KNOW THYSELF
Only you can unlock the unlimited potential hidden within yourself by regularly challenging the habituated limitations of your body, mind and emotional self and recapturing your attunement with the Great Harmony of the Universe. Walk the Way and you will transform. This is guaranteed. It may be gradual, but persist and you will find out. The technique of the Aikido peaceful warrior is a proven and total path to personal awakening, health, fitness, peace and clarity of mind. Through regular training you will eradicate fear and doubt, and balance all your attributes. Dynamic equilibrium is true power. When your essence, spirit, body, mind and feeling principle are resonating in tune with the Great Harmony of the Universe, positive changes happen. When your mind, focus and direct perception become clear and begin to dissolve the terrible and limiting subconscious entanglements we humans carry, you become enabled to turn the adversities of life into steppingstones through the unlocking of great potential. Aikido is a Way of personal transformation and individual discovery. This is not a 2 day motivational course with packaged ideas, unproven theories, fancy concepts and intellectual mind juggling you write on a note pad and then usually put away and forget when the emotive hype dies down and real life takes over. Nor is it just a bag of 'tricks'. Aikido is a path of discovery, personal transformation and a way life. A way of reclaiming yourself and getting to know who you truly are and unlocking infinite potentials never thought possible by minds strictured with concepts of limitation. It's serious work and yet fun as well. The harmonising of KI will have remarkable effects. Through regular practice, the other skills in your life will improve and you will become able to unlock multiple hidden talents with greater ease than ever before. The discipline of regular training, whilst enjoyable also evokes your individual attributes. And whilst progressive, is measurable through the barometer of practice and the effects which naturally follow. This will open the vast panorama of possibility which resides in the universe and the superconscious mind. Every other aspect of your life and environment will alter as the power of harmonious relationship emerges in practical and effective ways not previously thought possible. You may notice that the combat side of Aikido is seldom emphasised. It is not the primary focus. Although, when properly understood, Aikido techniques contain the ultimate close quarter combat self defence method, why is it we don't make a fuss over this fact? Because conflict, whilst a natural part of existence, is minimised through this type of training. Immersion in harmony reduces the possibility of pathological expressions such as violence as opposed to human behaviour. If all you want to do is become better at violence than others, we would suggest that you get serious psychiatric help before you end up in jail, get shot or get voted into 'power'. The desire to be a superior destroyer or bully is a pathology of a diseased and unbalanced ego. The preferred method of 'winning' is over yourself so you become predisposed to non-escalation. 'Better fighters' are sick people as are better manipulators, liars, cheats, thieves and all the other chimp attributes our DNA is heir to. "Better" violence solves nothing. It only adds more fuel to already corrosive relationships. The aim should be to produce better peacemakers and the mission statement; 'to produce a world where violence in all its forms is made impossible through the excess of sanity and awakened minds.' Considering our war riddled past and present, this may take some time. But it will take even longer if left un-addressed as a matter of priority as a species. Distress does not have to be a way of life. Nor does a serious state of living in denial. This change can only start with oneself. Of course if you are attacked, you will have immense advantages because discord cannot act against the Great Harmony of the Universe which regular Aikido training aligns you with. But why is it that regular Aikido training heals the mind of the pathology of violence? ('Violence' includes not only overt physically active assault and imposition but also covert manipulation, bullying, politics, deception, unkindness and all those supposedly secret pathologies most people tolerate but fear to change and which aggressors use to perpetrate injustice.) Proactive non-violence is possible and powerful and allows the growth of all good things human. Why is it that Aikido can open up an endless array of possibilities for harmonious reconciliation and constructive, all win strategies? Why is it that it can increase vitality, happy and calm mindstates, integrity and abundance? Why is it that it can bring harmony to human relationships? Is it not a paradox that an art born in the blood and horror of battle can be the very essence of compassion? Well, not really. The average person, overly concerned with the petty allures of mundane existence, all too often fails to grasp the awesome value of the gifts of life, consciousness, sentience and mobility, until they are about to be taken away by death. Those who survive, such as the field of battle, often experience dramatic shifts of conscious realisation and seldom take these original gifts for granted ever again. The transience of earthly life becomes very evident, whilst simultaneously, a deeper essence comes to the fore. They may feel, or in some way perceive, the source from whence existence arises and the great harmony in which it dwells. Being so different from human myth and fantasy, such a shift may cause shock, post traumatic stress or even madness. Or it may unlock great awakenings. Such individuals may never again lack appreciation of these gifts, nor their immense value, of being alive, the nature of existence, the great harmony and all things of true account. Lesser values may drop away in favour of more skillful ways of living, being and doing things. Often the life which follows is spent seeking deeper pursuits, exploring and sharing of the light thus received. And this may lead to various enlightenments, the fruit of which can be shared for great good. Each of those ancients who survived the ugliness of feudal warfare, had unique skills. Naturally, following the trauma of battle, questions must have arisen about the nature of existence. In a unique culture where all aspects of life were considered art, skill, science and expressions of the universal life force, it would have caused them to look deeper into the nature of things than merely the surface. So also with the refinement of combat skills. Hence the birth of 'Do' or 'The Way.' For those keen on studying history, instead of repeating it, it will be found that all violence eventually backfires on its initiator. Cause and effect is a scientific law of the Universe and is immutable because it is subject to the movements of energy, time, space and matter; all attributes of original KI. That's why history is so predictable and that's why stupidity in all its forms simply repeats like a broken record until it breaks down completely. Nature always wins in the end. The dressing up may differ and vary but the outcomes are the same. The lesson? Violence is not such a good idea and in the long run resolves nothing! If anything, it compounds problems. Identification of a problem or disease enables its healing. But the good news is that the natural principle of cause and effect also works with sustainable potentials as upheld by goodness, compassion and benevolence. The 'All Win' principle can be applied effectively and this with additional gains for all concerned. What does it take to qualify? The elimination of deep seated fear. By coming to terms with the endless array of energetic possibilities which reside within us, albeit mostly unconscious, we also get to meet those 'uglies' which most people live in denial of carrying. And purge them from our system. These are merely the 'outer layers' which in psychosis become activated instead of purged. This purification process and discipline are known as 'misogi' and 'shugyo'. With repeated stimulation and vivifying of the mind, body emotions and spirit which regular Aikido training evokes, we become enabled to again tap the Original Essence, the Source of all KI, that which gives life and breath. This reaching into the Self is more than merely a random fad or a cutely innovative mystical concept, but the activation of very Principles of the Universe and Life Itself which is a healing force. The first step in healing anything is the acknowledgement that something is wrong. This requires the understanding which clear, direct perception brings. The body-mind connection, being the essence of true meditation, achieves just this. Regular, manageable installments of periods of being intensely present in the moment, enables healing of the past and letting it go. And then follows the noticing of constructive potentials which reside only in the now, as a preferred option of activity. As a personal discipline Aikido goes to the very core of the primal patterns of creation locked in our genes and deep within our psyche and body-mind complex. And over time it serves to release a healing of any distortions, from the very core of our existence as a consciously sentient individual. The flow of Living KI, when unlocked, achieves this from a subatomic level much the same as a good software utility will defragment, optimise and rebuild the directory of a computer's operating system thereby enabling it to function without failures and crashes. Progressively eliminating dysfunction, as it were, whilst mitigating the intense stresses of today's world through a personal process of integrated wellness enhancement. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do this for ourselves as part of an individual's human maintenance programme? Well, we can! Regular Aikido practice achieves this from a source/natural blueprint level. And the ability to defend oneself without having to resort to gross violence builds a healthy and balanced confidence. What is it that defines Aikido as being different from sport? Sport is based on contest. It seeks to expensively and artificially prove something or another for a brief window at the peak of an individual’s hormonal capability. Few can access those heights and those who do, often do so at the expense of all the others who may have tried. It is artificial and any benefits are unsustainable. Aikido is a ‘Do’ or Way which rather works steadily at improving the total person and adding value to society as a result by elevating both oneself and others. The opposite of contest. It is a sustainable ongoing lifelong process which is realistic within one’s current means and capability. Anyone who practices consistently, can reach, maintain and surpass their best heights. The distinction is the difference between proving and improving. Whilst ‘proving’ has a brief window, seems to rise briefly, then naturally and inevitably falls; improving never ends. Proving carries a high price. Improving works to restore and maintain an optimal level of natural harmony in accord with the balance which is the natural blueprint for life. The rewards are far reaching and widespread as harmony then expands. Proving often has undesirable repercussions. Improving partakes of the nature of healing restoration and spreads holistic and sustainable results. It is not about the relative concepts of ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ but of healing and caring for the integrated web of life which sustains all existence. In this way there are no losers. Everyone gains. Perhaps with the exception of those misguided souls predisposed to violence, bullying, the use of force and tyranny in all its forms, who choose to make the decision to run counter to the Great Harmony of the Universe by wilfully effecting damage and suffering. There is little anyone can do for these sorry creatures and they need as much compassion, for the laws of the universe will ultimately exact a ruthless balance. Through regularly facing and consciously interacting with intense direct experience, a depth of understanding arises which brings clarity of consciousness. With it comes the further understanding that our intention moves in an interactive ocean of matter, time, space, energy and KI. When these and the Cosmic Dance are understood, not at a merely intellectual level but at all levels experientially, we come to realise that all pain, discomfort and the vagaries of life are not 'suffering', but a precursor to change and that change is the nature of existence. It can either empower or destroy us depending on the way we interact with it. And, that reactivity and anger produce no benefits, rather only blinding cumulative disaster and tragedy. With this comes the lucid and clear understanding that the human mission, individually and collectively, is destined to be one of creation, not destruction. Thus we train to attune and align with the never ending Great Harmony of the Universe and are enabled to receive life and thus give it as well. In this way it becomes possible to end the futile downward spirals of destructivity. A new perspective and world view emerges where we realise that the additional discomfort we make for ourselves out of blind, angry resistance and reactivity is needless and that we complicate things unnecessarily. Through the power of choice, suffering can be undone. There is no-one to blame. All interaction is unstoppable and is merely the eternal principle of change at work. But existence is hard enough without our adding to the difficulty. Through Ai-Ki we learn to relax and flow in the midst of intense activity, in a way that is to our advantage. We neither resist nor fight, but flow. Instead of feeling threatened by every shadow in the kaleidoscope of life, we realise that each change is a wave of opportunity that can be caught and ridden to success. Such conscious individuals then become relationship enabled navigators through existence, empowered with the dynamic response capabilities of Ai-Ki strategy. When you begin Aikido training, it will seem as if you are only learning a soft dance like form of self defence... it may seem challenging at first... that is part of the ‘battle’; but then things start to unlock... you will begin to attune with other, previously forgotten aspects of consciousness and ability, with increasing regularity. And you will begin to remember who you are, as the KI begins to flow again. And... well, the rest is for you to discover... Wherever you find yourself there may be an Aikido dojo or school near you. If you feel attracted to this method of total personal development, please access it. Although each school is different in some aspects and has their unique history, personality and predispositions, all true Aikido is a reflection, an expression and a personal re-enactment of the harmonious laws of the Universe as it is, and an ongoing celebration of life. Training at the Blue Mountains Dojo:
see also: * Aikido Universal Healing Art
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