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| Category: Aikido |
Date published: October 9, 2003 |
There are many different ways to perceive, utilize, and benefit
from energy. What I offer here is one of many ways. Indeed when
I do other kinds of activities I perceive of and work with
energy in quite a different manner. What follows is my
experience of energy while performing Aikido over the course of
more than twenty years. Certainly there are likely to be many
other Aikido practitioners that would explain their experiences
and beliefs in a manner that is somewhat different than mine. I
offer you here, one experience, my experience, and thus all that
I say is part of my belief system, and not at all necessarily
THE truth.
Aikido
Aikido is a Japanese martial art, and it does not have an attack
form. We do not kick, punch, or in any other manner, attempt to
hurt our opponent.
The meaning of Aikido: "Ai" To gather or harmonize. "Ki"
Universal life force/energy. This is the energy that we share
with nature and all living beings. "Do" An artful path of
discovery. "Aikido" An artful path of discovering how to gather
and harmonize the energy of the universe. When we sense and move
with the energy that is manifesting throughout the universe we
find that we have a greater ability to live a life that is
healthy and fulfilling.
"Ki"
In Aikido we believe that all human beings utilize and share a
common energy source (ki) that helps to run and maintain our
environment as well as our individual human systems. We believe
that since we all share a common energy source, that in some
important way we are all truly members of the same family, and
truly sharing our lives with all of nature. We do not have an
attack form in Aikido, because attacking an opponent would be
like attacking a family member that you love. Attacking an
opponent would also be like attempting to damage the flow of
Universal energy in the world, and such acts are likely to have
many far reaching consequences.
In the Japanese language words that use the concept of "ki" are
common. "Gen-ki" means "root energy" or one's "personal health".
"Ten-ki" relates to "heavenly energy" or "the weather". "Hon-ki"
relates to "original energy" or "the truth". "Yuu-ki" relates to
"brave energy" or "courage". "Ki o tsukete" means "attach your
energy to what you are doing, or "be careful".
The origin of ki?
Where does ki originate from? In Aikido the answer is poetic in
nature rather than scientific. It is suggested that ki was
"born" at the same instant as the rest of the universe, and that
we are all born from the ki of the universe. Ki is considered to
be an energy that we all have equal access to. It is an energy
that courses through our system if we do not restrict it. In
Aikido we believe that excess tension physically and
emotionally, fear, hate, greed, and anger, all cut us off from
the universal source of ki. Our daily practice involves working
at maintaining a balanced state physically and emotionally, and
indeed, practicing ways to cultivate physical and emotional
balance is much of what the study of Aikido is about. In Aikido
physical and emotional balance are meant to be two sides of the
very same coin. Physical balance helps to engender emotional
balance and health, and vice versa as well. Often in my
professional work with individuals I find myself first
addressing the clients physical balance when they come wanting
to resolve emotional issues, and I do the reverse as well. I
often first address or explore how emotional imbalance might
lead to the physical difficulties they are experiencing.
"Ki signature" mind, spirit-Energy manifests as spirit, spirit
manifests as mind
Energy manifests within each individual as spirit, spirit
manifests in each individual as mind. In some way that is a
mystery to all of mankind, the freely available energy of the
universe is transformed by each person into one's own unique "ki
signature", spirit, mind. No two people have the same exact "ki
signature", just as no two people have the same exact written
signature. No two people have the same exact spirit, no two
people have the same exact mind. The unique way that we each
take in, utilize, and expend energy, can be considered to be our
"ki signature", mind, or spirit. Each person starts with the
same source of energy, and manifests this energy in a way that
will never exactly be duplicated by any other human being.
Thought, body structure,and movement, shape the flow of ki, into
spirit/mind
Think of the freely flowing water of a powerful river that comes
upon a series of fairly large rocks spread out across the river
bed and extend up beyond the water's surface. These rocks affect
the flow of the river but they do not change the nature of the
water itself. Ki flows through the river bed of our brain and
body. Our thoughts, body structure and movements, are like the
rocks in the river bed. These are the main elements that shape
ki into individual mind, or spirit The flow of ki is uniquely
transformed by each human being, but the nature of the ki
itself, is not altered in the process. Just as the pattern of
rocks spread out along the river bed is never exactly duplicated
in any other place on earth, the pattern of our thoughts, body
structure, and movement is also never exactly duplicated. All
mind is similar, but no two minds are exactly alike.
A heartfelt understanding of the nature of our spirit will help
us to create a healthy alignment of our thoughts, body
structure, movements, and actions. When every aspect of our self
is fully aligned we have a much greater ability to think, feel,
and act in accordance with what is best for us in any given
moment. We are better able to adapt and change in a manner that
is supports the well being of our entire self and our
surroundings.
The misnomers of "mind-body" and "mind and body"
A definition of "mind" that I often use it in my work, is the
following: "Mind is a dynamic, self-organizing, creative system,
capable of overcoming physical and temporal constraints. Mind
uses and manufactures energy in order to support the self and
one's surroundings, trade information, and adapt to change."
When considering this definition of mind, we can say that mind
manifests equally in the body and in the brain in the skull.
Because of this I believe that the terms "mind-body" or "mind
and body" as used in the Western world, are somewhat missing the
mark and tend to lead to a certain degree of misunderstanding.
If you ask a Japanese person to point to their mind, usually
they will point to the area of their heart, or they will point
to their lower abdomen. If you ask the average Westerner to
point to their mind they will point to their head. This is why I
think the terms "mind-body" and "mind and body" were developed
in the Western world. I believe that the average Western person
thinks of the term "mind" in relation to "thinking" or
"thought". Oriental philosophy considers "mind" to be immanent
in both the body and the brain. In Aikido we say that we
practice in order to calm the mind, by coordinating our
thoughts, the actions of our body, and our breath. Or we say
that we practice in order to further empower and actualize our
mind by coordinating our thoughts, physical actions, breath, and
spirit.
When looking to calm our mind we give our primary attention to
calming our breath and our heart beat, which will tend to lead
towards a relaxing of our musculature and a slowing down or
cessation of our internal dialogue. If we calm our body we will
tend to calm our cognitive thought processes. Calming the mind
can also be accomplished by giving primary attention to the
speed, rhythm, and tone of voice of our internal dialogue. If we
calm our cognitive thought processes we will tend to calm the
body. When we calm both our cognitive thought processes and our
body, then we calm our mind. Cognitive mind and somatic mind are
part of a recursive feedback loop. You can't affect one without
affecting the other.
Practice
Would you like to try a Seishindo practice that relates to what
you have been reading? If so please go to the following URL:
http://www.seishindo.org/practices/calming_breath.html
and try
our ?Heartbeat Breath ? Calming Breath? practice.
About the author:
Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido
instructor, NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist. Benefit
from a new self-help Practice every two weeks, by subscribing to
his complimentary newsletter "Pure heart, simple mind" at
http://www.seishindo.org/
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