Sensei’s thoughts

We started in our last class with a focus on experiencing how the hidden dimension can provide benefits to the manifest-using with the ikkyo undo exercise we practiced in a previous class with the manifest dimension.  Today we will use the ude furi undo or two step exercise as our focus on the hidden dimension and to experience how bringing in the manifest dimension experience benefits the hidden dimension and improves functionality.

Everyone experiences these three states on a daily basis.  The manifest is the physical dimension experienced during our waking state as we go through our daily activities.  The hidden dimension is the realm of subtle energies which are familiar to Aikido students as ki.  Everyone experiences the hidden dimension in the dream state.  The dream state is not the hidden dimension but it is one way we commonly experience it.  The divine dimension is more difficult to describe but is a place of pure emptiness in which creation is present in its potential form.  Everyone experiences this when in a state of deep dreamless sleep.  But it can be experienced consciously, with practice.  

This “map” of consciousness is not unique to O Sensei or Japan.  It goes back at least as far as India (Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination pgs. 45-49). We also find it in similar forms in Tibet (The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception by Deshung Rinpoche pg. 9) and China (Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai Chi Ch’uan pgs. 75-81) and many other traditions East and West. 

Ken Wilbur in his book, Integral Spirituality, also describes in a very clear manner this structure (pgs. 16-17 and 74).  There is also a helpful diagram in his book Integral Meditation (pg.90).

The Aikido of Petaluma website has more information on this in recent blog posts and some videos.

First, let’s bow in and start with a little bit of stretching and then misogi breathing.

Let’s begin with a round of ude furi undo six times.  As we do it try and remember your experience so we can refer back to it as our practice progresses.

Now we will go through a shortened process of experiencing the hidden dimension and use the practice of ude furi undo to anchor our experience in the hidden dimension.

At each point there is a sense in which you become a different person, there is a shift in identity as we quoted Nadeau Sensei in the previous classes.

1. Open the hands and arms to include your whole body, an exercise called the Universal Post.

• • Repeat ude furi undo and get feedback-how did the whole body energy focus change your experience?

2. Next feel your circle center and an experience of energetic fullness. What is your experience?

• • Repeat ude furi undo and get feedback-how did the focus on circle center change your experience?

We have experienced a basic level of the hidden dimension.  Now we will work with the manifest dimension to see what experiences from the manifest can enhance your capabilities in the hidden.

3. Feel your arm including your hands, arms and shoulders. Where is your attention drawn?

Practice ikkyo undo and get feedback-what was your experience? 

4. Now expanding our awareness let’s include legs, feet and hips. Does adding the focus to the entire lower body change your experience?

• • Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did adding the lower body focus change your experience? 

5. Moving to the core of the body include your hara and spine from the low back to the head. What does this focus bring in that wasn’t there before?

• • Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the spine focus change your experience? 

6. Now let’s go back to the hidden dimension. A brief practice of universal post and circle center energetic fullness.

• • The let’s go back to ude furi undo and see how the work we just completed in the manifest has benefited you in the hidden dimension.

By using a progressive process of including more and more of the physical body in interaction with the hidden body we have explored how the hidden dimension can benefit from interaction with the manifest dimension.

This practice is a concrete example of how important the harmonious interaction between these states of consciousness is to becoming a whole person-Secret Teaching of Aikido (pg. 52).

We worked in our last class with a focus on experiencing levels of consciousness in the divine realm using the kokyuho undo exercise.

Today we will continue this emphasis on states of consciousness working with the interaction between the manifest and hidden realms-using with the ikkyo undo exercise we practiced with the manifest dimension.  We will use the ikkyo undo exercise as our focus on the manifest and to experience how bringing in the hidden dimension experience benefits the manifest dimension and improves functionality.

Before we go on, let’s review the manifest, hidden and divine dimensions we worked with in our three previous classes. 

O Sensei spoke of three basic dimensions of consciousness:  manifest; hidden and divine- The Secret Teachings of Aikido (pg. 22); The Heart of Aikido (pg. 136) and The Art of Peace (pg. 87). 

As we discussed previously, one of O Sensei’s greatest insights is that these basic structures of consciousness are of equal value.  This is a distinction from many traditions which regard especially the manifest dimension as a place defined by suffering and difficulty that we want to get out of.  O Sensei saw each of these states as part of a unity that was seamless and necessary for an experience of our own wholeness The Heart of Aikido (pgs. 78-79).  

Everyone experiences these three states on a daily basis.  The manifest is the physical dimension experienced during our waking state as we go through our daily activities.  The hidden dimension is the realm of subtle energies which are familiar to Aikido students as ki.  Everyone experiences the hidden dimension in the dream state.  The dream state is not the hidden dimension but is one way we commonly experience it. 

The divine dimension is more difficult to describe but is a place of pure emptiness in which creation is present in its potential form.  Everyone experiences this when in a state of deep dreamless sleep.  But it can be experienced consciously, with practice. 

This seamless aspect that O Sensei emphasized can be directly experienced when we feel the mutual benefit and support that each of the dimensions provide to the other as part of the whole-The Heart of Aikido (pgs. 101-102).  

In a very advanced state all three can be directly experienced as a whole-Integral Spirituality Ken Wilbur (pg. 74).  This may start to show through in today’s practice but the focus will be on the interaction between the manifest dimension and how it is enhanced by the experience of the hidden.    

This “map” of consciousness is not unique to O Sensei or Japan.  It goes back at least as far as India-Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination (pgs. 45-49). We also find it in similar forms in Tibet-The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception by Deshung Rinpoche (pg. 9) and China-Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai Chi Ch’uan (pgs. 75-81) and many other traditions East and West. 

Ken Wilbur in his book, Integral Spirituality, also describes in a very clear manner this structure (pgs. 16-17 and 74).  There is also a helpful diagram in his book Integral Meditation (pg.90).

The Aikido of Petaluma website has more information on this in recent blog posts and some videos.

Before we begin to work with the interaction between dimensions, let’s bow in and start with a little bit of stretching and then misogi breathing.

Let’s begin with a round of ikkyo undo six times on each side.  As we do it try and remember your experience so we can refer back to it as our practice progresses.  In this first round we are using the practice to deeply experience the manifest realm.

• Feedback on the first round of practice.

Now we will go through a process of experiencing the hidden dimension and then going back to ikkyo undo and see how our experience of the hidden dimension has enhanced our functionality in the manifest.

At each point there is a sense in which you become a different person, there is a shift in identity as we quoted Nadeau Sensei in the previous classes.

1. Feel your hands and fingers as energy flows back and forth between them. What do you notice, to where is your attention drawn?

• • Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the hand energy focus change your experience? Did you feel an enhanced capability in doing ikkyo undo?

2. Next open the hands and arms to include your whole body, an exercise called the Universal Post.

• • Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the whole body energy focus change your experience? Did you feel an enhanced capability in doing ikkyo undo?

3. Now expanding our awareness let’s include legs, feet and arms. In Tai-chi the focus is on the relationship between the bubbling wellspring in the front of the foot to the lao gung point in the palm of the opposite hand (Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai-chi Ch’uan pg. 78).  Does adding the focus to the legs, feet and arms change your experience? The great Chinese sage Chuang-tsu taught about breathing from your heels (Chuang-tsu The Inner Chapters pg. 114).

• • Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the legs/feet and hands energy focus change your experience? Did you feel an enhanced capability in doing ikkyo undo?

4. Next feel your energy going to hara, your center. What is your experience?

• • Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the focus on hara change your experience?

5. Moving to the spine from the low back to the top of the head. What does this focus bring in that wasn’t there before?

• • Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the spine focus change your experience?

By using a process of including more and more of the hidden body in the hidden world experience in relationship to the manifest dimension we have gone through enhanced layers of a functional experience of the manifest dimension.

Here is a dramatic example from Saotome Sensei-A Light on Transmission (pg. 1).

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-Kendo Culture of the Sword Alexander Bennett (pgs. xxxii and xxxiii). 

We worked in our last class with a focus on experiencing levels of consciousness in the hidden realm using the zengo undo exercise.

Today we will continue this emphasis on states of consciousness working with the divine realm-using another exercise kokyuho undo which is a solo practice of tai no henko.

Before we go on to the divine dimension let’s review the manifest and hidden dimensions we worked with in our two previous classes. 

O Sensei spoke of three basic dimensions of consciousness:  manifest; hidden and divine- The Secret Teachings of Aikido (pg. 22); The Heart of Aikido (pg. 136) and The Art of Peace (pg. 87). 

One of O Sensei’s greatest insights is that these basic structures of consciousness are of equal value.  This is a distinction from many traditions which regard especially the manifest dimension as a place defined by suffering and difficulty that we want to get out of.  O Sensei saw each of these states as part of a whole that was seamless and necessary for an experience of our own wholeness.  

Everyone experiences these three states on a daily basis.  The manifest is the physical dimension experienced during our waking state as we go through our daily activities.  The hidden dimension is the realm of subtle energies which are familiar to Aikido students as ki.  Everyone experiences the hidden dimension in the dream state.  The dream state is not the hidden dimension but it is one way we commonly experience it. 

The divine dimension is more difficult to describe but is a place of pure emptiness in which creation is present in its potential form.  Everyone experiences this when in a state of deep dreamless sleep.  But it can be experienced consciously, with practice, which is our focus in today’s class.  

This “map” of consciousness is not unique to O Sensei or Japan.  It goes back at least as far as India-Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination (pgs. 45-49). We also find it in similar forms in Tibet-The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception by Deshung Rinpoche (pg. 9) and China-Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai Chi Ch’uan (pgs. 75-81) and many other traditions East and West. 

Ken Wilbur in his book, Integral Spirituality, also describes in a very clear manner this structure (pgs. 16-17 and 74).  There is also a helpful diagram in his book Integral Meditation (pg.90).

The Aikido of Petaluma website has more information on this in recent blog posts and some videos.

Before we begin to work with the divine dimension and the divine body, let’s bow in and start with a little bit of stretching and then misogi breathing.

Let’s begin with a round of kokyuho undo six times on each side.  As we do it try and remember your experience so we can refer back to it as our practice progresses. 

Our focus on this exercise is in two distinct areas.  First, the focus is on the turning of the body.  Second, is the focus on the unmoving point at the hand and wrist.  When doing tai no henko with a partner that is holding firmly, the body is turning around a point of the hand and wrist that doesn’t move.  If we try to move the hand/wrist we encounter resistance from our partner.  This still point is our doorway to the divine dimension.

The divine dimension is the realm of formless potentiality, which may at first appear empty in the sense of being devoid of content and in which we don’t appear to have a body.

Now we will go through a progressively more inclusive focus on the divine dimension and the divine body as a way of experiencing fuller levels of the divine dimension by using our divine body and our experience of kokyuho undo, especially the still point, as a reference. 

At each point there is a sense in which you become a different person, there is a shift in identity as we quoted Nadeau Sensei in the previous classes.

It is essential that you experience a strong center in the divine dimension because it appears to be a place that is formless.  This results in there being no fixed reference points.  This makes our internal experience of a strong center of great value as it becomes our primary reference point.  The lack of a reference point will cause us to start looking for one, not to be found outside of ourselves in the divine dimension and this looking will push us out of the divine dimension entirely. 

1. Bring the feet together with the heels touching so they form a “v” and the hands are relaxed at the sides. This is a form of the wu-ji posture from T’ai-chi in which the experience is that the body is still in a state of elemental wholeness, not yet subdivided into arms/legs and torso.  In effect it represents a pre-body or divine body, like the outline of a   Let’s take a moment to focus on our own center.

• Repeat kokyuho undo, emphasizing the still point and get feedback-how did this focus change your experience?

2. Next go back to the wu-ji posture and feel how spacious the body really is. We learned in high school biology that while the body has a feeling of being solid, it is also at the level of atoms and molecules very spacious.  This is the experience we are trying to cultivate.  Remembering to focus on our own centers as our reference point.

• Repeat kokyuho undo and spaciousness of the still point and get feedback-how did the spacious divine body focus change your experience?

3. Now expanding our awareness let’s do our circle/center practice. Open the hands and arms and make a circle around the body.  Since every circle has a center, next move the hands up and down in front of the spine as if you were holding a jo.  Feel the interaction between the circle and center creating the experience of an alive space.  Now we have the divine body standing in the divine space.  Finishing with a focus on your center.   

• Repeat kokyuho undo in the alive space, with the still point and get feedback-how did the alive space focus change your experience?

4. Next, stand in the alive space and let your system experience great quiet. You are now experiencing in a fuller way the divine body in the divine dimension.  In the great quiet you can hear the music-the koto dama-of the divine dimension.  Always finishing with your center.   What is your experience?

• Repeat kokyuho undo and get feedback-how did the focus on the great quiet in the divine space change your experience?

By using a process of including more and more of the divine body in the divine world we have gone through more inclusive layers of a functional experience of the divine dimension.

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-Koichi Tohei Aikido the Arts of Self-defense (pgs. 168-169).

We started in our last class with a focus on experiencing levels of consciousness in the manifest realm using the ikkyo undo exercise.

Today we will continue this emphasis on states of consciousness working with the hidden realm-using an expanded version of ikkyo undo called zengo undo which is ikkyo undo done in four directions (pg. 34 The Secret Teachings of Aikido).

The hidden dimension is the realm of subtle energies which are familiar to Aikido students as ki.  Everyone experiences the hidden dimension in the dream state.  The dream state is not the hidden dimension but it is one way we routinely experience it. 

Today we will focus on the hidden dimension and in later classes move on to the divine and then to the void. When we consider the hidden dimension there is an energy body that correlates to our physical body in the manifest dimension. 

First, let’s start with a little bit of stretching and then misogi breathing.

This practice is a good place to focus on another of O Sensei’s teachings-standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven (pg. 30 The Heart of Aikido).  The Floating Bridge is a place where we can train to achieve a state of balance and harmony even in difficult times.

Let’s begin with a round of zengo undo six times on each side.  As we do it try and remember your experience so we can refer back to it as our practice progresses.

Now we will go through a progressively more inclusive focus on the energy body as a way of experiencing fuller levels of the hidden dimension by using our energy body and our experience of zengo undo as a reference.  At each point there is a sense in which you become a different person, there is a shift in identity as we quoted Nadeau Sensei in the last class.

This practice is based on the progression through the energy body outlined in Prof. Cheng Man-ching’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai-chi Ch’uan Chapter 11, pages 77-78.  Our most immediate experience of the energy body is the feeling of energy in our hands and fingers.

1. Feel your hands and fingers as energy flows back and forth between them. What do you notice, to where is your attention drawn?

• • Repeat zengo undo and get feedback-how did the hand focus change your experience?

2. Next open the hands and arms to include your whole body, an exercise called the Universal Post.

• • Repeat zengo undo and get feedback-how did the whole body focus change your experience?

3. Now expanding our awareness let’s include legs, feet and arms. In Tai-chi the focus is on the relationship between the bubbling wellspring in the front of the foot to the lao gung point in the palm of the opposite hand (Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai-chi Ch’uan pg. 78).  Does adding the focus to the legs, feet and arms change your experience? The great Chinese sage Chuang-tsu taught about breathing from your heels (Chuang-tsu The Inner Chapters pg. 114).

• • Repeat zengo undo and get feedback-how did the leg/foot/arm focus change your experience?

4. Next feel your energy going to hara, your center. What is your experience?

• • Repeat zengo undo and get feedback-how did the focus on hara change your experience?

5. Moving to the spine from the low back to the top of the head. What does this focus bring in that wasn’t there before?

• • Repeat zengo undo and get feedback-how did the spine focus change your experience?

By using a process of including more and more of the energy body we have gone through more inclusive layers of a functional experience of the hidden dimension.

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 from Tuesday’s class.

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-Joseph Campbell passage (Hero With a Thousand Faces pg. 25).

We started in our last class with a focus on experiencing dimensions of consciousness using the rowing exercise, fune-kogi undo and the kuji kiri.

Today we will continue this emphasis on states of consciousness working with the three basic states as O Sensei spoke of them:  manifest; hidden and divine-(pg. 22 The Secret Teachings of Aikido).

Everyone experiences these three states on a daily basis.  The manifest is the physical dimension experienced during our waking state as we go through our daily activities.  The hidden dimension is the realm of subtle energies which are familiar to Aikido students as ki.  Everyone experiences the hidden dimension in the dream state.  The dream state is not the hidden dimension but it is one way we commonly experience it.  The divine dimension is more difficult to describe but is a place of pure emptiness in which creation is present in its potential form.  Everyone experiences this when in a state of deep dreamless sleep.  But it can be experienced consciously, with practice.  

This “map” of consciousness is not unique to O Sensei or Japan.  It goes back at least as far as India (Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination pgs. 45-49). We also find it in similar forms in Tibet (The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception by Deshung Rinpoche pg. 9) and China (Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai Chi Ch’uan pgs. 75-81) and many other traditions East and West.  In his bestselling book, Proof of Heaven, Eben Alexander also describes a similar structure.

The Aikido of Petaluma website has more information on this in recent blog posts and some videos.

Today we will focus on the manifest dimension and in later classes move on to the hidden and divine. When we consider the manifest or physical dimension our most immediate experience of the manifest is with the physical body.

In this class we will use another Aikido exercise, ikkyo undo, as our reference point as we did on Tuesday with the rowing exercise.

First, let’s start with a little bit of stretching and then misogi breathing.

Let’s begin with a round of ikkyo undo six times on each side.  As we do it try and remember your experience so we can refer back to it as our practice progresses.

• Feedback on the first round of practice.

Now we will go through a progressively more inclusive focus on the body as a way of experiencing fuller levels of the manifest dimension by using our body and our experience of ikkyo as a reference.  At each point there is a sense in which you become a different person, there is a shift in identity-Nadeau Sensei quote (Aikido in America pg.s 70 and 71).

1. Feel your hands and fingers.  When you do what do you notice, to where is your attention drawn?

• Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the hand focus change your experience?

2. Next feel your entire arm including your hands, arms and shoulders. Where is your attention drawn?

• Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the whole arm focus change your experience?

3. From the arms let’s shift your attention to include your hips. How does your experience change?

• Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the hip focus change your experience?

4. Now expanding our awareness let’s include legs and feet. Does adding the focus to the entire lower body change your experience?

• Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did adding the leg focus change your experience?

5. Moving to the core of the body include the spine from the low back to the base of the head. What does the focus on your core bring in what wasn’t there before?

• Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the spine focus change your experience?

6. Completing the process adding your head and now we have complete body awareness. How does this complete body awareness enhance your experience?

• Repeat ikkyo undo and get feedback-how did the full body awareness change your experience?

By using a progressive process of including more and more of the physical body we have gone through progressive layers of a functional experience of the manifest dimension.

Feedback on practice.

Finish with misogi breathing.