April 2013
3 posts
Seeing Through a Different Lens
We are fortunate to have the largest state park in California, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, right here in San Diego County. It’s a great place to camp and hike, and an easy day trip by car. I spent many family vacations there, decades ago, scrambling up rocky trails in flip-flops, watching the wildlife, and playing card games. Kids at the campground would swim in the small hot...
1 tag
March 2013
6 posts
"A Rising Tide" and Other Columns on AikiWeb
If you aren’t already in the habit of reading the columns on AikiWeb, be sure to head over there and check out my column about my experience of our recent open mat / exam prep sessions. I write as part of a group of women calling ourselves The Mirror. This month was my turn to write, and we all collaborate on editing and revisions. :-)
“A Rising Tide”
...
1 tag
“The reason why it’s difficult to change a habit is because you might...”
– ~ David Shaner Sensei
(from “Aikido - The Way of Harmony Podcast” 2008)
2 tags
Happy New Year (kinda)
It’s been about a year - actually a year and two months, since my 2nd kyu exam. My 1st kyu exam will be this morning. I think of each exam like New Year’s Day - a time to look back, and to look ahead.
This year has been one of transitions. Bringing things into alignment. Getting behind center. Grounding. Being clear.
I changed the way I work. With my employer’s and...
1 tag
3 tags
That Still Counts!
Yesterday I completed one entire month on the mat. I’m preparing for my first kyu exam, which will be this Saturday, so I’ve been training even more than usual. I did it just because I could, and because it seemed to help me keep up the proper momentum, and stay loose physically. The nerve problem I was having with my neck and arm has been improving with constant activity, and...
February 2013
8 posts
2 tags
2 tags
Uke/Nage - Horse/Rider
In Aikido, we train to be both nage (like the rider - connected, clearly directing the horse in a way that doesn’t elicit confusion or a fight) and uke (like the horse - light, responsive, moving, centered, with no resistance to the rider’s direction). This classic video of Stacy Westfall’s nearly legendary ride demonstrates both beautifully. And it’s a beautiful song, too....
3 tags
13 Days and Counting
I have 13 training days left before my 1st kyu exam on March 9th.
It’s been a very difficult week for me, personally, quite outside of my comfort zone. But I’ve been learning to deal with conflict in a way that benefits everyone. And isn’t that the whole point after all?
I’ve been training really hard, with a lot of focus, and things are starting to come together. I’m seeing more patterns,...
2 tags
Threshold Spirits
Big ideas seem to come together for me in the morning, perhaps before the rational, detail-oriented part of my brain comes online and takes charge. Earlier this week, when I was uncharacteristically up before sunrise, a larger theme came to me that will help tie my book together. And now this morning, blundering around the kitchen getting my coffee, I realized that two things I’ve been struggling...
The Week of Valentine's Day
It’s been a bit of a disjointed week… since my post about Monday, I’ve helped in the little kids class on Tuesday, and participated in two classes Tuesday evening. In the second class on Tuesday, I got to make a request, so I requested that we work on timing and entries, from munetsuki and shomen-uchi. We worked on kokyu-ho, kokyu nage, and kote-gaeshi. That was really useful, and I feel a lot...
1 tag
Aggression and Compassion
Last night’s classes were all great fun, and the last one was a bit different.
First, in the kids class, we reviewed a very direct kind of kokyu-ho from gyakute-dori, focusing on extending energy out beyond Uke. It’s interesting to watch the kids working on that. At first Sensei had them work by themselves, just standing in hanmi and extending energy through their outstretched, relaxed arms and...
3 tags
How To Learn to Count Out Loud to 31 in Japanese,...
When I tested for 2nd kyu, almost a year ago now I was required to demonstrate the 31 jo kata. The 31 jo kata is a flowing series of 31 techniques with the jo, a wooden weapon that looks essentially like a rake handle. There are strikes, thrusts, blocks, and parries. The kata is sort of a pantomime of one side of a hypothetical fight against someone else similarly equipped with a jo. It’s a fairly...
1 tag
Four Weeks to First Kyu
Today marks the beginning of the four-week countdown to my first kyu exam on March 9. I spent the afternoon training with friends, and the evening discussing training strategies, among other things, over dinner.
I’ve been training with my exam in mind for a good while, but the date has seemed safely distant, off in the future sometime. I haven’t been too concerned with things that...
January 2013
6 posts
A new way of writing
Well, I’ve run into an interesting complication with writing. I’ve managed to screw up the radial nerve in my left arm. My thumb and forefingers tingle and go numb when I use my right arm for things like the trackball or the keyboard. So, I’m trying an experiment. I am using the voice to text feature on my iPhone to dictate blog posts And other writing.
The good news is that...
2 tags
Late at Night
I hope my neighbors are in their beds, dreaming their dreams, late at night. I hope they are sound sleepers, sawing logs, not bothered by much. I hope they are not nosy; not peering from their windows with the lights out.
It’s bad enough I feed the donkeys after class, and sometimes after dinner. The braying at 10:30 could be trying if my neighbors were awake. The clatter of cat food into dishes,...
1 tag
Intention and Attention
Earlier this week as I was doing a few hours of mundane chores - tasks that required no mental effort - I noticed that my mind was dwelling on random things. I wondered about the kind of person who would leave a Mercedes SUV idling for 30 minutes near the open door of the dojo, while they waited for someone shopping next door. I admired the craftsmanship in a piece of artwork as I dusted it, and...
2 tags
Also, here's my column on AikiWeb...
In addition to writing here, I am part of a group of women called “The Mirror,” on AikiWeb. We write a column there, taking turns each month. My most recent one, “What I Learned by Not Going to a Seminar” was published on December 31st. Enjoy…
“For months my teacher, Dave Goldberg Sensei, had been planning to participate in the Dead Sea Seminar, led by Miles...
New Year's Day, 2013
Happy New Year to you!
I’m so excited about this year. I’ve spent the past 6 months, the last half of 2012, getting ready. I transitioned from full-time to part-time work so I could focus more on Aikido and writing. I’ve started organizing my work, found resources, learned new tools, and gotten ongoing coaching. I launched my own publishing company (which has yet to publish anything, but it’ll be...
December 2012
1 post
1 tag
November 2012
1 post
Resolve to fix things later, or act now?
Sensei is always reminding us, “There’s no waiting in Aikido.” We don’t just stand there, hand outstretched, waiting until someone grabs us hard or hits us full force. We sense the situation building. We are in already motion, changing the dynamics of the situation. We turn to draw the attacker toward a position more beneficial to us. They never have a chance to be strong, or get a solid grip....
October 2012
5 posts
1 tag
Sensei Speaks (a haiku)
This is the good stuff. Focus hard. Listen closely. Damn! I missed the point.
1 tag
To Do List
Give the ancient little oak ukelele to your friend at work. She’ll enjoy it.
Sell your 5-string banjo, as simple as they come, in its solid case with the rope handle by which you’ve carried it to workshops. If you haven’t learned to play it yet…
Sell the basic-but-serviceable electric guitar, even though you love the curvy shape, and dark, polished wooden body.
Return...
1 tag
Practice
Everything we do is training, Like if we grouse about it raining, We learn the habit of complaining. Practice gratitude, instead.
We build our habits brick by brick, That make us healthier, or sick. Our actions cause these things to stick. What we do, we will become.
We tell our passions just to hush. We hurry things, and learn to rush. We worry our spirits into mush When we could chill...
1 tag
“The whole idea is you have to let go of all types of longings, wantings,...”
– ~ Robert Adams Shared on Facebook by Detachment
1 tag
What better reason to train?
One morning recently a group of high school students visited the dojo to experience a special class, to get a feel for what Aikido has to offer us. They were a very nice bunch of young people - thoughtful, articulate, and open-minded. Aikido is a really broad and challenging subject to grasp in only an hour or so, but they picked things up pretty quickly, and made some very perceptive and...
September 2012
20 posts
3 tags
Acceleration. As in rocket sled.
This past month or so has been an amazingly varied, intense, and joyful period of Aikido for me. I’ve had a great time, and learned tons. I would not have said a few weeks ago that I was on a plateau. I wasn’t feeling frustrated or stalled out in any way. But in the last few weeks I have felt a sort of acceleration kick in. Zero to 60 is one thing. But when you’ve already been...
Searu. Clarity.
I came upon this footnote yesterday, about the Japanese word “saeru”:
“*note: saeru is clarity, and Harry Watson notes that the word has strong poetic force, and says the best way to think of it is in relation to the clarity of the moon on a cold autumn night.”
The specificity of meaning really struck me. What a beautiful image. “Clarity” alone is OK, but each of us might make up in...
2 tags
Abundance
From today’s classes, a bounty: Blends, techniques, feedback, feelings. Let it come to you. Relax. Center. Keep your own alignment and things will work out. Like armfuls of fresh vegetables from a friend’s garden. I try to carry them all safely home, Without dropping any between here and there. A few escape my grasp and roll away.
But the others, the gifts I do hold onto, These cool, smooth,...
2 tags
Why seminars?
I recently participated in yet another Aikido seminar. In fact, it was the weekend immediately following one at our own dojo. Between the two weekends, as I was leaving after Tuesday night’s class, a friend observed that I do a lot of seminars, and must really enjoy them. She asked me what I get out of them. It’s a good question, and one that has a lot of answers.
I find seminars physically...
2 tags
3 tags
2 tags
3 tags
“There are those who train when they can, and those who train.”
– George Ledyard Sensei Back on the mat for day 3 of the weekend Intensive at Two Rivers Budo.
2 tags
3 tags
3 tags
“After lunch we’re going to talk about the same stuff, we’re just...”
– Ledyard Sensei, introducing our upcoming bokken work.
1 tag
3 tags
3 tags
3 tags
2 tags
A Lifetime on the Train
[This is not particularly Aikido-related, but I wrote it on a 20-hour train trip on the way to an Aikido seminar this past weekend. Since I posted it on GrabMyWrist.com I figured I should share it here, too. I’ll be compiling some brief posts and quotes from the weekend into a single post here later today, too. Linda]
——-
You think of the beautiful Italian woman you waited with...
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
Hitting the Road, Again
Last weekend I participated in a seminar at my own dojo, with Sensei and a guest instructor - some of it at a retreat center in our local mountains. It was lovely and loving, thought-provoking and embodied, inspiring and intense. One of those experiences I need to sit with for a while, and ruminate over, but also with some immediate impact.
Now sometime well before sunrise on Thursday I will be...
1 tag
““If you’re not smiling, you’re not training in...”
– Thanks to Bill Perrett for sharing this on Facebook. :-) 