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Thursday, 24th July 2008
CONTENTS:
1. Maruyama Sensei Seminar & Hashimoto Seminar
2. Volunteers Required
3. Hakama
4. aiKIdo – Breathing Life into The Art – Janet McDonald
1. Maruyama Sensei Seminar & Hashimoto Seminar
Just a reminder, Maruyama sensei seminar early bird payments close July 31st . Griffith Aikido will take member payments for the seminar for early bird registrations only, thereafter please register directly through:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/aikido/events/seminar2008info.PDF
Also, there are only 3 places left for this weekends Hashimoto Seminar. Register online to secure your place: http://griffithaikido.com
2. Volunteers Required
Hi everyone
It’s that time of semester again. The uni would like us to participate in one of their market days.
When: Thursday 31 July
Time: 9am – 2pm
Place: NATHAN CAMPUS
Please let me know if you’d like to volunteer to staff a stall, on 0432 269 634, or steve@...
Steve Mitchell
3. Hakama
袴Hakama (wisdom for the would-be warrior)
I donned hakama today.
Opened like a black book
A silent knot guarding the entrance…
Jin
Many samurai of old died young
Outlived by their pleats
For want of mercy
Gi
A right path is righteous
But seek not rectitude or certitude:
The refuge and mausoleum of fools
Rei
Etiquette paves the streets of society
Shall a gentleman with clothes aflame
be suffered to burn,
or seized and rolled upon the ground?
Chi
Intelligence is required to distinguish success from error
But is neither their prerequisite
nor counter-guarantee
Shin
Trust is the light that shines only for the bearer
Loyalty heeds the word
Even when the speaker is silent
Rewards the deed when the doer is spent
Ko
Piety is the art and love of obedience
to no lesser authority than the universe itself
NB the pleats in the traditional Japanese split skirt (hakama) symbolise seven budo virtues derived from Confucian and Buddhist philosophy: jin (benevolence, mercy); gi (righteousness); rei (etiquette); chi (wisdom, intelligence); shin (trust or sincerity); chu (loyalty); ko (piety). The actual virtues, their order and significance depends on the historical source.
Some interesting links:
http://www.eastbayaikido.com/members/hakama.html
http://www.virtuescience.com/virtuenumbers.html
4. aiKIdo – Breathing Life into The Art – Janet McDonald
Breathing life into the art: some personal reflections
Basking by the window in the winter sun and relaxing over the weekend newspaper with my Russian Caravan Tea, I found myself distracted by the people antics nearby. Pursed lips “tut tutted” and critical fingers wagged as onlookers “screamed” their disapproval at the red-faced and frantic mum who was trying to herd her gaggle of kids attacking the “all you can eat” Sunday buffet with wild gusto.
It reminded me of my days herding my seven kids, especially around food. How a handle on Ki at that time would have greatly assisted my coping mechanisms! I’m now into Ki, though some 33 years into parenting.
Before I got into aiKIdo, “gi” to me was clarified butter. I’d have guessed that a “dojo” was perhaps another extinct bird and that maybe a “hakama” was some sort of Maori greeting. Yes, aiKIdo has language, rituals, symbols and costumes which together tell the tale of its curious blend of feudal custom and evolving art.
The notion of Ki has been osmosing in me over time as I’ve traveled different paths – from clinician to mediator, from tennis court to dragon boat, as a parent and friend, and as a team member and leader. But my analytical, logical, concrete bent has cast self-limiting doubts about Ki for so long. Ki just couldn’t be! This year I knew that Ki was also on offer in our dojo, but didn’t take up Steve Dows’ Sunday classes until April.
I couldn’t see Ki …..but it was palpably present. I couldn’t hear Ki ……..it was profoundly silent. I couldn’t touch Ki ……but it flowed, connected and bowled me right over at times. I needed to make sense of it. At a personal and elementary level in the art, I now experience Ki to be the heart of aiKIdo, pulsating as lifeblood.
Beyond the art, I believe Ki extends into everyday life, and dramatically at times.
I was intrigued by the ABC documentary Miracle on Everest last week. It told the story of Lincoln Hall, the Australian mountaineer who was left for dead near Everest’s summit. His survival still begs scientific explanation. He was asked how it was that he kept himself from sinking back into a comatose state as he lay in the snow. Insulated by cloud cover that mercifully kept temperatures from falling below minus 25 degrees, he described how he persisted with deep breathing techniques to keep himself conscious and the energy circulating his chilling body.
The healing power of this type of breathing is very much a part of Ki.
Barring natural disasters and the wars we still wage, we are unlikely to find ourselves in such life threatening circumstances. At the same time, we are all challenged in different ways in everyday life. How do we respond when people steal our car park, jump the queue, turn their back, bare their knuckles, or gesture their contempt on the freeway? Are we more likely to extend Ki, or extend the finger (so to speak)? We sit exams, go for job interviews, learn new skills, face losses, grieve bereavements and make life transitions. How effective are we in keeping our Ki centered, flowing and working for us and others?
Others? Yes! To be on the receiving end of great Ki is an inspiring and humbling experience. It’s been the patient outpouring of others’ great Ki in our dojo that has kept me persevering with the elusive art; particularly as I continue struggling with rolling, and with the exit door beckoning more than once. One day I may just transition to the acromat!
Janet McDonald
20 July 2008
Shirin Mohebbi
Email: shirin(AT)internode.on.net
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