Dress Like it Matters

Street Clothes Week… it’s a student favorite at The Martial Arts Studio. Why? Because students don’t have to change into a uniform (a.k.a. Gi) before coming to class. They can train just as they are. And one less step is easier. Everyone likes easier.

But what’s the purpose behind Street Clothes Week? Well, chances are you’re not going to get in a fight while leaving martial arts class. Nope. Most likely something would happen while you’re out and about in regular clothes. So, you have to know what it feels like to throw that Front Kick in jeans. Or, how having a jacket on may affect your ability to get out of an arm grab. Makes sense, right.

But now, you’re probably asking yourself… OK if we’re not going to be wearing a martial arts uniform when being attacked, why wear one for training at all? Good question. And the answer probably isn’t what you think (like… because it’s traditional). We wear uniforms because it puts you in the right MINDSET for what’s about to happen… training. 

See, what we wear sends a message… to ourselves and to others. Wearing bunny slippers and a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” T-shirt to work tells your boss that (1) you’re not going to take the day’s responsibilities seriously, and (2) you (hopefully) don’t have any in-person meetings that day. And, to your brain that outfit says, “I don’t really want to be here and am only going to do what I have to in order to make it through the day.”

How you dress sets the tone for not only how you think, but what you do. Dressing with a purpose gives you purpose.

So, that's why we train in uniforms. Not because they look cool ('cause they do), but putting on a uniform get you in the right head space for what's about to happen. Mindset matters.

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Atemi in Aikido, cont.

A while back, Fred wrote a nice response to one of my posts which began an exchange of questions and ideas. What follows is a continuation of that exchange: Fred: Hi Allen, Thanks for the long and comprehensive answer. yesterday a very interesting column came out abut the evolution of the daitoryu/aikido…

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@tentangbudo_id - Old but gold, Koichi Tohei Sensei #toheisensei #aikido #aiki #jiujitsu #judo #shorenjikempo #kobudo #budo #samurai #japanese #kenjutsu #ki #kiaikido #daitoryu https://www.instagram.com/p/BsQ1WZUlmnB/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=l67qm1lqfxng

Pratice time @ Yoseikan Dojo under Minoru MOCHIZUKI

Taikumakai-style Daitoryu Aikijujutsu. . . #daitoryu #daitoryuaikijujutsu #jujutsu #budo #jiujitsu #takumakai (at Backstabbers Finland: Baraw Sugbo -style knife defense) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnWYEchHnvf/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1hjqlg3k5hz6h

——— Repost by @aikido.journal ——— Sokaku Takeda with Takuma Hisa. A newly annotated AJ interview with Hisa is now on the Aikido Journal website. Special thanks to @guillaumeerard for the work on this project. #budo #aikido #daitoryu #takumakai Double tap if you like please. Se gostou, por favor compartilhe. If you liked, please share. #aikido #aikikai #aikidomaruyama #institutotachibana #合気道 #айкидо #artesmarciais #martialarts #defesapessoal #selfdefense #pratiqueaikido #aikido_techiniques #aikidoinfantil #aikidokids #educacao #jaraguadosul #joinville #santacatarina #jaraguadosul #jaragua https://www.instagram.com/p/CJg06kjpgOq/?igshid=1318brmfcf237

#daitoryu #andsoitbegins https://www.instagram.com/brinnforthewin/p/BxDLkKdBnhD/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1vv6chn2lnpe9

#Repost @daito_ryu_aikibudo ・・・ Daitō ryū Aikibudō way Thanks to Daitō ryū Aikibudō Shiseikan Kitami Japan for Teachings KANGEIKO 04/01/2019 Fire Breathing Winter Training © copyright A.S.D. Daitō ryū Aikibudō Italia 大東流合気武道イタリア all rights reserved #daitoryu #daitoryuaikibudo #italia #japan #shiseikan #aiki #aikibudo #大東流合気武道#大東流 #合気武道 #japanesestyle #traditionalmartialarts #budo #artimarziali #koryu #kangeiko #samurai #bushido #abruzzo #firebreather #sanomatsuoway #takeda #martialarts #zazen #hokkaidou #ig_laquila #traditionalmartialarts #breathtechniques #wayofpeace https://www.instagram.com/p/BsW_4b1lXxt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=r02u6hzch7eq

On Takemusu Aiki, Judo’s Maxims, and Inferential Hypnosis

In October of 1930 the founder of Judo, Dr. Jigoro Kano paid a visit to the mystic and martial arts master Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido at the Meijiro Dojo. Upon witnessing Ueshiba’s technique, and in particular Ueshiba’s ease in handing out techniques to some of Kano’s top students it is recorded that Kano exclaimed “This is the ideal budo — true Judo!” Following this, Kano went as far as requesting that Ueshiba take on a few of his top students and allow that they routinely report back and share their training with him. Ueshiba obliged.

Today, Judo remains one of, if not the most respected of the traditional martial arts in the face of modern mixed martial arts training methods. Aikido on the other hand is probably the least, that is to say when it is even regarded as a martial art rather than an obscure system of physical culture on par with the likes of Tai Chi. There seems to be many reasons for this, not the least of which is that Judo went the way of negotiating the cinch, whereas Aikido remained hyper focused on relating to classical sword work, albeit often in an empty hand fashion.

In Aikido the focus of the day tends to be negotiating an infinite array of static wrist grabs (big concerns for a swordsman seeking to deploy a blade, and for opponents seeking to seize such deployment), and when not static wrist grabs then overhead striking maneuvers mimicking the downward, diagonal, and horizontal cuts of a sword. In other words, physical methods that are seldom encountered in the modern world, or even in the dojo with the amount of intent and energy to allow them to become dynamic rather than static initiations of technique.

To be clear the foundational techniques and principles of Aikido are remarkably well curated, condensing the knowledge of Daitoryu Aikijutsu (especially) into a workable system of concepts that can manipulate the human physiology quite well, to varied effects ranging from gentle neutralization (the ideal) to more dramatic arresting outcomes. However, in many Aikidojo, the focus tends to veer too quickly to what O’sensei Ueshiba called Takemusu Aiki.

Takemusu Aiki is a most advanced stage of Aiki training and cultivation wherein technique is spontaneously birthed rather than repetitiously learned. Here concerns for physiology and kinesiology are ultimately transcended, not for a lack of regard but for their integration and incorporation at more and more minute levels overtime, allowing for an almost magical expression of subtle technique in both look and feel. Arguably at this level techniques incorporate as much psychology as physiology, in blending with and manipulating the spirit (literally the psyche) and intent of the opponent or training partner. For this to be possible, though, intent must be present.

Ultimately Kano’s Judo is founded upon two central maxims, namely minimal effort with maximal result, and mutual welfare and benefit for all. These apply equally to the dojo environment as they may to the so-called real world, and perhaps can contextually help Aikido reclaim a respectable place as a “true Budo.”

Kano’s maxims have always been applied in a milieu of live training, that is of dynamic initiations with appropriate intention and resistance. In this environment relatively few Aikidoka can manifest efficacious foundational technique let alone true Takemusu Aiki. This goes to say that more time should be spent in the relentless pursuit of basic waza in increasingly dynamic circumstances, which means less time negotiating the seeming intricacies of static wrist grabs. Ultimately dynamic, live practice of the fundamentals is the only thing that can give yield to the spontaneous and authentic expression of Takemusu Aiki, which is frequently confused in this day and age with physical culture oriented parlor tricks, and more insidiously with mutual inferential hypnosis.

Takemusu Aiki is an extension of Shugyo - daily training of sufficient austerity to give rise to total integration of mind and body, wherein spirit manifests and transcends the limits of our conceptual engagement with practice. For this to be possible, though, for practice to eventually manifest as Shugyo one should break a sweat and push through the limits of boredom that will eventually accompany a relatively small number of principles expressed as techniques, engaged over, and over, and over again. In this, resistance and intention are the true bedfellows of Shugyo.

~Sunyananda

Curso de Daitoryu Aikijujutsu Senkenkai impartido por la maestra Tomoko Sasaoka. Día 16 de noviembre en Morón de la Frontera. Información: [email protected] [email protected] Tlf. 606108193 - 659230525 (en Seville, Spain) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4TFv1aIjBT/?igshid=115fxeld8pcza

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When Selfdefense is effortless. . . . @tentangbudo_id - Okamoto Seigo Soshi Sensei, Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu Roppokai #aiki #daitoryu #aikijujutsu #aikido #japanesemartialarts #kobudo #budo #jiujitsu #samurai #selfdefense #effortless https://www.instagram.com/p/BshY9QKlFmS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=d09gsit68jfp