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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 'Summary of Aikido Uke and Nage' Bringing all of this fascinating info together - 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 NEW Series 'The Ultimate Aikido Success Blueprint' We will be focusing on the BEST ways for You to fast-track your Aikido skills towards self-mastery. Learn how to achieve Your peak performance levels.

Peace and Harmony

Tony

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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

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 energy, and 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.

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.

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.

We took a close look at a variety of principles involved with Aikido Ukemi and Nage. This involved the giving and receiving of positive or negative energy, related to daily life and Martial Art practise.

We learnt that one of the most essential ingredients of ukemi and nage training is awareness. The ability, with experience, to respond quickly to any action.

This awareness and connection with your surrounding environment is often missing in practice and life. It is far more important to focus your attention on your training partner, than to look cool and flashy, which is ego.

Here are a few reasons why ukemi practise in Aikido is so important...

1. To stay safe, not only to avoid injury in the confrontation, but to be aware of what is going on throughout the whole encounter to be able to find and respond to openings and, perhaps, to escape.

2. To experience the throw. Part of the learning process must be to understand what the 'other' side of the encounter is - what does it feel like to be tied up in a particular technique? Also, to observe the other person's technique, particularly if nage is a senior student or teacher.

3. To learn to listen with your body. To throw well requires sensitivity to your partner. Often we are so caught up in the active role of nage that we forget to be receptive to our partner and move in a way that harmonizes with uke. By being uke we get a chance to emphasize the receptive aspects of body movement.

4. To assist your partner to learn. Being a good uke means maintaining the connection with nage, and allowing nage to experience that connection and to really experience the technique. Being a good uke allows nage to perform the technique without worrying about injuries.

5. To condition the body. Taking good ukemi requires a lot of work, to stay connected, flexible and aware.

In reality, winning and losing are two parts of the same positive and negative energy. We win, we lose... this is life itself. We can see both, not as mistakes, but as a lesson to learn more about life. There is no losing, only life lessons that develop experience and character.

On a number of levels, the martial art of Aikido can be understood as a template for life. Eventually, the harmony of the martial movements may move into the mind and into how we think. Students of Aikido may begin to start thinking and acting in a more harmonious manner.

Over time, as uke learns to attack, stay grounded, and keep their connection, it becomes easier to template that concept from the mat of Aikido to the Dojo of life. When Aikido students make this conceptual leap, they can start to be a good nage/uke in their lives and on the mat.

In Aikido we train to put the ego aside and rise above our animal mentality. We aim to be better today than we were yesterday, to improve ourselves. We don't train to try and appear better than others by putting other people down. The aim should be to escape our built-in animal instincts (lower self), and become truly human (higher self).

Competition is merely ego returning to animal behaviour, much the way animals behave when fighting over food, but we do it for attention instead. Training and living from your higher self is to cooperate and help other people for mutual benefit and advantage.

Through continuous, regular training we learn to create positive new Habits. We are then more interested in the training experience of our fellow students, always trying to help improve each others skills. This takes our training to a higher level, where we can develop fast, as there are no rocks and boulders of resistance on the path to self-discovery.

In this way we learn to self-analyse and change our own bad habits and adopt better ways of doing things. This is one of the major ways to separate animals from human beings. Bad habits can be broken and replaced with good habits, through focused practise. If we can solve the ego problem in an intelligent way we will become happier people.

Complaining about our circumstances is just an ego outlet that feeds the majority of people. You may catch yourself doing it and even attempting to justify it when you do.

Fear and ego can create jealousy, hate, inferiority complex, worry, etc. Just as love is the cure, fear is what entangles us. Love is acceptance of ourselves first and foremost, so we can reach out and love others.

How can we love others if we inwardly dislike or even hate ourselves. The root problem is fear which drags us down, as mentioned, and the solution is love. So, we must continue to watch ourselves, but not judge, so we can reflect on the choices we make in life and Aikido.

Aikido is as infinite as the vastness of space and as in-depth as the studies of human behaviour and interpersonal relationships. It includes ways for us to become better people and the potential for making the world a better place.

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.

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.

In order to create true balance and harmony, first you must establish your centre of gravity. It is about an inch below your belly button. This is the correct place to focus your physical and mental energies.

The Japanese call this the 'Hara' or 'Seika-no-itten' (one point) and it is where your powerful life energy is located.

To focus your physical energy... align your body by standing or kneeling with your spine straight, push your hips forward, shoulders back and down, breathe deeply and completely relax into this posture or form.

Then take deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. As you breathe in, tense your muscles, as you breathe out, completely relax down and release all of your tension. After doing this several times, tension and stress will leave your body and you can continue with your deep breathing while staying fully relaxed.

To focus your mental energy... concentrate your mind on your centre or 'one point' and imagine energy as a ball of white light getting smaller and smaller OR as ever decreasing circles. With this, it is important to keep your mind busy, so this process is continuous and never ends.

After some conscious effort and willpower, your mind will learn how to do this naturally, and you will be centred and in harmony. Your mind will try to rebel against you, but remember who is in charge here... mind is just a tool for your spirit to use for its benefit, so be strong.

Eventually you will begin to feel a strong connection with people, nature and the universe. When you feel connected you can read the intention of your partner or attacker and react accordingly. As you become more relaxed you begin to tune in to the subtle energy that surrounds you.

Once you have reached this level you will naturally avoid direct conflict in your Aikido practise and your daily life. Like water you will flow with and not against the natural lifestream, accept life and allow it to be as it is.

When you lose the desire to change life to fit your individual needs and wants, you lose your ego mind and you can relax into and enjoy life just as it is... this is true balance and harmony.

Aikido teaches us that we can get in touch with and understand the patterns that we go into to protect ourselves, both physical or emotional, and that there is an alternative to this behavior. Conscious response and choice, rather than unconscious reaction.

Being centered, extending Ki energy, blending, and leading are basic to Aikido training. The nature of Aikido movements are designed so that we actually move from a different place, from Center with Ki, and can address the larger truth of the situation, the nature of the interaction, rather than getting completely caught up in the attack itself.

This is fundamental to the philosophy and actuality of Aikido. The awareness and experience of the joining of the Hara, or Center, with the feeling and extension of Ki, of energy itself.

Aikido then becomes a form to let go of the things inside of you that awakens you to the harmony and true nature of all things big and small, personal and spiritual, and apply that knowledge and experience to anything you wish in life... self-defense, music, work, walking or talking.

Aikido practice then truly becomes a transformational process from unconsciousness to a conscious state of dynamic being, of harmony and balance, of self-protection and conscious choice.

There are many paths to harmony, but the art of Aikido has the power to create real balance in your life. It examines, through combat, the different aspects of life energy. Apart from the vast variety of techniques used in Aikido, there are two main principles involved...

1. Positive Energy, Yang, Fire, Male, Hard, Direct etc.

2. Negative Energy, Yin, Water, Female, Soft, Indirect etc.

The perfect balance between these two energies creates harmony and peace. There are many ways to include these two principles in your Aikido training and your life, and we will discuss some of them here... relaxation, breath control, balance points, etc.

There are also lots of other principles that spring from these two that we will discuss at a later date. These include...

Circles, meridian ki energy balancing, tension to relaxation, you think where you feel, and many, many more... stay tuned !

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Peace & Harmony

Tony Wilden - Aikido Instructor/Healer
Aikido Health Centre
Optimum Health Secrets & Harmony Ebooks
Directed Arun Aikido Club 1992-2007
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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.