Giving aikido class in Tel Aviv

Monday has become the day for our weekly visit to Miles Kessler's Integral Aikido Dojo in Tel Aviv. This Monday I was at home with the dogs during the day and took the bus in the afternoon, since the bus came first. It is always the million dollar question of the day whether the sherut or the bus comes first. I am always hoping for the sherut, since it is cheaper and faster, but when the bus comes first I have to take it, because I cannot trust the sherut frequency enough to be sure to be on time in Tel Aviv.

Miles has an urban meditation retreat in the dojo this week with the Buddhist monk Sayadaw Vivekananda. Vivekananda is a charismatic man with a powerful presence. I met him also last week and we immediately started to chit-chat again, together with Yoram who had also just arrived from work. The monk suddenly asked "So, what's new?", upon which we thought ourselves obliged to give some recent deep revelation or introspective discovery, but instead we suddenly found ourselves discussing news in general, and the economical crisis in particular. We all agreed to that the crisis has been build up by the crediting culture we live in. Consumption is a subject all by itself, and it will not solely make us happy, but the big problem is when people (and companies and banks and nations) consume from fictive money. That is a negative spiral, whereas consuming "real" money will cause the positive spiral that will make the overall economy grow. We concluded that right now they are planning another rescue package, which will merely take the crisis deeper into the abyss. Yoram was honestly surprised that a Buddhist monk was so well-oriented in earthly things, but Miles explained that he actually reads the newspaper every day. It was almost a bit comical how we talked about him as something other than a common human being.

With the full schedule in the dojo, Miles needed to breathe a bit, so he asked me to give the first class. I focused on some basic exercises to build up confidence for the free high falls and everybody seemed to enjoy it very much, and several also told me so after the class.

I really find the uke role the most intriguing part of aikido, and the ukemi in particular. I believe that the more mobile and free you are, the better you can take care of yourself with any partner. I also believe that resisting a technique is not a good strategy unless you are the strongest man on Earth. Not only will there always be someone stronger than you, but the tension that resistance creates will inevitable cause a disruption in the flow of the ki. Instead I promote absorbing and accepting the technique that you receive, since this will have you back on your legs faster again and ready to provide a new attack. This does not mean that you need to be light as a feather! You can put a lot of weight in and move ponderously, as long as the ki keeps moving and the heaviness comes from the centre and not from the limbs.

This freedom of movement, but also the "right" quality of heaviness, are built through a growing sense of confidence in your body, as well as hours and hours of practice on these particular things. I have myself been taught many good exercises to work on this and I shared some of those things with the aikidokas this evening. It was an honour and a great pleasure that Miles trusted me with his students yet another time. He is truly a teacher in control of his ego, who gladly shares his space for others to express themselves. I am so happy to have him as a friend.