jennifer paige smith

Aa far as I'm concerned, no apology is needed. And Sorry for your long day.

ironically, I have probably faced violence in 'real ife' situations more than anyone I know.And definitely more than most aikidoka I have met or trained. I have also been successful in using physical aikido techniques to stop assaults. I have used Ki methods to pre-emptively change a person/s direction/intention on 'the street', and I have been able to surmise violence in a situation that was likely lethal and intervene without that person knowing at al what happened. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

Having said this, I am completely aware that what most people think of as 'resistance' is simply another way to assert their ego in a controlled game and that they that play that game well beyond bedtime, when they should put it to rest. And I am also aware that many people never even have a feel for the absolute effectivenes of flow (i.e.non-resistance) in keeping the peace because they are stuck in the low mind of 'struggle to learn to struggle better'. There is definitely a place for muscular non-compliance in training, in fact, it is indispensible if you've never had to use your muscles to get a job done effectively. But we live in a world saturated with this model and ample examples of how it is 'not working'. As well as opportunities to refine our responses for survival.

Training with the founders words in mind brings your mind to a higher level where new possibilities arise freely.Peace possibilities. Many make a false dichotomy out of this as a juxtoposition to 'real training' or point to a outlying extreme example to negate it. Fact is, because I've lived through it to tell you, there is power in the unseen in the unknown land of aligning as a habit. Most people give up and insist the world is flat.

So I continue to say listen to O'Sensei. Rig your ship like you know you should then set your sights on the water in the distance and leave this safe harbor; at least for a change of scenery.

No apologies for my rant. It is a long time coming. And listen to Larry because he says, in different terms, another degree of what I'm saying . In case you don't get me.