Aikido awareness

Martial artists develop insight into energy, mental and physical strength. They learn the mind and body are inseparable. They see thought and emotion interact together with consequences.  The mind attunes to energy consciousness and sensitivities.

Aikido blends martial arts, philosophy and spiritual beliefs. Practitioners train to re-direct aggressiveness and negativity with precise techniques and loving kindness. Progress arises from using energy fields and learning when not to exert oneself. To harness the flow of energy means one can move out of the way or respond accordingly to heavy energy fields.

Now, monks are spiritual masters of self-restraint. They do not permit egoism, attachment or vanity to control their decisions. They sense the flow of core energy and keep the peace. Monks subdue intense passions and are aware of the right thing to do. They set a standard for wisdom and self-control.

Aikido-monks attain a level of spiritual refinement that combines key traits of both monks and aikido. This hybrid perspective sheds light on inner power and reconciliation. Consider five tips to develop aikido-monk awareness:


1) Set your mind on your vision. Those who seek self-mastery do not find it. Those who master themselves grasp every being has degrees of awareness, but does not always grasp inner power or the paths and guidance to develop it.
2) Step back and observe. The simple step of choosing to become more aware helps you tap into inner knowing. You begin to identify and explore your conditioned responses.
3) Re-pattern instinctive responses to fear. Fear and insecurity are core beliefs that reinforce selfishness. Where these traits are not recognized and addressed, peace and compassion are less likely to become responses to conflict.
4) Synchronize thought, emotion and movement.  Gaining insight into emotions enables you to foresee what is coming or erupting and curtail it. Restraint in the senses can translate into restraint in conduct. That which cannot always be said or expressed in words can still be done. Be consistent.
5) Discipline the spirit. The path to personal harmony invites you to discipline your spirit and to explore power found in action and inaction.  Take steps to reconnect with chi energy and strengthen links between mind, body and spirit. Learn how the storage and sudden discharge of energy is possible without the use of muscular force. Learning is perpetual your way.

Five Elements Exercise

AIKIDO strives truly to understand Nature, to be grateful for her wonderful gifts to us, to make her heart its heart, and to become one with her. This striving for understanding and the practical application of the laws of Nature, expressed in the words Ai and Ki the fundamental concept of the AIKIDO. Indeed, it was the starting point of the founder himself, and it is the reason that although he was nearly 80 years old, he continued his studies to perfect the art he originated.

In this article you can find Katsujinken Dojo exercise how to implement five elements in your Aikido practice.

Ground

The movement style of ground may seem slow but it is actually patient. Try moving your hand in a foot-long arc, and, as your hand moves, feel each inch of that arc. Remain aware of each inch of movement, knowing you are able to stop or reverse the movement at any second.

To practice ground, stand as if your feet are rooted to the earth, like a tree with roots going deep into the soil. Feel the solidity, stability, and security that this stance brings. Now practice moving with this same sense of solidity and stability. Remain aware of your hara, your legs, and your feet. Feel your energy flowing through your legs into the ground. Even as you move, your downward flowing awareness will help you remain firmly rooted in the earth. You are solidly grounded at every point in performing each technique. No matter what you partner might try you cannot be easily unbalanced or countered.

Wind

In contrast to ground, feel your energy rising through your spine and out through the top of your head. This upward flow allows you to move more lightly, easily, and quickly.

There is a theory of the basic principles of wind. It`s taught us that a prerequisite for free and efficient movement is the natural upward lengthening of the spine. A core practice is the following formula: “Let the neck be free to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen.” The forward and up feeling in the head is as though the head is a balloon, floating gently upward toward the ceiling.

Wind teaches us to move lightly and to hold a weapon or a partner with a light, sensitive grip.

Water

The movement quality of ground is down and solid, and the movement of wind is upward and light. The movement of water is circular and also includes a yin backward flowing. One way to practice this is to step forward on your right foot, into a right hanmi position, and focusing your attention on drawing back your left hip. Whenever you move one hip forward, you automatically move the other hip backward. The opposite is also true—whenever you draw one hip back, you are moving the other hip forward. Understanding this relationship imparts a circular quality to your movement.

This quality of flow is that of water. It is also strongly yin. The drawing movement of your back hip will draw out your partner’s attacking movements, and will tend to unbalance them. Entering with an awareness of your back hip will give you a sense of flowing around an obstacle. That obstacle might be a strike, a grab, or some other attack. You can also sense a flowing around your partner’s power, like water flowing around a rock, rather than opposing force with force.

Fire

Fire is much the opposite of water. When you move forward, keep your awareness on your front hip and also on the whole entering side of your body. In practicing Aikido, keeps your attention constantly flowing toward your partner. You will find that fire is like a strongly flowing river that carries you toward your partner. It will enable you to move more swiftly and more powerfully.

Many students learn fire more quickly if they make an exclamation while moving forward. A positive exclamation also balances the tendency to think of fire as only aggressive or violent. Any powerful emotion has a strong fire component.

Void or Emptiness

This is by far the most difficult and most advanced of the elements. It pays to begin with the first four elements and to practice void only after becoming comfortable with them.

In learning to move in void, first balance yourself, and balance the four elements in yourself. Feel your legs and feet, feel a solid downward sense of ground. Feel you’re back relaxed and free, your head light and floating upward, a featherweight, floating sense of wind. In your left side feel yin/water (and the readiness to draw in any possible attack). In your right side feel yang/fire (and the readiness to extend outward or forward). Be aware of all that is in front of you. Balance this with a strong sense of your back and all that is in back of you.

Now, move freely, holding on to the feelings of up and down, right and left, forward and back. One direction may be stronger at times, but even then the more powerful direction is always balanced somewhat by its opposite. Remaining aware of back is particularly helpful. We all tend to draw all our energy forward and out of balance. Void includes a sense that you are surrounded by a sphere of awareness, a sphere that helps you remain balanced, aware, and effective, no matter what happens around you.

The Fundamental Principle of the Circle by O-sensei

A Lecture by O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba

Aikido technique is structured on circular movement, for harmony is brought about and all conflict resolved through the spirit of the circle. The response of the body, mind and spirit to the principle of the circle is vital to the creation of technique. A circle encloses space, and it is from the perfect freedom of this emptiness that ki is born. From the center of this birthplace, the creative processes of life are joined with the infinite, immeasurable universe by the spirit. The spirit is the Creator, the eternal parent giving birth to all things. The Budo of Aikido springs from the mastery of the spirit of the circle. The essence if this Budo is to embrace the complementary action of cause and effect and to draw into yourself all things as if they were held within the palm of your hand. You have a spirit, therefore you must realize that each person has a spirit. When the life processes are connected with the spirit and the fundamental principle of the circle is given birth in Aiki, all things are led to completion through the circle. All things are freely created by the circle. The secret of the circle is to create technique by piercing the very center of space