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I hope You are well and having a successful day... here is your latest Harmony of Mind-Body-Spirit Newsletter from the Aikido Health Centre.

Your Unique Journey continues with 'Ukemi Lessons in Daily Life' - moving your training from the Aikido mat into your daily life - see below...

Read on... for our Words of Wisdom, World Community News, and Feature Article. The back issues & unsubscribe links are at the end of the Ezine.

Next month's article is titled 'Aikido Harmony and Balance' where we focus on the true essence of this amazing martial art - Stay Tuned!

Peace and Harmony

Tony

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Nestled in the foothills of Pai in the North of Thailand, a collective of Western, Thai and Hill Tribe people have built a close knit community, living in harmony with the Earth. Here, the Good Life Family grow a very special plant, Jiaogulan.

‘Poor Man’s Ginseng’ – just one of its many names – is a hardy herbaceous vine, which actually belongs to the cucumber or gourd family. Indigenous to the southern reaches of China, it is best known as a herbal medicine, reputed to have powerful antioxidant and adaptogenic effects.

In the Guizo province in southern China, most residents live to over one hundred years old. The region shares healthy and ‘natural living’ customs with neighbouring areas, yet no other place enjoys the same remarkable long life. In the 70s the Chinese government wanted to know why and sent a full team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences to investigate.

The only factors, they discovered, that made these long-lifers different to their neighbours, was that they regularly consumed a tea made from a local wild vine. The clue to their health was in the name; the people of Guizo called it Xiancao – ‘the herb of immortality’.

They have been drinking it for many generations as a general elixir but also to boost their energy levels, combat fatigue, reduce stress, treat colds and infectious diseases. Modern research can now support most of these claims, finding it to be effective in treating a range of problems, including diabetes, hepatitis B, insomnia, chronic bronchitis and some forms of cancer. An immuno-stimulant, it protects the liver, lowers ‘bad’ cholesterol, maintains cardiac function, helps create white blood cells and modulates blood pressure.

Project Good Life is a collective of health conscious individuals. They work hand in hand with the Lisu Hill Tribe to grow and prepare the product. A large part of the proceeds go back into the community and its economy. This allows the farmers and residents to be less dependent on illegal crops, provide vital employment to an otherwise struggling indigenous community and maintain a Karmically positive endeavour that benefits both the workers and consumers alike.

In their wellness centre in Pai, they drink Jiaogulan tea everyday, impressed with the energy, clarity and wellbeing it brings into their lives. Readers can purchase it on a one-time basis, with no further commitment or order it regularly by subscription and become a Project Good Life Affiliate... For more info visit www.projectgoodlife.com

Aikido was founded by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), who gained the skill to control many attackers at will. He was unique in his ability to express his understanding of universal principles and laws of nature. He was also a very spiritual person who spent years in study, prayer and contemplation.

This is a martial art of Peace that develops in us an acute awareness of our surrounding environment, the ability to be calm, focused, relaxed and centred. Millions of Aikido practitioners around the World experience the positive benefits of... Aikido - The Way of Harmony

In Japan Aikido is often called the “art of peace”, this is because it recommends a peaceful solution for any conflict or form of aggression.

Aikido is practiced in a dojo where students can easily learn about mental and physical flexibility, relaxation and calm. Masters and instructors of the art teach people that the Ki or energy only flows to its complete potential when the human body is completely relaxed. Ki is recognized as a very basic and yet powerful force.

Aikido focuses on flexibility and endurance rather than the development of strength and muscle power. In order to make use of the power of the Ki, this energy must be permitted to flow, and can only do so when the person is in a relaxed state.

When we are constantly in a state of fear, it is difficult to concentrate and we can be distracted easily. This fact is taught in Aikido which also insists that its students remain calm and focused in the face of an assault. By being calm you have an advantage over your aggressors because you remain focused and you can’t easily be toppled or thrown.

Other than combat and the dojo, Aikido masters also focus on the cultivation and developments of spirituality and character within Aikido students. By doing this they teach Aikido students to employ the principles of the art of Aikido in their everyday lives. By understanding Aikido properly they also gain better performance not only in the dojo but outside it as well.

In life having Aikido as an element of your daily routine promotes a certain peace and calm that helps you overcome even the toughest of all that life throws at you. Aikido teaches its students that they should be flexible and they should also adapt and remain calm at all times. These are the means with which you can be able to cope with the rigors of life.

Most Aikido practitioners relate the practice of the art of Aikido to other aspects of everyday life such as work, play and their relationships with other people. This is the purpose of Aikido in life.

Morihei Ueshiba O'Sensei combined the principles and philosophy of Buddhism and The Way of the Samurai to create modern Aikido. This art is great for personal growth, self defense, mind and body meditation, and for reaching that state of single mindedness, oneness, and enlightenment.

Aikido has a philosophy that can be applied to everyday living. Through physical training, we learn to harmonize with the energy of uke (our training partner). Flowing dynamic motions are used to 'control' uke. From here we learn to harmonize our own energy with the world around us to take control of our lives.

Although many people think of martial arts as a set of fighting techniques, Aikido was created to help its students become better human beings through practicing non-aggressive ways of dealing with conflict and stress. The name 'Aikido' literally means 'the way of harmonizing energy' because the intent is to learn how to harmonize our own personal energy with that of others and our environment.

What a person learns in aikido can be applied to life outside of class and what a person learns in life can be applied to Aikido during practice. We grow through regular practice of centering, harmonizing with people, and implementing constructive responses to difficult situations. The ultimate goal of Aikido is to develop habits allowing us to become more effective in daily life.

In our training we learn never to go against the power of our attackers, so in life we can avoid clashing with energy by being more passive when confronted by aggressive people.

If someone is intentionally argumentative and you do not respond, their aggression has nowhere to go. This calms them down to your way of thinking, where you can take control of the situation and steer it in a direction that you choose.

Professor Leslie Russek, chief instructor of North Country Aikido and a faculty member in the Physical Therapy Department, has even published an article titled "Aikido and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" (Aikido Today Magazine; June, 2004), relating the principles and practice of aikido to the concepts in Steven Covey's well-known book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Simon & Schuster, New York: 1990).

Habit 1 'Be Proactive' and take responsibility for making decisions based on your values rather than being driven by the environment, situation, or people around you. Habit 1 is at the very core of the philosophy of Aikido: we can choose a peaceful solution even if someone is attacking us.

Through training, we strive to develop the knowledge and skill to respond to conflict without resorting to more conflict. 'Budo,' the way of the warrior, actually is the way of 'stopping sword' or stopping war, contrary to popular thought. Therefore, Budo is the way of peace. In Aikido, we choose to protect ourselves without harming the attacker - to unilaterally choose peace. The belief that we are free to make this choice is at the very core of Aikido.

Habit 2 'Beginning With The End In Mind' is about pursuing that which you value. A person who does not know what he is trying to achieve can be very busy doing the wrong things. Dr. Covey describes 'Habit 2' as having your ladder leaning against the right building: you can work very hard at climbing the ladder of success but not achieve what you wanted because your ladder was leaning on the wrong building.

From a philosophical point of view, Aikido teaches that the goal of martial skill is not to destroy the attacker but to protect yourself and others. Ueshiba wrote that the goal is not to conquer the opponent but to conquer our own egos, our fears, our desire to dominate or get revenge. If our goal in Aikido is to refine our spirit, we need to train differently than if our goal is to learn how to defend ourselves on the street.

Habit 3 'Put First Things First' so we progress towards that which is most important to us. Although this sounds obvious, we often tend to follow the path of least resistance or of responding to peer pressure or expectations.

Philosophically, Aikido teaches that to choose the path of peace we must act in a manner that is consistent with that choice. We should not think or talk about peace and harmony but not act in ways that are violent and conflict- or ego-driven. We need to act in a manner that is consistent with our goals.

Habit 4 'Thinking Win/Win' is at the core of Aikido, both the philosophy and the daily practice. The whole idea of Aikido is that we do not want to be destroyed (lose/win), yet we also do not want to destroy our opponents (win/lose). We are searching for a way to respond to conflict which protects ourselves while protecting our practice partners.

Traditional aikido has no competitions for trophies or rank. Day to day practice is not a competition. Neither person should lose dignity or be endangered by the practice. One concept in aikido is that the person falling down is not the 'loser' of the interaction: this person succeeds in protecting himself and may succeed in escaping or reversing the technique. Because win/win solutions require balance, aikido helps timid people become more confident and brazen people gentler.

Habit 5 'Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood' is a key concept in both the philosophy and practice of aikido. Basic movements often involve pivoting our body to look in the direction that our partner is looking, to see the world as our partner sees it. We first blend with the attack, then change the direction. By learning to 'listen' with our whole bodies, we often can find a pathway for diffusing conflict.

Habit 6 'Synergizing' is about collaborating to make the whole more than the sum of its parts. Through cooperation, both the person doing and receiving the aikido technique learn and achieve more than either could individually. Synergy is the optimal win/win result. When trust and cooperation are absent, the interaction is defensive and one person wins and the other loses.

When there is a moderate amount of trust and cooperation, compromise and respect are present - better than defensiveness, but not yet the ideal learning environment. When both trust and cooperation are strong, synergy is present and each person accomplishes more than he or she thought possible. Aikido strives for training in which both partners feel both challenged and capable of meeting that challenge.

Habit 7 'Sharpen the Saw' is about investing time and energy to learn better ways of doing things so that we can be more effective in the future. The concept of self-improvement is also at the foundation of aikido: we never finish learning aikido, we only progress along the path.

We practice techniques over and over so that we can change the ways that we instinctively respond in difficult situations. In aikido, we constantly think about how life applies to practice and how practice applies to life; since life is filled with challenges, aikido practice is a constant exploration of how to meet those challenges. Aikido's emphasis on mutual respect fosters a supportive learning environment that helps promote self-confidence and poise, developing body, mind and spirit.

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In the coming weeks... 'Aikido Ukemi - Giving and Receiving Energy' We turn the spotlight on the essential ingredients for You to become a successful Uke - a receiver of energy and technique.

Subjects include... The Role of Aikido Uke, The Role of Aikido Nage, Removing Ego from Your Aikido Training, Ukemi Lessons in Daily Life, Aikido Harmony and Balance, Summary of Ukemi - Giving and Receiving.

Coming soon... The Ultimate Aikido Success Blueprint' We will be focusing on the BEST ways for You to fast-track your Aikido skills towards self-mastery. You will learn how to achieve Your peak performance levels. Positive and Negative Energy, Tune in to Ki Universal Energy,

'Harmony of Mind-Body-Spirit' is a KEY to your success. Learn how to tap into your inner powers and experience incredible levels of Energy and Health. Knowledge is Power! Visit www.aikido-health.com to subscribe.

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Peace & Harmony

Tony Wilden - Aikido Instructor/Healer
Aikido Health Centre
Harmony Ezine & Ebooks
Arun Aikido Club 1992-2007
www.aikido-health.com/index

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Tony Wilden is an Aikido Instructor and qualified in several Healing Arts.
He has a deep interest in spiritual matters, optimum health, environmental issues, and the creation of harmony between people and nature. Tony is on a path to wisdom, freedom and power and shares his insights on aikido, health, universal principles, ancient knowledge and master strategies.

The information provided in Harmony of Mind-Body-Spirit is for educational purposes and not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any dis-ease. It should not replace the advice of your health advisor or GP.