The Art of Continuous Renewal
Author: Vernon Loo
Open Mind
Friday, Nov. 27, 2020
C. Curtis
Hello, everyone, I hope everyone is fine. Onegaishimasu. I’m happy to see you all.
I’m going to begin by reading Shokushu #10, “The Principle of Non-Dissension.”
“There is no conflict in the absolute universe. Conflict arises only in the relative world. If we are
to lead others, we must unify mind and body and practice the principles of the universe. Do not
say that this is a world of survival of the fittest, where the stronger prey upon the weaker. The
true way to peace is exactly the same as the principle of non-dissension.”
Tonight is our eighth saying from Tohei Sensei:
“You can accept anything if you open your mind.”
Isn’t it interesting that people think of Aikido as a self-defense martial art, and yet if we are
defensive in even the smallest way, it doesn’t work. Think about it. You know, when someone
comes to attack us, it doesn’t matter what their intention is. They’re making an action toward
us, maybe to grab us or to kick us or to hit us or something like this. And in Aikido, we have to
join with them. Right? And we have to open ourselves to them in order to be able to join with
them. And through this opening, this unification, we become one with them. And then the
action is resolved without any harm coming to them or to us. That’s like Aikido in a nutshell,
right?
So that’s what Tohei Sensei means by, “we have to be able to open our mind in order to accept
anything.” And if we can open our mind, we can accept everything, no matter what. Again, it
doesn’t mean that we pretend to ourselves that the person that’s taking this action against us,
whether it’s verbal, or emotional, or physical, doesn’t have any negative intention. They may be
obsessed with some sort of negativity, but that doesn’t matter. In fact, they probably do have
something like that, if in fact we’re going to have to do Aikido with them. That’s not the issue,
and if we see that then we don’t need to be negatively affected.
And of let’s remember that kind of attack very rarely happens on a physical level. But the
principle, whether it be emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, happens every day, doesn’t
it? Someone says something and we see they have some intent here. And if we’re practicing
Aikido, then when we notice this, that’s when we open ourselves.
Tohei Sensei always talked about everything anyone throws at us goes into the “magic pot” of
our One Point. Suzuki Sensei always talked about “tsuki ganai shisei”, which means “a posture
of no opening.” And isn’t it interesting here again, that in order to have a posture of no
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opening, we have to be completely open, ourselves. If we have even a little bit of defensiveness
we hide behind, or a little bit of defending ourselves against this person, that defensiveness of
ours is a button that our opponent can push to make us lose our stability, to make us weak. This
is why I read about the spirit of non-dissension today, and why it’s so important to us.
Do we understand this? You know, often people say to me, “Does this mean that I have to just
lay down and take it?” No, no. Don’t forget Tohei Sensei taught us the three ways that human
beings respond to a challenge in their lives. In every situation, whenever we’re challenged,
Option A, Option B, or Option C occurs. As we have covered so often, Option A is defending
yourself, or fighting back, sticking up for yourself. But unfortunately that doesn’t come from
strength, but from fear. Trying to show strength is showing weakness. When we actually have
strength, we never need to show it.
Option B is really just collapsing, allowing whatever to happen, and praying that someone will
take care of the problem for us. Of course, that won’t work either.
Option C is non- dissension. This is standing up directly in the face of difficulty, standing up in
the face of someone that is negative, standing up in the face of adversity and becoming one
with it. Becoming so vulnerable that we can embrace and include the other person. We call this
“osairu.” Osairu means “to embrace” or “to include.” Literally it means “to cover” but in Aikido
we use it to mean embracing or including.
No matter how nasty that which is dark is, we transform it by turning the light of awareness on
it. This is the awareness that every single thing that takes place in this world I can use for my
benefit. I am the center of the universe as are you. So that means that everything that happens
in our world happens to benefit us. No matter how vile it may seem at the time, no matter how
tragic, no matter how negative, everything naturally fits us perfectly.
So learning to listen means learning to be open, to open our mind, and then we can accept
everything. Maybe you remember, I taught you the four principles of practice. Number one is
“show up,” we have to be present, not just physically showing up, but then waking up. Number
two is “opening.” We open our mind. And number three, we “follow.” We follow whatever is
happening. And in the end, finally, the resolution. Number four is to “accept.” We accept
whatever the resolution is, we accept whatever the result. Of course, that may very well be not
what we were wishing for or looking for. Because we’re always wishing for and looking for
something that our small mind thinks will benefit us. Quite often, what we need is something
outside of that category. So the result of this practice may not always appear to be as beneficial
as it may be, if we can accept it. We want to invite whatever it is into our life, this whole
business of being vulnerable, open, and accepting, this is Aikido. And this is the strong person.
This is the fearless person. This is what takes courage.
This is difficult, because even though we all may know this principle of non-dissension, this is
definitely not commonly known or practiced in this world. That’s not what’s happening out
there, is it? Everybody feels they must protect themselves, as if this life is survival of the fittest.
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And we each of us have that in us, folks. So we have to really notice when it’s arising, when it’s
coming up.
(15 minutes discussion groups)
Student: Everybody in our group told stories about daily life, basically where they could have
been challenged but managed to deal with situations, and sometimes not. But I have a question.
You mentioned in Aikido we train to deal with negative energy. Yeah, I know you didn’t frame it
like this. But it’s this idea that when we do Ki Aikido in the proper way, in the dojo, we see that
the opponent is not trying to harm us, and we are both Keeping One Point. The opponent wants
to help me to learn the art. And then he gives me some line of attack. And I have learned to
move with this Ki movement. So there’s no negativity that I have to deal with, unless I perceive it
as such. So for me, the actual Aikido training is outside of the dojo, where the same energy
patterns happen, but with actual negativity. So I use my training outside of the dojo to deal with
higher energy versus negativities. People want to hurt me or something like this. So I learn the
patterns in the dojo, and then I have to be ready to use those outside.
Thank you. This is a something that’s very important. When we’re practicing in the dojo, of
course, the person that is attacking us doesn’t actually want to hurt us. And so he’s not negative
in the sense that he wants to cause us harm. Yes. It’s a little bit like, in the dojo, we use a
wooden knife, we don’t use a steel blade that is razor sharp, because we’re practicing and don’t
want to hurt each other. And we always say, “See that wooden knife as if it’s steel, so that
when you see the steel knife you can see it as if it’s wood.” This is similar to what you’re
describing. When we see a person who is attacking us in the dojo, we know he doesn’t mean to
hurt us. But in order to learn, we must look at him as if he’s serious. In fact, so much so that as
Shinichi Sensei is really insisting more and more lately, when you attack you better attack with
full force. Because otherwise, we begin to think life is like the energy in the dojo, not really so
severe. So, it has to be a full attack.
I do want to add one thing regarding when we are in daily life. Generally speaking, nobody’s
trying to physically harm us. It might happen once in a while, but for most of us, it’s pretty rare.
But as I was saying earlier, what does happen to us quite often, in some way, is to be verbally or
emotionally attacked. People do this. And yes, they may have some negative energy involved
that you will notice. But because we’re used to practicing with a full-on energy attack in the
dojo, we know how to deal with the energy outside the dojo, and we don’t have to worry about
it being negative.
Of course, this is where Meditation comes in, and Ki Breathing. When we do a lot of meditation,
we learn to give our full attention to the moment. And when we’re fully in attention, we
become very calm. A number of you have told me stories about things that happened in your
lives. When you were with someone, even several people at once, who had a negative intention
to harm you. Particularly several women have told me about this and how, by becoming just
very steady and very calm and facing these people directly, they were able to neutralize the
entire situation. You know, no one who wants to take advantage of someone else in some way
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is going to pick the one who is standing up and looking at them right in the eye, fearlessly. In
fact, they conducted a study in a prison a number of years ago. They took films of women
walking, and they asked the inmates, “Which one would you attack?” And the inmates all
picked people that were walking with their heads down with a kind of sloppy posture, but not
the ones that were striding along, looking straight forward. So even the “experts” know, they
understand.
You know, I would say that people in daily life are much easier to deal with than people in the
dojo, who really know how to attack. Okay, thank you very much.
Student: Our question is, when you say “accepting,” you don’t mean “taking it on”? Like, taking
on someone’s negative energy when we’re in a defensive mode to where it affects us negatively.
When I talk about accepting something, that’s the fourth of the four principles of practice.
What that means to me is that whatever kind of situation I’m in, I want to remember that
whatever it is, it’s there to benefit me. It’s there in my favor. It’s never they’re not in my favor.
It’s never there not to benefit me. That’s not how this works. Thinking that way would be very
ignorant, since it would lead to creating conflict. I would be judging something to be one way or
the other. But can we afford such a luxury, such self-indulgence as to be judging, and thinking
we’re knowledgeable enough, awakened enough? No, that is just feeding fear and doubt.
I have to treat every situation with the same seriousness, the same respect. And if I’m going to
practice what I preach then I have to be vulnerable, open, willing. I have to be a participant, not
an avoider, not a judge. We are not hiding, not running away, not protecting, but ready for
anything and willing to be here for everybody.
We have to practice all our lives for this. And even when we are perhaps very experienced, still
no one is perfect. This is a very, very difficult thing to be asking of ourselves, but it doesn’t
mean that we don’t practice it every day. You know, we have 24 hours each day. Maybe we
only spent two or three hours doing Aikido, inside or outside the dojo. So we must remember
to pay attention all the time with the same kind of openness. Okay, thank you.
Student: Hello, Hi, everybody. The general consensus of the group was that as we’re living and
practicing, you know, we realized that this takes time and effort, this is not something that, oh,
all of a sudden, we’re just open. This requires daily practice. And this is what we are all working
towards. It was a wonderful discussion.
Student: At some stage the topic in our discussion was how to deal with daily life type of
situation when it comes to emotion and psychological situations. One possibility is the
professional setups, when you have people exercising power, and then the question is how to
deal with that unfairness? There is this professional context where we have to accept and open
up to situations that are driven by things that are not necessarily acceptable from a fairness
point of view. And then the question was, yes, the Aikido practice can be of help. staying calm,
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being open, embracing the situation is very important, but life can still remain challenging on
occasion. So should we not have a discussion around this topic, the professional context?
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. This is obviously very complex. And when I talk about this the way I do,
it might seem like we are overly simplifying things, or making a very complex thing very simple.
The principle itself, principle of non-dissension, is very simple. But in action, for instance as you
suggest in a business context, in a meeting where people may be less than genuine and
exercising some sort of power and control. You know, the actual techniques that we might use
for this kind of thing, maybe we don’t always teach those techniques in the dojo, like we show
how to move in your kokyunage, how to become one with to neutralize, to unify with that kind
of energy.
However, in human relations, where we don’t have movement, we use questions. Instead of
making statements, we ask questions, we try to get to know the person’s state of mind. We
want to get to know their intention very well. And while we’re noticing that, we do that without
judging, because we want to remain truly vulnerable, questioning, not deciding.
So that that is a technique that, if you’re a successful business person, you already know and
practice. The more mature we become, the more we can maintain mind body unification and a
sense of calmness, which, please remember, only comes about by listening, by paying
attention. Right? So when we have that kind of state of mind, and we’re practicing it all the
time, then we can pretty much find an opportunity to neutralize, to resolve and join with
opposition in any situation.
Student: I’ll summarize a bit and then I’ll say something that has come up in your answers to
the to these previous questions. For instance, someone talked about how we’re raised to know
what is good and what is bad, you know, these kind of basic values. So, can we accept
something that we know is bad or wrong? So that came up in this discussion. And then another
point was that, maybe before we trained Aikido, we had kind of pattern of competitiveness in
life. And then with Aikido, we start to break out of that pattern. But then we become very
attuned to seeing that pattern in everyone else outside of us. Also, you mentioned something
before that strikes me now. It had to do with the fact that we don’t have to accept something
negative. Right? I mean, in other words, we accept, but it doesn’t mean we are accepting
something negative.
Oh, absolutely.
Student: Yeah. And so I was wondering if you could just say something more in that regard.
Okay, so, shopping in the grocery store: I don’t know if you have had to look for a ripe avocado
lately. If so, you might notice that everybody has gone in and tested them to see if they’re ripe
or not. Okay.? So you have to be quite attentive to this, and maybe even experienced is what
I’m suggesting, in order to choose the correct avocado, one that is not already mashed. And
you have to be able to do this without touching. Otherwise you are only adding to the problem.
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So, in this case, those mushy ones are negative. Those are the avocados that you don’t want to
receive, okay? So you leave those behind.
Of course, there are sometimes when you’re not able to avoid a confrontation, you’re not able
to avoid dealing with some situation. And in that situation, if you’re fearful of receiving
something negative, that’s a misunderstanding and it’s not going to work. You know, if I made a
mistake and took home one of those mushy avocados, I’d just have to make guacamole that
night. That’s all. You see?
So in this sense, rejecting is the opposite of excepting. And by “accept,” I’m saying that we have
to deal with whatever we’re given. And if we get caught up in how wrong it is, that’s a fearbased
way of living. And that will lead to avoidance that will even either lead to Option A,
fighting, or Option B, you will collapse in the face of it. But you will not be doing Aikido. So
finding out the key to what allows us to be willing to be a part of whatever confronts us. within
us, this is what we call noticing. The process of our practice is noticing what motivates us to do
what we do. And you notice that by seeing it come up again and again and again. And at some
point, we say to ourselves, “Oh, that’s what I’m doing!”
Thank you.
Student: We didn’t really have a question. We just talked about training, whether it be a
conflict between someone that you are working with, or someone in your family who takes a
position that you can’t agree with, or just being in the grocery line and having a moment when
somebody gets in front of you. And we just realized, you know, we really think that it’s great to
think about just showing up, opening up, following, and accepting the result. I don’t really know
what else to say, you know, we just talked about how we realize that we need to train more and
learn to be accepting and be present.
Thank you very much. Yes, the more you train, the more years you spend hanging out with
teachers and other Aikidoka who are serious about training and serious about their own
development, the more you hear things like the four principles of practice, the easier it will
become.
When I’m with a group of you like this, my responsibility is to give some kind of a presentation
and present this way of non-dissension in some way. I try to just get to the kernel of what it is
that we need to work on. Nobody’s saying that they’re perfect at this. We’re all practicing
together, something that is incredibly difficult. And we’re faced with it in our lives all day, every
day. But let me just say how fortunate we all are to be able to get together like this and discuss
this most difficult subject. This Aikido has very well saved my life, and I think probably yours
too. And if it hasn’t yet, I promise you it will, if you allow it to. I don’t mean “saved my life” in
the way that somebody would have killed me, but instead I fancifully threw them on the
ground. I don’t mean that at all. I mean it saved my life because it changed the way I see the
world. That’s what changes our life. That’s what saves us from our self. So let’s just be grateful
for that.
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Alright, so thank you very much. I love you all. I’m glad to see you and I hope to see you Sunday
morning. Bye bye.
2 New Locations
Every Monday at Halawa District Gym 2nd floor at 5:30pm-6:30pm
99-795 Iwaiwa St, Aiea, HI 96701
Every Saturday at JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER OF HAWAI’I, ground floor at 2pm-4pm
2454 S Beretania St, Honolulu, HI 96826
Passing of Naluai Sensei
Dear Lokahi Members,
It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of the passing of Clayton Naluai Sensei.
So many people have been touched by this wonderful man. I was far from a perfect student in my relationship with Naluai Sensei. Nevertheless, I truly came to understand and love him in recent years.
We can only hope to share with others the love that he shared with us. Sensei, you are forever in our hearts!
Charles Boyer
Ki not flowing properly
Clay,
Thanks for taking the time to talk the other day. I will try to outline everything I remember and practiced, and what’s happening now.
As I remember the main parts of your teachings from the early 80’s.
The four principals of Ki:
Two physical: relax, & weight underside.
Two metaphysical: one point, & extend Ki.
If you do one you do all.
Relaxing never quite worked for me. But the weight underside or one point allowed me to extend Ki almost immediately – which I could absolutely feel the flow of. Extend Ki was the easiest and quickest for me to do.
Weight underside: I used this to relax, and get Ki flowing. An example I remember most was putting on a demonstration at my gym in Guam in the later 80’s, of holding back 5 guys (pushing on each other’s backs – like you had demonstrated years earlier) that were trying to push me backwards. When my weight underside was at its strongest, I felt as though my feet were buried deep into the ground – but I could still move them at will. I also extended stronger Ki and held them back with just the little finger of my right hand (on his forearm). Then I went more weight underside and stood on only one foot. At the very end I extended stronger Ki and started to push them backwards, but I felt too much pressure on my little finger and decided not to try any more. I though later it would have worked if I had just used my whole hand on the lead guy’s forearm.
I also used weight underside with my golf swing, and got my USGA handicap down to a 9, and my club handicap down to a 6. I was playing quite often at that time. This was just before I moved back to Guam the second time in 1982. It was working well and my handicap was dropping fast, but when I moved back to Guam I wasn’t able to play golf very much, and I never recovered my game (mostly because of lower back problems).
Extending Ki: You first asked me to imagine water flowing through my arms and out my fingertips like water through a fire hose. Later I used this imaging to flow Ki to all my extremities including out the top of my head. And later, I was able to extend Ki to areas of my body that needed healing – mostly my lower back. When I extended Ki out of the top of my head (mostly while meditating) it apparently could be seen as an aura by other meditators. I would see them looking at it long after meditation was over. (Ki, or Chi, or Prana – as it is called by practitioners of Yoga.) I originally started directing Ki out of the top of my head, after spending time on activating the other six chakras.
The most vivid example of extending Ki was in the middle 80’s when a group of us climbed the tallest mountain in Micronesia – kind of on a dare. Which is on Pohnpei and gets rainfall 300 days a year. Needless to say it is slippery. That 4 hour climb up and 4 hours back ended up being the cause of me starting to start working-out again. Anyhow I have photo of me with everybody at the top and I was as white as a sheet – I was so out of shape, and later realized I was also very allergic to mold. On the way down I was really running out of energy fast and would have had trouble finishing the hike on my own had I not been able to extend Ki. I remember being dead tired and having to sit down every 20 minutes or so to recover. By extending Ki once I sat down and relaxed, I would recover completely in about one or two minutes. My personal guide and I had dropped behind the others: I told them to go on so I wouldn’t hold them up. I remember my guide saying he had never seen anybody recover as fast as I did. Anyhow once the really steep part of the descent was over we caught up to everyone, and once out of the rain forest I slowly got my overall energy back (no more mold I guess). So, I have been very much able to gage the flow of Ki through my body by feeling it and directing it.
Another example of extending Ki, but much later – maybe in the middle 90’s, I had been doing mantra and Ki meditation together, or starting with one and finishing with the other. So both were very strong. I felt I had a very strong connection with the Universal Life Force (whom I choose to call God). This is quite an accomplishment for someone that was previously an agnostic with atheistic tendencies.
I have a herniated disk in my back at L4-L5, that have caused me back pain and occasional spasms since the middle 60’s. In the middle 80’s on Guam, I had sciatica for about 6 months – and gave up golf. One day I meditated off and on almost all day and was directing Ki up my backbone. Later in the evening while directing Ki very intensely to the L4-L5 area, I felt like the disks were inflating. When I finally finished meditating, I got up without any pain or indication of any problem. The sciatica was gone and that pain free period lasted well over a year.
One more, but a rather unusual example for extending Ki, was also in the middle 90’s. I was then doing Ki meditation while out and about on business or chores. Mainly because it felt so good, mostly a deep feeling of serenity. At one point, while extending Ki out everywhere from my body, I remember meeting some friends for lunch, and feeling like I was a foot taller and wider. Two of my lunch-mates remarked about me seeming to be much larger than they remembered. As soon as I actively stopped extending Ki outward I felt I came back to normal size.
One point: When I first started Aikido with Ki your training seemed to be more oriented to one point more than the other three principals. So, that was how I started, and shortly thereafter felt that I was able to either think one point or extend Ki at will, and definitely feel the Ki flowing when I did.
While mediating using one point, I could increase the flow of Ki and direct Ki to any area of my body. It was very effective meditation, and for healing!
Once I started extending Ki I really didn’t have to pay any attention to it, it would just keep flowing for long periods of time, and then gradually subside.
I used to be able to extend Ki when dropping off to sleep and then would be extending Ki when I woke up the next morning. The feeling was gloriously serene when I woke up.
Now: It seems to take quite a while before I can get Ki flowing – sometimes 10-15 minutes, and if there is any interruption of any kind – say my mind wanders or I cough, then it stops flowing immediately and I have to start all over again. Most times I can’t get Ki flowing using one point, only by extending Ki. Unless I am very tired, I have to use weight underside for a while to be able to then use one point or (mostly) extend Ki to get Ki flowing. When I walk in the morning for 30-40 minutes, I have been trying to get Ki flowing but to no avail. When I do get a mild Ki flowing up through my backbone out the top of my head, it seems like it is blocked at L4-L5 (where I have had a herniated disk for many years) so this is where I am focusing the Ki – trying to heal it again.
Anyhow, I can now sometimes feel a mild Ki flowing through my body when I relax or do weight underside. (Thanks for telling me that Ki is flowing all the time.) But I am having a real problem starting and keeping a large directed flow of Ki moving consistently and or constantly, as I used to be able to.
As an aside: I am also having trouble doing mantra meditation, as I just can’t seem to slow down my thoughts. My mind is racing all the time.
Unfortunately for me, I substituted a relationship for meditation and prayer about 9 years ago, and now that the relationship is over, and I am left with no real solid spiritual program. It is a crappy place to be in.
So any insight you can offer would be most appreciated.
Mahalo,
John
A Spirit-Led Life
. . . When our mind and body are unified and calm, our Reiseishin manifests itself completely. Once this happens all suffering and wicked desires fall away. And the Universal Mind of love and protection for all things appears in us. Let us strive to realize Reiseishin.
~Ki Saying #17 – Koichi Tohei
. . . If you open your Heart and Mind, if you don’t let the fear of the unknown limit you, the world expands. Love your neighbor and God will love you.
~Author Unknown.
. . . The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long Suffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control. Against such there is no law. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Then we won’t need to look for honors and popularity, provoking one another, envying one another, which leads to hard feelings.
~Gal. 5:22, 23, 25, 26
Many, many, many years ago I was going through some tribulations and trials overwhelmed by but enduring what seemed to be life-changing crises immobilized in a place of darkness. Everything seemed to be falling apart. Spiritually, mentally, and emotionally I was devastated. I was a black belt, a star (some people say, A Big Star), and I was despondent. Night after night I performed with my fellow cohorts, and heard the applause of thousands of people a year. I appeared enthralling and captivating, yet that sense of emptiness kept gnawing at my insides.
Then I decided to have a talk with one of my mentors. There’s a clue. Many times we think we can work out our dark moments by ourselves. I thought that, too. This is what I found out—I need a mentor. I’ve had five mentors through the years, three of them are still living. I encourage you to find a mentor. So, I met with my mentor. After revealing and exposing the absolute truth of my story she compassionately with assertiveness, shared a simple, yet powerful, life-changing message that has stayed with me through the years and continues to and add value to my life.
She said, Clay, get out of you head. It’s full of stuff! Fear! Go to where it’s empty of fear. Go to your “Na’au”—the core of your being—where Aloha resides.
Let go of your fear.
It will destroy you.
Nurture your seed of Aloha.
It will restore you.
Auntie Alice passed on over 25 years ago, and her message lives on. So, from Auntie Alice, through me, to you. She says, “Eh, you! Get out of your head. It’s full of you know what—fear! Go to where there is no fear. Go to your Na’au—to the core of your being—where Aloha resides.
Leadership 101
The Leadership of Possibility
“….If we unify our mind and body, become one with the universe, and practice its principles, others will follow us gladly….”
~Koichi Tohei, Ki saying #10
“But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to measure up to God’s plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you.”
~2 Corinthians 10:13
“Leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.”
~author unknown
There are two common threads intertwined as one that weaves through and connects the above quotations (“others will follow us gladly…..this plan includes our working with you….leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.”) The two intertwined threads are “relationship” and “disposition”. One cannot exist without the other. They are joined at the hip. A happy disposition, a happy relationship = a leader of possibilities. A selfish disposition, an unhappy relationship = a leadership that’s doomed to crash.
Leadership is a possibility to grow and live into. It all begins with gratitude which expands to being humble versus being boastful. Humility expands to being compassionate which in turn expands to being understanding, which expands to being respectful, which expands to being willing to get off of one’s position and stand in another’s place and perform with confidence. This is leadership at its highest level.
Earlier I alluded to the disposition of being boastful—a disposition driven by a need to hold on to one’s position to survive. The need to look good or not to look bad is a need driven by fear. Fear will destroy all possibilities. Fear will destroy a leader. The need to survive adds to the momentum of a downward spiral of one’s leadership.
Love is the driving force that propels a leader from the grips of survival to upward mobility to the realm of possibilities. Love restores! A restored leader realizes out of his own evaluated experience that fear and scarcity promotes dissention between people. A restored leader calls upon people’s passions rather their fears. A restored leader empowers people to step out of their confining jackets of survival and grow into an expanding jacket of what’s possible: a life of security, success, and significance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
~Albert Einstein
Run to Win
The Value of Our Existence
“Our lives are born of the Ki of the universe. Let us give thanks for being born not as plants and animals, but as human beings blessed with a universal mind. Let us pledge to fulfill our missions by helping to guide the development and creation of the universe.”
~Koichi Tohei, Ki saying #2
“In a race everyone runs but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest you must deny yourself many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes through all the struggle just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup. But we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around. Like an athlete I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to. Otherwise, I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to step aside.”
~1 Corinthians 9:24-27
“Personal development is the belief that you are worth the effort, time, and energy needed to develop yourself.”
~Denis Waitley
One word came to mind as I read the above quotes. The word? Self-discipline.
Life is a race. Life began in a race. A race where no self-discipline was needed. A race where our animal instincts ruled. A race to survive. Think of it! We were one of millions of minute spermatozoon frantically swimming upstream as if our lives depended on it. Imagine what the race to survive looked like. Millions of little sperms swimming madly; pushing, shoving, kicking each other in order to survive long enough to fertilize one egg. There could only be one winner and you won! I won! We won! And we brought with us a strong instinct to survive. Our protective mechanism in a form of a permanent habit will show up unconsciously when needed whether our experience of fear is real or not. It is alive and well.
Now that we won and are sitting at survival, the lowest level on the totem pole, it’s time to rise up, nurture our self-discipline, take responsibility for our own personal growth and run the race to win over our fears, doubts, and unbelief. Our faith will be tested. Our courage will be challenged. There will be hurdles to clear, barriers to overcome, raging rivers to forge, and mountains to conquer. We may feel the need to push, shove, kick, even scream in anguish as we fall. The urge to quit may thunder in our mind. When this happens, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and press forward.
Then comes the time when we discover that the whole process (yes, all of it) was necessary for our own personal growth. We discover that the result of extreme irritation is a pearl. The result of extreme pressure is a diamond. At that point of discovery, we make a shift from fear, doubt, and unbelief to a spirit of gratitude, joy, love, harmony, peace and prosperity. Together we learn and grow and blossom into something magnificent—living a blessed life. A life full of possibilities!
Ki Principles In Athletics
Dear Clayton & Gloria,
I am writing to thank you both for the fascinating demonstration of Ki in increasing muscular resistance through focusing one’s mind on the task. More than that I enjoyed simply meeting, splitting a sandwich, and talking with Clayton before Gloria’s planned “demonstration” of whatever I had no inkling. I am positive that if I lived in Hawaii I would value Clayton’s friendship and learning Aikido with him.
As I told Clayton, in my youth I was National Prep School Wrestling Champion in my weight class three years running and later earned a wrestling scholarship at Syracuse University where I continued wrestling. Lately I have organized a group of former, still interested wrestling students to get exercise and refresh them on wrestling techniques I taught them 30 or so years ago when they competed.
Ever since meeting you, Clayton, and briefly experiencing the mysterious power of Ki at your demonstration, I have been wondering how in the fast moving and un-smooth, combat sport of amateur wrestling Ki could be applied. I’d be interested on your comments here.
In closing, I hope we meet again, Clayton, and that we will be able to maintain a long distance friendship and continuing conversation.
With Warmest Regards,
Sincerely,
R Chappell
Hello R,
So nice to hear from you. I, too, had a great time interacting with you before, during, and after the Ki demonstration!
Being a champion wrestler and having spent time with you, it sounds like you were and still are already practicing some of the Ki principles. As you know, and being an athlete myself, calmness is crucial. This is something I learned from my Dad.
I played football, basketball and tennis and because of the state of calmness I was in while performing at a high level I could see things clearly and had a sense of what was about to happen before it happened. Some people call it “court sense” or peripheral vision. So I was able to respond more often than react. As you know, when one “reacts” it’s often too late. I’m not talking about anticipating. I’m
talking about responding as the situation or circumstance arises.
I believe you were a champion in wrestling and now in life because you respond calmly when necessary. So this may give you an idea of how Ki principles can be applied in wrestling because “living calmness” is a Ki principle.
Aloha,
Clay
Art Of Living Calmness
The Art Of Living Calmness
Like the eye of a typhoon
which is always peaceful
Inner calm results in great strength of action.
Ki Saying by Koichi Tohei
Founder of Ki Society H.Q.
They say, calmness is power.
We, who have experienced it say,
“Living Calmness” is Power! Dynamic! Life changing!
Living calmness is available to everyone.
It is our original and natural state. We are endowed with the gift of living calmness.
It is a state of being filled with hope, passion and infinite possibilities.
With that gift comes responsibility to learn it……
to nurture it…….
to live it………
to share it.
I would be remiss and irresponsible
if I didn’t address the other side of the coin – Dead Calmness.
Dead calmness is powerless, lifeless, immobile.
It’s like a ship that sits dead in the water.
Ship, crew and passengers are at the mercy of the elements. the wind …..the rain ….. the seas.
Their fate is controlled by situations and circumstances outside of themselves.
Dead calmness is driven by fear…. Fear that is learned and nurtured.
Dead calmness leads to a life of “quiet desperation”.
Living calmness and dead calmness are both possible. It is all a matter of choice.
Here are a few real life practical examples of the choices we sometimes make and
the differences between dead calmness and living calmness.
Dead calmness Living calmness
I’ll do it tomorrow I’ll do it now
Blames others Takes responsibility
Gives up often Perseveres
Talks the talk Walks the talk
Plays it safe Takes risks
Stops learning Growth is paramount
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our life and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
It is my hope that you choose living calmness. It is only a decision away.
To learn more and to explore and experience the power of living calmness, please join us to try out one of our classes or call us at 808- 372-7724