“To become poisoned by secret teachings is something that occurs in Aikido as well. Instead of looking at their feet (“The feet reveal the secrets of the universe.”Morihei Ueshiba), people look up and imitate sophisticated movements in a pretentious, empty manner. That is called “to be poisoned by secret teachings”. This is quite rife in […]
How my time in Ki Society helps me understand Yuishinkai Soren’s recent Post reminded me of some things I saw, heard and was told in Japan whilst training with Tohei Sensei and the Shihans of Ki Society for 22 years. The reason for this post is that some of the information from my time with […]
In recent times there has been much debate around training style and focus within the organisation. I will share with you how we trained in the early days and why I believe every practitioner should train this way for at least some part of their learning. It is important to be explain my current […]
I came to Aikido after 4 seasons of professional sport, I had decided I wanted to be an athlete at the age of 14. I was lucky in that I had grown up getting used to hard work as my family had a small hobby farm, and being the eldest boy, my non school hours […]
Important Update on the next Australian annual seminar with Maruyama Sensei. After a lot of discussion about the alternatives and their pros and cons Sensei has agreed that the seminar will be in Tokyo rather than Hobart. Whether it is the third week of January 2019 or the April 2019 school holidays will be decided […]
During the seminar in the UK this year sensei talked about the importance of developing Ki-Gata. Recently I have been reading a lot of the founders lectures on Aikido and am truly astounded that the truth of what sensei is teaching us has been in plain sight for such a long time. Of course, over […]
I have spent a lot of time writing blogs and posts over the last few years. I have never been the type of person to shy away from the truth, as an avid history student, finding the truth and understanding historical, racial or religious context and social and ethical intricacies are par for the course. […]
The following passage is from a lecture given by Yamaoka Tesshu to his students. In it he tries to explain the process of Shugyo. ********************************************** There are three methods the carpenter adopts when using his plane. They are rough planing, medium planing and finish planing. To practice rough planing make your body firm, stretch out […]
A movement away from the view of harmony that is technical in nature represented by ki ichi hogan secrets of technique towards a greater understanding that true harmony comes from nothingness, this is any number multiplied by zero being zero. Zero being the ability to nullify all technique, zero being the realm of no enemy, […]
I wonder sometimes where the art of Aikido veered of the path the founder set for it. Truth is traditional Japanese arts cannot be studied in a western way, they weren’t designed to be, and were never intended to be. Knowledge and wisdom come from two different places. My focus in teaching this year is […]