarded the black belt wants the skills, and once he has them the belt doesn't confer any additional skills.

So the visual cue of wearing a black belt must be intended for someone who has yet to achieve that level of nuance, i.e., people who are not yet black belt, so they know who to model after.

If you have your own thoughts on the need or purpose of belts or ranking, please share; I'm keenly interested.