Notes from the Mat

On August 28th, 2026, I had a chance to visit and practice Aikido at YMCA KL Aikido Club. The club is located inside YMCA Kuala Lumpur, 95 Jalan Padang Belia, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. The dojo cho is Raymond Kwok Sensei.

As I came to Malaysia for a conference, I also wanted to make this trip meaningful for myself by joining a keiko at a local Aikido dojo. Luckily, I stayed at the campus of Universiti Malaya, where I could easily take a Grab to the dojo. I had contacted Sensei about a month before my trip, and he kindly helped me navigate the address and even warned me about the traffic jam around the time I planned to come.

I arrived about one and a half hours early. I walked around to find a place to change into my gi, then went outside to buy an electrolyte drink. After that, I sat quietly in the public area on the first floor. Malaysia was extremely hot during this season. Even around 6:30 PM, the sky was still blue with soft sunlight.

KL YMCA Aikido practices in the Lotus Room, the last room at the end of the hallway on the ground floor. I met Raymond Kwok Sensei and two of his students at the YMCA reception, and we had a short conversation. Looking back, I think arriving early was one of my best decisions because it gave me time to talk with Sensei before keiko started.

We began practice with some warm-up exercises that helped me relax my body. That moment made me miss Japan very much because of the feeling and style of practice. Raymond Kwok Sensei’s movements also reminded me of several Japanese teachers I had met during my trip to Japan two years ago.
He taught us many techniques. Some were similar to what I had practiced before, while others were slightly different. I tried to relax my shoulders and focus on the connection of energy and movement.

Joining keiko in different dojos and countries has become a way for me to let go of fear. It also teaches me how to learn and unlearn — to put down my ego and discover new aspects of Aikido.

I felt relaxed in this dojo. Sometimes, when an uke made mistakes during practice, Raymond Kwok Sensei would come over and carefully demonstrate the technique again. Occasionally he looked a little strict, but I tried not to be affected by his emotions. Instead, I returned my attention to practice and reminded myself to keep relaxing my body.

We practiced from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM. Outside, heavy rain began to fall, and water flooded the entrance of the dojo. Raymond Kwok Sensei jokingly told me, “You will remember us because of this flood.” In my mind, I thought it felt just like Ho Chi Minh City after heavy rain, when the streets become like a swimming pool. But honestly, I think I will remember him even more because of his humor and kindness.

At the end of keiko, we took a group photo, and Sensei gave me the dojo magazine from 2019 — the last edition before COVID-19. I was so happy. In return, I gave him a special gift that I had brought from Aiki Shrine, and I also gave the senpai some coconut candy that I had brought from Vietnam.

We said goodbye and hoped to see each other again soon. Because of the rain, I returned directly to my accommodation. I ate a cup of noodles and reflected on my Aikido journey. Later that night, I read the dojo magazine and recognized the faces of the senpai who had practiced with me earlier that day. It made me appreciate even more that they had gathered there to welcome and practice with me.

I believe that wherever I go, with Aikido, there will always be a place that feels like home.

In remembrance of the Day of Passing (Great Return) of Morihei Ueshiba, O-Sensei, the founder of Aikido — honoring his legacy of peace and harmony.
Look forward to back to Tanabe on Oct 2028.

During my training, I have had a problem with keeping the breath down in my lower abdomen. My teacher often reminds me to keep the breath in the dantian instead of focusing only on the feet with each movement. I am still reflecting on this along my path. Whenever I practice, I try to keep my mind on a point in my lower abdomen.

One day, while teaching the kids, I chose a different exercise for them. I asked them to stand in a circle and observe their breathing together. Standing made it easier for me to manage the little students. It is also a more disciplined posture — they cannot just lie lazily on the mat.

The children stood upright, feet parallel, with the right hand placed on the belly.

When we breathe in, we should feel the belly expand.
When we breathe out, the belly should feel like a ball slowly deflating.

But the kids looked at me with wide eyes.

They said, “My belly doesn’t expand.”

I found it strange, so I began observing them one by one. I stood next to Khang. He took a deep breath in, but his belly stayed flat while his chest expanded. When he breathed out, his belly was still flat and his chest collapsed. Two or three other kids were exactly the same.

At that moment, I suddenly understood why I couldn’t bring my breath down to my lower abdomen.

Even I had been breathing incorrectly.

So that whole day, both teacher and students simply practiced observing the breath.

Learning is a lifelong journey.
And the teacher is also someone who must keep learning.

NHK 1961 AIKIDO Documentary Step back in time with this rare 1961 NHK documentary on Aikido, one of the earliest televised explorations of O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba’s art. Filmed during ...

The class began with seiza, kneeling quietly to practice stillness. Some children had tears running down their cheeks. Their bodies moved from time to time, yet they did not dare complain. Watching them, her heart tightened. For the first time, she truly understood what it means to be a teacher: to love the students deeply, and still remain strict.

She remembered when she was young, her teacher also made the class sit in seiza for a very long time. Some days, everyone sat for nearly an hour just to listen to his teaching. He said:

“Our martial art comes from Japan. There is a tradition of sitting like this while listening. Please practice it well, so that one day, when a Japanese teacher comes, you can sit with stability.”

She remembered the longest time she ever sat in seiza more than two and a half hours on a late autumn, early winter day in Japan. Cold slowly entered her body, the kind of cold felt by someone who had never lived in a cold country. She was tired from a long flight, and her stomach was empty and aching. That was the moment she touched her dream of coming to Japan to study martial arts — a dream that once felt very far away.

The dojo had no heater. Her feet became numb from the cold and from poor blood flow. Sometimes she wanted to sit cross-legged, as some foreign friends suggested, but she stopped herself. Her teachers had taught her that the only posture for observing practice was seiza.

There were moments when she wanted to give up. The foreign friend sitting next to her was sitting cross-legged. She turned and whispered,

“Are we allowed to sit like this?”

He quickly corrected his posture and returned to seiza. She felt a little disappointed, but also happy. She was not alone.

From time to time, she lifted her body slightly to ease her legs. The friend beside her did the same. The strict teacher in the dojo remained serious, yet sometimes a small smile appeared, seeing the clumsiness of two foreign students trying their best to sit still.

The next day, she was allowed to enter the dojo. It felt like a miracle. To be accepted, one normally had to write a letter and have a recommendation from one’s teacher a month in advance. She had only planned to visit the Aiki Shrine in Iwama, but foreign friends gently encouraged her:

“You should ask to practice here.”

Their eyes were warm, after a long conversation about Aikido far from home.

Only after returning home did she slowly understand: the long hours of sitting in seiza were not meant to test the body, but the heart of the person walking the path.

She quietly thanked the strict teachers who walked beside her on the path of martial arts, and of being human. Because of those lessons, she was able to reach her dream of studying martial arts in Japan.

And today, that lesson continues in silence through tear-filled eyes, and small feet that still hold the posture with patience.

Shu–Ha–Ri (守破離) is a traditional Japanese learning framework that describes the natural evolution of mastery in martial arts, arts, and even life practice. It is not a rigid ladder but a living process, guiding the student from imitation to innovation.

Shu (守) — To Protect / Obey
Shu is the stage of faithful learning. The student follows the teacher’s forms, techniques, etiquette, and rhythms exactly as taught. There is no attempt to alter or personalize the art. This is not blind obedience, but deep respect: by repeating correct forms, the body absorbs structure, timing, posture, and spirit. In martial arts, Shu builds safety, discipline, and humility. The ego is quiet, and trust in the lineage is essential. Foundations are laid here, and skipping Shu weakens everything that follows.

Ha (破) — To Break / Detach
Ha begins when the student starts to understand why things work. The forms are no longer copied mechanically; they are tested, compared, and adapted. The practitioner may study other schools, feel variations, and adjust techniques according to context, body type, or situation. This “breaking” does not mean rejecting tradition, but freeing oneself from rigid dependence on it. Mistakes increase, but insight deepens. Ha is a phase of questioning, refinement, and conscious choice.

Ri (離) — To Separate / Transcend
Ri is the stage of natural expression. Technique flows without conscious effort, and form arises spontaneously from principle. The practitioner is no longer bound by styles, yet fully embodies them. Teaching becomes transmission rather than instruction. In Ri, the art is no longer something you do—it is something you are.

Shu–Ha–Ri reminds us that true mastery is a journey from form, through understanding, into freedom.

concepts #守破離 #武道 #武道家 #道場 #師範 #先生 #学び #武道コミュニティ #武術 #武術トレーニング #武道家 #合気道家 #合気道 #道場スクロール #漢字 #座禅 #禅の概念

Here's an interesting graphic (top left) from Dan Harden - the classical Heaven-Earth-Man (Circle-Triangle-Square) Internal Power teaching methodology used by (among many others) Morihei Ueshiba.

Bottom left is a screenshot from a lecture by Morihei Ueshiba which he titled "Man receiving the Breath of Heaven and Earth", in which he explains the Heaven-Earth-Man symbolism of the Circle-Triangle-Square so often seen in Aikido dojo and relates them to the Kototama symbols on the right:

Middle (circle): "i"/ fire / Heaven / Yang

Bottom (square): "ki"/ water / Earth / Yin

Top (circle and square combined): "A"

In other words, the Circle-Triangle-Square represents "Aiki", the yin and yang of the circle and square combined in the triangle of man.

These symbols, by the way, are elucidated in Yamaguchi Shido's "Secret Writings of the Kototama", a text which is one of the primary sources utilized by Morihei Ueshiba in formulating the way in which he expressed his methodology.

Here's an example, from Yamaguchi Shido:

天地の間に眼に見えさる火(ヒ)水(ミツ)あり。是を火(カ)水(ミ)とも云う。神と唱ふるは躰して水火(イキ)と唱るは用なり。故に陰陽と陰陽とを興(クミ)て万物を産むなり。

"Between Heaven and Earth there exist unseen Fire (hi) and Water (mitsu).

(*Note: "himitsu" also means "secret")

These are also called Fire (ka) and Water (mi).

(*Note: "kami" are the "gods")

What is called kami refers to their substance, while what is called water-fire (“iki”) refers to their function.

Originally all things in the universe were brought into being by combining Yin and Yang and Yin and Yang."

(*Note: the double mention of Yin and Yang here refers to the classic circulation of "fire within water and "water within fire" in internal training - also referred to in the contrast between fire-water/ka-mi and water-fire/i-ki above)

So... when Morihei Ueshiba spoke about "becoming one with the Kami", or "moving in accordance with the Kami", he was essentially saying that one should move in accordance with Yin and Yang, unite Yin and Yang within oneself in the Heaven-Earth-Man methodology discussed above.

Further, Morihei Ueshiba would relate "i" to "inhalation" and "ki" to "exhalation" making "Aiki" the unification of inhalation and exhalation, Yin and Yang - the power of breath, "Kokyu-ryoku", and making "Kokyu-nage" a "throw with Aiki", or "Aiki no jutsu".

Trên đường thiên lý

[OFER CHIA SẺ]
Một thành viên Group Otofun ✅ là Cụ Ali Baba - Tài xế container đã có đôi lời chia sẻ góp ý với các cụ mợ là tài xế xe con:
"Lái xe thì cũng có người nhanh người chậm, người mới lái với người lái lâu năm. Tôi cũng là lái xe nhưng là lái xe container, xin chia sẻ các anh chị lái xe con một số điều để khi ra đường an toàn cho cả đôi bên.
Tôi không phải tài giỏi gì để có thể chỉ dạy mọi người nhưng tôi đi nhiều và gặp nhiều tình huống nên đã rút ra kinh nghiệm, xin nói để anh chị tham khảo:
1. Nếu đường không quá đông, xe vẫn có thể đi bình thường, đặc biệt những đường có xe lớn đi chung thì các bạn cố gắng đi đều chân ga 1 chút chứ đừng đi chậm quá.
Không phải trường hợp nào đi chậm cũng an toàn vì khi bạn đi chậm quá sẽ khiến các xe sau họ sẽ phải tìm cách vượt các bạn. Trong bất kì trường hợp xe lớn phải vượt một xe khác thì có thể sẽ gây nguy hiểm cho cả hai bên và cả người đi đường xung quanh.
Nếu có thể hãy đi tối thiểu là 50km/h. Vì đó là tốc độ phù hợp để các xe lớn họ di chuyển ổn định mà không cần phải đi số quá thấp.
2. Khi lên dốc cầu thì đừng bò ì ra. Các bạn phải hiểu là các xe lớn họ lên dốc họ phải cần đà rất nhiều mới lên dốc một cách ngon lành được. Để tránh tốn dầu và phải dồn số thì phải lấy đà từ xa.
Trong khi các bạn leo dốc kiểu chậm rãi 30-40km/h thì khác nào cản lại họ. Như vậy vô cùng ức chế, có người họ sẽ tìm cách vượt, mà vượt như vậy thì lại tiềm ẩn nguy hiểm. Vậy nên tránh sự viêc xấu xảy ra thì lên dốc các bạn cũng nên đi nhanh hơn chút.
3. Khi đang lưu thông các bạn muốn chuyển làn hay vượt thì cần nhớ quy tắc là phải để ý gương chiếu hậu, cái này thì chắc ai cũng biết.
Các bạn cần nhớ kĩ là muốn sang làn mà có xe khác đang lưu thông thì tốc độ xe mình phải nhanh hơn xe đi sau. Cái này là bắt buộc nếu muốn an toàn. Nếu xe mình đi chậm lúc sang làn thì xe người ta phải phanh lại để nhường. Xe nhỏ thì còn đỡ chứ xe lớn thì khác nào các bạn tự sát...
Hiểu đơn giản là muốn chuyển làn hay muốn vượt thì tăng tốc, dứt khoát lên. Nói thật chứ tôi đi xe mà thấy mấy bác đi nhanh là thích lắm, chứ bò ra đường là kiểu gì cũng bị bọn tốt chửi thầm
4. Khi từ đường nhánh ra đường lớn,dường mà có 2 làn xe cùng chiều trở lên thì các bạn nhớ kĩ. Nhập đường lớn thì bạn nên đi vào cái làn bên phải ngoài cùng và giữ nguyên vị trí làn đó khi nào thấy an toàn và đủ tốc độ hãy chuyển sang làn mình mong muốn.
Cái này là rất nhiều bạn bị đụng rồi nè. Bỏi nhiều người hay có kiểu từ trong ra ngoài nhưng vắt 1 phát 2 làn xe luôn. Chẳng khác nào bạn chặn cả đường lại bắt các xe lớn khác phải phanh để nhường. Ông nào kịp phanh thì may, nhưng ông nào đang đi tốc độ cao và tải trọng lớn không phanh kịp thì sao, rất là nguy hiểm.
5. Khi đèn còn đủ giây thi xin các bạn nhanh chân 1 chút để xe sau họ còn đi. Có nhiều bạn lúc đèn xanh còn cả 15-20 giây nhưng cứ bò chầm chậm, khi qua rồi thì đèn báo đỏ khiến nhiều xe sau phải phanh gấp đứng lại gây ức chế.
Và một điều rất quan trong là khi đèn xanh còn, đã muốn vượt thì vượt nhanh chứ định vượt xong không kịp lại lại phanh dúi lại thì xe sau họ không kịp xử lý đâu, nhất xe công tải trọng lớn.
Vậy nên là đèn xanh đỏ các bạn nên xác định cẩn thận, cảm thấy kịp thì đi nhanh một chút, còn nếu không kịp thì giảm tốc độ từ từ chú đừng làm cái rộp 1 cái là bep hết đít đấy.
Mong các bạn cùng thảo luận và đưa ra ý kiến để nâng cao văn hóa giao thông của tất cả mọi người!"
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