Post CYO Camp musings

Last weekend was the second annual Osensei Revisited weekend held in Occidental CA at the CYO camp. Being the second, hopefully it went smoother than our maiden voyage. Classes intermixed with more training were interspersed with sessions devoted to Osensei's process work. So hopefully what was achieved was a good mix. And we have had follow up talks to(and it looks at this time there will be an Osensei Revisited III) for next year. We will try to get the date out earlier so both instructors and students can plan in advance with their schedules to be there. Possibly the Saturday evening discussion will be streamlined to give students a social night in the beautiful redwoods. So keep connected for more on that as it develops.

On a personal basis these weekends are intense and I tend to see the benefits later on down the line. The purpose of the event is to give students a chance to connect with Osensei. How many other Aikido events are there that make him the focal point of the event? I remember in Shingu Hikitsuchi sensei used to always stress that Osensei must continue to be an alive part of the aikido experience. I always had the feeling that when I was there there was a pair of invisible eyes fixed on me. That could be somewhat troubling or cause a feeling of pressure. But it was responsible for making the whole experience, as Hikitsuchi sensei used to frame it, 'shinken' or as if we were facing each other with live blades. And of course what 'shinken' meant was the chance to manifest 'makoto', ie sincerity or truth. To be real. So Aikido was seen as a process, not merely just technique and or training.

I don't want to give the impression that I am downplaying training and technique. Both are vital in our development. They also foster human bonds between students and teachers that are important and precious. But to begin to relate to what might be referred to as the 'kami' part of our nature, I feel just technique and training are insufficient. This weekend students and teachers alike got a chance to experience the body as a vibrational field using vehicles such as sound(chanting) weapons work, centering practices. And so much more. And I believe truly touching our human side means in a balanced way touching our 'kami' nature.

I have been giving more thought lately to Osensei's statement: " Aikido to iu no wa ame no uki hashi ni tatasareru koto de aru".   Aikido is a matter of being made to stand on the floating bridge of heaven.  Why must one be made to stand there? Even being made to suffer standing there? It is so easy to find a comfort zone. Daily training in Shingu was a constant spiritual as well as physical test. Often times things came up that were quite unpleasant(understatement) and how you dealt with them was seen as practice, not training in the dojo, but 'shugyo'. Shugyo involves physical hardships and training, but also must include process. What suffers when standing on the mythical floating bridge? What we call the 'I', which always has an agenda and always looks for a comfort zone. Let us take not a negative but an extremely positive term such as love, beauty, true power........If the floating bridge is as I suspect a place of deep transformation, it will take you let's say on love or beauty to a place where the 'I' is uncomfortable with these. How many people self-destruct when they are faced with the magnitude of their inner beauty or touch love to such an original sense that  they can't cope? What happens there is that we usually don't see the quality but we see its shadow. And I mean the 'I' sees the shadow. And so it is the 'I' that suffers there. My sense now is that though the bridge is a place of deep transformation, it is not solely the 'I' that is transformed there.

And bumping into the shadow of the quality is important because I believe the bridge is a place where light/dark or fire/water interface. To truly stand there is to harmonize the opposites. Now the question is who or what harmonizes ........

And I would like to thank Robert Nadeau shihan for his continuing quest to make Osensei's process available to us......

I am including a video of the recent 2013 Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival. And this includes the demonstrations by each of the instructors:

Smorgasboard

Just a few things I want to acknowledge or comment on. First, the Golden State Warriors run to the second round of the NBA playoffs deserves notice. The foe Denver was one the W's could not handle during the regular season. It took an official's replay of a  last second shot that wasn't to give them their lone win against the Nuggets. Being a Warrior fan when they were still the Philadelphia Warriors, they have mainly been a study in unconditional love. With very little pay back other than a smidgen here and there. There was the surprise NBA title in 1975, but that was followed the next year by a discouraging loss to Phoenix and then the gradual disassembly of that unit. We had the Run TMC years that was torpedoed by the Chris Weber situation, and most recently the "WE Believe" magical run in 2007. I guess you could say they have largely been entertaining, but bad trades and drafts and good players looking to go to other teams has been their legacy. And through this all the fans still care. Mike Driscoll took me to Chris Mullin's jersey retirement night and I got a chance to see and hear the new owner mercilessly boo-ed. I guess that showed the passion that still was in the fan base. Well this season has been a revelation. New ownership brought in a new coach and new player/personal people, including the great Jerry West. This has been the weakness of the franchise for the last 20 years or so. A great draft, free agents Jack and Landry, David Lee justifying the owner's faith in trading for him by being an All-Star, have all contributed to a wonderful season for our local team. But Steph Curry's emergence as a force in the League has been the most fun to watch. I remember noticing him when his college team Davidson made a run to the Final Four. The next season as a 6'3'' guard he led the nation in scoring. Don Nelson for all his other faults passed up a significant draft day trade that would have cost us Curry to draft Steph. I remember his rookie season started slowly. But by the end even though he was not Rookie of the Year, he was attracting attention. A couple of injury plagued seasons followed which had people questioning his durability and toughness. But this season has been a break out year. And he has done it when it had been needed and brought attention to both him and the team. 54 points at Madison Square Garden. 22 points in a quarter in a pivotal win over the Nuggets in round one. 47 against the Lakers. Even though San Antonio represents a nightmare match up, I don't think any fear resides with Golden State. And if the Human Torch can "Flame On!" we might advance to the conference finals. I remember the '75 championship team was given little chance through the opening rounds and no chance in the Finals. But they, like the recent Giants team, endured during the early rounds and swept the championship series. The Giants had one thing:pitching. And the Warriors have one thing; shooting. So go Warriors and maybe there will be more surprises this year.

I just caught Iron Man 3 last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't say too much because there are some real twists and I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Robert Downey Jr is excellent. With now 3 films as Iron Man and also with the Avengers movie,the characters are now old friends. This movie is somewhat similar to the first in that Tony Stark is featured quite a bit. But incredibly fun none the less. And if you want Iron Man you get him in spades at the end. And Ben Kingsley is engaging as the Mandarin(or is he?).....


The Osensei Revisited (May 17-19) weekend is coming up soon. I assume late registration is fine as long as it is not the stay over package. If you want meals and lodging you need to register NOW........

Harry Concepcion sensei and I will be going Thursday night (May 9) to hear the Ian Carey/Ben Stolorow duet in Berkeley. If you want to spend an evening hearing some great live jazz, let us know....

Dorian Bodine Friday night took and passed a 3rd kyu exam. He has mainly trained with Sandy Olliges sensei at San Jose State, but has been training at our dojo now for awhile.

Go Warriors. And go Osensei Revisited....