Breathe and Be Calm and Mindful

Shusei - Practice Serenity

In our tokonoma, above the space where a venerable picture of O’Sensei is placed, there is a piece of calligraphy which reads shusei (静習) or “to learn or practice serenity.”

Aikido may start out simply as a martial art, but with time and experience, Aikido becomes much more than a way to destroy one’s opponents – it becomes a kind of meditative movement. The highest goal of Aikido training is to be in a state of equanimity. O’Sensei once said, “To practice Aikido fully you must calm the spirit and go back to the origin.” To practice equanimity or shusei is to observe what is happening and then act appropriately and mindfully. To reach this state of mindfulness begins with calming our minds down and we do this with our breathing. In Aikido, after we learn how to move, at some point we learn how to breathe correctly, and this allows our minds to be in a relaxed state and enables us to be mindful. Modern neuroscience reveals that when we hold our breath, even when we don’t think we are, our nervous system goes into sympathetic mode or “fight or flight.” When we actively engage in deep breathing, our nervous system goes into a parasympathetic state or “relaxed.” To mindfully breath is something called vagovasal breathing which is nothing more than making one’s out-breath twice as long as their in-breath. No matter what happens, practice serenity. Breathe and be calm and mindful.     

To practice vasovagal breathing on your own you can use the 4-7-8 method. Breathe in through your nose or mouth to a count of four. Hold it in for a count of seven. Breathe out through your mouth or nose for a count of eight. Keep doing it until you feel relaxed.

Read more about the Vagus Nerve:

Perfect Your Spirit

“As a samurai, I must strengthen my character, as a human being, I must perfect my spirit.” – Yamaoka Tesshu

Often times, it is easy to “think” we know something before we really do. In training, a difficult opponent to defeat is what we think we know.

Yamaoka Tesshu was born in 1836 into a samurai family and began studying swordsmanship when he was nine years old. He would eventually become one of the greatest swordsman of his time.

However, before Yamaoka Tesshu became a prolific swordsman, he was a young and brash student of Zen who traveled the country looking for instruction. One day, he met Ogino Dokuon of Shokoku-ji temple. Desiring to show his enlightenment, Tessu said, “The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.” Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing and just hit Tesshu on the head with his pipe. Tesshu instantly became angry. Dokuon admonished his so called enlightenment and said, “If nothing exists, where did this anger come from?”

Later, when Tesshu was 28 years old, he was defeated by the sword teacher, Asari Gimei and became his student. Tesshu was younger and bigger than Gimei, but he couldn’t overcome his teacher’s strong mental state. These daily defeats forced Tesshu to train harder than he had ever before. Tesshu did nothing but train and meditate and he trained so hard that he would sometimes awaken from a dream and force his wife to hold a sword as he worked out something that came to him in a dream. After almost two decades of diligent training under Gimei, Tesshu reached a place of true enlightenment while meditating. Later that morning when Tesshu went to the dojo, he once again challenged his teacher to a match. Looking at Tessu’s face, Gimei said, “there is no need.”

At some point or another in our lives and in our training, we will all be confronted with adversity and sometimes not just once. This might be a harsh reality, but if we can accept this reality then we can use it as means to develop ourselves. True mastery is the polishing of one’s spirit and that can only come as a result of daily diligent training.

Throwback Thursday: Furuya Sensei Daily Message from February 19, 2001

To practice the martial arts does not mean that we become invulnerable, invincible or acquire superpowers. It means to live our lives correctly and justly according to our ideals and beliefs. We all will get sick, grow old and die like everyone else, but there is something different about our lives. It is this tiny difference which is very important, and we can only find it through our daily training. When someone thinks that they are better than someone else then they are only displaying a sickness for which we still have not found a cure. All human beings have their strengths and weaknesses, knowing this fully well, how can we brag or be boastful to others? An enlightened person learns to live in accord with their weaknesses, a superficial person only lives with their strengths and blames their weaknesses on others. An individual's value is in direct ratio to the value that they see in everyone around them. To try to stand above others, means that you have disconnected yourself from others and you have become that much smaller, not bigger and not definitely not greater.

Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on February 19, 2001.

Order to Chaos

“True budo brings order to chaos.” - unknown

The other day, Ken Watanabe Sensei said, “True budo brings order to chaos.” He couldn't remember where he'd heard it, but it instantly made sense to me. The training in Aikido is supposed to refine us and make us better human beings through the study of the movements of Aikido but I am sure that this is true for other martial arts as well. A commonly heard saying in the martial arts is, “all budo begins and ends with etiquette.” Furuya Sensei once wrote that, “Reigi-saho allows us to see an ‘order’ in society and in our relations with others. It is with this order which is the first step to realize a peaceful environment.” We begin our training with reigi-saho (礼儀作法) or “etiquette” because it teaches us how to set the proper mindset and intention. Later when we go off into battle or life, we know how to ground our minds and intentions. The practice of all martial arts are rooted in kata (型) or “form.” Kata are exact context-based movements that teach us how to move in response to confrontation. However, through their practice and study they are also become the context by which a person develops themselves and learns to understand themselves. Once we can bring order to our minds and our bodies then we can bring order to our lives. Our lives will forever be buffeted by forces that are out of our control. Our job is not to change others or what is happening to us, but to change the way we respond to what is happening outside ourselves. Therefore, the practice of training in Aikido is to bring order to chaos.

The Way of the Warrior

Budo (武道) translates to mean “military arts.” Nowadays, most of us don’t live in harm’s way and there is no real need to train to fight. At the highest level of training, a warrior realizes that the only true opponent is themselves and that is why O’Sensei said, “In true budo there is no enemy or opponent.” Training reveals to us that we are in fact our greatest opponent and own worst enemy. Thus, our highest level is not to defeat others but to defeat ourselves. To defeat one’s self is to find a place of serenity or in other terms harmony and therefore, as O’Sensei said, “The way of the warrior is to establish harmony.” Harmony is when two or more things come together. In kanjis for Aikido, Ai (合) means “to meet,” Ki (氣) means “energy” and Do (道) translates as “the way of.” Aikido is then the practice of harmonizing energy. Harmony in the beginning of one’s Aikido training is to physically align with the opponents attack or their energy. Later, with O’Sensei’s assertion, harmony can be created within one’s self when the energy of our minds and bodies become one. It is thought that there is only one Ki in the universe and so when the Ki of our minds and bodies become one then our we immediately become one with the universe. This universal harmony then becomes wago (和合) or “peace” and thus the true way of the real warrior is to establish harmony. Harmony is not a destination, but a practice. Please do your best to practice harmony especially now when the world needs it so much.   

Learn How To Live

At this time, I believe the world is shifting. Hopefully, this global phenomenon confronting us will be the catalyst for change and self-awareness. A while ago, I was asked to be interviewed for a reality type show that was featuring the samurai. The producers asked me to explain the samurai’s love of death. I told them that it was actually the contrary, samurai learn how to live because they know they are going to die. Unfortunately, they didn’t hire me. Truly accepting the eventuality of one’s death, enables the real warrior to learn how to live. The best way to do this is with gratitude. Brother David Steindl-Rast believes that “It is not happiness that makes us grateful, it’s gratefulness that makes us happy”

In a Ted Talk, Brother Steindl-Rast gave some tips towards living gratefully in the moment. He based it on how we teach children to cross the road:

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The one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy, says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar. And happiness, ...

STOP: “We rush through life; we don’t stop, and we miss opportunities because we don’t stop,” he says. He tells us the story of returning home after spending time in a remote part of Africa, where there was no electricity, no water. At home, he was overwhelmed with gratitude every time he turned on a faucet or clicked on a light. Even after he re-assimilated into home life, he left stickers on the tap and switch to remind himself to be grateful for the resources.

LOOK: We must use all our senses to soak in the wonderful richness that life has given to us. “That is what life is about, to enjoy what is given to us,” he says. “When we open our hearts to opportunities, opportunities invite us to do something.”

GO: We should do whatever life offers to us in that present moment. Sometimes that might be difficult, but we should go with it and do our best to enjoy every moment.

Source: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/267202113

Honor is like a match, you can only use it once.

Long ago during the Sengoku period (1467-1615), daimyos Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen were longtime rivals. At one point during one of their five battles, Kenshin heard that another clan was laying siege to Shingen’s supply lines and cutting off his supply of salt which was a necessary staple in those days. Believing that this was a dishonorable battle tactic, Kenshin sent salt from his province to Shingen and broke the siege. With the salt, Kenshin included a note that read, “Wars are to be won with swords and spears, not with rice and salt.” This act of battlefield honor now typifies fair play and acts of sportsmanship and has even spurned the proverb, tekini shio wo kuru (敵に塩を送る) or “Present salt to one’s enemy.”

In my humble opinion, the biggest problem today is that people are feeling helpless. Fear, social distancing, closures, acts of hoarding, sickness and death bring with it a sense of helplessness which sometimes breeds rash acts in attempt to bring back some semblance of control or outlet. Martial arts are a practice and a practice is something that must be reaffirmed every day. Each moment we are confronted with the opportunity to choose our bigger selves and with each of those moments we get to choose to be the person that we say we are. If the opportunity presents itself and even if your greatest rival is weak, can you help instead of hurting. The true battle rages on within us and that’s why O’Sensei advocated Masakatsu agatsu or that the “The truest victory is the victory over one’s self.” Today, regardless of the confrontation, our practice is to be kind, compassionate and forgiving and thus embrace the person that we train to be.  

There Are No "Shoulds" In Training

Yagyu Tajima No Kami who founded the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu school of swordsmanship once wrote:

The goal of training in the martial arts is to overcome six kinds of disease:
1) the desire for victory
2) the desire to rely on technical cunning
3) the desire to show off
4) the desire to psychologically overwhelm the opponent
5) the desire to remain passive in order to wait for an opening
6) the desire to become free of these diseases

Today more than ever, please don’t give into the disease to hate and become a hatemonger, please don’t give into the disease of fear and become a fearmonger, but most of all please don’t give into the disease of intolerance and become a shouldmonger. When we shouldmonger, we are supposing that our ideas or values are absolute and that other people are absolutely wrong which is a judgement. O’Sensei said, “As soon as you concern yourself with the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ of others, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weakens and defeats you.” All budo arts are built upon calculated assumptions - If an opponent does this then I will do that. With that being said, a warrior must also be fluid and not become tied to these assumptions because assumptions can become judgements and judgements are the mother of all screwups. A martial artist is supposed to be calm, centered and mindful. The basis of Aikido is that every person is suffering and thus ignorant and because we are all suffering and also ignorant then we should be kind, compassionate and tolerant – this is the true goal of training. Furuya Sensei once wrote, “Training should be approached as a naturally gradual, progressive, step by step process of growth. There is never a time when we think we ‘got’ it. We only ‘got it’ at a particular level.” Where we are is just relative to our level of training and thus not absolute. Let’s not judge lest we be judged ourselves. Every person is going through something, especially now. The best thing to do is rid ourselves of the disease to shouldmonger and to change others and shift our focus back to our own self-improvement. That is the way of budo.

 “I wanted to change the world, but I have found
that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.”
- Aldous Huxley.

The Greatest Enemy is Complacency

There is a saying in budo, Katte kabuto no o wo shimeyo (勝って兜の緒を締めよ) which means “In victory, tighten your helmet!” The most dangerous time is when we think we are safe. Thinking we are safe, we let our guard down and allow complacency to come in. Complacency is then the greatest enemy of all martial artists. Many of us have been sequestered at home and are unable to go to the dojo to train. The longer the separation and isolation, the higher the likelihood that complacency and then eventually apathy will set in. One of the most strongest foes we will face is our soft, warm and comfortable bed. One of the best ways to battle our complacency foe is to create schedule. It’s easy to sit at home and become mindlessly absorbed in the news, binge watching TV or fall into the vortex of our smartphones. Those things all cause us to become mindless. Forcing ourselves into a schedule enables us to become mindful of the situation and create opportunities. We might not be able to train at the dojo, but that doesn’t mean that we are not capable of training ourselves. We can still do something and we are only stymied by our lack of imagination. We can do suburi, 31 jo kata, practice rolling, get in shape, do yoga, go for a run, lose weight, meditate, practice footwork, watch Furuya Sensei’s videos, read a self-help book, learn a language, or anything else that our imaginations can think up. A famous saying in by Judo great Masahiko Kimura was Sanbainodoryoku or “Triple the effort, if my opponents train twice as hard as others, then I will train three times as hard.” Our opponents are working hard to defeat us and our comfortable bed is calling us. Don’t let them defeat you. Find a way around your problems and disadvantages – they are only detriments if we perceive them that way and if we are unwilling to try to change them. One of the best ways to circumvent our complacency foe is to create a schedule. Don’t wait for someone else to make you great, your greatness is up to you.

武士の一言
Bushi no ichigon
“The word of a warrior is unbreakable.”

In the face of a global pandemic, it is easy to become overwhelmed and become a little lost. After all, we are all just human beings. An often heard phrase in budo is bushi no ichigon Kintetsu no gotoshi (武士の一言金鉄の如し) which means “A warrior’s word is as reliable as gold.” It is meant to remind a person of budo that they should stick to their word. During these uncertain times, I think it is more about reflecting upon what it is that we truly believe in. I believe in [insert belief system here] then I must act accordingly. The easy road is to give into the circumstances and act incongruently. While, the harder road is to stick to what we believe in and act appropriately. Usually, nobody will know if we break our word, but we will know. A warrior does what they say because they believe in what is they say they believe in. So the question is, “What do you believe in?” These days, with all its uncertainty, please stick to your guns and be the person who you say you are.

Dear ACLA students and parents,

A couple of hours ago, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered the closure of all gyms and fitness centers until March 31st to help slow the spread of the COVID19 virus. I have been advised that we fall within that category and must comply.

There will be no Adult Aikido or Iaido or Children's classes until March 31st. There will also not be any instructor trainings or intensive seminar at this time.

We are entering into some difficult times and I ask all of you to remember your training and act like Aikidoists. Please be calm and treat others with the utmost respect because every person is being effected by this.

I will be monitoring the situation and will update you as soon as I hear anything.

Please be safe and I wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Dr. David Ito, DAC, L.Ac, CSCS
Chief Instructor and Dojo-Cho

Happy Year of the Rat!

Happy Lunar New Year!

The Year of the Rat is supposed to be one of "new beginnings" as 2020 is the start of a new decade and the Rat is the beginning of the Chinese Astrological calendar cycle. The Rat is considered the utmost Yang of all the animals and it said to represent the transition from Yin (night) to Yang (day) because it has 3 toes its front paws and 4 toes on its back paws.

We hope that your Year of the Rat is filled with prosperity and luck!

謹賀新年 Kinga Shinnen Happy New Year!

The person in this picture is me but the person in this picture is also you. We are standing facing the vastness of life and it’s abundance. 

We are all blessed. If you woke up this morning, you are luckier than the estimated 151,600 people who died yesterday. Each day when you wake up realize that you’re alive and thus nothing else really matters (we just think it does). The most important thing is that you are alive so don’t get bogged down in all the BS distractions life puts in your way. You woke up and are alive so there must be a reason. The reason is because you matter, you’re good enough and you are worthy. 

I wish you the greatest year ever! 

謹賀新年
Kinga Shinnen
Happy New Year!

The Bad Times Are A Blessing

“When we suffer bad times we always think that the world is against us. Actually, we can look at it in another way. The bad times that we suffer are actually a blessing in disguise. Only the purest gold is tested in the hottest fire, lesser metals cannot take the heat.

Dogen Zenji said, ‘The greater the aspiration, the greater the enlightenment.’ Aspiration is always tested and polished by hardship.”
- Rev. Kensho Furuya

Be mindful of your behavior

There is a saying in budo, or "Everything begins and ends with respect" (礼に始まり礼に終わる). Last night we hosted an outside teacher from another country. The thing which made me the happiest was how polite our students were. Everyone treated each other with respect and everyone had a good time.

For the most part, the martial arts are physical and up to a point, anyone can become skilled. Reigi-saho or etiquette is one of those things which cannot be taught but can be learned.

Being a jerk reflects poorly on your teacher, your parents, your art, your dojo and most importantly you. Be careful what you say or do because it means a lot.

Happy Ninja Cat Day

February 22nd is Ninja Cat Day in Japan. The onomatopoeia of a cat's meow in Japanese is nyan nyan. The  Japanese love their homophones and thus nyan nyan become ni ni and the first syllable in the word ninja (忍者).

The kanji for nin is  忍 which means patience or self-restraint which are huge concepts in budo. The other kanji 者 is ja or sha which means person.

One of the major differences between beginners and experts is impulse control. Impulse control is nothing more than being able to control one's self in any situation. Self-restraint is then the mark of a true master. 

Happy Ninja Cat Day!

Strive for balance

A good martial artist strives to create balance. Here is an interesting take on the taiji or yin-yang symbol. It is a Japanese kamon or family crest using the properties of yin-yang or in-you in Japanese. A martial artist with balance mentally and physically cannot be moved and thus cannot be defeated.

If we are easily swayed from one side to the other then we can be moved to a place of unbalance. At this place of unbalance, even the weakest of foes can defeat us.

Balance mentally is more important than balance physically. It is said, "Everything in life begins with a thought." Our minds are our greatest weapons - they can defend us or defeat us. How we think is more important than what we do or what we say. Both of those are an extension of our minds.

What will it take for you to be defeated? A terse word or a insensitive glance? We don't always have to be punched in the face to be defeated.

The goal of every great martial art is to create this balance which we call the immovable mind. An immovable mind is one of calmness and imperturbability where can nothing unbalance us.

“We emphasize modesty and humility in our practice, but some students do not appreciate the spiritual aspects of the art and look at others as objects or toy to be played with, no considerate of the feelings of others. Indeed, we live in a ‘me, me, me’ society and approve of selfish behavior. Losing the spirit of practice and the meaning of Aikido, the art itself becomes another common tool for one's self-promotion and constant quest for power, authority and recognition. We must see such arrogance and egotism as the acts of those who are spiritually destitute and have lost their way from the path of Aikido. What to do, it is really so sad.

Aikido practice, indeed, takes much courage, patience, commitment and wisdom.”

- Rev. Kensho Furuya

"If it was just me, I am totally free.

But what is a world, without you and me?

Although we are one, we must think of the sum,

For all, all together, - is the true One.

We want to divide and conquer as well,

With everyone fighting, all is hell.

Stop the fighting and please stop the hate,

For the sake of peace, before its too late.

To love one's self is to love another,

We are all fathers, we are all mothers.

We, the sons and daughters of loved ones.

Share the world with one and all,

To live in harmony, is Nature's call."

- Rev. Kensho Furuya