Aikido teaches commitment and timing. I recall Okamoto sensei telling us “without commitment there is no Aikido” and I have been trying to unpack that ever since. Its simple to articulate, hard to convey and embody. I recently used Diomedes to explain kairos: the harmonious incorporation of committed action in proper time. Then I foundContinue reading “THE DECISIVE MOMENT”
Tag Archives: Mulligan
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”
REVERSED EFFORT AND THE KEY TO MASTERY
The more I teach, the more I distrust my own methods. I vacillate between two instincts: to explain everything, the Western compulsion toward clarity, and to say almost nothing, as my Japanese teachers did. Both seem inadequate. There is a paradox in learning that unsettles: The more effort one exerts to master, the more elusiveContinue reading “REVERSED EFFORT AND THE KEY TO MASTERY”
Protective Arts 