Spreading the word....

In February this year a former religion professor had asked me to speak to her spirituality class, about spirituality in the martial arts.  I agreed and thought what an opportunity for me to talk about something so passionate to me.  The talk was on Tuesday the 18th of March.  I started the conversation off with the history of the incorporation of Zen into the martial arts.  Elaborating on the history of the samurai exploring through their zen masters the still point.  Immediately it began to resonate with the crowd of students.  They were sitting there like deer in headlights but with a smile.  I continued to speak about the ethics of aikido and how we are not out let the mind of ego control our actions.  But rather, how we are set to train against the enemy within ourselves first.  We meditated for about 5-7 minutes, then the therapist in me got the better, and we shared how we felt afterwards.  I spoke  to the crowd for a little over 1.5 hours.  It really put into perspective for me what aikido has evolved into for me.  I really think that if we have the opportunity to share with a friend or a colleague about what it is we do in the dojo we need to not pass it up.  When O'sensei aikido is for everyone, he meant just that.  Everybody in that class room could identify with the energy and feeling of watching out for our fellow man, and togetherness.  The professor is actually making it mandatory that the students who missed the talk have to attend and sit in on a keiko sometime.  I thought this was fantastic.  Respectfully,

Phil