Woodling_A Day in the Life of an Aikidoist.

Aikido is a traditional Japanese martial art (Budo) and means the way of the spirit of harmony.  It not only embodies the physical practices of martial discipline & techniques, but it also seeks to unify us in body, heart, moral, mind & spirit. The aim of Aikido is technical excellence, but perhaps as importantly – excellence of the human spirit & character.  Aikido helps to bring balance to the demands of modern life and seeks to balance the ego.  Training includes taijutsu (open-handed techniques), weapons training & breath-practice.

Morihei Ueshiba, now called O-Sensei ("Great Teacher"), founded the martial art known today as aikido.  He said, "Budo (the Martial Way) is not felling the opponent by our force; nor is it a tool to lead the world into destruction with arms. True Budo is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, and cultivate all things in nature."

I want to show various aspects of training and hope to give a sense of the harmony in practice, in both the physical sense as well as the mental, emotional, and spiritual one.  I plan to incorporate aspects of Zen, particularly the rock garden and circle painting, to convey this feeling of harmony.  I will include a photo of the kanji hanging in my dojo done by my former teacher.  My hand drawing may be a circle painting (we'll see!)