I appreciate everyone participating in this new format and welcome to everyone coming for the first time. We are working to keep our regular class schedule going so it will be easier to return to our training together.
Please share any comments, suggestions or questions.
This difficult time; while we wish it was not going on, is an opportunity to deepen our practice by appreciating what is really important to us and what we can let go of-The Essence of Aikido by John Stevens (pg. 32).
Introduction
In our last on-line class we continued a series of classes about dealing with challenging situations from a place of wholeness. We also focused on using the energies that correspond to that situation to mix up a unit with the functional capacity to effectively work with challenging situations.
Our goal with this series is to strengthen our ability to respond to the daily life situations we encounter from a place of wholeness rather than fragmentation. When we engage with challenging activities, either because they are difficult or ones for which we feel enthusiasm, the I can react in ways that causes internal conflict and other forms of difficulty.
One example is the mind of I separating itself from the body of I and getting entangled with the unit. A second example is the body of I pulling in and separating itself from the mind of I with the resulting absence of grounding and support for the mind of I. In a previous series of classes a few years ago we called this movement towards fragmentation the flash response.
The second element in this series which we will focus on today is to recognize the presence of an energy “pool” which may be the source of the situation when it is internally or voluntarily initiated by us. The energy pool may also be a natural response to provide the energy we need to effectively work with a situation that is generated externally. O Sensei and many other spiritual traditions teach it is a universal law that we are provided with the energy needed to deal with difficulties when a challenging situation presents itself.
Our goal when we sense the push from the energy pool is to recognize it as an opportunity to allow the energy to create a unit. We are creating a unit capable of responding from a place of wholeness and inner harmony rather than fragmentation and internal conflict. Our shorthand name, borrowing from Nadeau Sensei, for this moment of recognition is a doorbell. Our goal is to recognize the doorbell as a signal not to entangle or withdraw but as an opportunity to reinforce the inner relationship between the two parts of the I and to allow the energies generated by the situation to mix a unit that can respond effectively.
Our Aikido technique for today and for Thursday is, ten-chi nage.
Let’s bow in and start with misogi breathing and a good full warm-up.
Our tip today on the misogi breathing is to feel the full length of the spine during each pause.
Five Principles for Ki Breathing
- Breathe out with the sound of HA, don’t let your breath just leak out
- Breathe out as calmly and quietly as possible
- Breathe out the Ki of your head to the Ki of your toes
- Breathe in from the tip of your nose until your body is full of air
- Calm your mind infinitely smaller at the one point after inhaling
Let’s begin with a round of practice with the technique.
- Begin with a round of practice of ten-chi nage.
- Get feedback on the technique to establish a baseline to use for comparison as the practice progresses.
Mixing a Unit From a Place of Inner Harmony
- As we focus our attention on the technique as our situation of the moment, we will start by reinforcing the relationship of inner harmony between the two parts of the I. Our desire is perform the technique as well as we can and with a high degree of personal satisfaction. If the I becomes fragmented in that effort, we will not be able to achieve either good performance or personal satisfaction. Before going back to the technique let’s practice mirroring between the parts of the I in an effort to make inner harmony more attractive than the tendency toward the flash response. This may seem like an easy choice in the abstract but we live and make choices in the moment not from the abstract.
Related to this is trying to experience the movement within the I toward fragmentation as close to its starting point as possible. This makes the movement toward wholeness easier because the movement toward fragmentation hasn’t gathered very much momentum. The less momentum toward fragmentation the easier it is to reverse it and move toward wholeness.
Our more basic goal is to train with the I so that increasingly the movement toward wholeness is our initial response. Then we don’t have to reverse the movement toward fragmentation. Perfection in this is probably not attainable but a percentage improvement may be.
- Now let’s return to the technique to see if the mirroring practice we just did is helpful. If not we can repeat the practice or work even more deeply with the I if necessary.
- Now let’s put our attention on the pool of energy that corresponds to the technique/situation on which we are currently focused. The energy is freely available to mix up a unit with the functional capacity to perform the technique effectively. This mixing process is the same one we use in our forging practice.
Let’s use the four count process we practiced in our classes on the Unit. Count one is the idea or blueprint. Count two is the structure or implementation of the idea count. This count provides the framework and support needed to implement the idea. In the absence of count two, the idea count is asked to do both jobs and often doesn’t have the energy to accomplish both tasks.
Count three is the intuitive element or spirit of the technique. It provided the poetry or artistry that allows the technique to rise above mere functionality. Count four is the organizing principle which brings the other three counts and itself into a unified functioning whole.
Let’s take our time here and allow each count a full turn.
Once the mixing and jelling has come together into an embodied functioning unit of ten-chi nage we can go back to the technique and see if it has helped improve our performance and personal satisfaction.
- Now let’s return to the technique and see if the unit practice we just did is helpful. If not we can repeat the practice or work more deeply with the unit if necessary.
Conclusion
We continued work in this series of classes to recognize through what we are calling the doorbell, when a situation presents us with an opportunity to reinforce the inner harmony with the I and allow the pool of energy corresponding to the situation to mix up a unit that will effectively work with the situation. In today’s class we used a practice of mixing the Unit from our classes on the Unit and forging.
Feedback and discussion.
The Heart of Aikido translated by John Stevens (pg. 57).
Practice before next class
Select a daily life task and work with the process we practiced today on both reinforcing the harmony of the I and mixing an embodied functioning unit for that daily life task. Give each of the four counts a full turn before mixing the Unit.
Finish with misogi breathing and bowing out.
