Aikido: The Right Road

I failed many times trying to write this. But today I found a flat practical example that let me to pass from the hypothesis to the theory and from the theory to the practice. Then:

Hypothesis: if you do things well, the result must be the right one. I think this applies to everything in life, although some times it is difficult to see or to assimilate. The right road, as pedantic or trivial it may sounds, is the one we walk with our own feet. There is no use in retracing an already walked road. Each of us chooses the road to follow and decides what is right and what is wrong. Nevertheless, I believe there are certain general guidelines that are common to all roads (and to all walkers): honesty, work, to give yourself wholly, love… As you can see, it is difficult to speak about these things without seeming like a Paulo Coehlo imitator. Therefore, lets pass to the theory and the aikido example, which is a page of a martial arts dojo.

Theory: the ikkyo undo. This exercise, which I found boring and didn't understand at the beginning, is one of the pillars of aikido. Picciola sensei said that aikido is 90% atemi, and 10% the rest. Against that 90% of atemi we have as defense the ikkiyo undo. If we do it well, it should protect us from any atemi that may be thrown to us (at least from the high ones, kicks to the shin don't count). But to do ikkyo undo, from which are born practically all the counterattacks, techniques and counter technique, is a very difficult task. The most common mistake is that the nage, knowing the kind of attack uke is going to use, try to catch the arm (or the fist) in the air. Result: an untidy, ineffective, nonexistent technique. To do well an ikkyo undo, includes not only stepping aside of the attack line (whether backwards, toward or to the sides) but to concentrate on protecting the body; first, deviating the blow; second, using the energy received. A well done ikkyo includes this first block / deviation, from which any future counter technique is borne. Lets see today's practical example.

Practice: In today's practice, we absorbed a yokomen with kirioroshi and then we applied shihonage (omote and ura). I had the chance to practice this with Ruslan, who falls only if you do things well. Every time I misdid the ikkyo undo (that is to say, every time I tried to catch the arm) he stopped the attack. Only when I improved the start and when the ikkyo undo played its double role (block and attack, the arms extended should protect me and bother him, if it was well done) the technique had a similar form to a shihonage. Only then, it seemed something to aikido. The process I explained above, doesn't apply only to a moderately well done ikkyo undo, but to everything: years of practice repeating the ikkyo undo and listening to the sensei telling us over and over again that the ikkyo undo is in the base of all, to understand the technique, to know that there is a principle that should be respected, to practice with a strict senpai that forces you to do it right (and Ruslan is the kind of people who punishes when you're doing it wrong), etc., etc., etc.

Hypothesis, theory, practice. I've already said something similar in older posts. I don't like to repeat myself, but I'm a man of obsessions: I count with sempais that will correct my technique and they'll do my aikido a little more flowed. This in the life is more complicated, nobody will tell me how improve my road, but they never told me not to try.

Kanpai!

Patricio Pereyra

Aikido, My Philosophy

Sensei Picciola always says that aikido is a philosophy of life and uses the allegoric example of the ukemi to make this point: living is like practicing ukemis: you fall and raise, you fall and raise, you fall and raise… with time and practice you learn to fall smoother and to raise faster, and the blows are less and less hurtful every time. Life is like practicing falls. Sensei's example is clear and very didactic; As I'm not as good as him with examples, I'll go with a more complicated one. I'll try to explain why I consider aikido as a philosophy of life.

I should start saying that I've been using a very simple concept of Fiedrich Nietzche for a while now: everything that doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Applying this to a philosophy of life: each blow received, either kills me or doesn't kill me; if doesn't kill me, the person that will emerge after the blow will be necessarily stronger than the one that received it. I think of this as a philosophy a posteriori: one recovers from the blow after suffering it.

I found in aikido, through a reflection of Juan Fava senpai, a similar philosophy but a priori: choosing death is living (read Fava's post: Choosing Death is Living (Irimi) for a better understanding of this concept). Considering this philosophy, we can analyze it together with Nietzche's example: I'm prepared for the blow before it comes; if the it comes or doesn't come doesn't matter, I'm ready for it. If it comes, I can do as Nietzche said.
Why do I say this? Because I consider aikido has a lot to offer beyond the techniques we all like to practice. I always see in the dojo that –all of us– want to practice like the sensei, and many, in my opinion, want to practice strong like Ruslan, or with the samurai concentration and the poise that Nahuel shows, and some want to be able to elevate our ki like Son Goku and cause the floor and walls to tremble (Personally, I want to practice with the solvency of Garcia Luna, and to do the ukemis like Silvia). That's what I see. I see and hear the sensei saying that day by day he is less interested in hitting someone, and that he practices this in his life, and I ask myself: Why don't they all want to learn this? Sure anyone can have a bad day; you climb a bus and the driver doesn't hello back, and you wish you find him on the street and bury his head in the ground with a powerful nikkyo ura, but, usually, this doesn't happen. You don't walk on the street jumping the banks in squares, with tobikoshi ukemi, neither solve your problems with levers in the articulations (although, I confess, I enter to my house doing kaiten) and still, it is possible to apply aikido daily, in the every day life. The philosophy that aikido teaches (respect for the partner, irimi, ukemi, etc., etc., etc.) can be used daily.
If they paid me for practicing aikido, I'd live easier. But this isn't the case. However, there where I go, I try to put in practice what I learn in the tatami. After all, in life, as in aikido, we are all learning. That's why I say: Kanpai!
Patricio, 29 years

Ki musubi No Tachi

I see sword techniques as the dark side of Aikido, they’re the very roots of every technique, every movement, and most importantly: every principle. But what I feel is that these roots have been polishing and adapting to new times to give Aikido a place. When I practice with Ken I connect with this dark side, the brutality of the hit with the softness of the cut, a wound so sharp that is imperceptible. I feel part of those warriors who used them in battle.

This happened to me more intensively in yesterday’s class practicing Ki Musubi No Tachi, where I could understand the difference between the 6th Ken Awaze and Ki Musubi No Tachi; that was something I was waiting for, a question I needed to answer: Why do they both exist if they are so similar? The answer is that they aren’t alike at all. Even if they have common movements, the aim each of them seeks is totally different.

I want to add a comment about something that’s been happening to me since I started my Aikido practice, back in 2004 (if my mind isn’t playing tricks on me): every time I have a doubt about a technique or the practice, the sensei makes reference to it in some class. This always happens; that taught me to wait for the answer rather than go and get it, and that makes me feel very “awaze” with the dojo and the sensei.
Domo arigato gozaimasu

Juan Pablo Fava

When a visitor comes

Every time someone visits our dojo to practice aikido I feel a great joy, and I think the rest of the integrants of the dojo do too; because is someone willing to open a door and see what’s behind it, a potential student, another one who’ll discover everything aikido has to offer us in the personal, social, physical, mental and spiritual plane and a large list goodness only know by those who practice aikido. Now here’s the problem: to watch 90 minutes of aikido isn’t enough to comprehend its potential.

Why do I say it is a problem? Zygmund Bauman (a contemporary Polish philosopher) define current times as “liquid modernity” where everything is ephemeral and instantaneous, where even people are systematically and irreversibly devaluated, where everything has to be obtained quickly to be discarded, the consume objects, people, friendships, loves, and why not?, martial arts.

Aikido crashes with this reality because it is a traditional martial art, born with no hurry and without the current liquidity, where there weren’t dispensable things (and I’m not talking just about the material things, today even emotions are dispensable). Aikido takes about 8 to 10 years – minimum – of continuous practice to become black belt (hakama, yudansha, dan or whatever you name it), and once its reached, this is only a start point, one is very far from saying “I know aikido”.

Then, when a visitor watches 20 minutes of a class and leaves, I know that that person is probably not going to come back to the dojo and that he’s lost an opportunity to discover a fascinating world. But the saddest thing is that he came, made an effort, opened the door, saw inside but didn’t let he’s eyes get used to the light so he left with the same idea he had before coming, none.

I’ve heard Picciola Sensei saying: “In order to practice a martial art, the first thing we must have is patience” and that’s a big truth; the same way I’ve heard Raul telling me in a more colloquial way though no less right: “There isn’t an aikido delivery” and he added: “and I wish there will never be”.

Also, there has to be a respect for the sensei or master and the dojo. When a sansei allows a visitor to see a class he’s opening the doors of his class and his wisdom; one can’t, or shouldn’t stand up and leave at any time. That’s being impolite to who is opening the doors of his second home, of his dojo. One should at least, watch a whole class.

And when a sensei allows us to take part in his class he is accepting us as students and committing himself to teach us everything he knows and will learn in the future. The same way we should commit ourselves to accept his indications and corrections and assist to his classes. It isn’t a written contract; it is a tacit one, between student and master; it is a contract of respect.

For all this I think that it is better to take part in a class than to just watch it. And if a visitor is lucky enough to appreciate the potential of an exercise, a technique or a movement maybe that will start a stark that will make him come back. And with practice time it’ll transform into a fire which will never extinguish.

Juan Pablo Fava

My path through Aikido

I heard about aikido for the first time 6 years ago, in 2004. I had been practicing karate for 5 years then and I still sought of it as a sport. Several times I said aikido wasn’t a sport (which is not), meaning it was unworthy. I still hadn’t realized that even if karate can and is practiced as a sport, in my dojo we practice the martial art.

Mi second contact with aikido was when Daniel Piccioa came back to Seishin Dojo (where I practice karate) and proposed Aliano Sensei to start aikido. At first I didn’t pay much attention to the matter. But Daniel insisted and insisted several times until, one day, he showed up with bokken and performed some suburi and kikaeshi. I was fascinated with the wooden sword. I had been interested in the katana for a while then and I wanted to learn how to use it.

I went to the aikido dojo accompanying my sensei, but with the single idea of cutting staff with a katana. Everyone taught me what they knew and incorporated me to the group. While I trained I learned little by little a few about aikido until the bukiwaza class came. I loved it. I felt super powerful with a bokken in my hands (that reminds the same). I kept going to the dojo every class adapting myself progressively to the discipline with the help of my sempais. I understood that weapons aren’t aikido, but that aikido involves weapons. With time I could return the help I received from my sempais helping the many kouhais that came after me. When teaching I could see my limitations better as well as how much I had learned. Then, I realized that learning and teaching are two things that happen at the same time. Whenever it is that I’m asking something to a sempai or explaining something to a kouhai, I’m always learning and teaching.

I’ve been in Picciola Sensei’s dojo for three years now and I’ve been through many experiences, some of them nice, some of them not so much; but at the end of the day, even if we loose some things, the important ones always remain the same: partners willing to practice and a reliable sensei.

I’d like to end this text with a last comment. Even if it always seems to me that day by day I know less is because, actually, I know more. What I mean is that every step I get closer to knowing the vast totality that aikido involves in every aspect, I realize that I know less every time in percentage, but every time more in contrast with what I knew before.

Today I keep training to become an aikidoka and I know those who are around me seek the same goal. That makes me feel comfortable in the dojo; mo mentioning the friendships I grew in these three years.

Arigatou Gosaimasu Unión La Plata dojo.

Nahuel Lombardi (22)

25/01/2010

Aikidokas reflections

Aikido and I (by Patricio Pereyra)

Anton Chejov said there are two kinds of men: the ones that are intelligent and the ones that aren’t. The intelligent ones want to learn; the unintelligent ones want to teach.

We don’t know exactly what, but we are always learning something in the tatami. This is the only place I know where everyone is ready to admit they are doing things wrong, and that they are there to learn. There are always exceptions, one or two who try to teach, but they’re the least – unlike what happens outside the tatami.

This is Aikido for me: that thing that, it doesn’t matter what, always has something new to show.

Patricio Pereyra, 29 years (Recently!!!)

Suburi

Picciola Sensei tends to say that aikido is a martial art and a lifestyle. To exemplify this he uses the ukemi as reference and compares it to life: you fall and get up, fall and get, fall and get up. I share this vision of aikido and life and I’d like to give another example, if I may.

When we practice suburi we have to pay attention to infinite details (I’ll just mention the ones I know, then we can add others): the right stand, the back straight, the attitude forward, the advanced leg slightly flexed, the sight forward (where the opponent would be), the body relaxed, the hands firm; when we perform the suburi we have to rise our arms over the head, don’t nod, the sword gets to the back, and cuts the center. The sword mustn’t fall; we guide the sword, not the other way about. Then, if we practice with a partner, the thing is even more complex: both have to be as fast; the slow one must try to reach the fast one and the fast one must try to cope with the slow one; the sight in the partner, this’ll tell us when to attack. If the attack is advanced, we mustn’t do it with much impetus (my regular mistake) but with the just and necessary to get to the opponent: the tip of the sword is enough (to advance more than necessary means to self knife with the opponent’s sword). The attack must always be in the center. If both attack at the same time in the center the swords should meet there. If I give so many details – and a lot others can be added – is because the point I’m trying to make matters. This are the common mistakes in group classes (I speak from my experience): we seek the sword, we don’t attack the center; no harmony in the attacks, meaning they aren’t at the same time; we do three good attacks out of ten and the rest wrong; as I said before, if we advance, we knife our self with the opponent’s sword because we hurry; we automate and don’t listen to the sensei’s instructions (an old, still interesting game, because we always step on the stick) that, still knowing so and trying so, don’t rise the arms and nod, or the sword falls, or cuts the sides, or does it short, or with the arms flexed, or… I think I’ve made the point.

Well, to do a suburi technically correct is very difficult; and to do it with a partner is even more difficult. It is very complex to do suburi and if you do it right your partner may not. If both do it right, the swords should meet in the center. If one of you makes it wrong, there’s still a chance the swords meet in the center, but it is just not the same: you know you’re doing it wrong. This is my point: in life, like in aikido, to do things right demands a really big effort; finding yourself the right way to do things is a lifetime job, doing them along with a partner is an infinite job: you can even do things right, but if your partner doesn’t go with you, or does things “right” but in a different way, well…

The difference between aikido and life is that in life you don’t have a sensei to tell how to “live well”. Like Mercedes Sosa used to sing, “no hay escuela que te enseñe a vivir” (“there’s no school that teaches you how to live”).

But that’s just my opinion.

Kampai!

Juan Pablo Fava

The Infinite Language of Aikido

It is known that there are 26 letters in the alphabet; 7 musical notes, about 118 known chemical elements (natural and artificial); 10 numbers has the decimal system … However, the combinations we can make from this are virtually infinite. The human body has 206 bones and I don’t know how many muscles (I couldn’t find the number on the Internet @_@) and we don’t use most of them in the aikido practice. In fact, the body structure allows a limited set of movements: we can’t rotate any articulation 360° without breaking it; we can’t do wrongly ukemis over and over again because we’d brick our neck, and we can’t just ignore the pain of a well performed technique or we’d get a bruise. Still, and despite this structural limitations the awesome thing about aikido is that the combinations of movements are so many that we’ll never end learning everything that can be done with the body. I remember one of the first practices I took part that the sensei introduced the Laboratory concept: he said we regularly practice the techniques shown by the instructors and that in that class we were going to experiment something new. That was how a technique we usually practiced with the thump pointing up, he asked us to do the same but with the thump pointing down. The result, at least to me, was very frustrating because it was impossible to do it anyway similar to aikido. And the only thing he did (The only ONE thing he did!) was change the position of the hand. As if he was stressing a word differently. The language of aikido is never ending. I repeat, allow me, I’ll give another example. In other class, it was explained to me where the hanmi we use and its variants used in other schools came from; in a practice I had the chance to take part in Bahía Blanca (My thanks to the Aikikai Dojo Bahía Blanca 1 and its instructor, Nestor Castro, for letting me practice with them), the Sensei used – or that’s what it seemed to me – one of these other hanmis. The same human body, but a totally different aikido language. The variants that that can produce in the practice are so many that I can’t imagine them, so many like to change the hand position. And still the essence of the message was the same Picciola sensei imparts: Honest practice, the hara facing the opponent, stick to it, a constant watching and aware attitude (zanshin), a single strike, a single movement, one impulse. Different language, same message. With its different forms, I think, aikido is, if it is, a single thing.

With this I just wanted to say that it doesn’t matter how long you go to the dojo, how many videos you watch or how many hits you receive, you’ll never – And that’s just a personal appreciation – end starting to learn to speak the language of aikido. I propose a toast for that.
Kampai!

Patricio Pereyra

To Practice Aikido is to Understand Life

Making movements from the centre to the top and to the sides I’ve been able to see a little of what is going on with my life outside the Dojo. Once I heard a partner talking about how he tried to take Aikido to the rest of his everyday activities; honestly, at that moment, I didn’t think I could do that. But now, I don’t only assimilate the movements when I make them, but also see lifeline on which difficulties place; and I’ve learnt that we can be deviate, face and even understand the origin of those difficulties.

Lautaro Delgadillo (Eru)

Choosing death is living (Irimi)

Some years ego I found the phrase “Choosing death is living”, it made no sense to me at that time, of course; but later I found allusions in other readings, in class and in some phrases that made the same point, which I found a pretty curious, by the way.
I’ve been trying to write this for a long time, but I always keep stuff in my work memory. I twist them and twist them once and again and sometimes I get them a little dizzy.
One day, when reading Saotome Sensei’s book, “Aikido or the harmony of nature”, I found the same curious phrase again, I quote:
“…O’ Sensei used to say: ‘No external force can disturb me, I stay calm in front of any attack, no matter its speed or style. Why? Because I am empty, I am not attached to life or death.’ Renouncing to the attachment to life does not mean to die before fighting for the truth. Renouncing to the attachment to death does not mean to run away. Both reactions reflect fear and weakness…” “…Marubashi means breach of life and is also a technique of the Yagyu saber style. When the enemy attacks with a saber, one enters directly in it trajectory without deviating to left or right, as if one were looking through the saber and his mind. In this way of direct entrance one exposes to death. The philosophy beneath the origin of this technique is that life is like a long and thin bridge that crosses over turbulent waters. When one faces an enemy in the middle of the bridge running away is impossible. To escape or hesitate means to be followed and cut in halves by a saber. To escape to the right or left means to fall into the turbulent water. When choosing life one finds death. The only way is the enemy. It is necessary to penetrate into the hurt of his attack thinking in a change in time and space but not in separation. This is the spirit of Irimi (enter). If the mind rushes into the future the present is neutralized, the past becomes future, and the future takes present’s place. Only renouncing to time and space one will be able to be free to choose death. Choosing death is living. Practice must give this instinctive notion…”
Undoubtedly what we are talking about here is detachment. Detachment in what? Detachment in everything, especially life. This is quite a radical concept for Occidental people, but is the essence of Zen and, of course, is the essence of Budo, the saber path, is the path on which Aikido walks.
A few months ago Picciola Sensei explained Irimi, and after seeing the students’ mistakes he stopped the class and explained again, he said: “Enter! Irimi is almost kamikaze!” the idea appeared once again. And finally last week, while practicing a sort of Ikkio-Ikkio as a fight back technique he said to us: “Don’t try to beat your partner, to win you must be more disposed to loose than to win.” That was the spark that closed the idea and made it stop twisting in my head to write it down.
But I also understood that this is something that cannot be taught or learnt. It is only possible to show the path, and it is our choice to want to see it and cross it. “To forget the ‘I’ is to understand everything else”, this is what life is about.
As always, this is just my humble opinion.

Juan Pablo Fava

Aikido Kobayashi Dojo Argentina

Aikido Kobayashi Dojo

Yasuo KobaYashi 8th Dan

He was born on September 20, 1936. He started studying AIKIDO in spring, 1954; he was UCHI – DESHI of the Aikido Founder O’ Sensei Ueshiba for several years since 1955 with Arikawa sensei, Yamaguchi sensei, Tamura sensei and Mr. Noro. Some years later his Aikido practice started in the Hombu Dojo, Yamada from New York, Mr. Chiba and Mr. Kanai.

On April 6, 1969 he opened his first Dojo in Kodaira.

Yasuo Kobayashi Sensei was instructor in the Hombu Dojo until 1972. At that time Terry Dobson and Andre’Nocquet stayed three years practicing in the Hombu.

Now Yasuo Kobayashi keeps giving exams three times a year in the Hombu Dojo.

Aikido Kobayashi Dojo, after 40 years, blessed by time and him, has more than 150 affiliated Dojos with instructors in more than 80 countries under its guardianship. It also has the Uchi Deshi regime in Japan for Aikido students.

Aikido Kobayashi Dojo Argentina

In 1993 Yasuo Kobayashi visited Argentina for the first time and dictated an international seminar in La Plata city.

Ever since, Aikido Kobayashi Dojo did not stop visiting us either Yasuo Kobayashi himself or his son Hiroaki Kobayashi (current Aikido Kobayashi Dojo Instructors Chief), and, along with other instructors, examine potential Dans and practitioners in his school here in South America.

Uchi Deshi by Daniel Picciola Sensei

In 1993 I saw Yasuo Kobayashy Sensei for the first time, a short and corpulent man. His circular movements and technique are out of question and I’m not the one to comment on him, there is nothing I can add to a Shihan master living in Japan and who is the master with most affiliated instructors to him and his school.
The Doshu himself gives the Hombu Dojo building to Kobayashi for him to examine his students.
Well, the story doesn’t end here, but starts. At that time I was starting with Aikido and after many years of Karate-do I met Alejandro Nuñez Sensei, ha! The exact opposite to Kobayashi Sensei physically, tall and skinny, haha!
With time I fell in love with Aikido and, as many martial art practitioners, my desire of travelling to the Far Orient started to grow and grow.
The more I talked with A. Nuñez Sensei the bigger my interest in Japan became. He would encourage my dream of travelling. Of course he had already been there, in Japan, before I had even met him.
After some years of practice I started to save money to be able to trip, and believe me when I tell you, you have to save a lot.
In 1997 the idea of travelling was stronger every day, and A. Nuñez Sensei asked me if I really wanted to go to Japan. I said YES without a second thought.
Then he told what the Uchi Deshi thing was all about; that made me doubt a little… But the enthusiasm was stronger than the doubt.
In 1998 everything was almost set for us to trip to Japan! There was only one thing left, the money. At that time I had a 0 KM bike (Honda Shadow VLX 600); which became money for my trip. You see how much money you need?!
Well, in 1999, last century, I visited the Orient as Uchi Desi in the Yasuo Kobayashi Shihan Dojo. There I shared time with other foreign students and with A. Nuñez Sensei.
We had the privilege of being the first Argentinean that took part in the “All Japan Aikido Demostration” in the Budokan of Tokyo, representing our country. We also took part in the in the “Aikido Kobayashi Dojos 30 Anniversary” (A real party and delight of Aikido masters).
OK! I’ll stop with my gratifying memories and continue with the Uchi Deshi story. What really cheers me up is that that year our school started with a tradition that had started many years ago, since O’ Sensei had his own students and even before, with other masters…
This tradition is kept by Kobayashi Sensei in Japan and now in South America by Nuñez Sensei.
Ten years from my trip to Japan I had the fortune of being the first Alejandro Nuñez Sensei’s Uchi Deshi. In this litter of Kansha, Aikido School, I was joined by three students of mine from Unión La Plata Dojo: Juan Zabalza, Ezequiel García Luna and Jerónimo Ponce Figliozzi; among other students from Uruguay, V. Lopez, A. Lamara and little B. Webster.
Well people, I think this Uchi Deshi thing is good, don’t you think? This is the second time I do it and, you practice a lot, you learn, you meet people, you have a great time, except for some bruises, haha!
Visiting Nuñez Sensei is a lot cheaper that travelling to Japan! And you don’t have to sell a bike to do so, haha!!!!!!!!
Well, all this was to tell you to live your own Uchi Deshi experience wherever you can.

I cannot tell a lot more through this media; but I can say THANK YOU to A. Nuñez Sensei for receiving me with open arms since the first day in his Dojo and so on until today, thanks for my Uchi Deshi experiences and I really wish to be able to continue with this tradition which does so much for the Aikido practice, body and soul.

Just dear!!!!!!!!!!! Sayonara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daniel Picciola

Aikido as a science

Not so long ago the Sensei proposed the “newer” practitioner to write about the why of their desire of practicing Aikido. That’s an interesting question. Every time I bring it up in a new circle they ask me if I think I’d be able to defend myself with Aikido if I happen to need it. I never understood why they relate so closely together both things: Aikido-defense. If Aikido is well practiced (and if the opponent hasn’t a 9 mm) it’ll probably be useful for self defense. But why do people think I practice Aikido to learn who to defend myself? I practice Aikido because it’s good for my soul, because of self improvement in a concrete art, because of the micro cosmos Aikido is, because looking at a well performed technique is nice seeing… I understand there are people who want to learn Aikido (or any martial art) as a self defense system, but believing Aikido is just breaking some guy’s arm with a series of bends, or that practicing it will make fear disappear in scary moments seems to me like just a slice of what Aikido has to offer us. I think the idea of Aikido is never to need to use it as self defense. But this is just a personal believeth. Let it be…

Gravedigger

Phrases

These are some phrases from O’ Sensei found by our fellow and friend Nahuel Lombardi.

Each one of us is miniature universe, a living chapel.

You must always practice with happiness.

Aikido trains the spirit men and evokes the spirit of peace.

Progress comes to those who train and train; the confidence in secret techniques leads to nowhere.

Iron if full of impurities; through forging it, it becomes steel and becomes a sharp sword. Human been develops the same way.

Hurting an opponent is hurting oneself. Controlling the aggression without hurting is the Art of Peace.

Aikido is not interested in throwing people.
It is not related to indulgence.
Its purpose is not to take lives.
It is the way to unify mind, body and spirit.

O Sensei
Ueshiba Morihei
Aikido Founder

Ukemi, the art of self care

Aikido is so vast that it is almost impossible to pay attention to each element during the practice, the postures, the feet, the hanmi, the elbows, the Hara tension, the breathing… The only way to learn is to focus on each element at the time and assimilate everything and then try to assemble the whole, a whole, as it is defined in the Holism (Holismo), is a lot more than the addition of the parts; a whole that is nothing but Aikido. Lately I have been focusing on Ukemis, the falls, that’s how we don’t hurt ourselves. There are people who say that making an Ukemi is an art itself, I think they aren’t so mistaken. It is important not to make much noise when falling because that means our body is hitting against the floor, we have to “be like a ball” to be able to roll, we have to stick the chin against the chest to make sure our head will not hit the floor or that our neck will not make a “latigo” effect. A common mistake is to cross the legs after receiving a Shihonage, which a bit dangerous, especially for men. If the legs are open, the contact area is expanded and that helps to absorb better the impact and also leave us in a more comfortable position to get up quickly.
I think getting up is part of the Ukemi, it is part of the protection.
There are classes one remembers more than others, that may be related each ones concentration. I remember one in particular that we had to move the tatami to another place because the roof of ours was broken. In that class we practiced how to get up without being exposed to be hit in the face. Now every time I get up think about that day, though I don’t always apply it, maybe because I’m paying attention to something else or I’m simply lazy J

During the practice one falls so many times and gets up so many times, SO MANY that it becomes natural, and what is natural to us is part of our attitude and character. This is nothing but the legacy he let us, the one that was given to the world by O’ Sensei.

What I express in these lines is just a personal impression, it doesn’t mean I do it right, or that what I said is right. I’m just trying to show what I see, feel, listen and try to do in the Dojo, truly.

Juan Pablo Fava

Sensei Mario Acuña's letter

You have to be very lucky to practice with a Shihan or a Shidoin.

With the run of time, Aikido has been spread around the world and hasn’t escaped from the old saying: “Quality and Quantity don’t go together.”

That’s why nowadays it is a privilege for a few to learn from a Shihan or a Shidoin and you have to be very lucky to find a reliable instructor.

A reliable instructor is the one who takes the compromise of giving the best to his students, he seeks and studies; and gives himself fully for his students, as well as himself, to grow day after day. A reliable instructor is conscious of his limitations and that’s why he knows he mustn’t stop seeking and studying.

A reliable instructor is Sensei Daniel Picciola to his students, make good use of him.

Sensei Mario Acuña.
A.W.A. Puerto Rico Director.

Aikido Puerto Rican Association President.

Impressions

When I came to the Dojo, during the first weeks, I was given an inscription form to complete. It had some questions about personal information, about other sports I had practiced, etc. but there was a question that called my attention and to which I hadn’t an answer. It was something like “Why did you decide to practice Aikido?”

That question released a series of reflections and today, after three and a half years of practice, it still hasn’t an answer, or actually, it has a different answer every day.

I think every practitioner goes to the Dojo seeking something personal, each one seeks something different, but within this variety there’s an essence which is the same for everyone, students and masters. Trying to find a guide for the answer I started looking in the Internet and reading what other people had answered and I found a Blog of a Sensei in Panama who made himself the same question: “Why do students come to the Dojo?” After asking himself that for a while he realized that finding the answer wouldn’t solve the enigma. He should’ve asked “Why do students keep coming to the Dojo?” that was the right question to ask! The fact is that no one knows with certainty or at least it isn’t easy to put it into words. It is the sensations, the relationships, the martial spirit, there’s no way to know what happens within each student and master’s head. I once heard Daniel Picciola Sensei saying he practiced Aikido in the search of something he wasn’t sure what it was, but surely it was a search. I think all of us who are close to Aikido would accept that answer as valid.

With time I started to comprehend the basis of Aikido and I understood that it is based on 4 principles (Ikkio, Nikkio, Sankyo, Yonkyo), everything comes from there, just 4 elements… It seems easy, but each principle can be executed in almost infinite ways. O’ Sensei said once that there were 3,000 basic techniques which could be executed in 16 different ways (ver cita) what gives an almost infinite combination. We could say that this gives origin to different “types” of Aikido but O’ Sensei always said the Aikido is only one, Aikido is the universal harmony, the rest are interpretations. The best of all for a soul avid to challenges is that one can get to understand Aikido after several years of practice where the “black belt” is the beginning of an infinite path and not an arrival point.

Understanding these 4 basic principles may make me forget all the prejudices and customs and allow me to look at the world from a purer place.
As from now all that lefts is keep practicing…
It’s my humble opinion.

Juan Pablo Fava