Happy Friday the 13th!

 

I wish you good luck today and a happy Friday the 13th!  Today is supposed to be bad luck so I send you this Maneki Neko in hopes that it bring you good luck.

The Maneki Neko or "Beckoning Cat" is a symbol of good luck in Japan.  The waving cat is everywhere in Japan, but did you know one of its origins is samurai related?  Here is one famous story about the samurai origin of the Maneki Neko.

In 1615 during the Edo period there was a temple in Tokyo called Gotokuji that had fallen on hard times.  The priest there loved cats and, although poor, he saved his meals to feed this stray cat.  As the cat ate, he would say, “Please bring me good luck and prosperity.”  The story goes that the famous samurai Naotaka Ii who was the feudal lord of Hikone happened to be walking by the temple on his way home from falconry one afternoon.  As he looked over at the temple gates, he noticed that the stray cat seemed to be beckoning him to come in.  Naotaka became curious and entered the temple just as a severe thunderstorm passed over soaking the entire area with heavy rain.  The famous samurai from Hikone spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea and listening to the priest's sermon on Sanzeinga no ho (三世因果) or the reasoning for the past, present and future.  Grateful to the cat for keeping him dry Naotaka Ii donated a large sum of money to re-build the temple and designated it the official temple of his clan.

I wish you the best of luck today.

Training in Budo is about change

 

Training in the martial arts is about change.  We begin training as one person and we begin to see another person emerge as we put more time in to our training.  A while back I read this article about the original Karate Kid movie that kind of stayed with me and I thought I'd share it with you.

I think by now most of us have seen the original Karate Kid movie with Ralph Macchio and, like most, think of it as a "coming of age" story about how Daniel-san found his teacher, gained courage and found himself.  On face value for 99% of this movie that is true.  But, this article deftly illustrates that most of us, me included, missed an important and the underlying story line of the villains journey of realization and redemption.

Throughout the movie Johnny and his friends terrorize Daniel-san, but if we look closely we see them start to soften and realize their wrong path as their teacher becomes more and more radical.  In the last 10 to 15 minutes or so if we look past Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-san we see the redemption in some of the Cobra-kai students.  We see Bobby follow through with his teacher's terrible command to attack Daniel's leg only to beg for forgiveness and Johnny's look of horror as the sensei tells him to "Sweep the leg."  Johnny's full redemption is shown as he displays true sportsmanship by demanding to give Daniel-san the trophy and saying, "You're alright Laruso."

The martial arts are all about change.  Daniel-san found himself and changed.  Mr. Miyagi found the love of teaching again and changed.  Bobby and Johnny realized they were following the wrong master and were acting unscrupulously and changed.  A more developed ending that displayed this idea of realization, change and redemption would have seen Daniel-san, Johnny and the other students from the Cobra-kai training in Mr. Miyagi's backyard as the movie faded black to the credits.

In the martial arts, everyone seemingly good and bad has the opportunity to change.  There is no time limit or statue of limitations.  Change is a function of realization and action, but most of all it requires some level of sacrifice.  We must let go of something in order to grab hold of something else.  Every person is capable of change.  If Johnny can do it and Darth Vader can too at the end of Return of the Jedi then we can too.

Learn from your mistakes

I recently read an article on how one's mind responds to mistakes.  In a traditional martial arts there is no such thing as right or wrong, but only what can be learned.  For the teacher, every mistake is a teaching moment.  For the student it is a chance to understand themselves as they see mistakes as an opportunity to learn about themselves and change.  This is the best case scenario, but sometimes students and teachers only see the defeat in the mistake.  I know that I have from both sides.  This is wholeheartedly wrong and will only cause more unhappiness and problems.  When we make mistakes, the only thing any of us can do is forgive and try and find the lesson there. How your brain reacts to mistakes depends on your mindset

“Whether you think you can or think you can't -- you're right,” said Henry Ford. A new study, to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that people who think they can learn from their mistakes have a different brain reaction to mistakes than people who think intelligence is fixed.

“One big difference between people who think intelligence is malleable and those who think intelligence is fixed is how they respond to mistakes,” says Jason S. Moser, of Michigan State University, who collaborated on the new study with Hans S. Schroder, Carrie Heeter, Tim P. Moran, and Yu-Hao Lee. Studies have found that people who think intelligence is malleable say things like, “When the going gets tough, I put in more effort” or “If I make a mistake, I try to learn and figure it out.” On the other hand, people who think that they can’t get smarter will not take opportunities to learn from their mistakes. This can be a problem in school, for example; a student who thinks her intelligence is fixed will think it’s not worth bothering to try harder after she fails a test.

For this study, Moser and his colleagues gave participants a task that is easy to make a mistake on. They were supposed to identify the middle letter of a five-letter series like “MMMMM” or “NNMNN.” Sometimes the middle letter was the same as the other four, and sometimes it was different. “It’s pretty simple, doing the same thing over and over, but the mind can’t help it; it just kind of zones out from time to time,” Moser says. That’s when people make mistakes—and they notice it immediately, and feel stupid.

While doing the task, the participant wore a cap on his or her head that records electrical activity in the brain. When someone makes a mistake, their brain makes two quick signals: an initial response that indicates something has gone awry—Moser calls it the “’oh crap’ response”—and a second that indicates the person is consciously aware of the mistake and is trying to right the wrong. Both signals occur within a quarter of a second of the mistake. After the experiment, the researchers found out whether people believed they could learn from their mistakes or not.

People who think they can learn from their mistakes did better after making a mistake – in other words, they successfully bounced back after an error. Their brains also reacted differently, producing a bigger second signal, the one that says “I see that I’ve made a mistake, so I should pay more attention” Moser says.

The research shows that these people are different on a fundamental level, Moser says. “This might help us understand why exactly the two types of individuals show different behaviors after mistakes.” People who think they can learn from their mistakes have brains that are tuned to pay more attention to mistakes, he says. This research could help in training people to believe that they can work harder and learn more, by showing how their brain is reacting to mistakes.

Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-brain-reacts-mindset.html?ref_src=email

Shoki the Demon Queller

Warriors would sometimes adorn themselves with symbols that acted like talismans to protect themselves from harm or prayer for victory.  The tsuba or sword guard was a favorite item for the samurai to personalize with these symbols. One such symbol of protection was Shoki or "Demon Queller."  Shoki (鍾馗) is a Taoist deity who was a popular art motif around the Edo period and is supposed to protect against evil.

As the story goes, Shoki was a promising young physician who dreamed of being a physician at the imperial palace.  He took the government service examination and scored 1st place.  When he was presented to the court to receive his award, the Emperor rejected him because of his extreme ugliness.  After being cast out, Shoki committed suicide.  Upon hearing about Shoki taking his own life, the Emperor overcome with guilt posthumously awarded him the title of Doctor of Zhongnanshan which is supposed to be the birthplace of Taosim and ordered him buried in imperial green.  Shoki's spirit, in appreciation, vowed to protect the Emperor from evil and thus became canonized as Shoki the Great Spiritual Chaser of Demons.  He is usually depicted wearing boots, a large scholars hat, wearing a green robe and carrying a sword while he is either stabbing or trampling on demons.

In Japan, Shoki is usually associated with Boys day and is supposed to watch over children and protect them from evil and illness.  Shoki is also a very popular symbol in Kyoto where he is used to protect buildings, temples and even protect against fire.

Be good rather than right

Do you think you know?  Having the attitude that one knows "everything" is one of the greatest barriers to learning.  "You think you know everything" was one of the admonishments that Furuya Sensei often said to me.  Then I thought it was some sort of pseudo compliment.  Today as a teacher, I can understand why it wasn't.  Having this type of self-righteousness can lead us down a path toward a slippery slope.  The slippery slope arrives when one would rather choke on their pride than admit they don't know.  With this pride comes a fall shortly thereafter Sometimes when we don't want to admit that we are wrong and we try and cover up our miss step.  I recently read an article where this phenomenon is called "overclaiming."

From Science Daily: New research reveals that the more people think they know about a topic in general, the more likely they are to allege knowledge of completely made-up information and false facts, a phenomenon known as "overclaiming." The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

In today's society, a teacher or a "master" should know all.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The term for teacher in Japanese is sensei (先生).  The word itself translates to mean "one who comes first."  Therefore a teacher isn't the teacher because they know it all.  It is merely because they have been where you have been shortly before you.

Original story: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150720092303.htm

When you're down, it's better that you don't skip class.

 

When you're down, it's better that you don't skip class. They say exercise is the best medicine.  Nowadays, some form of movement is in just about every medical treatment protocol.  I recently read a great article which supported this assertion that exercise is the best medicine.

In this article, the author cited an interesting experiment in which participants watched a sad movie clip and afterwards were split into groups who either jogged or stretched.  After the activity, they were surveyed.  The participants who jogged were more likely to have gotten over the sad film clip than those that just stretched.

What does that tell us?  If we are feeling down or a bit under the weather, then we might want to come to class.  Getting out coupled with the rigorousness of class can help us get out from under whatever is clouding our day.  If one wanted to take it one step further, then maybe they can try starting the day out with morning class to see if it can set the tone for the day.

Either way, the best thing to do is to come to class.  It can benefit you in more ways than you think.

Source: http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/04/how-neuroscientists-explain-the-mind-clearing-magic-of-running.html

What do teachers teach?

 

Students will always come and go, it's a fact of life, but what is really important is what they learn from us in the time that they are with us.   A good teacher is then not judge by how good they are but by the lasting impression they make upon their students.

Gary Illiano sent me an interesting article written by Ted Gonder about the lessons that he has learned from his Aikido teacher, Donald Levine.  I felt that each of his points were well thought out and poignant to anyone who follows the Way.  They apply to not only Aikido, but to life as well.

How One Aikido Sensei Changed My Life (and 17 of His Life Lessons) By Ted Gonder

1. Fall down, get up. Don believed in turning the fear of falling into the love of flying. He showed us that the floor was not something to be afraid of hitting or falling onto but instead just another surface, something to be explored and embraced. By learning to fall and rebound gracefully, with minimal friction or impact, toward your intended destination, we might live more freely. Whenever I came to Don for advice about failures and struggles, he’d smile and offer: “Fall down, get up!”
2. Expect nothing, be ready for anything. In aikido, if you try to anticipate what your attacker is about to do, you open yourself up to danger because you’re living in the future rather than the present. The same is true in life: expectations open us up to danger. Any time we’re expecting one thing to happen and another does, we suffer: what are disappointment, anger, boredom, and frustration but unmet expectations? Don’s alternative was to instead remain “ready for anything”: centered, calm and alert at all times, armed with facts but aware of our limited perspective. By doing this we can avoid being surprised and always find the course of action leading to our desired results.
3. Step off the line and witness your attacker. Have you ever watched an angry person while they’re on the attack? They’re completely out of control: their pain is so overwhelming that they can’t keep it inside anymore, so they spill it onto others. Normally when you’re attacked the natural response is to run away in fear or to fight back with reciprocal anger; in aikido the first step is always to step out of the way of the attack so that you can witness your attacker. Don showed us how while witnessing our attacker, we might muster compassion and pity for this suffering, angry person. This sense of pity allows us to move past being a victim to responding with what Marcus Aurelius called “kindness and justice.”
4. Act from your center. The Eastern arts make a big deal about “the center” — a point below the belly button where all your energy comes from. Don took aikido’s practice of “getting centered” and extended it to real life situations: speeches, important conversations, negotiations. The idea is to gather yourself before acting: to relax, fix your posture, take a breath, clear your mind, ask yourself what matters most, what you value, who you’re fighting for, where you come from, where you are, where you’re headed, and how you feel. Can you imagine how the world might be different if more people took the time to “center,” or how your life might be different if you would?
5. Learn the technique to forget the technique. To get good at aikido, you have to practice the techniques so much that they become automatic, reflex. But technical proficiency doesn’t make a great aikidoist. Great aikido comes from the the transcendence of technique: to move freely and masterfully, one must forget what’s been learned. Don would repeat aikido’s founder: “Any movement, intact, can become an Aikido technique, so in ultimate terms, there are no mistakes. My advice to you: Learn and forget! Learn and forget! Make the techniques part of your being!” This principle extends to every pursuit worth mastering — music, business, chess, parenting — learn the discipline so that you can break free of it.
6. The most important practice happens off the mat. In any discipline requiring sacred space and regular practice — yoga, meditation, aikido, temple, church — the most important thing is not that you go to your Bikram class to get your fix or go to church to feel like a “good Christian” for that Sunday, but that you carry out the principles of that practice out in daily life: the real dojo. Practice “on the mat” is only to strengthen your foundation of technique and philosophy, to recenter so that you’re more capable of living out that practice “off the mat.” That’s the point of aikido or yoga or any other discipline. It’s not to get fit, or sweat a little, or check the box so you can tell your friends; it’s to become a better human being.
7. Everything is training, training is process, and process is beauty. For a while, I served as Don’s personal assistant on business matters: I’d take dictation from him on emails, run errands, clean his house, water his plants, landscape his yard. Some things — like helping write important emails to influential martial artists or political figures — I found thrilling. But a lot of what he had me do bored me to tears, especially menial tasks such as cleaning and gardening. And it showed: I’d convince myself I was done weeding his garden and he’d come out and be like “Seriously, man? You missed like a thousand spots. It’d better be done the right way when I come back in a few hours.” After several instances like that, I still wasn’t getting the message. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to muster enough enthusiasm to complete these tasks to perfection. Then one day, I attended an aikido practice in Don’s backyard, where we swung our wooden swords (boken) thousands of times in a row until our shoulders burned with lactic acid and my mind burned with boredom. After about a thousand swings, something happened: the swinging of the sword became automatic, my shoulder pain faded into the background, and I started noticing my breath, the breeze, the angle of the sun on the flowers, and the beat of my heart. I started having random epiphanies about projects and relationships. And suddenly I wanted to keep swinging the dreadful sword — extreme boredom opened a door to brief and humble enlightenment. After the session, I told Don what I’d experienced and he related the sword-swinging to menial repetitive tasks: “they’re the same. Everything is training.” He explained to me that if I could get lost in boredom-inspiring processes, I could experience more moments like this, moments where the noise of the world fades into the background and the beauty of the present moment emerges. Don taught me to fall in love with these repetitive menial tasks, to do the work. Now I love doing laundry, taking out the trash, drying dishes — it’s some of my best reflective time, it’s when my best ideas happen, and it helps me cleanse my soul and rid myself of restlessness. The same goes for driving, sitting on public transit, and waiting in line — these are meditation opportunities, not dead time. Chances to practice patience, to observe beauty.
8. Defy the instinct to look for differences, and instead seek out common ground. We as humans at the cellular level are the exact same. It’s only because of our flawed perception and personal insecurities that we seek to name one another’s differences: black, white, man, woman, tall, short, conservative, liberal. We myopically construct identity based on false perceptions, superficialities, and assumptions, so that we can form tribal alliances to survive. In reality, all this effort to identify distinctions between us only leads to that which aikido warns against: that we see each other as adversaries rather than as partners. Don had faith in humanity as a whole, saw through false labels and their consequences, and encouraged human unity. His actions spoke for themselves, and inspire me every day to look beyond what divides us toward what unites us.
9. Embrace the gray. Don believed that nothing in life was so simple as to be “black and white.” He believed the worthiest task was to navigate “the gray.” I’d sometimes share with Don my insecurities about the fact that I didn’t self-identify as a democrat or a republican, or that I didn’t have strong opinions on hot-button issues such as foreign policy (should we intervene or self-isolate?) and the macroeconomy (should taxes be high or low?). I feared that my lack of opinion might lead me to be an unengaged citizen in a time when too many citizens sit apathetically by the sidelines. Don offered comforting perspective by telling me what matters is my ability to navigate the gray and not just listen to the shrill divisive voices at the extremes. He showed me that often even more important than taking a particular side is helping people to understand that an issue might be more complex than it’s made out to be by “experts” and popular media. He pointed me to a Martin Luther King Jr. quote that has guided my thinking since: “The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites. The idealists are usually not realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic. The militant are not generally known to be passive, nor the passive to be militant. Seldom are the humble self-assertive, or the self-assertive humble. But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony. The philosopher Hegel said that truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in the emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.”
10. It’s okay to cry. In fact, it’s manly. Coming from competitive sports and fraternity life, I’d been programmed to think that crying was a sign of weakness in men. Like many guys, I’d conditioned myself to “plug up” emotion. For as rare as it was for me to shed tears, it was rarer for me to see another man cry. So it took me by surprise when one night over Scotch, Don began crying. While sharing about his experiences in Ethiopia during the revolution, he opened up to me about the death of one of his friends, and he cried tears of sorrow. In that moment he showed real grief, sadness, and character, and in the moments and days after I couldn’t help but think of how powerful those tears were, and how stupid it is that crying is thought of as unmanly. A couple of years later, during a tumultuous time in my work, Don reached out to me to meet — he said it was urgent. We met near his house and he told me with a look of genuine concern that he was worried about how many aikido practices I was missing at the last minute due to my unpredictable flight schedule. He weeped courageously: “I don’t want to lose you, man. You’re too damn good to lose. Get it together.” His vulnerability to weep openly showed me the truth behind his words: my behavior was hurting him, he deeply cared about our relationship, and he deeply cared about my development as his student and friend. His courage then set an example for me and showed me the way: a year later, when I told him that I’d be naming my newborn son after him, I couldn’t help but hold back my own tears.
11. Attachment has power. For a while, I found it contradictory that Don was such an avid subscriber to the Asian traditions, yet decorated his house generously with artwork and other material possessions. After all, the Buddhists disbelieve in attachment to the material. So, eventually I raised the critique: “why do you have so much artwork? Why attach yourself to that? The Buddhists say that attachment is the cause of all unhappiness and suffering.” His response shut me up: “Without attachment, wouldn’t life be devoid of all meaning?” He helped me understand that even if detachment is what makes life livable, attachment is what makes life worth living.
12. The mind can travel by plane, but the heart travels by foot. Don spoke English, Amharic, French, German, and a little Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. When he was 16, he was involved in the formation of the youth United Nations — just as the real United Nations was forming. As a young Jewish college student, he went to Germany study abroad — right after WWII. Early in his career, he journeyed to Ethiopia from Chicago to New York City to Paris then along the entire African coastline by ship. He understood travel. And once as we were on a flight from Chicago to Frankfurt together before venturing through Germany for an aikido seminar, he told me “the mind can travel by plane, but the heart travels by foot.” If you want to get to know a place as you’re traveling through, recognize the intangible trade-off you make in exchange for speed. Walking and jogging put you in touch with the people and the sidewalks and the pedestrian life of a place. Bicycles, too. Buses and trains allow you to sit into a place as you pass through it, and give you the window to peer out of and watch, to ponder as you enter that space between this town and the next one. These all let your heart beat in sync with your locale. But planes don’t: planes pick you up in one place and drop you in another, more quickly than is natural — you miss the life on the way and need to settle in for days or weeks before truly syncing with the new location. Planes are good if you need to conduct a transaction, and get somewhere very far or very fast, but not if you want to “be” there.
13. Be an advocate. Don wanted his students to become better human beings as a result of their educational experience. He was an advocate for his students, on a mission to help each of us develop a voice of our own that we could use nonviolently toward human progress as we ventured forth into the world. But Don was also an advocate for those who didn’t have a voice at all. He was always working on asylum cases as an expert witness for Ethiopian refugees, people who barely spoke English or whose families had been torn apart by war, or who were caught in a bind with unfair or misinterpreted law. This was some of his most fulfilling and meaningful work, and showed me that each of us can be an advocate.
14. Be HOT. As much as Don was an academic and theorist, he was a deep believer in using his time on earth for the most pressing and interesting issues of the times. He encouraged me and others to live and work at the “Height of the Times,” to be “HOT:” to be aware of the world’s events, find relevant ways to contribute, and lead change on the edge, to ride the wave of history and contribute whatever you can to make it better than it would be without you. He took the phrase from Chapter 3 of Ortega y Gasset’s Revolt of the Masses which states “What, then, in a word is the ‘height of our times’? It is not the fullness of time, and yet it feels itself superior to all times past, and beyond all known fullness….strong…yet uncertain of its destiny; proud of its strength and at the same time fearing it.” For Don, being HOT meant helping guide major developments in the fields of social theory and Ethiopian scholarship, then helping make those practical through interdisciplinary teaching of a modern martial art. And he encouraged me not just to read the news or vote but to plug into the intelligence of my network and seek out the opportunities to truly lead change on the edge. I took his advice and ended up working on HOT issues through a Department of Homeland Security task force and on a Presidential Advisory Council.
15. Vices make us human — lighten up. Don was perfect…at being himself. Which meant he had vices. One time early in our relationship I asked him how he was dealing with the pain of a leg injury, and he admitted to me that Scotch was his painkiller of choice. How surprised I was: here was this seemingly pure master of the spiritual arts, and he was boozing to deal with the pain!? This clashed with my image of him, but after I got past my initial feelings of naive judgment, I felt drawn toward him morefor this minor vice. It made him human. Another time, he invited me to grab morning coffee together just days after he’d been diagnosed with a dangerous illness. We met at a French cafe, and I was expecting him to order something spartan like mint tea and healthy fruit; instead he got a coffee with extra cream, and a giant morning bun. At the time, I was trying to develop discipline in my own diet, and seeing my mentor eat something unhealthy made me feel conflicted about my efforts. He invited me to share in feasting on the delicious morning bun; reluctantly, I accepted his offer. As I chewed the first bites, I barely noticed its amazing taste because I felt so guilty for breaking my healthy diet, but quickly I lightened up and let go. We shared the pastry, and ate many more in the months and years after. The morning bun became a shared vice. I never ate pastries with anyone except Don, and he wasn’t a big pastry eater either, but that singular harmless vice bonded us. Had I judged him for his vices, I’d have created unnecessary separation in what would become a very close bond; instead, by embracing his vices I was able to see him as a whole human, and open space for a deeper connection.
16. Extend roots into the earth, and reach up toward the heavens. In aikido there are techniques that call upon “heaven and earth” — you disrupt your opponent’s balance by leading their attention upward and downward simultaneously: you render them top-heavy while setting their body into motion toward the floor. Don was exceptional at teaching us the value of these techniques on the mat, but even more so in life. To act from a centered place, one must be grounded, stable, humble. For this, we have to extend our roots into the ground and feel how our feet connect to the foundation upon which we stand. Don would have us take off our shoes and stand in the grass with our eyes closed, imagining that our legs had strong roots extending deep into the earth. We’d then push each other to test balance, and find that we’d become nearly impossible to topple. But to be grounded in the earth beneath us without any extension toward the heavens above us is to risk getting stuck. As trees grow toward the sky, they blossom, grow more magnificent, and give to other creatures. Don would have us reach toward the sky with yoga poses and qi gong exercises, and we’d feel our lungs expand, our mental awareness sharpen, and our energy increase. The practice of extending roots into the earth and reaching up to the heavens applies to nearly everything in life, from business meetings (ground yourself in reality while pursuing ambitious goals) to parenting (setting strong values and consistent routines while encouraging your kids to dream big).
17. Find amusement in the human comedy. Don took his work seriously but tried hard not to take himself too seriously. For as much as Don accomplished in his life, one might have thought he had all the reasons in the world to be a really “serious” guy. But he was quite the opposite. Constant falling on the aikido mat at the hands of his students helped him stay humble, always able to laugh at himself, to see himself from his own “mental balcony” and find amusement. The last words I heard from Don before he passed away were from an audio recording he sent out to a group of friends, in which he said “I continue to be amused by the human comedy.” Until the very end, Don was able to see the world clearly, and even in all his pain, crack a smile and see the humor in it all.

Source: http://observer.com/2016/01/how-one-aikido-sensei-changed-my-life-and-17-of-his-life-lessons/

Do you have ikigai?

 

Martial artists are people who live their lives with ikigai (生き甲斐) or a sense of purpose.

In the Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi wrote, "Do nothing which is of no use."

With Musashi's assertion in mind this leads us to believe that we must live our lives for something.  That something is ikigai.  Someone poignantly defined ikigai as "The reason that gets you out of bed in the morning."

The average person is someone who is usually caught between two masters: one who dictates how they use their time and the other which uses that time up.  Martial artists are people who live their lives with ikigai and thus choose how they want to live their lives.

With an understanding of one's ikigai then we can understand things like gaman or perseverance, isshokenmei or hard work and konjo or will-power.  These three things powered by ikigai are what makes a martial artist a martial artist.

Martial artist think differently

Martial artists are supposed to be a cut above normal people.  They follow a straighter path in life where they are supposed to act and behave differently but most of all they are supposed to think differently. In the 2008 Olympics there was a controversy centered around swimmers Michael Phelps and Milorad Cavic as to who won the gold medal in the 100m Butterfly race.  Michael Phelps reached out and touched the touch pad one-hundredth of a second faster than Milorad Cavic.  How does one train physically for that?  The answer is that they don't.  At one's highest peak physical state the difference between winning and losing is so close that the only error lies in their mental training.  Therefore, a martial artist not only masters their bodies but they must also master their minds too.

Have you ever wondered if your mind is normal?  Well, do this little mind exercise and find out if you are "normal"?

Check out the following exercise, guaranteed to raise an eyebrow. There's no trick or surprise. Just follow these instructions, and answer the questions one at a time and as quickly as you can. Again, as quickly as you can but don't advance until you've done each of them...really.

Now, scroll down (but not too fast, you might miss something)...

> > > > > What is: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 1+5 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 2+4 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 3+3 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 4+2 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 5+1 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Now repeat saying the number 6 to yourself as fast as you can for 15 seconds. Then scroll down.

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > QUICK! THINK OF A VEGETABLE! Then arrow down. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Keep going. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You're thinking of a carrot, right? > > > >

If not, you're among the 2% of the population whose minds are different enough to think something else. 98% of people will answer with carrot when given this exercise.

This week in May is National Teacher Appreciation Week

Here is a picture of Furuya Sensei throwing me on the cover of Martial Arts Ultimate Warriors. This week in May is National Teacher Appreciation week.

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." - Buddhist saying

We are because of some other person's efforts.  None of us exists in a vacuum.  It is easy to think, "I did it all by myself" but that is naive.

The truth is that we are all a product of someone else's efforts.

We often think that we only learn from our parents and our teachers but the truth is that every person we meet can potentially teach us something.  "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear" is a great adage that illustrates that if we have the willingness and openess to learn then anyone or anything can be our teacher.  How powerful could we all become if we adpoted this mindset?

Please take some time out today to give thanks to all the people who have taught you something.

Make sure you have mastered the old

 

"Each day learn something new, and just as important, relearn something old." - Robert Brault

The battle cry of today's society might just be, "Out with the old and in with the new!"  But, is this adage really all that correct?

In today's instant society it makes sense to let go of what is "old" to make way for something new especially when it comes to technology.  However, in the martial arts, it is the complete opposite.  We intentionally take the road that leads us back to old in order to prepare us for the new.

These so called "old" skills are what most in martial arts refer to as "the basics."  It is easy today to jump into something much fancier, fun or exciting and to neglect or shy away from the things that are seemingly boring or outdated.  In the old days a common compliment about a good student was, "The basics are there."  If the student mastered the basics then it reflected well upon not only the student but the teacher as well.

Today, schools are cancelling music programs, only 10% of the cars sold in America are manual transmission and some schools don't even teach cursive handwriting.  Before we can throw something out, we must be sure we know exactly what it does or how it impacts us.

As you can see from the infographic about handwriting skills, there are numerous benefits to being able to write in cursive.  The  critical skills that one acquires from music, cursive handwriting or driving a manual transmission car are almost immeasurable.  Because there is no direct connection and any connection is circuitously obtained it is easy to accidentally throw them out as we separate the chaff from the wheat.

What made our previous generations perhaps better than our generation today?  It is hard to say, but one could argue that their "manual" skills or basics were much greater than ours.

Please take a moment to remember O Sensei today.

 

On this day 47 years ago, Morihei Ueshiba passed away.

Since O Sensei's passing, Aikido has become a global phenomenon and is now practiced in over 130 countries by millions of people.

Aikido training has changed my life.  Without O Sensei's teachings where would I be?  Hard to say, but I do know that I wouldn't be the person that I am today.

It's hard to believe that 26 years has gone by since I started Aikido and that 47 years have gone by since O Sensei passed away.

Obviously I never met O Sensei so it could be quite easy to downplay, overlook or forget his passing.  But, to remember O Sensei is to pay my respects to the person who has started this martial art that has given me so much.

I hope that as the years pass by that people won't forget O Sensei and his contributions.  Furuya Sensei once said, "It is just one day each year that you have to think about O Sensei, you at least owe him that much."  Sensei's chiding is something that I try to take to heart each year.

The Japanese word for practice or training is keiko which means to "reflect on the past" so in a way we remember O Sensei every time we train.  But, is that good enough?  Kojima Sensei once talked about how Japanese people don't celebrate birthdays and that every January 1st every person gets one year older.  It is only in their death that people get a "special" day.  Sensei is right about taking the time to remember those that we are close to or those we owe a special debt to.

The mark of a good student is one that does the right thing at the right time.  It is easy to be a good student when the teacher is present.  The final exam comes when the teacher is no longer around and our true nature comes out.

To take time out to remember O Sensei on this day is what a good student would do.  A bad student forgets even if it is by accident.  True character is what one does when no one is looking and when it seemingly doesn't matter any more.  A good student will do the right thing at the right time regardless of circumstance or who is watching.

Please be a good student and take a moment to remember O Sensei and all that he has done for us on his special day.

One of my favorite O Sensei quotes is:

"In true budo there is no enemy or opponent. True budo is to become one with the universe, not to train to become powerful or to throw down some opponent. Rather we train in hopes of being of some use, however small our role may be, in the task of bringing peace to mankind around the world."

Inspiring!

Restraint and humility

 

"Yaki-tachi wo saya ni osamete, masumasu masurao no kokoro wo togari keri." "Keep your tempered sword in its scabbard, first, polish a heart of courage."

According to Japanese culture, restraint and humility are the hallmarks of a true master of the marital arts.  Those two traits are more important than strength, speed, ability or accomplishment.  Anyone can cause harm or hurt other people, but only a true person of character can exercise restraint and practice humility in the face adversity.  It takes courage to be a person of character.

In learning, one comes to understand that man is ignorant.  That ignorance isn't stupidity but the lack of knowledge about humanity.  A universal truth is that every person suffers and is going through their own stuff and thus sometimes lashes out.  This lashing out is really them hurting themselves.  This ignorance is what drives them - it drives us all.  By studying a martial art, one realizes this idea of universal suffering.  We come to understand that circuitously that it is not this person's fault and that they act in a harmful way because they are ignorant of their actions and are suffering.  Knowing this we come to understand our own ignorance and realize that to destroy them will only hurts us.  It takes courage to go against our fears and egos and demonstrate restraint to show compassion.  In understanding their ignorance we are able to find the humility and strength to confront our own suffering and thus we are made better by this person's actions.  This is the circle of life - we exist to help each another.  Only with study can we come to not only understanding this, but to embrace it as well and thus we exercise restraint.

There is a scene from Akira Kurosawa's Sanjuro where Toshiro Mifune's character Sanjuro is trying to rescue Lady Mutsuta and her daughter who are being held hostage.  He is angry over his inexperienced cohorts actions which alerted their captors to their escape.  In trying to motivate his cohorts, Sanjuro suggests that he has to go and kill the henchmen because of their mistake.  Lady Mutsuta over hears his chiding and says playfully, "You're too sharp. That's your trouble. You're like a drawn sword. Sharp, naked without a sheath. You cut well. But good swords are kept in their sheaths."  Sanjuro acquiesces and instead offers to be used as a step stool so that they can escape out a window.  She says, "Oh no I cannot, it would be improper."  Sanjuro says, "Hurry before I have to go and kill more people" to which Lady Mutsuta gives in and they all flee to freedom.

Lady Mutsuta's high manners and demeanor made Sanjuro have to be a better martial artist.  He was forced to become more like her and had to think and find a way to escape without killing.  In that one moment with that one exchange, Lady Mutsuta made him not only a better martial artist but a better person too.

Happy Earth Day!

 

  "Create each day anew by clothing yourself with heaven and Earth, bathing yourself with wisdom and love, and placing yourself in the heart of Mother Nature" - Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace

Earth Day is Aikido Day.

At its core, the philosophy of Earth Day is the same as the way of Aikido.  The philosophy of Earth Day is simply to protect and conserve the Earth.  The philosophy of Aikido is also to protect and to save mankind.

Simply put, the philosophy of Earth Day and Aikido is one of love.  Aikido believes that all things have life and that all life is precious and thus must be protected and conserved.

Aikido believes that everything is connected or inter-related and that all things in nature have this circling back effect.  To attack or hurt others only brings harm to ourselves.  Therefore, to destroy, abuse or neglect the Earth is against the philosophy of Aikido because harming the Earth only brings harm back to us.

When a person confronts us, we understand that this person is suffering and thus we are not truly the focus of their aggression despite what they might think.  We also understand that this person is really only going to hurt themselves in the long run - the police will come, they will go to jail, they might lose their job, or their spouse might leave them as a result of their actions.  Understanding all the unintended circumstances we don't want to add to this person's misery and so we try and "save" them.

We save them with Aikido.  The Aikido techniques are designed in a way to minimize the damage to the attacker and to diffuse the person's anger, aggression or more importantly their suffering.  To do Aikido is help this person because they are blinded by their emotions or their suffering and are in need of kindness or compassion not aggression.  It would be the same for an upset child who tries to strike us.  We know they don't know any better so treat them with kindness and compassion and we don't destroy them.

The Earth is our home and just like our attacker, we need to treat it with kindness and compassion.  After all it provides us with so much.  Please do something today to show your appreciation to the Earth for all it does for us.

"When you see a stranger regard him as a thief!" - Japanese proverb

When I was a student, we had to announce ourselves whenever we entered or left the dojo.  We had to say, "Good morning Sensei it's David" or "Good night Sensei, thank you.  This is David" every time or we got a scolding from Furuya Sensei the next time we came.  Sensei used to say, "Only a dorobo (thief) enters without announcing themselves."  This stems from the Japanese proverb, "When you see a stranger regard him as a thief!"

This idea of announcing oneself or one's intention can still be seen in Japanese society today.  When a person comes home, they say, "tadaima" or I'm home.  When we see someone you know in the morning one is supposed to say, "Ohayogozaimasu" or Good morning.  When a student visits a dojo, they are supposed to bring a letter of introduction from their teacher that states the student's rank, how long they have been training, something about their character and a request to allow them to train.

This insular idea comes from the "village" mentality that the Japanese had that dates back hundreds of thousands years.  If you were from their village then a Japanese person would bend over backwards to help you, but if you were an "outsider" then they would be very suspicious of you.

From a martial arts perspective, this distrust of outsiders came because of the practice of dojo yaburi (道場破り) or dojo challenges, but some call it dojo storming.  Dojo yaburi is when a person comes to the dojo to challenge one of the students or the teacher.  Supposedly, if one could beat the teacher then they would take over the school and the students. Resources and students were scarce and so this was a frequent occurrence.

This idea of regarding a stranger as a thief is one that still exists today.  One of the main differences between Japanese and Western people is that Japanese people don't talk to people they don't know and they especially don't idly chit-chat with strangers.  This closed-offness is something that confounded Western businessman in the 1980s as they tried to infiltrate the Japanese economy.  Usually, no introduction meant no business.  One needed to have an "in" in order to start a business relationship.

There is even a famous Zen story closely associated to this idea of strangers and thieves:

One evening, Zen Master Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras as a thief with a sharp sword entered, demanding that he give him money.

Shichiri told him: "Do not disturb me. You can find the money in that drawer." Then he resumed his recitation.

The thief found the money and began to leave when Shichiri said, "Don't take it all. I need some to pay taxes with tomorrow."

The intruder gathered up most of the money and started to leave.  Shichiri then said, "You should thank a person when you receive a gift."  The man thanked him and ran off.

A few days afterwards the thief was caught and confessed to his crimes.  When Shichiri was called as a witness he said: "This man is no thief, at least as far as I am concerned. I gave him money and he thanked me for it."

After he had finished his prison term, the thief became Shichiri's disciple.

In Japan, whenever you enter someplace you are supposed to state your intention and one does this by how one announces themselves.  Students have to greet their teachers and show they are ready to learn and this is done with the first greeting.  Customers always air on the side of politeness so they usually say, "Sumimasen" or excuse me prior to asking for something.

Who are you when you think nobody is watching

A martial artist must have hin.  The dictionary definition of hin or hinkaku is to have grace or dignity, but it is a hard word to translate into English because it has no direct translation.  Hin can be thought of as an air a person has about them or more generally how they carry themselves. The famous Kendo master Mochida Moriji used to say, "Since we are not at war anymore, a kendoka should not be aggressive but should be a person of hin."

There is a story (that may or may not be true) that supposedly describes Mochida Moriji Sensei and what it means to have hin.  One day a famous Kabuki actor named Ichikawa Danjuro was riding in a taxi when he saw a man walking down the street.  The man walked with so much presence and grace that it caused Ichikawa to say in awe out loud, "Who is that man?"  The taxi driver supposedly said, "That is the Kendo master Mochida."

I don't know if this is a true story or not but I do have another story told to by Furuya Sensei about one of his Iaido teachers named Ebihara Sensei.  Ebihara Sensei was one of those old school sword teachers who carried himself like he was eight feet tall despite being someone of slight stature.  He had so much presence that he embodied his art.  If he just walked into the room, you got scared and stood up straighter.  One day Sensei went to the movies with his friends.  They were being rowdy as young people usually do when they are away from their parents.  As they were playing around Sensei noticed this man sitting in the front row with impeccable posture and right then he realized that it was Ebihara Sensei.  Sensei immediately stop messing around and told his friends to stop.  Ebihara Sensei never turned around or made any notice of their presence, but his mere presence made Sensei and his friends behave.  That is true hin.

Most of us pretend to be certain way only when we think others are watching or will notice.  A martial artist never gets to have an off day and must be en garde.  To be en garde means to assume that we are being watched and judged by our behavior.  That is why Sensei used to say, "Always act as if your teacher is watching."  Please take care and carry yourself with hin or with the utmost consideration.

.

It is easy to judge.

 

Complete this sentence.  That person is ...

a Jerk. a Loser. Bad. a Dork. a Geek. a Weirdo. Ugly. Fat. a Wimp. a Human being.

Every word on that list besides the last one is a label that comes as a result of a judgement.  To truly see someone we must look past the labels that we or society has placed upon them.

People are first and foremost human beings and we must do our best to see them as that.  This will enable us to see them first and hopefully not judge them second.  I know, easy to say and hard to do.  I am just as guilty as the next person, but I am a human who is just trying their best.  How about you?

Every person is a human being who is doing their best to find kindness, compassion and forgiveness just like you and me.  I hope that I can see you.  Can you see me?

Dojo party tonight

Food, drinks and fun.  Please come join us tonight for our Seminar Social.  Everyone is invited to attend. 6:00 PM 1211 N. Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90012

"Success is no accident." - Pele

 

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” - Pele

This weekend is our annual O Sensei Memorial Seminar.  Our dojo has observed O Sensei's passing every year since it opened in 1974.  Furuya Sensei started doing a memorial seminar commemorating O Sensei's passing in 2005.

One of the main reasons why Sensei started doing a memorial seminar was that he felt that people were starting to forget O Sensei's passing.  So, he felt that the best way to memorialize O Sensei was with training.

Each year as I plan this seminar, I labor over schedule.  Besides trying to find the best mix of times and number of classes, I try and think about the students and what they need.  Of course, every seminar should be filled with good techniques, good teaching and hard work, but I also think about the student's experience.

This year, I thought that I would do it "old school" style and do it like our monthly Intensive class and not invite any outside guests.  This way, we could we could teach the classes our way and not have to be stressed out with guests or feel the need to ourselves.  In short, I just wanted the students to train hard unencumbered.  So I decided to do it like our monthly Intensive and start early.  O Sensei was a huge advocate of early morning training and said that the Earth's energy is the most abundant in the early morning.

Pele said, "Success is no accident" and he is correct.  To get something different we must do something that we don't ordinarily do.  The seminar is an opportunity to for each person to experience their success.  I say "their" because each person's journey is different and each person has their own stuff to deal with.  Teachers and students alike, each of us has an obstacle to overcome.

Some people need to be more patient and go slower.  Some need to show heart and stay to the end.  Some need to forgive and just show up.  Each of us has a journey and I hope that this seminar will give each of us the opportunity to grow.

Friday, April 15th: 6:30-7:30 PM: David Ito 8:00 PM: No host dinner at Nickel Diner

Saturday, April 16th: 6:30-8:00 AM: David Ito (please be there by 6:00 am for clean up) 8:00-9:00 AM: Breakfast 9:30-10:30 AM: Ken Watanabe 10:45-11:45 AM: Memorial Service 12:00-1:00 PM: James Doi

6:00 PM: Seminar Social at the dojo

Sunday, April 17th: 7:45-8:45 AM: David Ito 8:45-10:00 AM: Brunch 10:15-11:15 AM: Ken Watanabe 11:15-12:15 PM: James Doi 12:30-1:30 PM: David Ito

Live life by the C's

 

Wednesdays always seem like the toughest to get through.  Maybe that is why they call it Hump Day.  This picture illustrates a good outline to help  you get out there and go for what you want in life.  To be successful requires some "C's."  Choice-Chance-Change.  I would add three more C's: Courage, Consistency and Constancy.

Is there something out there that you want?   Then, have the Courage to take a Chance, Choose to be Consistent and be Constant in order to create Change.

Have a great day!