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Old 10-28-2009, 10:09 AM   #9
Russ Q
Dojo: Shohei Juku Aikido Gibsons
Location: Gibsons BC
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 192
Canada
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Re: Managing Change in Aikido

Hello George Sensei,

Change is always hard, eh. You know I come from a relatively traditional organization :-) but I do enjoy quite a bit of autonomy. I think dealing with these changes comes down to "who you are". One cannot deny truth once seen (and expect to be happy anyway). If you are confident with "who you are" then you will find a way to encompass the change and work it into your present training paradigm.....just gotta remember that things are the way they are supposed to be (from a subjective experience POV).

I personally feel a great deal of gratitude to my teacher and the head of our organization. Magnificent human beings that, in many respects, I wish to model my own behaviour to/around. That being said, I would not let my association with them, or the "giri" I owe them, to create an obstacle to advancing my understanding of aikido. I understand that this may create some tension or misunderstanding at some point...but...I also have great hope and confidence that the organization (and my teacher's minds:-) are large enough to accept these changes.

Last thoughts.....are IT skills really anything new? I think Saotome, Ikeda & Suganuma Sensei's all have copious amounts of IT (it). As you say they don't have a structured way of imparting those skills and may even choose not to if they had a method. I think that percieved lack of openess is simply the conditioning they have undergone....Despite this lack of will/ability to impart these skills I think (I truly hope) they would encourage us to persue a deeper understanding of "aiki" and bring that to our practise.

A bit stream of conciousness.....sorry.

Cheers,

Russ
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