Mind the Gap

When I first saw this picture on the website: onlineaikido.com, I thought cool!


It reminded me of my travels to London and traveling via the Tube. It then made me think of this concept more generally as it relates to my Aikido training and life in general.

Wikipedia notes "Mind the Gap" is a warning to train passengers of the sometimes significant gap between the train door and the station platform. It was introduced in 1969 by the London Underground rapid transit system.

Some platforms on the Underground curve. Since the cars are straight, the distance from the platform to the car at certain points is greater and "mind the gap" is painted in capitals along the edge of such platforms. A recorded announcement is played when a train arrives, "mind the gap" repeated several times followed by "stand clear of the doors, please," and then "this train is now ready to depart."’

So you ask, how does this fit into my Aikido training…well, think about where you have potential gaps:

• In stretching your hand and wrist during 2nd Control warm-ups


• or controlling the wrist or elbow during Front Strike 1st Control Pin #1
  

If a gap exists:

• Is there greater or less control in your technique? What happens if you increase or decrease the gap between you and your partner?


• Are there any others that you can think of?

Do you experience gaps in any other areas of your life? If so, how are you addressing them or what actions are researching or taking to make your life the one you want?

Charles Bukowski wrote "What matters most is how well you walk through the fire."

'Leave Your Ego at the Door'

One of the wonderful things about training in Aikido is the opportunity to share the art with others. Recently the Dan Shumaker of the St. Paul Community Reporter paper wrote an article on the Dojo called 'Leave Your Ego at the Door.'

The idea of the Training Scholarship is wonderfully described by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, when he writes:

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime."

What will you "leave behind" as your legacy?

Convergence-Con 2009 demo

On Sunday, July 5, the Shuharikan performed a demo at the 2009 Convergence-Con in Bloomington. The event is held as an annual convention attracting fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy and attracts between 2,500 and 3,000+.

Mark-sensei coordinated the event and acted as emcee. A job well done! Maggie, Gil, Jeff, Andy, Mary Beth, Angie, Louie and I participated. Some of the high-lights included a first: "Beer-waza" by Jeff, Gill and Mark. Self-defense was lead by Maggie-sensei and we also did buki (bokken, jo and tanto). Last was the Jiyu-waza or free-style techniques. Mark-sensei then held a great Q&A session with a lot of insightful questions raised from the audience. The audience was estimated to be between 100 to 150 people! As soon as the photos are available, I will add them to a future post.

Greetings from St. Paul!

Greetings from St. Paul, Minnesota, USA! This blog: Aikido in St. Paul, will be a place to collect and share my explorations, revelations and learnings in the art of Aikido. It will be my personal journal and place to organize my thoughts. I started training in Yoshinkan Aikido in February 1990. The dojo where I train and teach is the Shuharikan: www.shuharikan.org.