Discuss the article, "This is MY Mat!" by "The Mirror" here.

Article URL: http://www.aikiweb.com/columns/themirror/2004_04.html

If one's opinion can be seen as a feeling of their own heart - please allow me to say that I found this article to be excellent. Thank you for the article and for the feeling.

dmv

Very nice article.

What a wonderful article. I do pretty well looking out for myself in the "real" world, having learned back in the 4th grade how to cope with nasty classmates; but I do find that aikido has helped me with the really big conflicts. I stay calmer when someone attacks me (physically on the mat or verbally in local politics or whatever), and it doesn't throw me off-balance like it used to.

The hardest part of my aikido training right now is kuzushi done by bumping into uke, because I was taught growing up that you just don't DO things like that. It's funny which things bump up against my "programming." Before this, I couldn't manage to make contact doing atemi because "girls don't hit." It's amazing what I can learn to do when I

put my mind to it!

I have a feeling "This is MY mat!" would do me a world of good; I believe I'll think that to myself in class next time we're swapping throws.

Re: Article: This is MY Mat! by "The Mirror"
 

Thanks David, Aleksey, and Wendy, for your kind comments. Interesting, isn't it, that aikido can help aggressive folks become more gentle and aware; at the same time helping passive people learn to enter. I admit I'm no where close to the point where I can geniunely thank this man for the lessons he helped me learn, but I do see they were very valuable lessons.

Re: Article: This is MY Mat! by "The Mirror"
 

Susan, the column is wonderful.
It makes me think of how we model what we want to be, even if it feels like a fake and a fraud inside, to help us change and "really mean (be) it."

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Susan,

I enjoyed your offering in "The Mirror" this month a lot. I have seen many people make changes in their lives through budo practice. It continues to delight me to see these changes because, as a teacher, I get to learn from their changes as well. As one of my teachers used to say, "We all have much to learn from each other." Thanks for sharing.

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Susan,

Could you elaborate a little more about "fake aikido" and what your Sensei meant by that? I think I understand, but I would like to hear more about that from you; what do you come to realize; what reason is there to thank the boss; what is the difference in "aikido" and what you were actually doing?

Thanks! I look forward to reading your answer and further articles from "The Mirror." :)

Re: Article: This is MY Mat! by "The Mirror"
 

Dear John,
I've thought quite a bit about what my sensei said to me. I think he meant I was still "caught". Although I could breathe and relax and maintain my center enough so I didn't cry during interactions with this man, afterward I was obsessing and complaining about him. I still saw myself as a victim and him as the big bad guy-- I gave him far too much of my energy.

What changed with the second interaction was I did what I did and it was over. Of course this situation is much different because I have no history with this person and don't interact with him daily. Still, it represents a major change in my thinking. Probably a few years earlier I would have found out this person's name and his dojo--I would have seen him as a bully and myself as a victim. And I probably would have created drama--either in my mind or in reality. However, I don't know his name and I wouldn't recognize him if I saw him again--I can't remember much about him except he gave me the opportunity to practice, and I learned something about myself and what all those hours of aikido practice put into my body.
Susan

Re: Article: This is MY Mat! by "The Mirror"
 

John,
What Janet said is another way to explain what I think my sensei meant. Thanks, Janet.
Susan

Re: Article: This is MY Mat! by "The Mirror"
 

Thank you, Sensei. Aikido has been a very poweful force of change in my life. ( I have to be careful not to think it's what everyone needs.) In the beginning, I tended to think, "Everyone else gets this and I'm the only one who struggles." Now I understand that we all have different struggles.
Susan

Re: Article: This is MY Mat! by "The Mirror"
 

This article should be required reading for everyone posting on the 'Size matters' thread.

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Hello Ms. Dalton

This is a tardy response to your esay, but I would just like to say that it just represents, for me, "the real thing" and won I can identify with too. Thanking somebody for something like you describe is as hard as "turning the other cheek" as they say. Something I'm a long way from. To me, that state of "being thankful" and practicing it is one of the best things about doing Aikido I discovered and learned about my own deficiencies with regard to it. It's just hard work, I guess.

Anyway, it seems to me, without a strong healthy ego structure to begin with it's hard to even get to that "place of thanksgiving" where one KNOWS why it's important.

And Thank You!

Re: Article: This is MY Mat! by "The Mirror"
 

Nice article! I have an easier time on the mat than in the real world. Still working on that one...

Ron