“If you’re not smiling, you’re not training in Aikido.”
Frank Doran Sensei
Thanks to Bill Perrett for sharing this on Facebook. :-)
quotations
Practicing Love
One of my horsey friends, Lisa Illichmann, posted this earlier today in a discussion thread about some ongoing hatefulness or other in the popular media. … Read more …
“When we live in our bodies we understand that it’s more satisfying to be than to have. When we’re embodied, love becomes more important than … Read more …
Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and, once it has done so, he will have to accept that his life will be radically changed.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Just another way in which horsemanship and Aikido are similar.
Aikido is obviously an art form that is expressed through the body, which gets information from our sensory awareness. That means feeling. … Feel what’s happening now, act on that information, and trust.
Dave Goldberg Sensei, from his blog post “The Case for More Body Awareness”
There is so much of value just in this one post from October that it’s worth reading again from time to time. And if you haven’t been following Sensei’s blog, here’s your chance to start.
A thought, in appreciation of my teacher, Dave Goldberg Sensei:
“It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look. To affect the quality of the day – that is the highest of arts.”
Henry David Thoreau
Happy Birthday Sensei!
No classes today (Sunday, day 10 of 16).
“The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your inner enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.”
Morihei Ueshiba (O Sensei)
“The Art of Peace”
Create each day anew by clothing yourself with heaven and earth, bathing yourself with wisdom and love, and placing yourself in the heart of Mother Nature. Your body and mind will be gladdened, depression and heartache will dissipate, and you will be filled with gratitude.
Morihei Ueshiba (O Sensei), from The Art of Peace, translated and edited by John Stevens
[A month ago I would’ve thought of this as some lovely idealistic vision, but it’s becoming my real daily experience.]
By cultivating our concentration for staying with our sensations, we develop a kind of strength which enables us to stay in the present.
Wendy Palmer Sensei, Aikido of Tamalpais, from her book “The Intuitive Body – Discovering the Wisdom of Conscious Embodiment and Aikido”
