Each our own way

To be honest, most of the quotes from O Sensei are lost on me, can't make head or tail of them. But! I do consider my Aikido practice of a spiritual nature...my misogi. There's a Dan Fogelberg song with the refrain:
"Wealthy the spitit that knows its own flight;
Stealthy the hunter who slays his own fright;
Blessed the traveler who journeys the length of the light"... NEXUS 1981...

This is what I work on through Aikido (and life, of course), the other half of the circle in balance with the physical. Any other good jingles out there?

Yep. Chumbawumba's tubthumping. "I get knocked down, but I get up again. Y'aint never gonna keep me down".
Have fun.

Yeah, I love that song! Good to scream in the car at the top of your lungs. Thanks, Jim!

Ah yes, since we've got the spiritual side covered in terms of jingles, may I suggest something for the physical side:

Body...wanna feel my body?

Body...such a thrill my body

Body...wanna touch my body?

Body...it's too much my body

Check it out my body, body.

Don't you doubt my body, body.

talkin' bout my body, body,

check it out my body

Every man wants to be a macho macho man

to have the kind of body, always in demand

Jogging in the mornings, go man go

works out in the health spa, muscles glow

You can best believe that, he's a macho man

ready to get down with, anyone he can

Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!

Macho, macho man (macho man)

I've got to be, a macho man

Macho, macho man

I've got to be a macho! Ow....



OK, must take my medication now...

I'm,
giving you eeeverything,
all that jooy can bring,
yes I swear !

And,
all that I want from you,
is the promise you
will be there !

WILL ! BE ! THERE !








(just kidding)

Looks like somebody needs a women here

. . .

These are the spells by which to reassume

An empire o'er the disentangled Doom.

To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;

To forgive wrongs darker than Death or Night;

To defy Power which seems Omnipotent;

To love, and bear; to hope, till Hope creates

From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;

Neither to change nor falter nor repent:

This, like thy glory, Titan! is to be

Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;

This is alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory.

P.B. Shelley

Get a grip on the action

Movin' heaven and earth

Gotta get a reaction

Push for all that you're worth

No denying we're going against the grain

So defiant they'll never put us down

Rock Hard Ride Free

All day , all night

Rock Hard Ride Free

All your life

Tough as steel

Stop at nothing

Look at fate in the face

Don't take no for an answer

Grab the lead in the race

Rock hard with a purpose

Got a mind that won't bend

Diehard resolution

That is true to the end

Judas Priest, Rock Hard Ride Free

/Tobias

But I think O Sensei's words are special in the fact that they address the "suchness" that Aikido is about. Maybe there's a cultural divide.

This is a quote from a Basketball player which I feel drives at the point of spirituality and "suchness". I feel it is a homemade wisdom that comes close to O Sensei's teachings.

''The one certainty is that a man can never be certain of what he thinks.

He can only strive and learn and fight against the frustrations of his life, and continue that struggle to the point that he develops a philosophy.

A man who asks for a philosophy will never have one.

My philosophy is only the result of what has happened in this life.''

-Bill Russell, Hall of Fame Boston Celtic Basketball player circa 1966

Colored people by DCTalk christian rock band, the song is fantastic so it their song Jesus Freak too i like them and i'm not even Christian, but i have to say my favourate is 'while my guatar gently weeps' by whomever really the beatles version is goos but so is the Spineshank one, alot of heavy metal is just rage isnt it?

i love it

pete

Sting sang...

Men go crazy in congregations, but they only get better one by one.

I would have to disagree about the most heavy metal is just rage comment. For myself metal has always been about strength, discpline, loyalty, the overcoming of boundries, believeing in oneself, and actually having convictions and standing by them and the channeling of negative emotions. Check out bands like "Hate Breed" and their album "Perseverance" you want to talk about anthems for a nation. I would rather have people take these songs to heart that this manufactured "top40pop-artescapism". Metal music can be seen as a form of Shugyo it builds spirit. These are also some of the most talent musicians on the planet. Case in point check out Meshuggah, Tool, Candira, Dillinger Escape Plan.

Also, please do not confuse "SpineShank" as metal. But as there are people who make Aikido look bad there are those that represent metal badly as well. Also, mosh pits are great place to practice tai sabaki toshu.

Just because it not presented in a PC package

and the people may not by the "social media"

standard be "beautiful". But it is always easier to build someone up that has no real beliefs and does not challenge its audience to be anything more than more than a consumer. I still see bands that have been around twenty years and are still touring and making quality music. Most of the people you see on MTV and listen to on the radio have a shelf life of about 20 seconds.

This went on much longer than I intended but I felt it need to be said. It's like when somebody start commenting on Aikido being ineffective it just cries for response.

I would also add that if it had not been for metal and those values mentioned above I would probably not be practicing today.

It gave strength in dark times.

Ignorance is bliss. But what purpose does it serve?

Listen, learn, grow -- but take responsibility for your own training.

A Song for Sensei?

How do you do what you do to me?

I wish I knew.

'Cos if I knew how you do it to me,

then I'd do it to you.

Tim

I know this isn't the humor section, but I couldn't resist the mental image I got when putting Macho Man and aikido together...

Can't you just see the Village People crashing your dojo? Can't you see all your sempai gathered around, politely instructing the biker and the construction worker, who are coming up with something slightly nasty and **very very campy** when everyone else is doing kaitenage?

That is a blast from the trashy pre-AIDS gay male heyday!!! I am grinning from ear to ear - thanks Jon Kuo!