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Dojo to Dojo: Learning the Lesson of Shoshin by Sean Harrington I started aikido in Los Angeles, CA about three years ago. My sensei was Japanese and gave very little verbal instruction. His students were not allowed to talk on the mat or offer any instruction other than leading with their bodies. Intro classes were held once a week in a style that required uke to push, pull, or provide some form of movement in order for nage to execute the technique. I trained in this style for about one year. After living in LA for ten years, I moved back to Vermont. I soon started looking for a place to train. It wasn't long before I heard stories about ACV and its "hard-style sensei" who ran his dojo like a boot camp and supposedly did not teach aikido at all, but jujitsu. I started by observing classes. I had never seen aikido like this! ACV's sensei was very powerful and seemed to throw his students very hard. But his students had such great ukemi. They would come back for more. With devilish half-smiles they would attack as if they were getting some kind of rush from being thrown in this manner. I soon gathered the courage to step on the mat. Sensei would demonstrate a technique, my uke would grab my wrist in the usual manner but they would not push, pull or provide me with any movement to work with. Sensei would come around and demonstrate the proper leverage and body position needed to execute the techique. It seemed all too mechanical. As uke, I was required to keep a connection with nage. This seemed to result in my being thrown to the ground like a rotten sack of potatoes! Sensei, sensing my post-class frustration, explained the concept of static aikido training, good strong basics and ukemi that emphasized keeping a connection with nage. He told me that "in order to learn to resolve conflict, we need to have it on the mat" and it is uke's job to provide it. Having left my "beginner's mind" in LA made it difficult for me to learn ACV-style aikido. With a big One Year of training, I felt I knew what aikido was and how it should be taught. In fact it took me two years to empty my cup enough to try Sensei's iriminage. Eventually, I found Sensei's words to ring true. I found static, basic training to be the best way to develop a strong center and crisp technique. I found that keeping a connection with nage and actually being thrown helped me learn to fall safely. Instead of a boot camp, I found a traditional aikido dojo. I am grateful to have Sensei as my teacher. His attention to detail and insistence that I learn the basics was not what I initially wanted from aikido. I wanted to exit from form and explore the craetive freestyle aspects of the art. What makes him a great teacher is his ability to show me how and why the basic techiques work. It is through training in basic techniques that we absorb the principles of aikido. These principles combine with our own personal life experience, body type, age, personality and resons for training. They will ultimately flavor or influence our aikido. Sensei embodies this creative spirit I seek, and possesses the skill to show me the path. If someday, without warning, you find yourself in the midst of a conflict, it is by nature totally unpredictable. Your response should emerge naturally without thought or hesitation, its essence being more organic than creative. In the words of Miyamoto Musashi, you will have become "the spirit of the thing itself." O Sensei wrote, "The techniques of aikido change constantly: every encounter is unique, and the appropriate response should emerge naturally. Today's techniques will be different tomorrow. Do not get caught up with the form and appearance of a challenge. Aikido has nor form- it is the study of the spirit." "It takes at least ten years to master the basics." But it will lead to a lifetime in the garden.