Dulce et decorum est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind.
Drunk with fatigue, deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - - An ecstacy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime - -
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light.
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face.
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, - -
My friend you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperateglory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
-- Wilfred Owen

Aikido & Beginners

One of my teachers, Shihan Ken Cottier, founder of the Hong Kong Aikido Federation, was unable to attend the AFSA Winter School this year. Going through my papers I found an article he wrote many years ago, first published in AIKIDO (vol.14 no.4), the official publication of the AIKIKAI FOUNDATION- and the message and wisdom is still as true now as it was then. For teachers and students alike. I share it with you...

With over 4,000,000,000 people occupying this planet of ours is it not an amazing fact that not even two of us are alike? What may be considered beautiful to one, is quite unattractive and offers nothing to another. Some will obtain fulfilment and satisfaction in risking their lives to scale a dangerous mountain. Others get pleasure from spending a whole evening in front of the television set, in reading a book or collecting stamps. Some of us require so much out of life; others ask for so little. There are born fighters, having quick reactions and a natural fighting ability. Others tremble at the very thought of any form of violence. There are those that can endure much pain and physical hardships, even though small in body. Some have flexible joints and are naturally agile, whilst others may be stiff and inflexible. I can still remember during my school days one particular boy, although small, feared nobody, and challenged boys double his size.

When teaching beginners, I always try to bear these facts in mind. I think this is especially important if one is endeavouring to establish Aikido in an area where it is not well known, and beginners form the nucleus of the dojo. Even in well-established dojos. I feel special attention should be paid to beginners, rather than middle or senior kyu grades, who have already spent one or two years in Aikido, and have accepted it.

In the opening paragraph, I spoke of how different we all are. I have met beginners who have offered strong resistance and have been quite unconcerned by my grade. On the other hand there have been others who have been genuinely afraid on being approached and have become tense and nervous. I also find it interesting that some, although being well-educated, just cannot coordinate between mind and body. One fellow immediately comes to mind. I spend hours simply trying to teach him irimi tenkan. I would get him to do it then circle the dojo to concentrate on others. By the time I got back to him again he had always forgotten it. He was a schoolteacher.

Certain Aikido techniques are rather complex. As being executed, we must concentrate on a number of points at the same time. For instance, distance, hands, feet, head etc. I have a friend who is a skiing coach. We were once discussing teaching methods. "The mind can only accept so much at a time," he said. "If we give a beginner too many points to concentrate on at the same time, this floods the mind," he said. I went along with this. To prove his point he went on telling me that one day whilst in charge of a number of complete beginners,he decided to try something different. He split them up into two groups. To the first group he explained, in his usual manner, exactly what to do with their heads, hands, elbows, knees and feet. To the second group he simply spoke two words: "Lean forward". He said that it was interesting to note that the second group got just as far, and did just as well, as the first group. This gave me something to think about regarding the teaching of Aikido to beginners.

A number of times beginners and lower kyu grades have disappointedly told me that their partners could easily stop them from doing the technique that was being taught. I have tried to point out to them that it is not too difficult to resist each other if they of equal grade, as their partner knows exactly what they are attempting to do during class time.

I feel that many beginners, and graded members too for that matter, really think that they are supposed to resist against each other, rather than work together during class time to improve their Aikido. I mentioned earlier how some beginners become very tense and stiff when approached by a teacher. And does this not sometimes result in injuries? Especially if applications are being taught. The teacher on meeting this stiffness and (out of fear) unintentional resistance, has to exert more pressure on the joint, resulting in the application being applied suddenly, rather than gradually.

Another type of beginner is the one that picks up books dwelling on the spiritual and mental side of Aikido, and its relationship to Zen and other forms of mind training. So they begin their physical training in Aikido concentrating only on ki. Is this not trying to run before we can walk? I feel we should know what we are doing with our hands and feet, in basic techniques, before getting too deeply into the spiritual and mental side of the art.

Finally, still dwelling on how different we all are, there are some of us that are so easily influenced by magazines, movies, television, books or other people. We see a Bruce Lee movie and enrol at the nearest dojo expecting to become experts in a matter of months, only to find that it requires years of dedicated practice to become qualified in any of the arts.

I hope these observations I have made will be of some help to those who have just started in Aikido.

Kenneth Cottier
Hong Kong Aikikai

(Shihan Ken Cottier (6th dan) studied under the Founder of Aikido, O-Sensei, from the early '60's and continued to live and train in Japan for almost 25 years. After a couple of years back in England in the mid '80's he went to Hong Kong where he has been the senior instructor to the Hong Kong Aikido Association, and latterly the President of the Association. Ken is a member of the Superior Council of the International Aikido Federation for about 10 years and is one of the Aikikai foundations most trusted and respected "old boys". Sensei Ken, as he is fondly referred to in South Africa is Honorary Life President of the Aikido Federation of South Africa.)











 

Sunday Seminar 02 July 2006 "Turning and returning to a secret place inside...."

Even an old hit from the Eighties can sometimes hold a universal truth . That song by Berlin ("Take my breath away") is currently making a comeback being sung by Jessica Simpson - but that was not why it suddenly popped into my head this week... :-)

This past fortnight we have been concentrating on a rather basic sequence of body movements this week - in response to a grab from gyaku-hamni (or opposite posture), we turned in tenkan, then open up our stance as uke comes around and then entered in a triangulated fashion in order to execute the technique. And it did not matter what the technique was - kokyu-nage, uchi kaiten-nage, kote-gaeshi, ikkyo - they all started out with this basic sequence of moves. And that got me thinking... Why this particular sequence?


Well at one level this sequence represents the three shapes upon which much of Aikido rests - the circle, the square and the triangle. These three shapes have both a practical and a spiritual component - our triangular posture offers the smallest target to uke and an easy wedge shape for entering into the face of an attack; the square describes how solid one's foundation needs to be in order to execute a technique; and the circle presents the most powerful shape to dissipate the incoming force. At another level these shapes depict different aspects of our engagement with this world.

In executing the movements, it is critical to maintain 2 points of contact - with uke, and equally importantly with our own centre. And I believe it is important to maintain the critical distance (ma-ai) between those two points throughout the movement - collapse the arm as you turn or as uke comes around and you are liable to end up with a fist in your face as uke enters your space; extend your arm as you turn and you may find yourself being pulled out of your centre by a strong uke. Similarly, as you square yourself and then enter deeply to uke's rear, maintaining this distance between your centre and uke ought to result in an effortless technique as you find yourself in just the right place at just the right time. The power of kokyo-rokyo lies after all in a combination of proper timing, precise body placement (tai no henko) and calm breathing.


So ultimately this most basic combination of movements teaches us how important it is to be aware of who and where you are while being attuned and reactive to those around you.

Aikido teaches us to turn, and turn, and turn some more. This turning ultimately becomes a return. And that return is always to that "secret place inside" - inside you. So all this turning really teaches us to refocus on what is within our sphere of control - ourselves. And by maintaining that control over ourselves, we are able to extend our influence over those who come within that sphere - regardless of their original intention.

Tenkan (or turning) reminds us of our position relative to uke, rather than being distracted by uke's attack and intention for us. The power of that initial tenkan lies in teaching us that the turn must happen within ourselves - that we must stop fighting and learn to turn the fight into something else. Saotome Sensei said that "the desired result of Aikido is not the physical power of technique; it is the power of wisdom. But solid technique is the first step, the foundation upon which to build. The movement and shape of the body reveal and simultaneously affect the movement and shape of the spirit".

So while we cannot reach inside uke and change his/her negative intention/aggression (as demonstrated by his/her attack), through repositioning ourselves, through our own focused, centered, powerful, and most importantly, compassionate movement we can begin to help uke see a different way. Equally importantly, it can show ourselves a different way of reacting to the aggression of others; our body movements (tai-no-henko), trained over time, help us overcome the mental block(s) we might have in the face of an attack, born from fear or stress.

Again Saotome Sensei says that "within a movement of complete harmony, you cannot see the power, for there is no struggle. Balance, timing and the use of space and spiritual communication [the essence of kokyuho] become dynamic art...Aikido is a dynamic poem of movement...You cannot imitate the power of an ocean wave; you must become the ocean itself. You must see not just small technique but the entire picture of the movement. You must extend your creativity and create an image of power and reality. Your movement is a poem. You are the wind, the sun, a mountain, and, exactly, you are art".

So in this simple combination of body movements lie the secret of transforming not just ourselves, but our relationship to the world around us, and ultimately the world itself.


O-Sensei said:

Contemplate the workings of this world, listen to the words of the wise and take all that is good as your own. With this as your base, open your own door to truth. Do not overlook the truth that is right before you. Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also learn from holy books and wise people. Everything - even mountains, rivers, plants and trees - should be your teacher.

So you will have to forgive me as I now go off for a walk along a mountain path (aren't we lucky here in Cape Town that I can do that even in the heart of winter!!!) to find another teacher ;-)



See you on the tatami soon..





 

Reflection....



"...Forget those clever techniques and self-improvement programs. Do not promise

to cure people, to make people feel good, to make life fair, sane, or humane.
Do not offer programs that appeal to selfishness, programs that look to blame
others and look outward.

No teacher can make you be happy, prosperous, healthy or powerful. No rules, strategies, techniques or quick-fix can enforce these  qualities.

If you wish to improve yourself try silence -or- walking or just being still in 
the room. Listen, reflect, settle. Then move on...". 

To know how other people behave takes intelligence,

but to know myself takes wisdom.

To manage other people's lives takes strength,

to manage my own life takes true power.

If I am content with what I have,

I can live simply and enjoy both prosperity and free time.

If my goals are clear I can achieve them without fuss.

If I am at peace with myself, I will not spend my

life force in conflicts.

If I have learned to let go, I do not fear dying.



- Tao