Spirit or Soul over Mind

I started Aikido in fall of 1969 at the start of my senior year at UC Santa Cruz.. Robert Frager had started an Aikido club there, and at the time was in a close association/ partnership with Robert Nadeau. I consider them my first Aikido teachers. I at that time thought very much in terms of academic years. So in Spring 1970 of that academic year the area was visited by Koichi Tohei sensei, 10th dan from Aikido World Headquarters.. A group of the Santa Cruz club members including me went to watch one of the classes. This was before a lot of the dojos in the area existed, so it was held at a high school in San Mateo.

Tohei sensei was impressive. Bodies went flying off him with no apparent effort on his part. When he stepped his legs were like stone pillars. So after the class our Santa Cruz group was in total awe of him, and he dominated our conversation. Robert Frager sensei walked by and heard what we were talking about. And he interjected," You're mistaking Tohei sensei for Osensei'> So the obvious question was what was the difference? And Frager sensei's answer was very cryptic. " He's too strong to be Osensei." he said.

So that started another discussion among the Santa Cruz group. Tohei sensei had a type of spectacular yet effortless power. He was strong. So we assumed Osensei was either like that or even more so. Eventually one of the students came forth. " Maybe Tohei sensei is mind over matter/body and Osensei was soul/spirit over mind," he said.

Tohei sensei emphasized that mind leads body So what would soul/spirit over mind mean?One of Osensei's teachings is "Use the body to train the spirit'. And he put great importance on misogi or spiritual cleansing.

One thought is that mind can lead even control the body and that it can even develop powers. Mind control is a reality. Many in our country are still in the belief of a stolen 2020 election. So as the 'I' develops and gets in a stronger relationship with mind it may even confuse itself with mind and develop mind control that leads the body. Or other bodies. So my guess is that Osensei went through the body to spirit to avoid this. In the Video I am posting, I try to go into spirit leading the mind as best I can. so it seems like a body approach, which it is but to spirit.. I use the basic bokken Cut. We go into how sound uses the same approach so there is chanting. And the movements of the spear also operate off of that but they are more complex. Here is the video:

spirit leads mind