Trying to talk about Aikido – its all about people

One of the things Sensei Bob Nadeau said at the Riai friendship camp in November was that “it’s all about people”. So I am going to talk about some of my personal Aikido experiences, and the people that have helped me in my very slow journey. At the same time I will try to illustrate why Aikido is such an important part of my life, mainly through some of my favourite quotes from O Sensei.

One of the great things about aikido is the vast array of people you meet, and the amazing way that each of them can teach you something – and – as Richard Moon puts it – ‘share who you are’. Or from O’Sensei

“Aikido is not an art to fight with enemies and defeat them. It is a way to lead all human beings to live in harmony with each other as though everyone were one family.” ¹

The first person to introduce me to Aikido, Felicia Birman, manifested a total belief in this approach to Aikido. She is around 5ft tall and full of energy. As a new shodan in a strange place she managed to start a small Aikido class. With four thin mats on a concrete floor, student numbers dwindling to at most four regulars (from four different nations) and, at least to start with, an audience peering through all the classroom windows, we had to learn concentration and focus quickly.

Through this first contact with Aikido I began the slow process of teaching my body mind and spirit. Even in the small class we learnt much that stayed with me – and some wonderful experiences such as staying out on the beach meditating and training at sunset and sunrise. But one of the things that was obvious right from the start was that Aikido was more that just a physical martial art.

After our volunteer stints were over, I didn’t want to go back to my previous job, so I travelled a bit but eventually ended up in Melbourne, to continue Aikido as much as anything. Training in Melbourne gave me my first exposure to the big world of Aikido – the range of techniques, the range of people involved and how they all fit together.

Back in Wellington I found the Wellington Aikido club at that stage taught by Reuben Perenara, a student of Saito Sensei. Rueben was great, though at least to start with felt very different to what I had been doing in Melbourne - I learnt a great deal from Rueben and the others I trained with about centreing, ki and balance. It also meant that I got to learn from one of the really great Senseis when Saito Sensei came to Wellington. He was really impressive – but it was really funny to see his reactions to the power of Wellington winds as well!

Also training at the Wellington Aikido club at that time was Katrin, who had recently come to NZ, and still had strong connections to her home European club. She and I decided to go to Japan together, partly for Katrin to train for her Shodan grading. We had a great trip, training at Hombu, Iwama, in Osaka and at one or two other places as well. We saw some great Aikido, learnt a great deal - trained directly on a wooden floor in one place and very hard traditional tatami in most of the the dojos making for considerably smoother rolling. Iwama was really special – the connections with O’Sensei all around. But my main impressions from Japan that have lasted are all about the people and their energy in aikido.

One of the things that I became aware of in Japan was how much the aikido movement had links with the peace movement. This of course comes directly form O’Sensei. He said “The state of mind of the Aikidoist must be peaceful and totally nonviolent. That is to say, that special state of mind which brings violence into a state of harmony. And this I think is the true spirit of Japanese martial arts. We have been given this earth to transform into a heaven on earth. Warlike activity is totally out of place.” ²

This is something I have found very important and perhaps the biggest thing I get from aikido training is being able to – having to – shut off in my mind to regain some sort of inner peace. It’s much harder to take it off the mat as well, but some of the most inspiring senseis and aikidoka do manage it.

Unfortunately, a short time after I went to Japan, Rueben and then Katrin both left Wellington and other things happened in my life and gradually I stopped training. But when my son was around seven he started wanting to do a martial art, serendipitously I bumped into another person who had been in the Wellington Aikido club who told me about the Riai children’s class. I took Finnian up, and only managed to watch a very small number of Henry’s classes before I had to get back on the mat. In many ways it was starting again, as I wasn’t fit and my body can no longer do all the things it used to anyway. But Riai people have helped me understand a whole new dimension of Aikido – particularly an even deeper sense of the joy and fun of it, with regular lattes, bunny ears³, Captain Hook⁴ and Michael Jordan⁵ throws and other variations.

Training with Sensei Nadeau has also been an illumination - particularly his connection with the ground – and the power and energy that flow from that connection. Allowing that to happen and become part of my aikido is something I am sure I will have to work on as long as I keep training.

I’d like to thank all the people I have trained with over the years, and I know there have been a lot of people I have learnt a lot from, particularly recently, who I haven’t specifically mentioned. Hopefully I have shared a bit of myself with you and we have had some good training together.

Aikido is such a big thing in my life, that I would like all my friends to understand something about why it is important to me. I’d like to finish with an O Sensei quote and a poem, which to me sum up for me how Aikido brings together so many things.

“Everything - even mountains, rivers, plants and trees - should be your teacher.

Do not fail To learn from The pure voice of an Ever-flowing mountain stream Splashing over the rocks” 6

¹O-Sensei, taken from website of Aikido of Marin
²http://www.aikidofaq.com/interviews.html An interview with Morihei Ueshiba O Sensei and Kisshomaru Ueshiba
³Ikkyo
⁴Shiho nage
⁵No idea what the Japanese name is!
⁶http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/paloma/Aikido/artpeace.html