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\nSaotome Sensei speaks of the martial arts as having evolved out of warrior practices who’s original intent was to overcome our primal fears to pursue higher ideals. He goes on to explore Aikido’s uniqueness in the constant focus on de-ai or “the moment of encounter” to “secure vitality in the face of death… in favor of action based on compassion and affinity for all things.” .<\/p>\n
Aikido is different in a lot of ways but one of the most confusing is that there is no competitions. The reason is it changes the focus of training. You have to have rules, weight classes, trophies, and of course losers. Specifically you are fighting for for a prize not an ideal and the cost you are willing to go to with some person you aren’t actually in conflict with is rather surprising.<\/p>\n
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In “A Light on Transmission,” Saotome Sensei shares his insight into what we are missing about Aikido. His explanation of why Aikido is mostly preformatted partner practice challenges us to see the opportunity to be hit in the head in a new way.<\/p>\n
If we know our partner is willing to hit us in the head (because we asked them to) then there is a real threat and we are wired to have a primal response. Paul Linden does an exercise where someone throws a tissue at your face and even though a professional pitcher couldn’t hurt with a tissue you still tense up.<\/p>\n
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Saotome says Aikido is a practice of “de-ai” or “the moment of encounter;” an opportunity to face our fears, stand above our ego, and move form “within a world of darkness, securing rebirth into a world of light.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"