Shinichi Tohei's Ki Weblog

Improvement of teaching ability

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principle (Mind moves body) which is the foundation of Ki-Aikido in our daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article for at least one month.

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Improvement of teaching ability

This time the weblog is for the advanced learners.

I teach approximately 2,000 people in a year. The number “2,000” means the number of people that I teach regularly, like every week, every month, every year, but does not include the number of people that I teach only a few times, like a person who I teach only once in a seminar.

By observing how my students change as a result of my teaching, I can gain the feedback of 2,000 people. I am very grateful that I can gain important information from this feedback.

For example, there were some cases that, although I was satisfied with my teachings from my point of view, in fact what I taught was not understood well by my students. On the other hand, there were some other cases that, although I was not satisfied with and had to think over my teachings, in fact what I taught was well understood by my students. Of-course this outcome depends on the students’ learning aptitude, but also we should carefully examine our way of teaching. Our feeling about how well our students understand is important, however, checking whether our teaching is actually well understood by students or not, is indispensable.

Without this process, the instructor’s teachings develop into “a self-satisfied teaching”

“Shinichi Tohei Sensei, have you learned a particular teaching method?”

Although I am often asked such a question, I have never learned “a teaching method” till now. And I have never undergone a special training aimed specifically at a teaching method. However, I always check carefully the following three points:

1. Whether students were able to understand well about what I taught.

2. Whether students were able to put it into practice after understanding.

3. Whether students were able to become better after practicing.

As for the first point, you can realize this by sending Ki to the students.

People feel uncomfortable not being able to understand, and as a result their feelings appear as a physical expression somehow (a puzzled facial expression, dropping of their eyes, turning down of their voice, etc.).  Mind moves body.

If you notice that they do not understand, please try various ways of teaching. By continuing a trial-and-error process until they understand, your way of explanation and means of expression will be improved.

Special care is required for the second point. Many people can understand but are not able put it into practice.

In order to improve the students’ practice, you need to teach a specific way, emphasizing points of practice, and you need to regularly follow up with the students. And even if they have not put what you taught into practice, you must not be upset with them. It might be because of the inefficiency of your teaching.

You need to try various ways of teaching and you must not give up until they actually are able to practice what you have taught them. Tremendous patience is needed, and your way of teaching will be improved through these processes.

As for the third point, you need to check whether students actually improve after they practice what they have been taught.

If not, then you have not fulfilled the first two points, so please go back to these two points and teach again. You must not give up until the students become capable.

There is no magic bullet for the improvement of one’s teaching ability. By continuing through these three points of teaching, simply and honestly, your teaching ability will be improved. Reading books and gaining special knowledge is also important, however that can affect your improvement only based on the above basic process.

Teaching is not merely one-way work, but actually two-way communication. Therefore, to carefully watch students’ Ki is the basis of all teaching.

The following is the practice and validation for this month.

[Point of practice]

・  Practice points number1 through number 3 above, and record the results in a notebook.

[Point of validation]

・Observe the difference between cases producing a good effect and cases having no effect, then record in and review the notebook regularly.

Level of understanding (the second half)

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principle (Mind moves body) which is the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article for at least one month.

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Level of understanding (the second half)

This weblog report is the continuation of the last month’s weblog. If you have not yet read the first half, please see,

http://www.shinichitohei.com/english/2009/04/level-of-unders.html

If you properly practiced and validated last month’s discussion, I believe you now realize that the state of thinking “I completely understand” is actually the lowest level of understanding. People tend to observe, listen, and understand in the way they want, from their own perspective. Therefore, it is always necessary to confirm whether our understanding is correct or not.

Now, I would like to let you know how to experience a deeper level of understanding.

Once you are able to communicate what a speaker tells you correctly to the other people, then, what you need to do is to take into account what the speaker is feeling when he/she speaks to you. In other words, you need to understand not only the contents of the speaker’s story, but also the speaker’s feeling that the story is an expression of.

For instance, the use of the words “thank you” can have many meanings. Some people’s “thank you” comes from their true heart, while other people’s “thank you” is merely perfunctory, and still others’ “thank you” comes out of a sense of irony. There are indeed many kinds of “thank you” depending on each speaker’s feelings.

If you only listen to the speaker’s words, you can not find their feelings. You need to judge their feelings from all sources, such as their facial expression, intonation, rhythm, etc.

It is indeed important to read the speaker’s Ki (mind).

You need to catch not only the words, but also many other kinds of information at the same time. A person who cannot do this can be known as “he who cannot read between the lines.”

This “reading between the lines” or being able to discern the speaker’s intention behind his words is not easy to do and in fact training is required. In general, it seems that people think this kind of ability should be taught through education only at home, and it is hardly ever taught at school or in a company. It is a shame that people have so few opportunities to train in this way, even though most everyone can improve greatly if only they have the opportunity to practice this.

I often teach seminars for companies. I begin with the basic training of the method described above. Then their level of understanding rises significantly. In actual training, people make an effort to read their partner’s feelings (practice), and then they try to be sure that what they are perceiving is really the partner’s feelings (validation).

When I was a new member of the Aikido club in my university, one time a senior member said to me, “Please bring me the drink I want.”

I thought he was teasing me, but this was not actually the correct view. Now I think it was really very good training for me. There were hot drinks and cold drinks available. What kind of drink he wanted depended upon the season and also the extent of his thirst. There was juice, sports drinks, and carbonated drinks. It was necessary to observe him carefully on a regular basis. For the initial period of time, he refused to receive what I brought, saying “This was not what I wanted.” However, by continuing the practice and validation process, I gradually began to know what he wanted. But even once I got used to this way of seeing, there were still some failures as a result of choosing automatically without enough consideration. Nonetheless, I continued my practice and validation. Even though it was a very simple action just to purchase a drink for him, I was able to do the practice and validation of reading his feeling. At that time I felt it was an outrageous request, but now I appreciate him very much.

There seems to be people who cannot read other’s feelings at any age in life, but it seems to be especially true of those in their 20’s and 30’s. They themselves are making a lot of effort and doing their best, but it often turns out fruitless, so they are very troubled in mind. One of four of our uchideshis is this type and I have a hard time with him. But my pet theory is “people become better with training,” therefore, I keep training him daily without blaming his present capability.

The following is the practice and validation for this month.

This time, your partner for practice and validation should be a person who understands your training. If you do not yet have a solid relationship with this person, the present relationship may become worse. It is best if it is your nearest and dearest.

[Point of practice]

・  While listening to your partner, not only listen to the words, but also read his/her Ki (mind).

[Point of validation]

・Check whether it is really his/her feelings (by asking him/her, asking the other people who know both of you, etc.)

Level of understanding (the first half)

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Level of understanding (the first half)

We often use the phrase “yes, I think I understood”, in our daily life. But it is questionable whether we really understand or not.

In fact, there are different levels of understanding.

For instance, we think we “understand” after receiving an explanation for something. The lowest level of understanding is merely that of “I think or I feel Iike I understand”. When we receive an explanation about something, we feel we understand, however, with only this level of understanding, we actually cannot perform as told. If we are satisfied with this level of understanding, we can master nothing. In fact, many people think they understood completely even though they have only reached this lowest level of understanding.

A higher level of understanding than that above, is when “we can communicate correctly to others what was explained to us”.

Even though we think we understand, we cannot communicate it to others correctly unless our understanding is clearly resolved. In order to communicate our understanding correctly, it is necessary to sort out the knowledge obtained and be sure that we clearly understand the meaning.

When I instruct in a seminar, I not only explain, but also make the time when students can communicate to each other what they have been taught. Unless they are specially trained, the beginners can communicate correctly only about 30 percent of what they have learned to the other students. Thus, in fact, if the instructor only explains by word of mouth, students can understand only a part of what the instructor says, not all. It is an illusion that “if we explain to the other person, there will be a complete understanding”.

By continuing with the training of correctly communicating to each other what students have learned, most will be able to master what they have learned.

In order to reach a higher level of understanding than merely that of “I think I understand”, (even though you believe “you have understood”), it is important to check whether you can communicate your understanding correctly to others, or not.

When we listen to the others, there may be a creative method of “listening while trying to imagine a merging of ideas in the mind”, which is worth doing. However, a more important method is to practice sending our Ki (attention) to the speaker properly and to understand what he says correctly. Only after we master this basic skill of listening and understanding, does our level of listening and understanding become higher.

These days, we hear the opinion that “it is necessary to respect person’s individuality”. But if we just say “respecting individuality is important” without considering the basic skill of understanding, we can only “understand from our own point of view”.

The basic training of understanding correctly what other people say is one of the most important things today.

There is an even higher level of understanding, but I will end for now with your practice and validation for this month. Next time, I will show you the rest in “Level of understanding (The second half)”.

[Point of practice]

・  Listen in a way that you can communicate what you are told to the others correctly.

[Point of validation]

・Compare the levels of understanding between the state after listening as above practice and the state that “you think you understood”.

Practice and validation for learning

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Practice and validation for learning

Recently my first-ever book “Kokoro wo shizumeru (Calm the mind)” was published in Japan by Gentosha Ltd. I suppose many of you have had the opportunity to read the above book and are reading this weblog for the first time. Therefore, I would like to tell you the importance of the practice and validation at this time. It is also important for those who have been regularly reading my weblog since the early days, so please read this so as to review your way of learning.

These weblog reports are written in order for you to practice and validate, not to just read.

Needless to say, practicing what you learn is important for all kinds of matters. It is useful to read books and participate in seminars, but reading and participating give you only some knowledge. In order to master the contents of the books and seminars, it is absolutely necessary to put them into practice.

So, if you just read this weblog, you may get some knowledge, however, you can not master completely what I mean by simply reading my weblog reports.

On the other hand, practicing is not enough as well. You need validation after practicing. For example, you need to check how your idea and action change your relationship with your family, friends, colleagues, boss, etc.

It is indispensable to analyze the results of practice objectively.

For example, let’s talk about the case that your daily task is “to practice Ki breathing methods every day.” I sometimes hear from those who practice Ki breathing methods,
“I practice Ki breathing methods for one hour every day!”
I know that it is hard to keep practicing Ki breathing methods for one hour every day and it is great to do. But I ask,
“As a result, how did you change?”
Some people have no response after hearing my question. It may be too strict to say that those who cannot answer my question are “self-satisfied,” but they are indeed satisfied with just having practiced Ki breathing methods for one hour.

In addition, among those people, there is a person who tells me,
“I exert myself to practice Ki breathing method for one hour even though I have difficulty in breathing!”
If he has difficulty in breathing, his way of Ki breathing is wrong.
Without validating the way, you will go in the wrong direction even further. As above, just practicing is not enough.

I will show you another example. Let’s say, your daily task is “to use plus words.” Honest people inform me,
“I always use plus words!”
Using plus words itself is great. But I ask,
“As a result, how did you change?”
Again, they have no answer in response to my question. Among those, even there is a person who tells me,
“I experience stress even though I am using plus words.”
In this case, his use of plus words is a meaningless achievement. If he gets stressed while using plus words, it means he may have been restraining himself, he may have been lying to himself, or he is trying to act strong unnaturally.
Again, without validating, you will go in the wrong direction even further. Just practicing is not enough.

Knowledge itself can be easily lost, however, a thing that you master through practice and validation you are unlikely to lose. It will become your life-long asset. I hope you will continue your practice and validation in the future.

The following is the practice and validation for this month:

[Point of practice]
・Choose one daily task for you to practice from the book “Kokoro wo shizumeru (Calm the mind)”
・Fix the period of one month and start practicing.

[Point of validation]
・Validate while practicing in the period (every day / every week / every month), then record some changes that you become aware of in your notebook.

Act after building a relationship of trust

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Act after building a relationship of trust

Imagine the relationship between parents and children, teacher and student, superior (boss) and subordinate staff, etc. When receiving advice, we can accept advice from a certain person, but cannot accept the very same advice from another person. Have you ever had such an experience? Everybody must have a particular person from whom they do not want to accept advice. Why does a different reaction occur in us when we receive the same advice from two different people?

The ability to accept advice from someone depends entirely upon whether a relationship of trust has been built between you, or not. If you have a relationship of trust, even if you receive a tough form of advice, you can accept it. But if the trustful relationship is not there, you will oppose him and not be able to accept the advice. Therefore, the person who gives advice has to check whether he already has this relationship of trust with the person who receives advice. This is much more important than simply checking the way of advising.

One of my acquaintances is a man with the best of intentions. He feels free to tell anything he thinks is important to his partner even if the thing he is telling is not the favorite subject of the partner. We can say he is a very rare person in these days. However the problem is that he changes his attitude depending on his mood, and he cannot control this. From other people’s point of view, since he often loses his temper, people cannot trust him. With such a nature, when he gives advice in detail about any subject, nobody wants to listen to him. Then he is very dissatisfied because nobody accepts his “kind” advice. It is a vicious circle and nobody benefits.

The important point is never “what to advise” but “who advises”.  If there is an established relationship of trust, the advice will be effective. In the many popular “how-to” books, they advise communication techniques such as “It is better to advise subordinates in such a manner….” etc. However, these techniques will become meaningful only with the existence of a relationship of trust. Nobody wants to listen to a person who is untrustworthy even if he has learned excellent communication techniques.

When I instruct in a seminar, even though what to instruct is also important, I take great care to use trustful words, behavior and actions. If we can establish a relationship of trust between us, then my instruction will be understood. If there is no relationship of trust, my instruction will not be understood. Therefore, the most important thing as an instructor is to become a person who is trustworthy. Before considering “what to instruct”, we need to consider “who instructs.”

In many cases, the first impression is an important factor whether to be trusted or not. This can be established by making a number of minimal efforts day by day.

When I advise somebody, I carefully check whether there is a relationship of trust with the person. If there is, I can go ahead and make even tough advice without hesitation. If there is not a sufficient relationship of trust, I will wait to offer advice until after having built up a solid relationship of trust, or ask someone else to speak for me who already has a relationship of trust with the person whom I intend to advise. In this way, the person will be able to accept the advice.

It is basic in all matters to act only after building up a relationship of trust. In the case of the sales person, before considering how to sell, it is important to consider how to build up a relationship of trust with customers. In the case of an instructor, before considering how to instruct, it is important to consider how to build up a relationship of trust with the students.

As a short digression, I had one male student who was popular with the ladies. But he is neither handsome nor especially appealing. Since I was also single at that time, I once asked him the important key to being popular with the ladies. He replied, “I just put into practice what you (Shinichi sensei) instructed me to do,” I burst out laughing in spite of myself.

The following is the practice and validation for this month:

[Point of practice]
・Before instructing (advising) somebody, check the relationship of trust with the person.
・Instruct (advise) only after building up a relationship of trust, or instruct (advise) through a person who already has a relationship of trust with the person whom you intend to instruct (advise).

[Point of validation]
・Observe how your partner receives your advice after the above practice is made.

Make up your mind

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Make up your mind

When your mind is made up, you can exert the best of your mental strength.

We sometimes worry when having to make one single choice from several choices. This worry causes mental weakness, and indecision. For example, please imagine that you get up in the morning. If you make up your mind to “get up!”, you can get up without any bother. But if you are very slow to push your blanket aside and get up from the bed in an indecisive manner, you will even feel tired. It is effective to make up your mind before going to sleep at night. Say to yourself “Get up at __ o’clock tomorrow!” If your decision is not firm and you have a choice of “sleeping a little more”, you will bother yourself whether to get up or stay in bed, which will weaken the power of your mind.

It is also important to make up our mind when deciding our future career. After the graduation of the Ki-Aikido Institute, aspiring persons take the examination to become Uchideshi. In the interview, I always ask one thing, that is ”whether they can get rid of all  choices other than Uchideshi or not”. How these people spend their time during their teens and twenties, is very important in preparing to act as a professional instructor. The training period of Uchideshi is for 10 years, so, to become an Uchideshi means to throw aside all other choices. Therefore, I will accept only the person who is firmly determined to train as Uchideshi. Because the training of Uchideshi is very hard, if the person has other choices than being an Uchideshi, it will weaken his willpower and in the end he cannot overcome the challenges of the Uchideshi training period.

It is important to make up our mind that “we have no other choice than what we have decided to do”.

People say that young people’s possibilities are limitless. However, some people misunderstand the true meaning of this statement. In this favorable time, many people can select their career on their own. From this point of view, we can say that the possibilities are indeed limitless. However, to select one means to get rid of the others. At the moment of selection, the other possibilities are all gone. Thus, our selection has to be done carefully and prudently. To examine in advance and have various experiences are also necessary. To chase other possibilities even after having made one choice is not the true meaning of “limitless possibilities”. It is the worst thing to regret that you think you might have another life “if you had made another decision in the past”. As a result, our mind becomes full of worries, and it is not possible to overcome the difficulties you face.

On the other hand, if the mind is made up, we can overcome any difficulties. Making up your mind means that the mind faces 100% to the direction of the target, that is, the state of “unification of mind and body”. In this case, we can perform to the best of our ability.

Making up our mind can be practiced throughout our usual daily life rather than through unusual big events. “Do it” or “don’t do it” are also examples of our worries causing weakness of our mind. In any case, we have to do the particular thing in our daily life, so better to make up our mind to “do it!”, and get rid of other choices.

We can train to “make up our mind” through usual activities ie; getting up in the morning, cleaning the house, and tidying up, etc. Then, we can also make up our mind for the big events such as school entrance and marriage, etc.

The person who can accomplish something is always the person who has learned about “making up his mind” somewhere and putting it into practice.

In this new year, how have you made up your mind?

The following is the practice and validation for this month:

[Point of practice]
・Make up your mind in the daily small matters (ex: getting up, reading and cleaning, etc)
・Get rid of all choices other than “doing it” from your mind.

[Point of validation]
・Experience the difference between the case that you have made up your mind when doing something and the case that you have not made up your mind when doing something.

Learn with Open Minded Sincerity

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Learn with Open Minded Sincerity

Imagine that we want to pour water into a cup. If the cup is already full of water, we cannot pour more water, so we need to empty the cup so that we can pour new water. This same principle can be applied when learning something new.

I instruct more than 2,000 people each year. Out of the 2,000 people, I instruct the same 300 people every week. Therefore, I can observe their improvement. I have noticed that there are two groups of people. One group of people improves, but the other does not. There is “a difference“ between them. Of-course it depends on the quality of my instruction to each person, but not only that. What do you think?

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The difference is whether “they start their training after watching my instruction carefully” or “they start their training without watching my instruction carefully.” The difference depends upon whether they copy what I instruct directly, or base their practice on their own thoughts. It is odd that they do not watch my instruction carefully even though they come to me to learn all the way. They have their own thoughts. Their mental cup is full of water, so fresh water cannot be added.

The most important thing for learning something is “open minded sincerity”. Open minded sincerity means neither being too obedient nor doing whatever we are told. Open minded sincerity means an attitude of understanding one’s master’s teachings directly rather than based on one’s own idea and interpretation. If you recognize the value of what you are going to learn, learning sincerely with an open mind is the important key for improvement.

Among the Uchideshi training under my direction, there are ones who are sincerely open minded and ones who are not. For example, if I recommend one book to read, the sincerely open minded Uchideshi will start reading immediately in order to know why the book is recommended to him. However, the Uchideshi who is not of this mind fails to read, offering various excuses. Even though many times he accompanies me in teaching other students, he will not learn what he is supposed to learn unless he is open minded and sincere. In spite of his character, I teach and instruct him deeply, so that he becomes a great instructor in the future, however, it takes time for him to realize his wrong attitude.

To tidy up our past experience and knowledge and empty our mind is necessary when starting to learn something. It is important to understand “what it is the master wants to teach me” rather than “how I interpret the master’s teachings” while learning. After receiving the master’s teaching directly, if you think it is not useful, you can throw it away.
You may say:
“It is the same thing that I learned in the past.”
“It is the same thing that another teacher said in the past.”
“It is the same thing that I read in that book.”
“My master’s teachings are different from my thoughts.”
It is most likely that the people who say these kinds of things while learning new things are not sincerely open minded.

In my experience, if you consider yourself as “sincerely open minded”, you need to be careful. It is better to start learning by considering the possibility that you are not sincerely open minded.

The following is the practice and validation for this month:

[Point of practice]
・ Do something in a sincere and open minded manner. (ex: learn with a sincere open mind, experience with a sincere open mind, and read with a sincere open mind, etc.)

[Point of validation]
・Observe the consequence of acting in this way in all things.

Holding with Ki

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Holding with Ki

Tohei Koichi Sensei has instructed many professional baseball players. One of them is Mr. Sadaharu Oh, who belonged to the Yomiuri Giants.

Mr. Oh entered the Giants team with great expectations for his performance. However, the results of his first year were not good and occasionally he was criticized severely as the “Strike out king”.

Through various connections, Mr. Oh met Tohei Koichi Sensei in his second year and thereafter he studied with Tohei Koichi Sensei throughout his active career.

As a result, and through his own tremendous effort, he became the person who was called as “The world homerun king”.

Tohei Koichi Sensei first taught him posture with unification of mind and body and then, how to hold the bat with Ki.

Many players, who are not in good condition, exert themselves too much and grip their bat too hard. If they are gripping their bat too tight, their body gets tense unnecessarily and they lose their natural posture. Then, they are unable to handle their bat in the way that they want.

Then, is holding lightly the best? The answer is no. If you just hold lightly, you cannot support the bat properly. Holding this way, you cannot hit a ball moving at 150 km/h. So, gripping hard is not good and just holding lightly is also not good. That is why many players are confused.

There is a correct way to hold that also applies to other objects and tools, not only to a bat. This correct way is called “holding lightly and sending Ki”.

When we hold lightly, and at the same time believe that “Ki passes through” that which we are holding, the whole part of the object will be filled with Ki. Then you feel “the object is a part of your body”.

Even though you hold lightly, if Ki is seen as throughout the whole part of the bat, you are vary stable without leaning back and forth when someone tries to push your body or bat. We call this way of testing for and knowing stability, “Ki testing”.

All players are very surprised when they experience the stability of their posture and bat even though they hold their bat lightly. Furthermore, there is a great sound when they practice hitting the baseball with such stable posture.

In this way, just by checking the way of holding the bat, players with a bad condition can recover their good condition.

In Ki-Aikido training, we practice this way of holding with the bokken (wooden sword). A bokken that is filled with Ki has great strength.

For example, it is not easy to strike down a bokken that is supported in this way. However, a bokken that is gripped hard or just lightly supported has very little strength. The bokken is very honest.

A person who does calligraphy can apply the above method when holding a brush. Similarly, a person who plays music can apply the same when holding an instrument. And a person who cooks can apply the same when holding cooking tools.

In order to learn this method, professional sports athletes, such as professional baseball players, and also calligraphers and musicians are all learning bokken practice.

The correct way of holding can be applicable to all situations of our daily life. For example, let’s apply this principle when carrying plates. If you carry with Ki, you can place the plate on the table softly and quietly. Whereas if Ki is not in the plate, you very well may place it in rough and noisy way.

For improvement in Ki-Aikido, especially ken and jo, the practice of “holding with Ki” in daily life is quite important.

The following is the practice and validation of this month:

This time, this practice and validation is for those who have learnt “the correct way of holding” in Ki-Aikido training at least once.

[Point of practice]
・Hold all things with Ki. (Hold with Ki = hold lightly and send Ki to that which is being held)

[Point of validation]
・Observe how your posture changes when you hold with Ki. And observe how the things you are holding themselves change.

Methods for not cutting off Ki

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Methods for not cutting off Ki

In Ki-Aikido training, we practice something which prevents us from “cutting off Ki” before and after each Aikido technique. “Cutting off Ki” means to switch off our awareness.

I believe many people experienced spending all day in bed during the precious holiday season because of having a cold. Why do we catch a cold when holiday season comes?

A person who works on weekdays spreads out Ki on weekdays, however, cuts off Ki on weekends. Because of cutting off Ki, he makes himself susceptible to catching a cold.

In order not to catch a cold, it is necessary to have good methods for not cutting off Ki. For example, consider ahead of time how best to spend a holiday. If you make up your mind how to spend the holiday, Ki will not be lost.

If you just spend the holiday aimlessly, without any specific activity, your Ki will be cut off. There may be persons who do not want to do anything on a holiday. In such a case, it is necessary to make up their mind to rest their body on holiday.

In my case (although I do not have many holidays), when I take a vacation, I always make up my mind whether to do something or even not to do anything. If my mind is made up, Ki will not be cut off.

In the early days, I also caught a cold when holidays came, however, I never caught a cold since I learned not to cut off Ki.

It is important to put this into practice.

I always work closely with the staff and uchideshi (close pupils of Ki-Aikido). There are some staff and uchideshi who cut off their Ki after big events, probably because their attention to the event drops away once the event is over.

Therefore, I warn all relevant staff not to cut off Ki after big events.

And also, I allow them to take their vacation after working a few days, not immediately after the big event. Then, there is no staff or uchideshi who damage their health.

I, myself, go to instruct seminars overseas each year. I do not take a holiday immediately after coming back to Japan, but take a holiday after working for some days. This is another effective method for “not cutting off Ki”.

There is an interesting story about Tohei Koichi Sensei when he returned to Japan from China near the end of World War II.

There were many people who returned to Japan safely after the war, and took their rest in hot springs, etc. However, many of these people gradually lost their physical strength and finally passed away. It is unfortunate to die even though one returns safely after war.

Tohei Koichi Sensei heard of this, so he did not take his rest immediately after returning to Japan.  Instead, he engaged in field work for about a week, then he got to rest. As for those who died after returning, it is possible that there was a harmful effect on their body because of suddenly losing their Ki after being extremely tense during the war.

In this way, Tohei Koichi Sensei used his own method for “not cutting off Ki”.

In our daily life, we should be specially careful about not cutting off Ki after big events. For instance, as students, after passing entrance examination of schools, as young business persons, after achieving something, and as elder business persons, after retiring.

The Beijing Olympics have ended, so it is the time for athletes who took part in the competition to use methods for “not cutting off Ki”. (In fact, I instructed them to do so.)

“Not cutting off Ki” does not mean continuing to work at something unreasonably. Of course everybody needs a rest. However, when taking a rest, if ones attention is switched off and Ki is cut off, there will be an unexpected harmful effect on ones health.

I would say again that using a method for “not cutting off Ki“ is a very important matter.

The following is the practice and validation for this month:

[Points of practice]
・Write down situations where you tend to cut off your Ki.
・Make a method for not cutting off Ki then. (for example, make your target, aim etc)

[Point of validation]
・Observe how you get effected after succeeding in not cutting off Ki.

Communicate Clearly

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.

The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.

It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.

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Communicate Clearly

I teach Ki Principles at many companies and educational institutions.

I receive many invitations to speak, but since my main job is to teach Ki-Aikido, I am not always able to accept some of the invitations. Ki Society has enough human resources so that we will be able to continue to cultivate our instructors, and in the future, many people will be able to study Ki principles at their own offices.

When I teach at companies or educational institutions, I always ask participants to fill in a questionnaire first. The purpose of this questionnaire is to get some general feedback, and moreover I would like to know how much participants understand from my lectures.

One question I always ask is, “Are my lectures easy to understand?”. Many participants do answer “Yes, very easy to understand”. It is my pleasure.(I feel I am not enough, therefore, I try to make an improvement always.)

One of the participants who is management consultant once asked me, “How is it that your lectures are so easy to understand? Have you received any special training?”

Since he asked this question, I realized that I have never received any special training, outside of Ki-Aikido training.

This is not to make me something special, but I relate this because I have a point in mind. That is, to always send Ki to others, to see their state of mind, and to see if others understand my teaching and explanation and practice it.

When people don’t understand, this causes them to feel uncomfortable. (Of course, there are many variations of this amongst different individuals)

Often those people look gloomy and are sending minus Ki. On the other hand, it is always comfortable to understand. When there is understanding, people look happy and send plus Ki.

That is to say, if you send Ki to others, you can see others’ Ki, and you can understand the understanding of others very clearly.

If others look like they do not understand, what should we do? If it is possible in the situation, you ask others to repeat what you have said. Then, if you check by asking a question, you can understand the understanding of others very well.

When others cannot understand, if you think “This is their fault”, your teaching ability will not be improved. Therefore, I do not say “I already told you” even if others cannot understand what I said. The speaker also has the responsibility to send Ki and be sure that others understand clearly or not.

If you constantly try to clarify your teaching, it will gradually be improved. My teaching ability is based on those experiences, therefore, there is no special training, other than this, required.

This is the way I answered the man’s question. My answer seemed a surprise to him, because he thought it was too natural.
However, sending Ki to others is natural when you practice Ki-Aikido in the dojo and in your daily life. Nonetheless, many people do not send Ki to others.

We tend to accept something special as having great value, but do not accept something that is natural. However, it is always important to do the natural thing in a natural way.

To communicate clearly is not an inherited ability but a matter of training. And essence of this training is that you want to communicate clearly to others. Where is this state of mind come from? If you understand this, you can send Ki to others naturally.

Please discover this for yourself by doing this month’s practice and validation.

[Point of practice]

When you explain something to others, first, send Ki to them.
Check to see if they understand you. Check to see if they send plus or minus Ki.
If you think that others do understand, you have accomplished your purpose.If they do not understand, you have not done so. Make a note of each of these cases.

[Point of validation]

When you succeed, how is your state of mind? Validate this.
When you do not succeed, how is your state of mind? Validate that.
What is the state of your mind when you explain something clearly to others? Do those others approve of your advice? Do those others have plus mind? Is your advice then passed on to still others, or do those you are speaking to simply keep it for themselves?