I Know Karate and Kung Fu and Lots of Other Foreign Words! – Martial-Arts
I Know Karate and Kung Fu and Lots of Other Foreign Words!
Martial arts have become incredibly popular in the US. Drive through any little strip shopping center in nearly any city and you're likely to see a martial arts studio. There are dozens of styles to choose from. Karate, jujitsu, aikido, kung fu, qi gong, taekwondo, tai chi. How did that happen?I think it's partly because Americans are so competitive. To many, a martial art is just another sport. You move up the ranks from one belt color to another until finally you're at the top and you're a black belt in karate. It's also good exercise. Many of us don't get nearly enough exercise. But if we can engage in a little friendly martial arts tournament and work out at the same time, we can really get into that.In the East where all the martial arts came from, it's a bit more than just a sport or a way to exercise. Martial arts are the physical part of an entire spiritual discipline designed to teach us to live as better and happier people. They believe that our bodies must be healthy temples for our spirits. Monks in monasteries learned the martial arts. I don't know of any comparable practice in Catholicism. Do you? There may be, but I have never heard of it.In karate, and all the martial arts, we bow to our opponent before and after the match. Why is that? Any martial arts student from any decent school can tell you that you are honoring the other person. You honor them for their skill. You honor them as another spiritual being on the planet. You honor them for giving you the honor of the match.I think practicing karate and other martial arts is really adding something sacred to our American understanding of people. And yes, we get to compete and get a little exercise in, too.About this writerAiko Mettarod moved from Japan with his parents as a child. His father was his first karate teacher. You can read more articles about martial arts at Tsunami Karate
Aikido Philosophy: An Oriental Concept of Energy, Self, and Mind – Martial-Arts
Aikido Philosophy: An Oriental Concept of Energy, Self, and Mind
PrefaceThere are many different ways to understand Aikido philosophy and perceive, utilize, and benefit from energy. What I offer here is one of many ways. Indeed when I do other kinds of activities I perceive of and work with energy in quite a different manner. What follows is my experience of energy while performing Aikido over the course of more than twenty years. Certainly there are likely to be many other Aikido practitioners that would explain their experiences and beliefs in a manner that is somewhat different than mine. I offer you here, one experience, my experience, and thus all that I say is part of my belief system, and not at all necessarily THE truth.AikidoAikido is a Japanese martial art, and it does not have an attack form. We do not kick, punch, or in any other manner, attempt to hurt our opponent.The meaning of Aikido:"Ai" To gather or harmonize."Ki" Universal life force/energy.
This is the energy that we share with nature and all living beings."Do" An artful path of discovery."Aikido" An artful path of discovering how to gather and harmonize the energy of the universe.When we sense and move with the energy that is manifesting throughout the universe we find that we have a greater ability to live a life that is healthy and fulfilling."Ki"In Aikido we believe that all human beings utilize and share a common energy source (ki) that helps to run and maintain our environment as well as our individual human systems. We believe that since we all share a common energy source, that in some important way we are all truly members of the same family, and truly sharing our lives with all of nature. We do not have an attack form in Aikido, because attacking an opponent would be like attacking a family member that you love. Attacking an opponent would also be like attempting to damage the flow of Universal energy in the world, and such acts are likely to have many far reaching consequences.In the Japanese language words that use the concept of "ki" are common.
"Gen-ki" means "root energy" or one's "personal health."
"Ten-ki" relates to "heavenly energy" or "the weather."
"Hon-ki" relates to "original energy" or "the truth."
"Yuu-ki" relates to "brave energy" or "courage."
"Ki o tsukete" means "attach your energy to what you are doing, or "be careful."The origin of ki?Where does ki originate from? In Aikido the answer is poetic in nature rather than scientific. It is suggested that ki was "born" at the same instant as the rest of the universe, and that we are all born from the ki of the universe. Ki is considered to be an energy that we all have equal access to. It is an energy that courses through our system if we do not restrict it. In Aikido we believe that excess tension physically and emotionally, fear, hate, greed, and anger, all cut us off from the universal source of ki. Our daily practice involves working at maintaining a balanced state physically and emotionally, and indeed, practicing ways to cultivate physical and emotional balance is much of what the study of Aikido is about. In Aikido physical and emotional balance are meant to be two sides of the very same coin. Physical balance helps to engender emotional balance and health, and vice versa as well. Often in my professional work with individuals I find myself first addressing the clients physical balance when they come wanting to resolve emotional issues, and I do the reverse as well. I often first address or explore how emotional imbalance might lead to the physical difficulties they are experiencing."Ki signature" mind, spirit-Energy manifests as spirit, spirit manifests as mindEnergy manifests within each individual as spirit, spirit manifests in each individual as mind. In some way that is a mystery to all of mankind, the freely available energy of the universe is transformed by each person into one's own unique "ki signature", spirit, mind. No two people have the same exact "ki signature", just as no two people have the same exact written signature. No two people have the same exact spirit, no two people have the same exact mind. The unique way that we each take in, utilize, and expend energy, can be considered to be our "ki signature", mind, or spirit. Each person starts with the same source of energy, and manifests this energy in a way that will never exactly be duplicated by any other human being.Thought, body structure,and movement, shape the flow of ki, into spirit/mindThink of the freely flowing water of a powerful river that comes upon a series of fairly large rocks spread out across the river bed and extend up beyond the water's surface. These rocks affect the flow of the river but they do not change the nature of the water itself. Ki flows through the river bed of our brain and body. Our thoughts, body structure and movements, are like the rocks in the river bed. These are the main elements that shape ki into individual mind, or spirit The flow of ki is uniquely transformed by each human being, but the nature of the ki itself, is not altered in the process. Just as the pattern of rocks spread out along the river bed is never exactly duplicated in any other place on earth, the pattern of our thoughts, body structure, and movement is also never exactly duplicated. All mind is similar, but no two minds are exactly alike.A heartfelt understanding of the nature of our spirit will help us to create a healthy alignment of our thoughts, body structure, movements, and actions. When every aspect of our self is fully aligned we have a much greater ability to think, feel, and act in accordance with what is best for us in any given moment. We are better able to adapt and change in a manner that is supports the well being of our entire self and our surroundings.The misnomers of "mind-body" and "mind and body"A definition of "mind" that I often use it in my work, is the following:
"Mind is a dynamic, self-organizing, creative system, capable of overcoming physical and temporal constraints. Mind uses and manufactures energy in order to support the self and one's surroundings, trade information, and adapt to change."When considering this definition of mind, we can say that mind manifests equally in the body and in the brain in the skull. Because of this I believe that the terms "mind-body" or "mind and body" as used in the Western world, are somewhat missing the mark and tend to lead to a certain degree of misunderstanding. If you ask a Japanese person to point to their mind, usually they will point to the area of their heart, or they will point to their lower abdomen. If you ask the average Westerner to point to their mind they will point to their head. This is why I think the terms "mind-body" and "mind and body" were developed in the Western world. I believe that the average Western person thinks of the term "mind" in relation to "thinking" or "thought". Oriental philosophy considers "mind" to be immanent in both the body and the brain. In Aikido we say that we practice in order to calm the mind, by coordinating our thoughts, the actions of our body, and our breath. Or we say that we practice in order to further empower and actualize our mind by coordinating our thoughts, physical actions, breath, and spirit.When looking to calm our mind we give our primary attention to calming our breath and our heart beat, which will tend to lead towards a relaxing of our musculature and a slowing down or cessation of our internal dialogue. If we calm our body we will tend to calm our cognitive thought processes. Calming the mind can also be accomplished by giving primary attention to the speed, rhythm, and tone of voice of our internal dialogue. If we calm our cognitive thought processes we will tend to calm the body. When we calm both our cognitive thought processes and our body, then we calm our mind. Cognitive mind and somatic mind are part of a recursive feedback loop. You can't affect one without affecting the other.Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido instructor,
NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist. Benefit from his thought-provoking
ideas and a new self-help Practice every two weeks, by subscribing to his complimentary
newsletter on the website Seishindo: Accessing
Your Body Wisdom. On the website, you can also find out more about Aikido
Philosophy and the importance of understanding the
internal language of your body.
Women in the Martial Arts – Martial-Arts
Women in the Martial Arts
1st Lady Assistant to Sensei Henry Ellis
Ellis Schools of Traditional AikidoI was born in West London in 1963, my father was very involved in the martial arts and a dan grade in Karate he was also a dealer in ancient Japanese arms and armour, although my father has an antiques shop in London's Bond Street, my home was more like a samurai warriors dressing room, with original suits of Japanese armour complete with very frighting face masks that would frighten the life out of my friends when ever they came to visit, there were also very many valuable swords yari and naginata spears.The MastersMy father would travel around the world searching for the best quality weapons, what intrigued me the most as a child was all these strange visitors that would come to my home, the famous Otani family were regular visitors with Sensei Matsuro Otani 7th dan Judo the UK National Coach, Kenshiro Abbe Sensei, Tomio Otani Sensei the UK National Coach for Kendo, his visitors were like the who's who of martial arts, as recently as two weeks ago I was pleased to meet with Sensei Kazuo Chiba 8th dan when he came to see my father.Introduction to AikidoAs a child I did a little Karate with my father but nothing serious until 1992 when I went to the local Aikido dojo in Bracknell, Berkshire, UK. All those years with my father and his Japanese weapons must have had a latent but profound effect on me, as I watched Sensei Ellis teaching his Positive Style of Traditional Aikido I knew there and then that this was the martial art for me.The Hard Training BeginsWhen I started Aikido I made a point of training with the men and they treated me as one of them. With regular practice I progressed. I had now developed the hard training bug and started courses in physical training and amateur weight lifting, after a few years of hard work I became a fully qualified fitness instructor-personal trainer and amateur weight lifting coach, the high light of all this effort was when Sensei Ellis promoted me to assistant coach of the Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido (ESTA) two years later he promoted me to first lady assistant to himself, there had never ever been a lady assistant in all the long history of the ESTA, Sensei put me on a three month trial and 8 year on I am still here.In 1994 I received my coaching certificate from the British Aikido Board (BAB) which is the governing body for Aikido in the UK. Once I became assistant to Sensei Ellis I became involved in assisting in teaching both men and women and also helping with the children's classes.The First SeminarSensei Ellis asked if I would like to take part in a very large and important seminar in Liverpool in the North of England, Sensei Ellis is not one of those teachers who has a pet uke follow him around to fly all over the mat at a touch or a glance, he prefers to try to involve all the students who attend his seminars if possible, knowing this I felt very privileged but nervous when Sensei told me there would be about 700 students from various martial arts, I think the phrase "Being thrown in at the deep end" is applicable here.On arrival at the venue I was amazed to see so many students from so many countries, UK-France-Germany-Italy-India-Austria are just some that I can recall. Sensei Ellis was asked to take the first class of approximately 50 dan grades from various martial arts. Sensei had me demonstrate 100 press-ups on the backs of my wrists with fingers pointing both inwards and outwards. When I had finished and was in the raised position Sensei sat on my back (he did not warn me of this) and carried on with his lecture. Sensei suggested that those who wanted to should try this exercise. It was amazing to see all these black belts struggling. Later I had a little crowd around me wanting to inspect my wrists, I explained that this exercise is standard for both seniors and juniors in our schools.I was now feeling a little more confident when Sensei pointed out that there were six young dan grades who had arrived late and were respectfully waiting for permission to come onto the mat. Sensei asked me to show them what we had been teaching so far, they were all wearing black gi's and when I approached and invited them on the mat, they scowled as if to say "hey, we have not traveled all the way from London to be taught by a women" as I showed the first technique "nikkyo" a wrist locking action, the first guy tried to resist me, I applied the technique as shown to me so many times by Sensei and almost put him through the mat. I thought he would be upset with me, but as he got up he asked "How did you do that?". He then wanted me to do the technique on all the others, now I had their attention and they were a great bunch of guy's. I really enjoyed teaching them. At the end of the seminar, as we were leaving the hall to head for the car park, these six guy's were waiting in a line and bowed to me simultaneously with a smile and said to Sensei Ellis " You have a strong lady assistant there ,sensei" Sensei replied " That is why she is my assistant". That was my first seminar and one that I will never forget.I have been involved in many other seminars with my Sensei and they were always good, but I was never so overawed as I was at my first one, or so I thought. Then Sensei Ellis asked if I would like to visit New Mexico in the USA for a seminar. The seminar was to be held in Alamogordo NM, where Sensei's USA representative in the US lives and works at the Space Museum. Sensei visits New Mexico every year and we have another Ellis dan grade in Texas, Al Montemar. I had always wanted to visit the US and jumped at the opportunity. We made the trip into a vacation for friends and family. We taught members of the USAF and German Air Force at Holloman AFB, which included a guided tour of the base and various fighter aircraft, including the Stealth bomber. Sensei Rogers is an instructor who teaches students from the USAF, Highway Patrol, police and some members of the United States Marshals.While in the US, I also visited the Grand Canyon and Phoenix. I intend to move to Phoenix to live within the next two to three years. Sensei Ellis has a book on aikido coming out next spring in the US titled "Positive Aikido" which I am pleased to be featured in, Sensei Rogers is a journalist by profession and has worked on this book for the past two years and it will be published in the US. There are several publishers interested in the book so we are all very excited about this latest project. I hope to be visiting the US again next year and I hope to be there for the launching of the book.For the martial artists out there I would like to add one more comment about the proposed book. Where as most Aikido books spend a great deal of time harmonizing with the planets and the universe, there will be none of that in this book, Sensei always tells students to come out of the clouds and get back on the tatami because "This is where it all happens" and he also often says "leave the dancing to Fred Astair" (who is Fred Astair?).Anita Wilson
Assistant to Sensei Ellis
www.EllisAikido.org
www.geocities.com/britishaikidoAnita Wilson has been involved in the martial arts from childhood she is now a very highly qualified personal fitness training instructor, qualified BALA weightlifting coach, Aikido assistant coach.By: Henry Ellis