Aphorisms are not conclusions. They are stepping stones. Each must be tested in practice, hammered into the body, or abandoned. And of course, I could not resist my own commentary for each.
Tag Archives: training
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”
PRECAUTIONS FOR TRAINING
In Budo, Teachings of the Founder of Aikido (1991), O’Sensei outlined his “Precautions for Training.” This training manual was originally published (for private circulation) in 1938 when he was 55-years old. There are other translations: 1. Aikido decides life and death in a single strike, so students must carefully follow the instructor’s teaching and notContinue reading “PRECAUTIONS FOR TRAINING”
Protective Arts 