Articles

Mental Flexibility

by Lia Suzuki

While I was driving away from the Aikido Bridge Seminar this year, I was reminded of a certain "conversation pattern" that two of my sempai in Japan seemed to repeat every summer in the hot, humid weeks of late August. On an evening that must have been 90 ºF at 11pm and 99% humidity, Suzuki Yasu Sensei would exclaim, "Well, it's getting cold. You can feel winter in the air!"

There were always confused looks around the table, especially from us foreigners in the group, who were now second-guessing any confidence we may have developed with our Japanese language skills. Another one of our sempai and Yasu Sensei's kohai would then agree, "Yes, you're right! It's really getting cold. And another thing, it sure is hot!" "Ah. Ah, yes. Yes, it is.", Yasu Sensei would reply. He always seemed to have mixed feelings about Kadoya-Sensei's answer. On the one hand, he seemed a bit disappointed at Kadoya Sensei's mention of the heat - like no one else could feel what he swore he could feel in the air. But on the other hand, he seemed so happy that Kadoya-Sensei agreed with him and seemed to at least try to feel the "cold winter air" that Yasu Sensei swore was present. They would top off each other's beer glasses and the conversation would invariably take a turn in some other interesting direction.

The Bridge Seminar sort of gives us a chance to practice this conversation pattern and Kadoya Sensei's way of thinking on a certain level. And what a valuable practice that is!, I might add. In their classes some teachers say things that seem to be the complete opposite of what other teachers say. How often have you practiced the same technique with two different sempai, having them give you instructions that seem completely contradictory, only to think back weeks, months or even years later to see that those two sempai were actually saying the same thing, but in different ways!? Of course, this isn't to say that everything in Aikido that sounds contradictory is actually not. But if we continue to practice with an open mind, we begin to see that there are many common threads connecting these often seemingly contradictory ideas, often times making them not at all contradictory

I'm encouraged to see more and more people in the Aikido world working on this "mental flexibility." Over the last few years, I've been enjoying watching boundaries between groups gradually disappear as our training circles become bigger and bigger. And I'm looking forward to a future where this trend will continue, allowing and encouraging Aikido practitioners of all affiliations to train together, and help each other to grow.

Lia Suzuki

Aikido Kenkyukai, USA

http://www.akiusa.org