The Thoughtful Sensei-Aikido Musings

Maria Did It, Go Talk To Her

Observing junior players train for a promotional demo, especially if it's their first, is an interesting blend of excitement mixed with trepidation and budding confidence combined with hesitation and internal doubt.  During one recent class I watched the players review the night's lesson of material that was targeted at upcoming demos.  While walking around the mat assisting, commenting and correcting I was reminded of something more easily told by a set of true events that I was involved in over 25 years ago.

Once upon a time in a dark and foreboding .... oh sorry .... been watching too much tv lately ..... many years ago when I was a senior Yudansha at my old dojo I spent a lot of time working with beginners for Sensei.  One newbie was a woman named Maria (can't remember the last name which is good for her privacy .... plus her first name wasn't even Maria to begin with).  In speaking with Maria over the weeks and months she was training she gradually rose from white belt, to yellow belt, Sensei and I eventually learned some things about her.

As she attended classes and began to feel more at home she gradually opened up about some of her personal issues without being asked to.  My (and Sensei' assumption) was that much in her personal life outside the dojo was troubling her, and aside from her looking for self-defense she was also seeking out a social support group.  The fact that she had come to the dojo and had found both in the same place just made it easier and more comfortable for her.

Basically she had apparently grown up as a battered child and lacked any basic self-confidence or belief in herself which had led her to an unhappy marriage to a man who simply repeated the pattern that she was conditioned to.  Life went on as usual for her.

Somehow, someway, she finally had the courage to look for self-defense lessons.  To this day I don't know if her husband had finally broke her back with that last straw for the camel to carry, or if a girl friend or blood-family member or minister had encouraged to take some kind of action but somehow she found her way to the dojo; almost stumbled in actually as if even the act of walking onto the property was an issue for her.

It was immediately apparent to us all that she had no self-confidence as she even had difficulty in just simply putting her hand in a man's face to do Shoman-ate and to push him away from her; her conditioning from childhood to the present being that strong and that subliminally powerful.

Sensei was big on encouragement for new students and I was too; because I was taught that aspect of teaching and working with people by my father and grandfather.  In coming months I spent a lot of time simply working her thru the issues of release motions, basic ideas behind having good posture, putting a hand in the attacker's face to get separation, and then eventually working up to throwing them.

Finally after what seemed an eternity, she began to understand the idea of being "pro-active" and of aggressively seeking to be more forward in her actions and taking the initiative in entering and breaking the attacker's off-balance and controlling their posture and throwing them down.  She also began to understand the importance of being relaxed and calm while becoming more posturally confident (the traditional "stand up straight", "good posture", "look him in the face and don't look down") and pro-active while doing so in the "safe" context of kata and kihon practice and not "thinking" or "acting" mad and aggressive.

We were essentially re-programming her to just accept movement and kuzushi and hand in the face and throwing as "just another walk in the park", and as something so natural that it happened everyday.  This is one of the critically important functions of kata; allowing the student to program into the mind (and to viscerally understand) motion, posture, timing, how to be aggressive, how to react and how to deal with vigorous attacks, all within the safe and controlled context and environment provided by clearly defined kata ........... all of which taken together is the gateway to truly spontaneous randori and self-defense.

At no time, other than in casual conversation on the mat, did we tell her that she had to be a Navy SEAL or a street fighter.  We simply encouraged her to come to class (a lot) and just do the work and that eventually her subconscious mind would understand the art form (Aikido) and the concepts of self-defense and that she would just "Do It" when the time came.

Navy Seals and street fighter are naturals.  They already know how to "run towards the sound of gunfire".  People who are not naturals tend to flinch and pull back slightly from a vigorous attack.  It's when you pull back (in some circumstances) that the attacker takes you because your retreat provides him the opening and because you're physically trying to move "away" from him your mind is also retreating (which means that you cannot react to his attack).  Sometimes it's necessary to run towards the gunfire and take the initiative; and kata provides an environment and a tool to teach that.

Well, one day Maria understood.  She was walking in one of the largest shopping malls in Houston when a purse snatcher ran up behind her and grabbed her purse.  Since the strap was around her arm she was whipped around and actually pulled towards the thief as he tried to run off with her purse.  As she turned she automatically grabbed his arm and he ended up face-planted in the floor with her holding an armbar.  According to her account (I loved this part) she told him to give her the purse back.  He refused.  She told him a second time to give her the purse back and added, "Or I'll break your elbow!"  He gave her the purse back and ran off after she let him up and after seeing that other people had begun coming over to help.

She enjoyed telling the story at the dojo the next day.

Then, not too long after that the kicker occurred.  Her husband, who apparently liked getting physical with her, refused to give her the car keys when she had just had enough and wanted to move out.  Somehow during the tussle with him over the car keys she got that one good and perfect Shoman-ate in and as she told it, threw him across the room.  After he hit the wall and slid down it he gave the keys to her.

She enjoyed telling that story at the dojo too.

She quit training at the dojo not long after that and when I told her that she had bright future in Aikido and asked why she was stopping training her comment was, "I accomplished what I set out to do."  I understood.

It is my belief that she was looking for an out from her existence and her past upbringing, and that Aikido gave her the self-confidence to see the out and to take it.  She possibly never really wanted to become a life-time player; she just wanted the encouragement and the support to show her that she could do it.  She was looking for that opportunity in her life and after she found it, she was ready to move on.

When we train, some of us already have that spark of aggression.  I came to Aikido having already competed in Tae Kwon Do and Judo but many/most don't.  The training when taken over time, provides a vehicle by which the common, ordinary citizen who has never really been aggressive or physically pro-active, can become more than what they were.

What's that saying, "If you want something you've never had you must do something that you've never done before."

Come to class grasshopper.  Just come to class and do 1,000 repetitions .... and then another 1,000 .... and another .....

Over time, you WILL get there.  You just have to come to class and make the effort.  If Maria could do it, then so can you.

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho, Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

May 2012

Up & Down

Training beginners and those up for promotion includes (of course) being their uke and taking lord knows how many ukemi for them as they rev' up for that promotion which consists of proving their ability by winging you (the uke) around the dojo and using you to see how much dust they can raise as they slam you into the tatami.  I would refer to this as "Down-Training" since you are training at a level "down" or "below" where your rank is currently (theoretically).

On the other hand; reversing those roles and having someone be YOUR uke ... well now ... that's a gi (er ... ah ... horse) of different color (and .... a lot more fun).  I would refer to this as "Up-Training" since you are working with someone above you in rank who is serving as your "foil" and allowing you to use them as a training tool as you develop ability and understanding of levels above where you currently are.

Both have benefit especially if done at the same time although that may mean that you have more work to do and may have to spend a little more time on the mat .... gasp ... the horror ... you mean I actually have to go to class ... and ... and ...  TRAIN? (insert mental image of Aikido-ka in gi doing a face-palm)

Yes grasshoppa'  ..... that's exactly what I mean .... IF you want to progress.

When we Down-Train what are we doing, really?  We are being required to go back and re-examine all of that basic material contained in the principles, the fundamentals, the kihon and the basic kata and training sets and find a way to explain the material coherently, logically and in a manner that it may be easily understood and retained.  If we look at our tori and see that they aren't yet ready for their demo due to having flaws and errors in the way they perform those kihon then we realize that they do not fully understand the fundamental principles for their level.  We must now go backwards and re-teach those principles and clean up their kihon.  And interesting thing about this process; we must simultaneously look at our own principles and kihon to be sure that our material is clean and that we do not accidentally "pawn" our errors off on them so that their promotional demo is as clean as we can possibly make it.

That's our job as uke.

What then is Up-Training?  Simple.  Exactly the same thing except in reverse where we are being taught and cleaned up by a higher rank who has already been thru' that level of learning and who has already successfully done their demonstration for that rank.

Doing either of these; Up-Training or Down-Training is of great benefit even if we obstensibly are making the effort for someone else's benefit and promotion.  When we are down-training we have to be sure that we teach it correctly and cleanly in such a way that our tori fully understands and internalizes the material.  We essentially have to re-examine how we do what we do and this serves as a refresher course for us to look at all we have done before.  We must truly become a teacher and be certain that we know all the material required for our rank and that we understand it well enough to clearly relate it to another Aikido player.

When we up-train we have to remember how to be a good student, how to learn, how to discipline our body so that it performs the material correctly and most importantly, how to internalize the priniciples embodied in that level of kihon, kata and randori.  We must truly become a student again.

Once we reach this understanding of how to be a teacher and how to correctly and efficiently teach someone else by examining and correcting ourselves ............. and how to be a student, learning and internalizing new, more advanced material (by once again cleaning up our principles and fundamentals) a new level of Budo is attained; a level that I can only describe as that of becoming (over time) a Shihan.

At this higher, Shihan-esque', level your learning and comprehension becomes stratospheric.  As you re-examine the basics (while teaching your tori) and as you strive to internalize the new, higher level material; you identify new connections and new inter-relationships between the two differing levels .... how the basics relate to the advanced and how the advanced relates to the basics.

Over time, this new level of learning and building new linkages between the old, the new, the basic, the advanced, the simple, the sophisticated produces a geometric advancement in the level at which you operate. 

I have observed in others, and found in myself, that discovering and developing these new linkages becomes the primary pathway to spontaneous creativity in how I work on the mat .... I think that some call this "randori" ... the ability to create waza out of chaos by fully understanding the linkages between seemingly unrelated waza, and between disparate kihon and fundamental principles.

This becomes the path to becoming a Shihan.  So don't be afraid to be uke for as many people as you can .... and don't be afraid to always work towards that next promotion even if it's years away according to whatever promotional grid your dojo uses.

Do both and do both often ..... because a failure to take advantage of the opportunities provided by both (preferably doing both at the same time) means that you'll only ever be a technician (albeit a very good one tho') and that becoming a high-level Sensei/Shihan may not be possible for you to attain.

Make the effort grasshopper.  As someone once said, "If you want something you've never had, then you must do something that you've never done before."

L.F.  Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho, Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

May 2012

The Budo Curse of the Deadly Shrinking Gi - Part III

Ahhh ... back at it after a long first 2 quarters of the New Year and the frustrations of life.  When under stress, working, paying bills, running kids around, chasing clients or feeling like life passed you by on the way to the sushi bar it can be all too easy to stop training and stop trying.

Stop trying?  What do you mean by that Great Sensei Pooh-Bah?

Many times in my MA career I have had the thought (and know many other Sensei who have had the same thought) of "why bother"?  I've taught for years, decades actually,  and can count on a few toes and fingers the number of times I felt burnt-out and wanted to just chuck-it in the ash can and go fishing.  Luckily tho' I've always ignored that feeling and have put down the martini glass, gotten out of the chair, put my gi back on and gotten on the mat for a few waza.

So a few days ago I went down to the local cable place to turn in the boxes as part of our shift from cable to satellite service.  I drove up to the front door and saw two people standing outside.  One was a man in khaki pants and a black shirt and behind him a woman tending to her baby in a baby carrier/car seat.  I walked up, saw that it was opening time and tried the door. 

Rats!  Locked and everyone inside is standing around drinking coffee.  If I'd been the Inspector General I would have shown my badge and after walking in and pouring my own cup of coffee I would have fired every last one of the lazy fools and then sent them down to the charity kiosk to accept donations of used fundoichi's, rusty tanto's and unwashed chopsticks.

Suddenly the guy in the black shirt who has been jabbering loudly on his cell phone and sharing his personal conversation with all of us says in a very loud and very rude voice, "HEY!  We're in line here!"

So I say to myself,  "Self .... here we go again."  Realizing that I'm about two arms length away I look over at him and try to decide whether or not to hit him in the face with the cable modem box I'm holding in my right hand before, or after, I foot sweep him ..... hmmm ..... decisions, decisions.

So I gaze at him ... smile slightly and say in my best cynical tone of voice (actually I was dripping cynicism sarcastically) .... "Ohh reeeeallllly .... ?" sorta like Terry Thomas used to do (you know, the Brit actor with the gap between his eye teeth .... what a great actor .... he could do sarcastic like nobody's business).

Well  .....  I guess he was anticipating some kind of apology or cringing or something like me crawling to the back of a non-existent line but I apparently upset his apple cart when I turned to face him square on while on still holding the modem in my hand and then saying, "I thought you worked here since you're wearing that shirt and all," the implication being that I thought he was nothing more than a door greeter like the old folks at Wally World.

I almost laughed as his face took on a crestfallen look as he looked down at his shirt like he didn't realize that it looked like the same kind of cheap izod-type short sleeve spandex shirt over a bulging belly that a million minimum wage clerks in a million retail stores wear to work every day. 

"Buffoon" was the only thought that came to mind which was then shortly followed by "asshat" as he rushed inside to be first in line ahead of the women who all had small infants in baby carriers (by this time two more had shown up making a total of three women carrying babies in a car carrier while they tried to manage cable boxes and bills and dig out money). 

He apparently thought himself so important, his business so critical to the survival of the human race (what with the impending Mayan End of the World Christmas Holiday Season and all coming up later this year - be sure to get your shopping done really early this time around) that he had to start his day by trying to make a scene with me and then give no consideration at all to women with small babies that could wake up at any moment.  I was left wondering whether or not he was wearing his classic "wife-beater" undershirt under his too-tight Wally World Greeter Shirt and had gotten in a little whacking action in at home before he rushed out all breathless-like to save the world and validate his testosterone levels.

I don't get very sarcastic about these things do I  .....  but then again I so dislike ego, arrogance, and bullies and while I make it a policy to not start the action I sure won't back off from it and indeed find for the most part that simply standing there and not backing down is more than enough to give them pause and to get control of the encounter .... I think they call that "mental Aikido".

Okay .... so now I need to explain how Shrinking Gi's relate to bullies at the cable company and chucking it all to go fishing.

If I'm a Sensei and I decide that I want to learn and teach martial arts I need to be able to walk the walk.  I don't really care if you were good at one point; you should be good at all points even if you're 60 or 70 or 80 .... unless of course unless there is something medically haywire OR you're just "old".  (insert sad face here since time will unfortunately catch up to all of us at one point or another  .... insert another sad face).

How many Sensei do we see on the internet in videos who are wearing ratty and ill-fitting gi's that cover big sushi-bellies (waaay too much time at the bar holding their sake cups in the air and yelling ,"Nurse!") while they wallow around doing some weird and out-of-round version of kokyu-ho and pontificate on how Aikido is "luuvvve and affection for our fellow Budo-ka"?

I've noticed over the last 40 years on the mat (in myself and in others) the tendency to "go rusty" and lose the edge    ...  that is, by not working out at all, by sitting in the chair and drinking coffee for every class (and not just occasionally mind you but every class), by never looking at kata and principles again and again, and by not actively teaching creatively but instead, teaching by rote like you're bored to death and don't care about the art but instead just like the kudos ..... you lose your edge, you lose the ability to calmly function under stress (when challenged by a Wally World Greeter), you lose that "mental flexibility" to intuit what needs to be done and more critically and much more importantly, you lose the ability to communicate those higher levels of Budo to your students simply because you yourself can no longer do it; either physically (too fat and lazy and stiff) or you teach by rote with no growth in understanding apparent and with no energy (a failure to inspire).

In effect, your gi "shrinks" and no longer fits you as you become a Budo Mat Potato (think couch potato except in white pajamas) who should have retired long ago but hangs on only out of habit.  You should take off the gi and instead wear that tacky spandex that all folks with super high BMI's wear in public (oww ... my eyes, my eyes).

When Mr. Rude at the cable store was communicating his "displeasure" towards me for trying to walk into the store the only thing that popped into my head was the thought that I could parry his right hand with my left (I perceived that he was a righty and I was going to divert his attention by knocking his cell phone out of his hand) while doing Shomanate with the modem box in my right  hand while I would take either Ouchigari or Kouchigari (foot sweeps) because of the way he was standing and because initially I was partially bladed-in and leading with my right side towards him.

There have been periods in my Aikido/Budo career where I didn't work out physically a lot but during periods like that I find myself thinking about Aikido day and night and sometimes will wake up at 3 AM and watch the fan go around in circles while I visualize ideas.  So while my body isn't "in the game" so-to-speak like it was when I was younger (and taking 300 ukemi a night) my mind is very much in the game continually, daily, nightly, awake or asleep.  I still train and teach very actively of course  but I'm just not taking 300 ukemi every night and doing 5 run through's a class on Koryu Dai San Kata.

The result of the last three years of my mind being more engaged than my body is that having worked thru' a lot of info and ideas in my head I am now back into the game physically like never before; that's why when confronted with Mr. Greeter I just had this immediate feeling of boredom with just one more asshat (I kinda like that term, it doesn't sound as bad as a__hole but has the same general meaning).

The idea of the modem box for Shomanate came, I'm certain, from the very large amount of hand randori I've been doing and teaching for the last 3 years.  At every class that one of my senior Yudansha attends he and I take 20 to 30 minutes after everyone else has left to do high-speed, high-level hand randori that sometimes will include sacrifice throws which are almost never, ever seen in Aikido randori.

Many nights we'll complete a practice session and look over at the audience that has quietly developed as the departing players stop before walking out the door and instead sit down and watch.  They look in wonder at what we're doing which (after Mr. H and I finish and bow-off) many times leads to a discussion (sometimes at 9:30 or 10 at night) of what we're doing, how we're doing it and how an intense study of the kihon and fundamentals set the stage for them to later also do high-speed, high-level randori.  So all that randori sharpens the senses and perceptions when faced off against someone and makes you much more intuitive in "reading" them.

The foot sweeps that were intuited in my head likely came from the strangulation kata we've been drilling now for the last year and a half which includes foot sweeps as an offensive or as a defensive idea.

And, since foot sweeps very often lead into going down on top of the opponent and beginning ne-waza that idea came from all the Kosen Judo (grappling) we've been doing in the new study group we've formed because going to the ground holds less and less fear; a battle that all Aikido players face unless they do some level of study of ne-waza.

So the moral to the story here is that because I've always stayed active one way or another, because I'm of late (of late ... haa ... the last two three years of  real focus didn't start yesterday) intensely studying hand randori and sacrifice throws and strangulations and foot sweeps and ground work and am now really into koryu jojutsu and weapons work .... my mind is not stale and is refining, developing and redeveloping its' flexibility and intuitive processes on several different levels.

My mind is active and questing and seeking and flexible and not stiff and stale from teaching the same thing the same way a thousand times.  Years ago when I trained at the last dojo before leaving and striking out on my own I did a lot of work with a good friend who was also a senior Yudansha there.  I really liked and respected this guy but every single time Sensei asked him to teach a lesson he taught the first release movement (that's the 3rd of the 5 Original Hand Blades for you Tomiki guys out there).  He liked it and was good at it but that was all he ever taught and looking back now after all these years, I think that his mind had calcified and was lacking the creativity that could have allowed him more intuitive flexibility in his responses, and would have allowed him to inspire and teach his students and to pass his understandings on to them.

So in a long and convoluted nut shell that's about it for shrinking gi's.  The lesson here ..... just don't.  Stay active.  Move forward.  And if you need to buy a bigger gi ... don't even think about it.  Buy yourself a rice cooker, learn to roll sushi, go on a Zen Macrobiotic diet and spend more time on the mat actually doing stuff and making that gi and hakama look good.

L.F.  Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho, Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

May 2012

Interlude - Peace Be Upon the Mat or, A Snap-Comment for a Friday

Today's "Snap Comment" as we clean-up the work before closing down for the week and reflect upon the eventful last 8 days.

Preparing & packing to make my first MA seminar road trip in several years.  In fact, it is the first in almost 15 years in which I will be a student instead of the feature Sensei.  I'm looking forward to it since it will be enjoyable to be able to just sit there and learn instead of spending three days being on point.  Shucks .... I even washed my fundoichi for the trip.  Sometimes being the Sensei is a little stressful since you feel that you have to really focus on presentation (and wearing a clean gi) and setting a good example for the deshi and the visitors and guests to see me and to emulate my presentation as Sensei.  After all, if they are there to learn from you then you have to wear your best face and uphold your reputation.

This been an eventful week for me.  I've expelled two senior Yudansha for cause, I've picked up a half-dozen new deshi during a bad economy, my insurance agency had an upswing this week, two old deshi whom I thought were gone both came back with compliments for how I run the dojo (after seeing everyone else out there in Budo-Land) and have re-upped and I picked up a very experienced Iwama Ryu Nidan who apparently really liked what he saw and is excited about new learning opportunities.  On the other hand, I'm personally excited about working with someone with a decade in a different form of Aikido (but that is so similar) which reaffirms my view of hard work on the basics and exacting precision.  I view it as an opportunity to expand my understanding and more particularly to expose my senior people to someone who brings experiences to the mat they don't have (yet).

When I was first in Aikido many years ago I had the great fortune to train under several people including a man who had an impeccable reputation for fairness, objectivity, ethics and moral behavior (in addition to having a dynamite foot sweep and Aikido randori game).  I stayed with him as his student for about 20 years after having moved to Houston because he was, in many people's minds, THE exemplar of what a Judo/Aikido Sensei should be in how to teach and how to treat people fairly.  Even after a disastrous divorce those of us who helped him thru' it commented to each other that he really was what he presented himself as being (a real Budo man who did what it took to survive, be positive and to move on with his training and his teaching).

Sadly, as time went by and life placed its burdens upon him, as it does us all, he changed; gradually over time but the change was apparent.  Before, his policy had been to never discuss with his students or guests the big three forbidden topics (sex, religion, politics) or to criticize any other persons beliefs or actions (as long it didn't impact the mat).  It was his feeling, as I remember, that to do so would pollute the atmosphere of the dojo and not only inhibit learning but also create friction between everyone there.

As an example of this; how would I discuss politics in my dojo when statistically 50% of my deshi voted for Obama and the other 50% voted for McCain?  How could I, or anyone in the dojo, make any kind of compliment or critical remark without offending the "other" 50%?  I compliment the POTUS and 50% think I'm crazy or I criticize the POTUS and 50% think I'm being too critical.  So my solution is to not discuss it nor do I allow anyone else to discuss it.  If any conversation occurs then it occurs off to one side or outside the dojo  between me and someone whose predilictions I am completely aware of so that there is no offense taken or given ...... and voices are low so that the mat never hears any comments.

He began to go out of his way to start arguments; monologues really that no one could object to since to do so would end our Aikido careers.  It became burdensome to be forced to sit and listen to our (or other people's) religions be attacked or their sexual preferences being attacked, or to be directly criticized for our career choice or the fact that we took our kids to church.

After watching a good friend and a great dojo fall into a world of being critical of other peoples religious belief, sexual preference, family issues it created in me, and many others I know, the decision to not engage in that behavior.

Running a dojo (or a martial arts organization) doesn't give us carte blanche to conduct ourselves like we're a radio host doing political commentary.  Go on AM radio sometimes and listen to those men/women who do so.  It wears you down and over time makes you just a negative as they are.  Some of the monologues I remember were cast as being "just in fun", "not really serious" or a "teaching moment" but for those of us who were the targets (or the witnesses) it became more than that.  Sometimes if anyone objected then we were accussed to being "thin-skinned" and "not willing to open our minds to his lessons".

So all these years later I've made the conscious decision to not run my dojo in that fashion and to try best I can to avoid those who do .... keeping my opinions on sex, religion & politics to myself and totally off the mat.  I don't allow others to bring that negativity into the dojo either which explains one of my expulsions this week of a 10 year student this week; his negativity having no place in Budo.

So what's the answer?  Simple.  There isn't one.  The best any of us can do is try to avoid the endless political discussions, comments on religion and sex-based jokes that seen so endemic today, esp. on social media.  I may even have to start de-friending people and re-cast the ways in which I engage in social media. 

I fail to understand how I can engage in social media or plain old fashioned gossip, loop in my students, and then proceed to express myself on the internet in the same argumentative fashion as did my teacher face-to-face all those years ago .... such is the communicative decay we now see due to no longer having to personally stand in front of and face the Christian we are saying "F____ Jesus" to or the atheist we are calling "crazy" or the political opponent we just described as "stupid" and "uninformed".

The longer I run a dojo, the older I get, the more I find myself willing to terminate relationships and to call people out for their negativity (masquerading as "humor" or "teaching moments").  Life has simply become too complex for endless negativities and once it spills into Budo and the martial arts relationships with students and associates it begins to have negative impact on what all of us, as martial artists, claim to be which is teachers and exemplars .... or just friends.

And with that said, I now find that I must be certain to live up to my observations and to no longer engage in the temptations to which all of us, including me, sometimes fall victim to.

Next blog-insanity .... Part Tre' of "The Incredible Shrinking Gi" ........

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho, Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

February 2012

 

The Budo Curse of the Deadly Shrinking Gi - Part II

ahemm .... as we were discussing last time .... you don't necessarily have to be in primo shape to begin your Aikido training, nor should you ever expect that Aikido will somehow whip you into top-notch shape.  Aikido will however, allow you to start slowly and over time, stretch and re-balance your body equally on both right and left sides and improve your overall tone (body and muscle tone, not your ability to distinguish between A flat and C minor).

So if you've a hankering to become an Aikido animal then run out, drive down and walk into your nearest Aiki-verse HQ and ask for the guy in charge.  With some patience and support you too can eventually ukemi with the best of them.

I find people are funny creatures (of course I'm sure a lot of people find me a funny creature too so I guess we're semi-even).  They hesitate to begin Aikido training and then once they get into it they work and sweat and train and over time get into what quite possibly is the best shape of their lives.  They gain flexibility that they never had, reflexes that appear magical and conditioning that just develops over time and allows them to take ukemi through-out a 2 hour class or an all-day seminar.  Suddenly (ha ... suddenly ..... years on the mat later) they are where they thought they'd never be the day they walked into the dojo as a tentative, slovenly, out-of-shape, post high school college person.  And best of all; they got there by just doing what I discussed earlier which was to go to class a lot, and at each class just do a little bit this time and a little bit more next time.

Now here comes the rub (that comes with tight clothes that may be a tad small).  Once you've reached "Ueshiba-hood" stay in shape and don't become "The Big Sensei".  Whoa there good buddy .... is that a pun?

Why yes it is ..... and it is so because after all that beginner's hesitation about not being in good enough shape to start and after quite possibly years of effort to get into shape they become a senior Sempai, a Sensei, a Hanshi, a Shihan, a ... a ... oh you know ......... one of those.  One day they wake up, look in the mirror and scream because the only way they can see their privates (their "personal aiki") is in the mirror, since that's how big their belly is now.

WTF! they scream as they run around the bathroom in all their higglely-jigglely nakedness with their hair on fire ........ all their hair  .... omg that's a vision that would make you want to gouge out your eyes with a pair of chopsticks .... MY EYES MY EYES.

Yes.  I have been told that I tend to have a rather unique view of the universe (I personally I tend to look at it as a unique sense of humor).  However, as part of my world-view, and my sense of humor, I have a rather jaundiced view of people who claim to be something unique but fail to live the life that claim would entail.

So .... why is it that so many senior martial artists & players work so hard to get to where they are, spend so much time, expend so much blood, swear and tears (hey ... weren't they a pop music group back in the 70's? .... hidey hi, hidey ho .... spinning wheel ... I diverge .... ) to get into shape to do the work and take the ukemi and strengthen their bodies and then once they get there and have it ... they don't seem able to walk past a free breakfast buffet and walk 5 miles to avoid the salad bar?

Have you ever seen a formerly skinny Aikido player put on so much weight that the front panel of his hakama now looks like a G-string?  Have you ever seen a senior player grow a front bumper so large that they have to have the front of their hakama cut off because the slant of their belt was so low under the spare tire that the front hakama drug on the ground?

I tend to make a big deal out of living the picture that you try to present.  I also firmly believe that if you are going to be a Sensei then BE a Sensei including staying in the physical training shape & condition you tell your students to get into for their training (and don't live life like you really WANT to be able to fit into that size 12 gi they sent you by accident).

If you tell your students to do a kata 100 times then YOU do that kata a 100 times with them.  And most of all ..... if you are teaching actively and esp. for seminars then for gosh sake ... be in good enough condition to actually be able to move when you teach a lesson.  Show the lesson.   THROW the lesson like a real player once in a while.

I've seen many videos on the internet (and on DVD's I've bought and then either wanted to send back or contribute to a fitness studio as their teaching example) where someone with a good reputation for quality instruction shows a lesson or concept and while they talk about moving your center to affect the uke, they just stand there in all their dun-lop disease glory and don't move at all ... not one step.

In my view, when someone teaches like that it's a clear cut case of saying one thing but doing another.  "When you do scoobey waza then you should move and break uke's posture".  Yes ... but when you teach that idea shouldn't you set the example instead of just standing there and using only your arm motion to demo it?  How is a beginner going to learn by absorbing a bad eidetic picture of a one-eyed fat man (to steal a great line from a famous movie) standing there and using only arm motion like a windmill in a the middle of a wind farm?

Am I making sense here or am I making a big deal (omg .. there's that pun again) of this phenomena; aka "The Incredible Shrinking Gi".

Maybe and maybe not but IMO, if you're going to take money to teach then please be in good enough shape to demo what you got.  Yes, yes, yes .... I agree with making an allowance for someone truly old and in truly bad shape because even tho' they aren't doing a lot of ukemi these days they still have knowledge and add value.  For all of us there does  and will come a day when the calendar catches up, and when it will take us longer to get out of bed, tie our obi and stumble into our hakama than it does for congress to meet and spend a few billion here and there.  Until they invent a "forever young" pill that lets us live as long as little green dudes with pointy hairy ears we're all going to age.

But if you're still fairly young and if you're actively teaching and especially if you're traveling and doing seminars for pay then get in shape and stay in shape and more importantly, when you teach do some real work and show the youngsters how it's done.  Do "Younger Person Ryu" Aikido and not "Old Decrepid Fat Ryu" Aikido.

As a parting thought on this that I might explore in a part III ..... is one reason as to why I see so much criticism of Aikido's "deterioration" really due to the Western concept of "going soft and getting old" and NOT the concept of "Aikido doesn't really work"? 

I see so many films of Shioda and Ueshiba and Kotani and Tomiki and Ohba and their contemporaries in good shape well into old age and throwing the bejebbers out of the young players and moving and rolling and doing it up really well ..... teaching and leading by example.

Is American Aikido going into the tank because so many senior American Sensei (that are looked up to, respected and copied) are quite simply put, FAT, out of shape and unable to move ..... and that the younger players are looking at these obese, slovenly and out of shape Sensei NOT moving well on the mat and then unconsciously emulating that example and thinking that the poor level of body kinesthetics they are observing is how it is supposed to be done?

Interesting question isn't it?

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho, Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

February 2012

The Budo Curse of the Deadly Shrinking Gi - Part I

Ever surf the internet and see all the people you used to know and watch once upon a time?  And no, I don't necessarily mean people you personally trained with or old friends (although there could be a few of those in this category anyway) but rather; all those folks that you remember seeing in books, videos, dojos you visited, and seminars you attended.  Ever notice how difficult it must be to go thru' life and to have your gi attack you as it slowly shrinks in size until it appears ready to strangle you like an anaconda in bad sci-fi movie, and the front panel of your hakama looks about as wide as a gi-string when viewed against the background of your white gi?

I receive gazillions of email and phone calls from prospective students and multiple variations of one question in particular is posed to me on a fairly regular basis; "Do I have to be in shape to start?" ...... "I haven't worked out in years.  Do you think I can do this" ...... "I'm a "little" over-weight.  Is this for me?"

For this post the mystery of the deadly shrinking gi as it pertains to all those Sensei and Sempai out there won't be explored too very much (although it does pertain) .... I would prefer to expand this post and to do that later so that I can make some really snippy comments.  No ... for THIS post I want to answer the question.

The average age of my deshi is 30 to 40.  I'm 60 and my wife is 50.  I have high school kids and a retired businessman who is 70.  Most of my deshi didn't begin their Aikido career until after having been out of high school/college for several years during which time they likely didn't get much roadwork or marathon competitions done.  In short, they like most of us, are not in good shape (not bad necessarily but not good either).

In my experience a good dojo takes this into account for any beginner and only has each player do what they are capable of at that point in time.  So a beginner comes in and starts classes and finds even the aiki taiso (the warm-ups) to sometimes be a challenge.  Since Aikido is not a competion art like Kodokan Judo) then the ability of the curriculum to fold itself around the beginner player is easy and the out-of-shape beginner therefore can easily get started and learn without having to run 3 miles a day and train for an iron-man triathlon.

Over time the simple habit of coming to class, running thru' a well-thought regimen of warm-ups and then ukemi practice will begin the long process of getting the player in shape SLOWLY AND METHODICALLY.  Trying to do it overnight is never wise (unless the player) is already is good shape and is training anaerobically and aerobically somewhere else so the regimen of "a little tonight .. a little next time .. and the next" will, over time, reap great benefits for the player.

It's only after you start training and suddenly realize that going thru' aiki taiso and then ukemi and then doing a 90 minute class where you fall down and get up and fall down and get up and throw and move and fall and ....... is actually quite a workout even tho' it doesn't appear to be so.  If the class is allowed to pace themselves over that 90 minutes then they will, at their own pace, make real progress, get a lot of work done and develop better physical conditioning without being driven like a bunch of newbies at BUDS training.

The flip side to this is that once you actually begin to get into shape that if you lay out of training two or three weeks and then come back, that you wake up the next day sore.  The human body is very adaptable to both exercise and to non-exercise.  If you work out a little every class two or three times a week you'll reach a plateau and stay there.  If you get into shape and "fall off" that plateau then your body will adjust and "fall out of shape".  Moral is  .... train steadily and don't slack off.

As an example, that 70 year old I referred to took a lot of ukemi when he first began his training some 15 to 20 years ago so today I don't require him to take nightly ukemi nor do I worry about his ability.  During that period when he first started he did the same routine over time that everyone else did so he built core muscle group strength and developed an intuitive ukemi response.  Today, he is still in good shape, not because he trained like a maniac when he started but because he began slowly and over time built the muscles, habits and physical conditioning that is still with him today.  Every class he comes to he does a little bit this time ... and a little bit next time ... but he trains on a regular basis and always .... does a little bit.

His gi is not shrinking because he does a little bit tonight and by training slowly over a longish period of time he begins to develop what I refer to as "critical survival skills" .... the ability to survive a hard fall (he fell off a tree stump once and surprised his wife by not being hurt in the least) and stronger core muscle groups which assists movement, posture, gait, walking, etc.

What are the two thing that old people should fear the most (if they don't have their head buried that is)?  Falling and breaking a hip and having back pain and spinal issues.

Coming to class and conditioning the body over years of mat time can prepare you (the Aikido player) for these issues when you age.  Not fearing a fall and having stonger core muscles are critical with the lack of the skill sets and core-conditioning the two things that cause the most issues when we're old; and don't even mention a shrinking gi which really adds to the potential problems.

Come to class and train ... slowly and long term and efficiently .. but train.  Stay in shape, keep the weight in check, strengthen those core muscles and develop survival skills.

Next time we'll get big-time (pun) into the Sensei/Sempai issue of "The Shrinking Gi".

L.F.  Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho, Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

February 2012

 

 

Those Who Need It The Most Do It The Least

When we are little buggers and first learning to tie our shoe laces before we romp off to kindergarten it was just an impossible experience.  In between the dropped laces, clumsy fingers, impossibly convoluted and un-fixable knots, mom and dad telling us to do it again and again, the tears and frustrations, we finally reach a point where we just "give up" and relax and then almost magically, we can finally do it.  But it took practice and patience and finally, belief in the parental-units who are teaching us, along with faith in the instructions.  Martial arts are largely the same; and then some.

Over the last 12 years that I've run my own dojo, and the many years prior to that when I ran the mat for my prime Sensei, I have observed many types of students join class for lessons; many of whom were in law enforcement (including those working for federal acronyms) or  scarier yet, subject to violence of various sorts in their jobs and their daily existence.

These are the ones who need rational martial arts training the most, but in all too many cases, take advantage of the training the least.

Consider .......... a reserve police officer in Texas attends the reserve officers academy for training, during which they recieve a grand total of 6 to 10 hours of training in hand-to-hand.  That's six (6) to ten (10) hours on watch and not semester hours like in college.

One of my ex-training partners in Aikido and Jodo who retired from both his career in corporate security (as an ex-FBI agent under J. Herbert Hoover) and his martial arts training (he was older than I and with his wife finally retired to his dream home in the hill country) told a similar story about his time at the academy at Quantico.

Another ex-training partner in Aikido (sometimes I think I've been on the mat too long as I keep outlasting my training partners) was with one of those Federal acronyms better known as the DEA and was quite active in undercover work.

All told the same story and had basically the same response to the question; "So, just HOW many hours of training did you have in hand-to-hand while at the academy?"

The answer in all cases was pretty uniform and ranged anywhere from 6 to 20 or so hours (clock hours) of training.  The rest largely focused on procedures, certification as a law officer, first aid, how to draw your sidearm without shooting yourself in the foot, how to wear a coat, tie and sunglasses (J. Edgar was apparently pretty tight-assed about a lot of things), etc. and etc.   .... most of which, while important to professional level performance on the job, had little to do with an officer's self-defense when within the range of the 21 Foot-Tueller Rule or developing any kind of zanshin much less true martial skills.

Most of this (training emphasis) had little to do with reality and everything to do with who was training director at the time or what some white-shoe (attorney) had to say about avoiding lawsuits while getting the officer killed in the line of duty; death benefits in the long run being cheaper than the cost of a major law suit (the cynic's view of bureaucracy and the mindless bureaucrat).

This mind-set over time rubs off on the agent/officer who unfortunately begins to always fall back on the visuals/ego-factors of the position which provide "imagined" security and protection; the badge, the uniform, the side-arm, the dark sunglasses and the ear-bug and the security clearance.  All ego-boosters but providing protection from absolutely no-one other than already law-abiding citizens who don't pose a threat anyway.

Recently one of the deshi sent me a link to an article from a law enforcement site dealing with a new threat to law-enforcement ... the karambit; a small knife that can be rigged to automatically open when withdrawn from a hip pocket.  The method of attack is to be within essentally one to two arm's length and when asked for ID to hook a finger in the loop at the end of the knife and then to pull it out of the pocket and slash horizontally across the officer's face and throat.

After discussing it with the deshi and then reviewing the web site I thought to myself, "My God ... how easy is that" assuming of course that the officer is properly trained with internalized responses to begin with.

Seems that police training consists of a couple of hours of training in which one officer faces another, the trainer blows his whistle and then they have at it.  A couple of hours ... wow .... one can really develop some true martial skills here. 

People who work law enforcement or who work for an acronym need to spend a lot more time on the mat than a civilian since they are much more likely to be in harms' way on a daily basis and never know when their skills may be called into play.

So do they? ......... do they actually spend enough time on the mat?  Nope.  Not by a long shot.  If I were an acronym or a police officer I'd live at the dojo if Sensei let me and I would consistently train on a daily basis in everything offered: Aikido, grappling, jodo, kenjutsu, everything.

Karambit and the new, improved, felonious method of use .......  When asked for his ID he reaches  back with his right hand (even tho' 95% of the world is right handed and carries their wallet in their left hip pocket and not the right) so the officer misses this first clue.  His ID is on the wrong side but is on the correct side/weapon side for a right hander to draw it.  He can't strike unless he closes to no more than one arms' length so the officer misses the first index point (the distance).  His attack will either have to rise vertically from the hip to the face or come in horizontally with a slight upward diagonal so the officer misses the first and most important moment of self-defense; domination of the center-line and the most effective first-choice strike target ... the faces, eyes and throat of the knife-attacker.

For a seasoned martial artist this one is almost too easy with the only caveat here being that the trained martial artist cum defender has to be willing to seriously hurt the attacker since all the right responses have already been internalized.  The goal here is to stop the knife as it is being deployed.  After full deployment, the game  (and strategies/waza) changes so the first opportunity for the defender to strike is the most critical.

Officer Acronym on the other hand, with little to no training and totally insufficient practice time for full internalization has no chance to survive.  His academy's preference for use of badge, gun, taser, asp overrides all else and now the Tueller Rule results in Officer Acronym's injury or demise.  He reaches for a side-arm .. and is cut ... he reaches for the side arm but realizes that it's too late ... and is cut .. he panics and tries to close and grapple ... and is cut.

The other part of the problem is that sometimes Officer Acronym tries too hard.  Instead of picking one martial art to do focused training in he picks two, or three  ... always looking for that magic bullet.  Problem is, if Officer Acronym is training in two different art forms under two different Sensei then he potentially now has two different reflexes to the attack and goes into vapor lock.  It's almost better to have one and only one effective second rate reflex to the attack instead.  It may be the second best on the market, so-to-speak, but at least it is fully internalized, automatic and fully ingrained; as opposed to having two competing responses in their head.

Moral to the story (blog); pick the best art form you can find and spend as much time on the mat as possible and fully internalize your responses in order to stop the attack before it is fully deployed.  Do one martial art (and maybe complementary weapons form  ... Aikido and Jodo for example) and get good at it .... really good.

While one may legitimately argue that a civilian doesn't need hair-trigger responses to dangerous situations (assuming they try to avoid problems to start with) someone in law enforcement or who is a federal acronym cannot make that argument at all given their daily second-to-second exposure to the underbelly of society.

I could write for days on this topic.  Years on the mat, years teaching this material, experience in working with my old Sensei who at one time was head instructor to the local SWAT Team, experience in working with law enforcement, having on two separate occasions put together training programs for the DEA and for the Department of Diplomatic Protective Services (working in conjunction with Certified Police Instructors who actually started in Aikido before going into law enforcement), having experienced first hand the preference of immediate subconscious reflexive responses to sudden, unanticipated attacks out of no-where ............. have only strengthened my first response to anyone who has a problem in self-defense situations (esp. law and government) ........ stop lolly-gagging around, get on the mat, increase your training time, increase your mat hours, ask Sensei, ask other senior players, build reflexes, stop using the uniform, badge & gun as your first response, quit making excuses about having duty assignments (do the assignment & get back on the mat).

Train  ... or not ....

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei, Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

January 2012

 

But Mommy, It's My Turn To Win!

To continue my New Year's thematic ........ the truth is truly extreme.

How many times have you heard the phrase, "As a martial artist you must learn to transcend victory and defeat"?

Wow.  If I heard that once from Sensei I heard it a thousand times ... maybe 10,000.  Problem is .... it's largely a lie ... or a falsehood ... or too optimistic and unrealistic  ..... depending on how critical you feel like being today.  It just sounds all "zen-ny" and "new-agey" and "aikido-esque"; sorta like saying, "When you can snatch the church key from my hand you are ready for happy hour."  ...... 

Humans didn't survive the last million years or so of evolution as we shed our hair, lost our tails and climbed down out of the trees and started walking upright and learned how to talk and use tools by not being competitive survivors.  We survived because bottom line; we are highly competitive creatures who got here by competing with nature, with animals, with the weather and with each other.  It's only the fact that we developed abstract and critical thought processes that we haven't killed off the planet or made ourselves extinct ..... yet.

Not competitive you say?  Bwahaha .. don't make me laugh and call you  a liar to your face.

Standing in line at a great restaurant that won't take reservations, waited for 2 hours and the next person called for a table ahead of you got there AFTER you did.  Roll-over or immediately ask the host WTF?

Studying hard in school, took the tests, scored the same perfect 100%, straight A+ scores as one other person but told THEY are going to be the Valedictorian and you're not?  WHAT?

Working that dream job for the big corporation that has one slot open for promotion and a 20% raise in pay.  You have seniority and you've been doing that job anyway for the last 90 days as a stand-in until management decided who to promote ..... and the guy who sits in the cube next to you with half your experience and half your time on the job gets the nood.  And you're happy about that?

How many examples do you want of just how competitive all of us really are?

You want to win just like I do.  The problem is that an overly strong desire to win is largely out of place on the mat when training, especially when doing randori of any kind.  It leads to inappropriate behavior, injuries, hurt feelings, belligerent attitudes and anger.  So this is where Sensei says, "You must learn to transcend victory and defeat"  ...... (must be said in deep booming voice with echos in background like a mystic living in a cave)  ...... you know ...... one bowl, one robe, one koan ..... oh and throw in some mist slithering along the ground like in an old B&W werewolf movie.

So what do we do about our competitiveness?  Well, my solution was one I could never voice to my Sensei as I don't think he'd really understand nor appreciate.  I want to win all the time but ... I equally want to lose all the time.

If I want to win then I'll do my best.  If I want to lose all the time the it's likely that I'll not do my best or, will hold back so that Sensei is not critical.  So the rub here is that if I have the wrong view of "transcending" then if I win I may start feeling guilty about being better at randori/kata so I'll hold back and do badly so that everyone likes me and I follow Sensei' directions.  Now I'll never do my best and never improve.  Judo gets past this with no competition in class but with shiai at tournaments.  Aikido, being a non-competitive martial art (tanto shiai be damned) has no such outlet so randori in class can become an issue.

In Aikido randori (the toshu, tanto kind with no tournament or competitive aspect of that kind involved) I strive for a balance.  I want to win as much as I want to lose.  I want to lose as much as I want to win. 

If I can keep it at 50-50 then both benefit me.  I have the satisfaction in randori of "winning" (more properly translated as "doing the best I can even if the other guy is less able than I am and can neer catch me.")  But if I lose then I have a very positive attitude about that because I can take that experience and improve myself.  It becomes a "win-win" even when I lose and my training partner who just took kote-0gaeshi on me 37 times in a row is teaching me and showing me where my weaknesses are so that my subconscious mind can begin to make those little corrections in my footwork and timing and posture that will, in the long run, make me a much better Aikido player.  If this is the case and my attitude, then how can "losing" to him be a bad or a negative thing?

So now "winning" or dominating the other person in randori teaches me how to be technically best and most effective against a lesser "opponent/uke/player" ...... while losing to that other person shows me my weaknesses so that I can correct and improve upon them.  Both "winning" and "losing" then become positives and I can positively direct and focus my competitive side while not feeling badly or fretting over my "I lost" side.

It is certainly true that in a dojo there will always be those naturals who have spent the time to become better and that in a heads-up randori scenario they will most always come out on top.  However, as long as everyone acknowledges that "winning" is not that "bad thing" that we're told it is and as long as the better players always take the time to assist and teach the lesser players how to improve and grow and become that "better" player, then a positive atmosphere is developed and maintained in which "winning" in randori is not a negative and "losing" in randori is simply nothing more than a challenge to oneself to work to learn to do better and is always, always a positive learning experience for all involved.

Randori is a critical part of training and of learning.  "Winning' therefore is not something to be avoided and "losing" also is not something to be dreaded.  The two are nothing more than two sides of the same coin and each should be valued for its appropriate place in the Aikido paradigm.  One cannot exist without the other and both can, and should be, made positive learning tools for the true Bushi/Aikido player.

 

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei, Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

January 2012

Need to blog-o on this one. What's the difference between "unstable balance" and "dynamic stability"?

Some thoughts for a Sunday. "The ability to act swiftly is obtained by performing movements quite slowly during the learning period". Moshe Feldenkrais.