The Saturday June 6 Internal Energy Workshop featured several types of Internal Energy and their direct application to body movement. “Effortless” and “Immediate Results” were two of the parameters which defined the particular energy forms presented.
The energy forms were those which are innate to our being and whose function was “lost” as the person matured (mental focus); or forms that are already in use but for for another purpose (startle/survival response.) Linked to the startle/survival response was its use of the explosive power and pathways of a deep abdominal in-breath. This deep abdominal in-breath had power that is unique to itself and was compared to “normal” inhale and exhale techniques. The energy of both types of breathing were translated into practical application in movement training. The movement training was entirely “effortless” body movement without traditional muscle movement energy. The idea was the freedom and power of becoming a living, hollow, breath tube/vessel.

Ellis Amdur’s new book will be released in mid-July. Ellis is offering 250 prepublication sales, which will be signed and numbered. Please go to his website at http://www.edgework.info/buy.html

Ellis Amdur’s writing on martial arts has been groundbreaking. In this volume, Amdur has radically reworked his iconoclastic essays first published on the website of Aikido Journal. Here, he attempts to establish the existence of something all but lost in Japanese martial arts — a sophisticated type of training, encompassing mental imagery, breath-work, and a variety of physical techniques that offered the practitioner the potential to develop skills sometimes viewed as nearly superhuman. Commonly
referred to as “internal training,” and usually believed to be the provenance of Chinese martial arts, Amdur asserts that not only was it once common among many Japanese martial traditions, but elements of such training still remain, passed down in a few martial arts — literally “hidden in plain sight.” As always, Amdur reminds us that this is a human endeavor and he provides vivid, even heartbreaking portrayals of some of the great practitioners of these skills, men who devoted their lives to an obsessive pursuit of power.

Ukemi and nagewaza are not two separate entities but part of one attribute, one energy, one flow.

There are no “throws” in Aikido. I’ve been practicing since 1970 and can find no throws. Earlier in the piece when I was more deluded and came from, in part, a Judo background I had trouble conducting good Aikido techniques because my mind was stuck in the idea of having to throw someone.

I did not begin Aikido in earnest until I let go of this grave delusion. Then Aikido began to reveal itself gradually expanding in its magnificence.

Variety may be “the spice of life” but for some it seems not as nutrition for the soul, but uncomfortable and inconvenient. Attachment to inertia is the biggest curse lodged in the mind of man.

The beauty of Budo training is that it forces you to adapt and reconcile variables to learn to survive best.

Calcified preconceptions are the beginning of a slow seppuku leading to soul death. You have to let go and lose everything before you can realise that you are and contain everything and that there are no beginnings or endings, only continuity without end. Even the term Kannagara no Michi has by some been contained in a box that kills its real meaning. Kannagara no Michi has to be discovered for oneself because it is not a conceptual dogma but a real condition of existence, whatever the label you may assign it.

Hitohiro Saito Sensei conducted a seminar hosted by Aikido of San Leandro under the leadership of Pat Hendricks Sensei. The classes including both taijutsu and weapon training were conducted June 4-7 at Aikido of San Leandro, Aikido of Berkeley, and Roberts Park in Oakland, California. Visitors from all over the USA, Canada, and a contingent from Italy were in attendance.

Hitohiro Saito Sensei is the son and successor of Morihiro Saito Shihan, one of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba closest disciples.

Below is a collection of images from the event:

The other morning, as we began to practice, James suggested that we just meet the shomenuchi strike to the head and simply move beyond it. Demonstrating, he raised his arm at the same time as the attacker did, moved forward to meet the strike, and then walked past him, departing the scene. So we tried that for awhile, just striking and passing each other like the proverbial ships in the night.

As I tried walking away like that, the whole “have-to-do-something about it” situation became clear, then dropped away. It came home to me once again that aikido, with its side-steps and slides and turns, gives me flexibility of response—indeed the opportunity to choose not to engage at all; I can just leave. There are many issues to ponder here, of course. Much of the time it may be that I can’t just walk away but need to engage in a situation. If that’s the case, aikido gives me a model of receiving, blending and moving with my partner in a new direction. And yet even then it seems to useful to be aware of the tensions tied up in needing to “do something about it,” which that exercise of just walking away from an encounter made clear.

“Suspicion.. forgive my heart…” goes the song. Fear clouds the mind and makes the frightened “defend” by attacking everything they do not understand. Even their best friends. Once violence starts the toxicity becomes infectious and escalates, feeding on both itself and everything in its path.

Anything different and not understood is fair game for attack and reality is revised to make the sufferer feel noble about criminal activity he dresses up and “heroism.” And you never know whether the dreaded “others” suffer from the same disease.

Get two groups each subscribing to a different fantasy myth, or greed, or other mental insecurities who are suffering the same suspicion, feed it with gossip and conflict is just around the corner, ready to explode.

Aiki No Kami is the name of an event which will occur in Montreal on the 13th and 14th of June. We pursue the goal to turn Montreal (Canada) into a cornerstone of Aikido in America. Our mandate is to unite all Aiki styles together with friendly events, in the perspective of Ueshiba’s idea “to reconcile the world and make human beings one family”. We do not pretend to accomplish such a mission! But Aikido sometimes has a political taste, despite Ueshiba’s clear thoughts on the subject: « One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train. ». However, we wouldn’t want to get polemical neither political. Instead, we’re happy to invite you all to discover the power of Iwama Ryu’s kokyu with Pat Hendricks sensei, to share Aikikai’s clear thoughts on Aikido with Di Villadorata shihan and to travel through time with our special guest Don Angier Soke. For two days, 8 sensei from all Aiki styles and practitioners from United States and Canada will join together in the name of “the art of peace”.

Jiki shin kore dojo: “If the mind is right, everywhere is a dojo.” In preparation for my upcoming advancement exam with Kevin Blok Kyoshi, Yoshinkan Aikido, I was asked to think about this concept and to consider how some of my own life experiences validated this theory for me individually. The idea that what you are taught in a dojo has overflow into every aspect of a student’s life is certainly not new to me. My parents pointed to my beginning my initial martial arts training at age nine as the point of demarcation marking a turn-around in my life. The discipline and sense of self-confidence I learned in a dojo helped me to mature and have focus. Staying with the martial arts for all these years has served me well in virtually every other aspect of my life. The military and medical career paths I have chosen to follow were always influenced by my martial concepts of persistence and dedication. It is difficult to be a soldier and not be disciplined. It is even made more so when your job in the military involves exposure to many of the real horrors of warfare. As a flight surgeon some of the areas I have been operational at include Estonia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Hurricane Katrina. While there were many times under trying circumstances where I realized that the lessons of the dojo were readily in my mind providing me with back-up and fortitude, I didn’t realize what this idea of having a “right mind” really meant until I thought about my time spent in the mountains.

I’ve heard it said that “some individuals ‘know’ lots and lots of techniques.”

I’m not sure what this means.

Of what use are “lots and lots of techniques” since all you need is clear noticing of attack and one lucid response flow that deals with the attack at hand.

There is no point doing an irrelevant techniques because quite simply it will not deal with the attack that is imminent.

Our beloved teacher and great friend, Shinichi Suzuki Sensei, passed from his body this morning, May 22, 2009, at 4:00 am. He had been peacefully sleeping these past few days, and I am sure is now relieved to be free of his discomfort.

I will let everyone know as soon as the funeral arrangements have been made.

For those on Maui, classes will continue as usual.

Sincerely,

Chris Curtis
Chief Instructor
Hawaii Ki Federation
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Dear Fellow Students,

Shinichi Suzuki Sensei’s son, Mike Suzuki, is handling all the arrangements for the family, and has provided me with the following information:

It is said that common sense is no longer common but I would like to stay optimistic about human potential’s ability to became active and continually reactivate itself.

We’ve survived millions of years so we must be doing something half right as a species as we fumble and bumble forwards despite ourselves.

Many years ago a lady who had seen an Aikido demo determined in her mind that it was some kind of wizardry and determined to meet the sensei whom she thought, in her own words, was a wizard. A groupie type, she intended to have a “relationship” with this dude and presumably syphon some of the magic. Ahem. Thereby contributing somewhat to one of his temporary falls from grace.