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Much of my training is concerned with attaining what I refer to as "proper fit" with uke. Proper fit occurs when uke and I move in concert, our energies complementing rather than conflicting. To have proper fit with uke I must abandon my agenda, notions of winning and losing, my ego. I must allow myself to be absorbed into the moment. Thought moves me further away from the moment and, as a consequence, hinders my ability to achieve a proper fit with my partner.
Training, therefore, is my process of discovering, experiencing and developing no-mind, a necessary prerequisite for achieving proper fit. Techniques are the tools of training not the finished work, just as brushes are the tools of painting and not the finished canvas.
When I began Aikido, I knew nothing and didn't know it. I began to learn and in learning I knew that I knew nothing. As my knowledge grew I found that I had less and less capacity to learn. There came a point at which I chose to forget all that I thought I knew and so began again.
02-20-2009 10:24 AM 