TAOS Newsletter-- February 1998

Movie Night!

Thursday, February 19 at 6:00 we will have our bi-annual movie night at the dojo. Sonoma State Students will be joining us for a pot luck meal and the dojo's collection of videos. We will be watching the famed "Rendezvous With Adventure" video as well as others spanning much of O-Sensei's life. This is a rare opportunity to watch the master who developed Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, and many of the current Shihan in their younger days. Bring on the popcorn!

TAOS and Aikido Online

The dojo's web page is up and running. For the web-enabled, our address is http://www.traditional-aikido.com/. Thanks to Barry and Alan for the initial work and design, and a special thanks to Craig for uploading, updating, and refining the look and feel. E-mail from the site currently goes to Sid, and we have been getting mail from Europe as well as the US.

Links

If you are looking for other sites of interest on the web, check out the links section, which currently includes a link to Aikiweb, maintained by several of the members of the AIKIDO-L mailing list. This is a loose confederation of approximately 800 Aikidoka located around the globe who discuss items of interest, generate puns, share (and create) rumors, and generally share time and bandwidth. Instructions on how to join the mailing list and links to many other sites can be found through Aikiweb and through the Aikido FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) , which can be accessed at http://www.ii.uib.no/~kjartan/aikidofaq/aikido.html

Friendship Gasshukku

On April 24, 25, and 26, we will be hosting the second annual Friendship Gasshukku. This is an intense training weekend of hour long sessions conducted by a variety of senseis. This is a wonderful opportunity to train with instructors from Sonoma and all through the Bay Area. Last year's training included several instructors, and provided a delightful opportunity to see different styles and approaches to the art.

Participants at all levels and from all schools are welcome to come and train. It provides an opportunity for practitioners of Aikido from all over the north bay to meet, exchange ideas, train, and enjoy each other's company. Don't miss it! The cost for the training will be $20 per day, or $50 for all three days.

Koga Sensei Workshop--Applied Aikido

March 6, 7, 8, 1998
Friday evening 6:00-9:00
Saturday 8:00-5:00
Sunday 8:00-12:00

Koga Sensei brings to the audience his background in Aikido, judo, and police techniques. He studied extensively with Tohei Sensei, who was a student of O-Sensei. This workshop will cover a wide variety of techniques that can be applied quickly for "street use."

Cost for all three days is $90 to the public and $50 to members of Traditional Aikido. Discounts for specific days are also available. Contact Bob Benavides for further details.

Aikido for Business

Can people learn to be more collaborative and effective leaders in their workplaces through developing the capacity to act based on Aikido principles?

Barry Tuchfeld and Jeff Dooley are introducing the relevance of Aikido practices to enhanced workplace leadership, communication, and problem-solving in a series of seminars being developed for business and professional people.

The application of Aikido principles in off-the-mat, workplace situations is becoming increasingly recognized as a potentially powerful, new form of organizational learning. Recent books such as An Unused Intelligence and Leadership Aikido explicitly prescribe Aikido-based exercises for dealing with difficult work and leadership issues. These non-strenuous exercises bring participants to the experience of merging with another's energy through physically moving in connection with the other as an alternative to resisting or giving in. Within the past year the Dialogue Project and the Society for Organizational Learning, both at MIT, have recognized the value of through-the-body learning, based on Aikido principles, and are working to integrate this mode of learning into their various approaches.

Planning for the TAOS seminars began in January with a set of interviews Barry and Jeff conducted with business people in manufacturing, service, health care, and other local and national industries. These conversations are aimed at identifying the most persistent obstacles to individual and organizational effectiveness from the perspective of those interviewed.

Conversations are being developed with Sensei to get his input about designing the Aikido portions of the seminar and identifying parts that he may demonstrate. Likewise, conversations will take place with Noel to arrange times and terms for using the dojo.

To date, Paul Landrum and Sid Simpson have expressed in interest in assisting with the seminars. If you have any insight into how Aikido principles can demonstrate a path toward enhanced leadership and effectiveness at work or are interested in assisting during the seminar, please get in touch with Barry (at 707-570-1937 or hriweb@sonic.net). If all progresses smoothly, the first seminar will be conducted by the end of Spring, 1998. Watch the TAOS Newsletter for further announcements about the development and scheduling of these seminars.

Aiki Humor

Who says martial artists don't have a sense of humor? Members of the AIKIDO-L mailing list have been planning to meet in real life and have been running a competition to find a motto. Stewart Kremsky suggested some possibilities:

1. 'Minimum effort, maximum efficiency' - Kenshiro Abbe Sensei
2. "The pen is only mightier than the sword at a range greater than five feet"
If we change 2. to something electronic we'd get something like:
3. "The computer is only mightier than an ikkyo at Aikido-L"
4. "absence of body is better than presence of mind"
5. "Cuius testiculos habes, habes cardia et cerebellum" - Pterry, Small Gods
6. "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil. For I am the meanest son-of-a-bitch in the Valley."
7. "Serenity through viciousness"
8. "I don't like violence, but I'm very good at it."
9. "The difference between the living and the dead is timing."
10. Aikido is not the "technique" you practice, but the "you" you become through practice.
11. "If you hit someone with a chair and project your ki through the chair, it's an aikido technique."
12. "GO AHEAD PUNK... GRAB MY WRIST!!"
13. "I like tall men. I like to turn them into small men."
14. "Aikido -- The art of unity with the ground."
15. "Love ya. <POW> Love ya. <BLEND> Love ya <pow/chop/blend/liquefy/whirrr> - Ivan (of course :-)
16. "There are only 2 things separating us right now: fear and atmosphere. You overcome the first and I'll send you flying through the second..."
17. "Aikido - the gentle art of devastation"
18. "I'm one with the Universe---on a scale from 1 to 10"
19. "Eat right, exercise regularly, die anyway"
20. "Strike like thunder!"
21. "Aikido is origami with people instead of paper" (TM)