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On
Mastering Aikido [Book Review]
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Daniel
Linden Sensei (6th dan)
has given MI Magazine
one-time publication rights
to sections of his successful
book On Mastering Aikido.
Linden Sensei runs the
Shoshin Aikido Dojo in
Orlando/Florida and also
has network of cooperating
dojos in Germany. Shoshin
Aikido is a member of
the Aikido School of Ueshiba
(ASU), which as an international
federation, has over 100
dojos worldwide.
Linden
Sensei has over 35 years
experience in Aikido and
in this book he discusses
Ki, center, spirituality,
and technique to name
just a few. This book
is very readable and its
dialog style is a great
way to get the message
across in a understanding
way, enjoy...
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This
month we have
the pleasure of introducing the fantastic
book "On mastering Aikido" by Daniel
Linden, with permission to show MI Magazine
readers Chapter 5. MI Magazine will be exclusively
presenting Chapter 5 of this fantastic book
in 2 Parts. |
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| On
Spirituality (Chapter
5) Part 1 |
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| Dennis
Hooker sat playing an old Gibson 5 string
banjo. He was playing in the style known as
"claw hammer", an ancient form that
came long before the current blue grass style.
His timing is a bit skewed. His syncopation
not that of a young fire brand, but he has
a simple magic that catches the eye of the
crowd and makes the kid's faces light up like
a roman candle. He is happy. Dennis has found
the contentment that is shared by so many
people who play instruments and make music,
not for the big crowds and nightclub groupies,
but for themselves. Like a kind of backwoods
Kotodama with the sounds echoing off the underside
of the leaves and the soft evening breeze…people
join in. A guitar materializes, soon a mandolin,
then a tambourine.
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| He
sips a glass of wine. No more beer for this
veteran of the bar wars. He is content to
taste in the wine the subtle hint of eucalyptus
and currants and ripe plums. Like everything
in his life, his palate has matured. He rises
more slowly, falls less often and has an easy
grace that others admire, but rarely understand.
He is a Shihan. He is also an Aikido Master.
The two are not always synonymous, but in
his case it is a fact. |
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| He
is my friend. He is someone I trust completely.
What more can you say? |
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| We
are celebrating the tenth anniversary of Shoshin
Aikido Dojo. A huge crowd came and moved around
us as we sang songs and celebrated the day.
Ten years. Think of it. Dennis had been there
ten years before when the storm of the century
had blown and broken trees and sent outbuildings
crashing and bashing their way across the
open ground. He had stopped over to see how
I had made it through. I was standing in the
crushed and shambled remains behind my house,
staring at the devastation when he said, "If
you build it, they will come." |
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I
said, "That's a line from a movie."
Dennis said, "It doesn't make it untrue."
"I guess not."
"What do you need?"
"Some stakes, some string, a one hundred
foot rule."
"Got ' em?"
"Yeah. I guess so."
"Go get 'em."
So I did. |
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| He
had known what I was thinking about as only
a close friend could. We started out looking
for the best lay without taking out any more
trees. We were also concerned with the sight
line of the house, but eventually settled
on how we could put the dojo up without taking
any more trees than necessary. I already knew
that I would call it Shoshin Aikido Dojo.
We drove stakes, set up batter boards and
then drew string and started measuring. After
a while I realized it was hopeless and decided
to have someone come over who had actually
built a building before. We did leave the
stakes, batter boards and strings in place.
When I finally built the dojo I ended up using
three of the four spots that Dennis and I
had surveyed for the corners. I had to move
one for the sake of having a square building.
I had never built a building before and it
was a good thing no one came along and told
me how hard it was going to be, because I
probably would have quit right then. |
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| Ten
years later we are still playing together,
doing Aikido together at Saotome Sensei's
Shihan Training, and occasionally fishing
together. We wish we could fish more, but
when you get old it seems harder to get out.
It's too cold, hot, rainy, dry, muggy, foggy,
far, near, deep or shallow. Sort of like life. |
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| Hooker
"Linden, do you ever get to hunt
quail anymore?" |
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| Linden
"No, I had all kinds of plans to buy
and establish coveys all over these different
hunt camps and maybe even in some public lands.
I'd only tell the landowners and keep the
location of the coveys to myself, but they
always disappeared. How are you supposed to
have bird dogs without having birds?" |
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| Hooker
I keep wondering that myself." |
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| Linden
"The truth is, I just don't have the
time or energy to plant cover and go out and
seed areas, then get someone to clear cut
and burn and then do it all over again. Let
alone actually buy birds and go out and establish
coveys. Man, when you get done doing all that
and then factor the price of quail dinner…
Well, I don't know." |
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Hooker
"Makes a three dollar chicken taste awful
good, don't it? The only reason I care any
more is for Dooley. He's a born and bred fine
bird dog like your two. I wish I could get
him some time in the field and let him just
run and run and exercise his true nature.
I think it must be hell not to do the things
you're born to do."
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| Linden
"Like us?" |
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| Hooker
"I'm not sure what we were put
here to do, but it probably wasn't to
sit in an office all day and scrape
and hustle to get a few things that
we don't need and aren't sure why we
would want in the first place. I can
sit in the back yard and play my banjo
and sip a glass of merlot and be as
happy as a man has a right to be." |
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| Linden
"Well, you do need a banjo, don't you?
And you need something that will allow you
to get one and then…" |
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| Hooker
"My favorite banjo is homemade." |
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| Linden
"Okay. My favorite guitar cost
sixteen hundred dollars back when you
could buy a new car for three thousand.
But I know what you mean. I have far
more fun and get far more satisfaction
from playing guitar with my friends
than I ever did playing before a sell-out
crowd on the coffee house circuit or
a full bar. That was just for money
and fame. When I play with you and kane
and cliff, I play for myself. Kind of
like what you're doing this year over
at Shindai. Taking a year to do what
you want. How's that going?" |
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| Hooker
"Great! I'm happy." |
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| Linden
"You know, Dennis, I can't
think of two people who are more diametrically
opposed in their opinions of the spiritual
side of Aikido than you and me. I wonder
if you would mind telling me how you
got so wrapped up in the breathing and
meditation techniques you use?" |
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| Hooker
"I thank Saotome Sensei for that.
You see, I had been diagnosed with Myasthemia
Gravis while in the army and had been
up and down with it for years. It seemed
to get worse and then better, but each
time I experienced an episode it cost
me more and more than I could bear.
Saotome Sensei helped me develop a program
based on breathing that eventually allowed
me to live a normal life. Or what passes
as one." |
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| Linden
"I understand the cycle of breathing
that we normally relate to Aikido. I
have, over the last few years, made
some serious modifications to it based
on experiments in human performance
that have been conducted by sports and
exercise physiologists. Breathing is
very important. I am not sure that it
is relevant to a conversation about
spirituality, however." |
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| Hooker
"You think not? Listen, Dan,
there have been times that I've been
subject to what other people would classify
as religious experiences while breathing.
This is my truth. You might think that
it's nonsense, but a person can't deny
knowledge." |
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| Linden
"If you say it's so, I have
to accept your belief in it. At least
I have to accept that you believe it.
There have been things that I have experienced
that some people describe as mystical.
I don't. I have experienced phenomena
that others only dream about. I don't
deny experiencing these phenomena; I
Just don't interpret them as transcendental
or mystical moment." |
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| Hooker
"That's something that only
you can deal with for yourself. I have
my own experience. For example, when
I breathe I am bond by the mokoto no
kokyu to the universe. This true breath
is an echo of the expansion and contraction
of all existence. I understand that
the true breath not only refers to the
pulse of the universe. We are all bound
to this just like the tides are bound
to the pull of the moon and the seasons
to the turn of the earth around the
sun. When I breathe all existence begins
to shake and my mind and heart open
to new vistas, feelings and experiences.
Dan, I know that you are in tune with
this. I've trained with you for thirty
years and know your heart. |
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| Linden
"I am in tune with the earth,
Dennis, but not because of oxygen intoxication.
I am in tune with the tides because
I lived by them for so long and feel
the pulse of the sea even when I am
not near it. I am in tune with the seasons
because I have bound myself to the earth
through hunting, pottery, gardening,
and growing and nurturing the place
where I live. I am bound to the seasons
because I practice Aikido out of doors
every day of the year. I love the weather,
stare for hours at clouds and can sense
an approaching front before the dogs
can. |
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| Hooker
"Can't you see that all of these
good things in your life are the result
of your thirty plus years of Aikido
and Aikido breathing? You started doing
it when you were really just a kid.
You've been doing it so long you can't
distinguish between mokoto no kokyu
and what passes for normal breathing
in some not as trained as you." |
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| Linden
"I think the same can be said of
you." |
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| Hooker
"But the difference is that
I train this continuously and intentionally.
I need power, the power of ki, tangible.
I need it just to breathe sometimes.
I need it to tie my shoes and walk.
M.G. has taken away so much of my ability
to function normally that without the
internal force of this higher power
I could not even exist as I do. Over
years I learned to live in harmony with
myself, to quit battling every moment.
I learned to accept the limitations
of my body. My body learned to accept
the limitations of my mind. Once I recognized
all this conflict in myself I was able
to unite my mind and body to work for
the mutual benefit of my entire being." |
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| Linden
"You know, Dennis, I'm sorry,
but I've never gotten that. I have never
been able to see myself or anyone else
as anything but completely unified as
inseparable body, soul and spirit. I
just can't seem to accept the idea that
you can have any of the three not totally
integrated and bound inexorably to the
others. Even to the extent that speaking
of one or another of the three by itself
is not possible. I'm not sure how they
attempt by early religions to control
the actions of their members by promising
rewards in heaven for the spirit that
the church could not offer to the body
on earth. You separate consciousness
from the physical body - which you can't
rationally do - and then you have eternal
carrots. The flock just goes forward
like the proverbial mule walking after
that carrot on the end of the stick.
So I don't accept any notions that there
can be conflict between the mind and
the body. |
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Hooker
"I think you are making this
a lot simpler than it is and making
assumptions that are not very well grounded.
First of all, there have been burial
practices that pre-date modern history
by tens of thousands of years. The idea
of an afterlife for the spirit is ancient.
That fact alone implies that ancient
man believed in a duality of mind and
body. And this was long before any organized
church ever bought into the notion of
the sacrament. I have a sense of that
duality and to me it is as real as any
observable fact that you might care
to examine.
Chapter 5 to be Continued...
Go
to Part 2 Of Chapter 5
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Daniel
Linden is rokudan (Aikikai) and teaches
a regular schedule At Shoshin Aikido
Dojo in Orlando Florida as well as
annual seminars in Germany and elsewhere.
He has trained for over thirty-five
years. He is author of On Mastering
Aikido (available through www.onmasteringaikido.com
or www.amazon.com
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Interview
with Student Scott Mier
by Paul Swainson |
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To
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by Bryce
Burrows |
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3
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by Ethan Weisgard |
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Is
Yoga Medicine?
by Mary
Francos |
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