While practicing it is easy to become distracted. Particularly if you’re tired and going through apparently endless repetitions of a technique you don’t like. It is precisely thoughts like these - My legs are killing me, when will this end, I really don’t like this technique - that give you the opportunity to practice the most essential of the spiritual aspects of Aikido.
 

Cut all these thoughts away. The moment you notice them, drop them. Refocus instantly on what you are doing. When you do Aikido, do Aikido. 100%. It is simple. There is nothing to think about.
 

Over time you will develop an ability to focus totally, without doubt or hesitation. Relentless. This is discipline. This is sincerity. For Budo it is essential.

PM

Recently we have been focusing on this cut-away katata defence. This defence formalises how the entrance and the offer should work in an ideal situation.

The most important thing here is maai. Where you are and when you are. In normal practice it is all too easy to loose focus of when a defence, the offer or a technique should begin. It is much earlier than you might think. In addition, you need to be out of range and at the right distance. This is the way to correct timing.

Maai, the offer and initiative misdirect the uke. While they are focusing here you have moved there. By the time they get there you are over here. Always this step ahead. Always early. Leading, offering. Maintaining the initiative.

These are the most important things to take away from tanninzu practice. Fine-tuning your distance and your timing. Forcing yourself to think ahead and in this way finding a path through the melee to step in time with the universe.

PM

There are rumours that the fantastic Pizza Emporium, Shakey’s Pizza in downtown Kyoto could be facing an uncertain future following a recent trip to Kyoto by a few members of the Exeter Aikido Dojo.

Continue..

So, I finally got around to updating the website. The previous effort just became too much of an embarrassment. This one I hope is not too shabby.
 
It has been tested on Firefox 3.0, Flock and Safari on the Mac. And also on IE 6/7 and Firefox 2.0 on Windows. Which is not to say that I haven’t missed something. Or a few things. If something looks not quite right please let me know in the comments here. Other comments or suggestions regarding the design or content of the site are also welcome.
 
PM

The Lexicon
 
Good ninjas disappear. Bad ones don’t.

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Budo. It’s complicated. Lots of questions, some pretty obscure answers. But now you can get help: Ask a Ninja podcast. PM
P.S. I am not a ninja.