In the past several articles, I have argued that Aikido’s strength and aesthetic lies not merely in technique, but in deportment: the cultivation of calm, structural integrity, and presence under pressure (shizentai). I have also raised concerns about how knives are addressed within Aikido training, our treatment of tanto-dori is under-developed given the realities ofContinue reading “KNIFE TRAPPING”
Category Archives: Class Notes
KALI AND AIKIDO: SANGFROID AND THE AXIS
Deportment is never neutral. How one stands, how one moves, and – most critically – how one does not react are constant signals. In other posts I have argued that sangfroid is not merely an affect but a form of power: the capacity to enter any encounter, including conflict, with an unflappable calm that communicatesContinue reading “KALI AND AIKIDO: SANGFROID AND THE AXIS”
KAIROS AND THE GEOMETRY OF TIMING
Book Five of the Iliad contains some of the most outrageous acts of combat in all of Greek myth: a mortal wounds a god. Homer opens the Iliad with the anger of Achilles and his retreat from the field of battle. His mother, Thetis, bargains with Zeus, and the war is no longer a simpleContinue reading “KAIROS AND THE GEOMETRY OF TIMING”
Protective Arts 