Golden Centre Aikido:Golden Rules 6

Enter the sixth chamber, the Chamber of Ki, the Sword Chamber.

Written above the door in Gold Letters is CUT THROUGH.

Not all words have equal importance, and the word of this chamber is Shinmei.

Your true purpose...the reason you exist.

You may say "In the beginning was the word and the word was Shinmei."

You cannot truly know Ki if you don't know the sword.

You cannot do true Aikido if you don't know the sword.

You cannot know true life if you don't know the sword.

For the blade of the sword is of Ki. It is of condensed Ki and that is Kindness.

The healing sword. Without which there is no Aikido.

As you raise the sword you are cutting through. You are cutting through self and you are cutting through the universe. For what does cutting through do? It opens.

The blade of kindness opens.

You must open your heart, you must open yourself, you must open your centre, your koshi. You must cut through.

When you truly cut through you open your centre of centre, your goodness, your connection to the devine and there waiting is your Ki.

When you cut through completely you reveal your Shinmei. Your true purpose. Your true path. For where else can your true Ki be than on your true path according to your true purpose and ready to build your true world.

And if your shinmei is to help peoples feet then therein lies your Ki, therein lies your connection with the divine, your path, your purpose. Thus will you be a great chiropodist or some such or even a great shoemaker.

And when you truly cut through you only then hear the sound of silence and in this silence comes the sound of shinmei....echoing through all the mountains.

Know the sword. The sword opens. The sword opens to the path. And those who say they don't use the sword are indeed mistaken for they use it every day without even knowing. In the realm of everyday living you use a sword. It is called deciding. Decision is a sword. Before the decision there is no path, only doubt and confusion. The decision cuts through....the path is set.

You must cut through false self to allow the Ki from the devine you to enter.

No sword...no path. No sword....no direction. No sword...No Aikido.

It is then Ki which realigns things. It is Ki which restores. It is Ki which rehabillitates. It is healing Ki.

So I ask you.....why do you concern yourself with crazy matters of the world? The world is in you and your Ki is with your shinmei. Focus!!!

Peace.G.

Aikido...Nature's Model

There is a model to be understood and followed but it is not a new model. It is a natural model. Aikido is organic.

People think that O'Sensei insisting Aikido is much to do with nature itself look to organic farming etc. as a model. Alas that is just a method of farming albeit a very good one but is not a model......the model.....natures model.

The model is natures organization. So all businesses and organizations should follow this model. But where is this model? You won't find it in peoples new methods of doing things.

The answer lies right in front of you. The TREE.

The tree is THE MODEL.

The spread of Aikido itself was because O'Sensei with universal nature was as a tree.

Aikido is universal...not Japanese or English or Chinese or any nationality. Like the wind which covers the whole world, the sun, the rain.....all travel the world based on universal principle.

A tree is an organization....a life organization. Your body is an organization. Each is a business...a life business in itself. All natural principles of organization and business are thus already there right in front of you in nature.....in the tree.

The wind came and carried away the seeds and the seeds settled elsewhere and they too grew into trees in their own right. As trees they produced fruits, seeds and so is the natural cycle. So the fruits of O'Sensei came to rest in various places around the world and thus came about new trees of Aikido.

The product of the tree is it's fruit, it's seeds. Organic. Nature. True model.

The flowers are it's promotion. The roots take in it's raw materials for conversion. Study what the leaves do and realize which part of an organization that represents. From the trunk which reaches from earth to heaven and gives strength to the business and is it's centre line to the branches which give balance.

No new model.....natures model.

Peace.G.

Aikido:The way of Harmony

Without Harmony as the Goal then how can there be Aikido? Without wanting harmony then you see so much 'lesser' Aikido.

So what is Harmony? More than that....what is the difference between harmony and unity?, harmony and blending?, harmony and oneness?.

Well, Harmony precedes all those things. Harmony is fundamental. To understand Aikido in it's truest form you must understand Harmony.

A bus is coming towards you.....if you don't harmonize you will be run over. A sword or spear is coming to get you....if you don't harmonize then you get hit.

Very simple isn't it? So you can see it has something to do with motion. To harmonize with the motion. To harmonize with the energy. To harmonize with everything.

Ai is not only love it is also harmony. Love needs harmony to keep existing. Harmony needs love to bring completion.

So this is a brief intro.....now let's get into the truth of harmony.

To do this we must go to spiritual principle. Three principles....three disciplines.

Non opposition, non control, non disturbance. You must teach yourself these three things to understand Harmony. Indeed to even understand non resistance.

So back to Harmony. To harmonize with an 'attacker' for instance you must move. Move where? Move to a position of non disturbance. Harmony does not disturb. Only from the position of non disturbance can you blend or unify etc. Harmony comes first.

In your own mind there must be no willingness to disturb either. Throughout spirit, mind and body. Same with non opposition and non control.

The aim is harmony.....not control.

Non control. Let go! This applies to an attack...you must let it go...not try to stop it or control it or interfere with it or change it. All part of the magic of harmony.

When these things are concrete then harmony becomes concrete...then Aikido becomes concrete.

You ever heard the saying 'Ki follows the path of least resistance?' Well, that's close....it actually follows the path of non resistance so how ego got in there and added 'least' I don't know. Anyway....Ki moves to the position of non disturbance. Ki tells you where harmony exists.

Harmony is Real.

Peace.G.

The Dark Side

Star Wars.....the force.....what a film. I'm sure Yoda was based on O'Sensei. Which brings me to the point of Jaki....the Dark Side. Basically...negativity.

You can look at wars and war machines and all things antipathetic to life and look at the energy or the feeling associated and get an idea of it. You can even see it as a driving force. Ha, ha....the power of the dark side.

When doing something...acting from anger or fear or upset etc. then you are making that the driving force of your actions and so you too at that moment or even amount of time are driven by the dark side. Simple really.

Why do you complain? Why do you protest? These are actions driven by the dark side.

The concept of Jaki is not something to complain about or even go against....for that gives it power. Did you know that when you complain about Jaki or 'bad' or such then you are giving power to it? Therefor you are giving power to your own Jaki, to your own negativity....to your own dark side.

This is not AIKIDO.

Ai IS Harmony......Ai IS Love ALSO. Ki is Ki. There is only one Ki.

Therein lies the biggest delusion in the whole of Aikido. Also in internal arts etc. The subject of Ki. Not knowing that there is only one Ki people come up with all kinds of reasonings about different kinds of Ki. Thus they get deluded. Thus they are defeating themselves.

Ai....Ki.....Two things to understand. Only then can one understand Aiki.

Ki is not affected by anything. Ki is not disturbed by scenes of violence of any 'bad' scenes. Ki is not disturbed by what others are doing or saying. Ki does not contain complaint or protest.

So I suggest those who do Aikido look again. Aikido....the way of no complaints...no protests...no matter what!

Peace.G.

Aikido and the Spiral

The purpose of the spiral is restoration of balance. This is to do with yin and yang, this is to do with centre, this is to do with your true nature, this is to do with loving acceptance.

The main thing to study I would say, when it comes to the spiral, is to first recognise it is a manifestation which appears when there is an imbalance to handle. This applies and is a spiritual principle and can then be seen in action in the mental field and the physical field also, as it is with all spiritual truths.

So let's take a look physically. A good place to start is in the bathtub or the sink. Watch the water go down the plughole. A spiral forms to handle it.

We have various energies at play here but basically we have one large body of water trying to get from 'a' to 'b'. Yet the hole is only small. So a spiral forms to handle it. The same with tornado's and hurricanes. We have high pressure and low pressure and heat and cold etc and when the imbalance is great enough and one side wants to rush into the other we have spirals forming. After which all is calm again.

Now there is another principle to consider here when addressing the spiral and that is the principle that energy prefers circles. What is a spiral actually? A series of connected circles.

This principle is used in the field of electronics with the copper coil and in building work with the drill and the screwdriver.

The spiral handles great quantities of energy......easily. The basis of taisabaki.

On a more jovial note have you heard about the whirlwind romance?

Now, mentally you can experience the spiral in many ways. What about when you are trying to understand something and the book or person is giving you so much data all at once that you go dizzy, you spin mentally. A spiral manifesting to handle the overload.

Balance restored mentally is what we call understanding.

Aikido uses the whole complete spiral which is actually a torus. Imaginge an egg timer. It's like two cones. A simplified way of seeing the completeness. Up and outwards wherein lies kokyu, down and outwards wherein lies koshi.

Two dimentionally it is the figure 8 or infinity.

Lastly I would say that the most important point is the principle of the circle.

The circle of light thus is utilized by the phenomenon of the spiral.

Peace.G.

R.I.P. Sensei.

Today I received the sad news that my Sensei had passed away yesterday. Sensei Mike Muspratt, seen in the photo above.(left)

So excuse my indulgence as I give a few reminiscences here.

It was in the late seventies that I came across him teaching Aikido in Watford. I was searching....knowing there was something spiritual I was looking for. My friend and I had numerous discussions about what we 'stood for' and we got into lots of situations against gangs and bullies and hooligans but also thought that the paths we were leading wouldn't end up somewhere nice. So we were searching....both of us. I could only word this something as chi at the time. I had studied a few martial arts and my friend was a very competent boxer but he found that it was easy to hurt people and take blows but seemed pointless now......there must be something else.

So one day he came to me and said he had found a guy who seemed to be what we were looking for....in Watford of all places....and there was me saving to go to Japan or China. I said I would come that night and he said that you have to have an invitation and meet the guy first. Well, I was in such a state of mind shall we say that I said no, I'm coming....he'll have to throw me out if he don't like it.

Well, I went, got changed, joined in....asking nobody. I just followed what everyone was doing. Then out came the teacher from a little side room and everyone stopped and sat seiza. I followed the rituals as best I could, hoping he wouldn't notice me. Then the class began.....long warm up then Aikido. I remember the first strange thing I saw was someone doing unbendable arm. I went straight to him and asked him to show me. Wow....I gotta learn this. Inside I was up and running.

Meanwhile I was aware, I thought, that he still hadn't noticed me and so to me my plan was working. Anyway....come the end of the lesson everyone started getting changed and my friend said that some stayed for tea afterwoods. Then shock, horror, I saw the teacher heading my direction. "This was it" I thought,"now for trouble". I braced myself for the oncoming telling off or worse and felt like I was ready for anything...."I don't care!" Mike approached and as our eyes met he just smiled. Woah....I felt like an iceberg melting mixed with a balloon deflating. He asked my name and asked me if I would like to see something. I said yes and he went and picked up a broom. He held the handle and told me to grab the brush end. Then he told me to use all my atrength to push him over. I laughed and thought "easy!!!" and proceeded to push. "Huh???" That didn't make sense. So I pushed using both hands and all my body weight and all it made him do was proceed to stand on one leg yet it felt I was pushing against a mountain.....impossible. Yet the effect on me was like a light had been switched on. Anyway he then asked if that was the direction I wanted to go and with eyes wide I almost shouted "yes!!!" at which point he said that I was welcome. Phew! What a mind blowing, life changing experience on that first meeting.

Mike had broken away from from the Aikido organization at the time and decided to call his Aikido Zen Shin Kan. He told us that people refused to meditate and use Ki and they were going the wrong direction. He had met and trained with Tohei Sensei and had decided that the principles of Shin shin Toitsu, the format, would be his way of teaching yet once again not as a member of the newly formed Ki Aikido organization. So his way was teaching the principles of such yet really only quoting and demonstrating the words of Ueshiba and sometimes other Japanese he had trained with....Noro seemed to be his favorite.

Mike was very spiritual yet very zen....no messing....his Aikido was soft yet fierce. Zen definitely suited his way. With the sword......unsurpassed by any I have seen. Also very zen like he had the knack of knowing what was on your mind and giving you a relevant puzzle to solve.

I remember one occasion early on when people from another dojo came as he had let them use his dojo. They were from a yoshinkan dojo. Apparently there had been some kind of trouble and a so called fierce Teacher from Japan had been overstepping the mark and damaging students. So Mike let them come to our dojo and sure enough they then reported how said teacher was furious. Typical Mike...he told them to tell him to come down the following sunday and bring his sword. Magically that ended the problem.

Ahhh, too many memories and stories and experiences.

Mike...Sensei....Thanks for Being There.

R.I.Peace. Graham.

Aikido...complimentary opposites

I'll start by saying complimentary opposites are all good...thus there are no negatives.There is no good and bad for bad is not the complimentary opposite of good.

I find that the whole theory Aikido wise of the circle is and the principle of the circle is much to do with these complimentary opposites. The two working together form a cicle.....the circle is perfect.

Love and life are complimentary opposites. They form a circle. So in life it is best to only find and do what you love. Only then will you feel complete for only then will you truly Be. It's your life and it's your love......it's your circle.

Now, if we look at energy and pathways of energy we can look from the viewpoint of geometry. Give if you will energy some life.....and you will find given the choice energy loves and prefers circles. People in construction and architechture know this principle and thus they build arches. Plane builders know this too and thus the windows of planes are circular. Nature knows this too and thus we utilize this in Aikido.

Spiritually in Aikido you must learn to see the circles without which you will never understand ma ai, or even kotegaeshi or the wave indeed. You will never understand entering for it is all to do with the circle.

About a year ago now I was visited by long term Aikidoka who wanted to meet and one of the things he wanted to 'test' was what I said about the circle for I said you actually have to put it there and 'see' it for real. So as a demo I asked that we get into a grappling 'match'. So we wrestled each other and then stopped. Then we did it again but this time I said I would use the circle. Gently like holding a baby I lowered him to the floor while he struggled and fought but found it had no effect.

All was in the circle.

The book of five rings? The book of five circles.

Peace.G.