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?

Put yourself in the place of your opponent

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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"Put yourself in the place of your opponent"

There is a series of principles which is fundamental to Ki-Aikido practice. This series is called “The five principles of Aikido with mind and body unified”
　
Five principles of Aikido with mind and body unified:
　　
1. Ki is extending
2. Know your opponent’s mind
3. Respect your opponent’s Ki
4. Put yourself in the place of your opponent
5. Perform with confidence

Our Ki is extending, therefore we can know another’s mind. We know another’s mind, therefore we can respect another’s Ki. We respect another’s Ki, therefore we can put ourselves in the place of another.  After that, we just perform with confidence.

If we practice this correctly, we can lead others.

In the dojo, we practice “Put yourself in the place of your opponent”. However, if you practice it only in your dojo, you cannot master it.

This is because we can practice in the dojo only a few hours each day. If you are busy businessman, you might be able to practice only a few hours a week or even a month. It is natural that we are away from the dojo much longer than we are practicing in the dojo. This means we come under much greater influence from the outside world.

To master Ki principles most effectively, we must practice in the dojo, of course. But we must also practice the Ki principles in our daily life. It is no use just to think “Put yourself in the place of your opponent.”  It is important to actually practice “Put yourself in the place of your opponent”.   

For example, when I hand money to a sales clerk at a cash register when I am shopping, I can hand over the money in such a way that the sales clerk finds it easy to count it up and can easily gather up the coins. When I observe others carefully, I notice that some people hand money to a sales clerk in a disorderly manner and the sales clerk has a hard time counting it.
If you do something to make it easier for others, this means to “Put yourself in the place of your opponent”.

In another example, at a casual restaurant, when a waiter removes dishes from the table, we can arrange the used dishes in such a way as to make it easier for the waiter to pick them up. (This might not be a good practice at an expensive restaurant.) When I observe others carefully, I notice that some people do not help a waiter and waiter has a hard time removing the dishes from the table. This is another case in which you can ““Put yourself in the place of your opponent”.

When I teach at the dojo, I can put myself in the place of the students, such as using a high enough volume and clear enough quality of voice, or when I use a writing board, making the letters large enough for easy reading, etc.  When I listen to lectures by others, sometimes it is difficult to hear clearly. In this case, it is also important to “Put yourself in the place of your opponent”.

When I review my daily life, I always try to do “Put myself in the place of my opponent”, but sometimes I am lacking in consideration. I am not perfect, but I take my daily life as practice. Therefore I find my deficiencies everyday, and then I have the opportunity to fix my deficiencies.

This is something that I really appreciate about this practice.

If you do practice “Put yourself in the place of your opponent” in your daily life, you can do it in your Aikido techniques. People who do not practice it in daily life, cannot master anything. Please practice it in your daily life.

What state of mind do you have when you “Put yourself in the place of your opponent”? Please discover this by doing this month’s practice and validation.

Below is this month’s practice and validation:

[Point of practice]

To help others in all communication in your daily life.
Use your words and actions to make things easier for others.

[Point of validation]

How others react to your help.
What state of mind are you in when you “Put yourself in the place of your opponent”?

Sending Plus 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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Sending Plus Ki

I recently taught the Ki principle to business managers at a seminar in Japan.

It is a five-part seminar taking place over a period of five months. At the final seminar of all five, they will have a camp that will last three days and two nights at Ki no Sato.
These managers from all over Japan always study very sincerely.

At the beginning, they don’t consult me because of diffidence. But in process of studying, building relationships of trust between participants and me, they start to talk to me in the following way, “Between you and me, sensei...”

“My staff doesn’t report to me.” “My staff doesn’t have positive attitude.” These are the most common consultations.

“Reporting, informing, and talking” are basic aspects of business.
Reports about bad things like accidents, trouble, or claims are particularly important, because the delay of reporting makes the matter worse.

The delay of good news matters little, however, the delay of a bad report absolutely matters. Disguising a bad report is the worst.

Therefore, it is a serious problem when managers cannot get reports from their staff. I think it is not surprising for managers to be disturbed by this. The staff of Ki Society H.Q. also trains in order to report smoothly.

In many cases, if the staff doesn’t report to the manager, the manager tries to blame their staff.

“Why don’t you make reports immediately?”
“Every time I tell you that your reports are very important!”
“I always keep the door of the president’s room open! Why don’t you come in?”

I can understand why they are reluctant. But in many cases, it is not the staff, but the managers who are responsible for this unwillingness.

If managers have a hard or somber face when their staff comes to report, they feel it difficult to report to their managers. Most of us would like to approach people who are sending plus Ki, and would move away from people sending minus Ki.

Therefore, we have to check our own state of mind first, before blaming our staff for not reporting. Especially we should check our own face in the mirror.

There is a great manager who practiced this right away after my teaching. He put a small mirror on his desk. He changed his habit by checking his face with the mirror before he talked with his staff.

He said, “I was so surprised when I looked at my face.” He was surprised to find that there were a few frown lines between his eyebrows. After he had changed this, he got more reports from his staff than before.

In addition to this, I heard that conversations with his family were increased. Probably he might have talked to his child with a stern look in the same way.

If you want to improve not only “reporting, informing, and talking” but also communications, you have to “send plus Ki” first. To send plus Ki means taking the matter positively, having plus thinking, using plus words, having a plus face and having a plus attitude.

This also applies to relations between parents and children, teachers and students. It is important not only for business managers but also parents and teachers to create a mood in which someone feels at ease to talk to them.

Sending plus Ki brings plus results. Sending minus Ki results in minus.

Below is this month’s practice and validation:

[Point of practice]

Check your face before a conversation.
See if you are sending plus Ki or not.
Talk with you partner while sending plus Ki.

[Point of validation]

Observe the change in how your partner responds to you.

Control Yourself First

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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Control Yourself First

In Ki-Aikido training, we practice both technique and natural posture (posture with oneness of mind and body). 

In order to throw, we must lead our partner. This is Ki-Aikido. It is impossible to throw your partner if your posture is unstable.

To lead and throw your partner, your posture, that is your mind and body, needs to be stable first.

When we say “correct posture”, some people might imagine “stand straight and stiff”. But this is not correct posture. Correct posture means a natural posture.

Natural posture (posture with oneness of mind and body) is:

The most stable posture
The most comfortable posture
The most sustainable posture

When the above three requirements are in place, this is called “Natural posture”.

“Before you control others, you must first control yourself.”  This is a fundamental principle of Ki-Aikido.

We can also relate this to our relationships in our daily life.

In daily life, we tend to try to change others, instead of changing ourselves. That is, we try to control others before controlling ourselves. If you do this, you will find that the minds of others resist, and we will not be able to change others.

For example, when your own shoes are dirty, if you tell someone else that his shoes are dirty, he will not listen your advice. “I do not want to hear that from you!”

If you see someone else’s shoes are dirty, and you want them to clean them up, first clean up your shoes. By demonstrating your willingness to take responsibility for your own condition, others become ready to accept advice from you. As a result, you can help others to change.

We experience this in our daily life. But we tend to forget this principle when we do Ki-Aikido practice.

We may have a selfish mind that says, “I want throw others” or “I want to control others”. Because of this mind, people try to throw others first, before controlling self. If you practice stable posture before throwing others, you can master self control.

Even if we practice Ki-Aikido, if we cannot use its principles in our daily life, we cannot say we practice Ki-Aikido. I use the phrase, “Throw in daily life”. This means I must change myself first in order to lead others in daily life and my work.

Of course, I do not actually throw people in this case. This process is the same as leading others in a Ki-Aikido technique. So, outside the Dojo, I “throw many people” everyday.

A manager or a leader has authority. Therefore, they tend to want to change others before changing themselves. If you have a position in which you influence others, it is important to “control oneself first”.

Below is this month’s practice and validation:

This month’s practice and validation is a little more difficult than usual. However, to practice this will bring big rewards. You can consider it a success if you succeed once in 10 tries. Once you experience success, you will be able to succeed more often.

Practically speaking, even if you change yourself first, others might not change at all. Even so, please continue the challenge of practice and validation. It is very important that you continue practice and validation.

[Point of practice]

Select anyone around you. Decide in what way you would like him or her to change. Then, before attempting to change them, decide to change yourself first.
This is not about changing others, but changing your self first.

[Point of validation]

Look at the result. Verify if others have changed or not.

Purpose & Goal

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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Purpose & Goal

When we face an important situation, we often become nervous.

We had a Ki-Aikido dan promotion test last weekend at Ki no Sato. I have been watching each promotion test since last year. I can see that some students cannot perform to the best of their ability because they get nervous.

We all know that “Mind moves body”. Therefore, if mind becomes tense, body also becomes tense. Without removing tension from the mind, we cannot remove the tension of the body. The tension in mind sometimes comes from the way of thinking. Therefore, your way of thinking changes your way of perceiving things.

Many people confuse “purpose” with “goal”.

Do you think that passing the Ki-Aikido Dan test and consequent promotion would be the “purpose” or “goal” of Ki-Aikido study? Half of the students answer “purpose”, half of the students answer “goal”. Which is correct? What do you think?

The answer is to pass the test is “goal”.

The “purpose” is to understand Ki-Aikido deeply and practice it in our daily life. That is, through the promotion test, one can understand Ki-Aikido more deeply and practice this in daily life.

Everyone feels tension or nervousness. If you face the nervousness fully, then you will use the nervousness in a plus way, and perform to the best of your ability. This can be the best training opportunity.

On the other hands, if you think to pass the test is the “purpose”, you start to think “I must not fail”. As a result, you become more nervous.

When you do anything, you can change your approach by knowing if it is “purpose” or “goal”.

I have many chances to teach businesspersons. I will ask them, “Is it your “purpose” or “goal” to earn millions of yen?” Just as before, half answer “purpose”, half answer “goal”. If the goal is to earn a lot of money, we tend to think we that justifies doing anything to earn money. In those companies, not only management, but also the workers become tense, and the work is painful.

The purpose of any company is to serve society. This is basic, then, the company has a goal: everyone works in a lively way.

There are many examples of this, such as “Taking an exam and passing the exam would be purpose or goal?” “To get qualification would be purpose or goal?”

If you feel tension or hardship or loose Ki in what you are doing, you will need to think carefully about what is your purpose and what is your goal.

To clarify, your purpose means to send your mind to your goal.  This is oneness of mind and body. “Mind moves body” therefore the nervousness is not only a matter of body but state of mind.

Below is this week’s practice and validation:

［Point of practice］
Clarify whether what you are engaged in is your purpose or your goal.
If you misunderstood purpose and goal, think carefully what is your purpose.

［Point of validation］
When your purpose becomes clear, what change do you feel?
(For example, can you have good tension, perform easily, and enjoy doing things etc.? )

Gyo (Practice)

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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Gyo (Practice)

To learn oneness of mind and body, we do “Gyo” in Ki-Aikido practice. “Senshin no Gyo” and “Sokushin no gyo” are also called “Gyo”.

On the one hand, it is extremely important to gain knowledge. However, it would be unwise to conclude that you understand when you have only gained knowledge. Fundamentally, to “understand” means to “ be able to do”.

If we just gain knowledge about oneness of mind and body, this does not necessarily mean that we can do oneness of mind and body. To learn and master oneness of mind and body, we need “Gyo”. “Gyo” means practice.

“Gyo” is very important, but many people misunderstand it. That is, most people think that “Gyo is something I do that makes me special”.

For example, “Senshin no Gyo”. Senshin no gyo is the practice of pouring water over oneself at Kagami-biraki (January) during very cold weather. People pour water over themselves in weather that is below the freezing point.  Therefore, by most definitions, this should be a very difficult practice.

However, if you do this with oneness of mind and body, you will find it easier than you think. Everyone who practices this says, “Before doing Senshin no Gyo, I thought it would be very difficult. But after I set my mind and did it, I could do it easily.”

Therefore the first step of Senshin no gyo is to experience this state of mind. Once you understand this, you use this same state of mind when you face your problems in your daily life.

This is “Gyo”.

It does not make someone a great person just because one has poured cold water over oneself during the winter. There is no benefit in thinking this way. After Senshin no gyo, you may say, “Senshin no gyo is finished!”. However, the correct way is to say, “Senshin no gyo is beginning!”. It is important to practice this new state of mind in your daily life.

You might not yet be able to experience Senshin no gyo and Sokushin no Gyo in your daily life. However when you are able to, this will be a wonderful experience. Therefore, I hope you will experience this sometime soon.

In the mean time, there is “Gyo” which you can practice in your daily life. For example, set a time period and practice something everyday at that decided time. Choose something which you do not normally do in your daily life, and practice this every day of the week.

A man who attended my seminar set the following goal: “When I wake up in the morning, I will say good morning to my family with a smile.” Some of you may think, “Oh, that is such an easy thing.” However, this is not an easy thing.

The man tried to continue doing this for one year. However, he discovered that we are not always in the same positive state of mind.  One day we feel bad, and another day we feel good. For instance, sometimes we may not talk with our family because of a hangover. One day we are happy, but another day we are unhappy. (This applies to both yourself and your family. )

Our mind does not remain in the same state everyday. However, most people think their mind stays the same everyday. We do not always realize our mind is constantly changing. To do the same practice everyday and at the same time, you need to face your own mind.

This will be “Gyo”

Below is practice and validation.

[Point of practice]

Set your goal to perform some practice in your daily life. Your goal should not be unusually difficult, but it should be one that you do not practice now.
First of all, practice it for one month (a year if possible) everyday. (It is important to do it with same state of mind everyday every time.)

[Point of Validation]

If you can continue practicing it for a month.
Or,
If you fail to continue, consider the reason why you were not able. Then, think how you can do it, and try again.

Calm your mind first, then act.

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.
________________________________________

Calm your mind first, then act.

The most important principle in Ki-Aikido is “Mind moves body”.

If you try to move the body of another, it is almost impossible if his or her mind resists. To lead the body of another, you need to lead his or her mind first.

For leading another’s mind, first we must know their mind. It is easy to grasp the body because it has color and shape, but mind does not have color and shape, and so it is not easy to grasp.

Even so, mind moves body. Somehow, all of the state of mind is reflected in the state of the body. You can know the state of mind through state of the body.

Breathing is one of the best examples.

There are two types of breath. There is “deep and calm” breath and “shallow and rough” breath. Which of these do you usually do? When do you breathe shallowly and roughly?  Usually this happens when you get nervous, angry, sad, feel pressure, and so on. After hard training, our breath becomes rough, but this is a special case, therefore, I will omit this case now.

If your state of mind is not calm, your breath is also not calm. Therefore, you can know your state of mind through breathing.

In addition to that, if you train to calm your breath in daily life, you can calm your breath and act even in an emergency.

People who do not have an interest in breathing may face a difficult situation with rough breathing. When they get nervous, therefore, they cannot perform to the best of their ability. Once you practice Ki breathing and are able to calm your breath, you never experience becoming rigid because of stress.

Therefore, many athletes learn “Ki breathing”. Artists and managers also learn it.

By calming your breath, daily-life communication will change.

We react to stimulus from outside instantly through instinct. If someone takes an aggressive stance towards us, we also become aggressive in our reaction. If we act through instinct, we elicit a Pavlovian response to others, and refuse to accept what others say or do. We always regret this later. 

This kind of bad habit can improve by Ki breathing. Pausing to take a breath will help to control one’s mind and actions.

To calm your breath means to calm your mind and actions. This is very simple. By controlling yourself, you can keep smooth communication. When you scold children or when you must advise your subordinates, always calm your breath first.

I used to have a bad temper and it was easy to become angry since I was small. However, I rarely loose my temper now. No one believes that I had a bad temper in the past. Ki breathing helps me a lot.

Below is this month’s exercise, so please practice and check your progess.

This month’s practice is a prerequisite for knowing Ki breathing. If you are not familiar with Ki breathing, please read “Ki Breathing”, a book written by Koichi Tohei Sensei.

〔Things to practice〕

First, calm your mind by Ki breathing, then engage in daily life actions.
Example:
Calm your mind by Ki breathing, then start to talk.
Calm your mind by Ki breathing, then stand on stage.
Calm your mind by Ki breathing, then scold others. etc

〔Things to validate〕

Can you perform with a calm mind?

Fix Your Approach to 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.

---

Fix Your Approach to Learning

Among those who have been training a long time in Shin Shin Toitsu Do and Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, there are many who set their sights on becoming instructors. It is marvellous that they wish to be of service in the world by putting the things they have learnt into practice.

Those of my students who are aiming to become instructors often ask me to show them how to instruct. Although I would like to satisfy their desire to know this, I must tell them that I cannot.

This is because it is not any ‘method of teaching’ that is the important thing in being an instructor; the important thing is to master one’s own approach towards learning.

After I give a lecture, I occasionally ask audience members questions such as these:

With what facial expression did I conduct this lecture?

In what order did I explain things in the lecture?

Where did I stand while I was instructing?

Can you tell me roughly the size of my writing on the whiteboard?

The vast majority of the participants cannot answer these at all. For beginners, it may be difficult to notice that much detail. However, it is another story for all those aiming to become instructors.

Since I am actually demonstrating instruction in front of them, it is a great waste not to be observing it. Because they have the learning approach of a student they are not observing my method of instruction. Most of all it is indispensable to have the learning approach of an instructor.

I would like to share with you an experience that had great value for me.

It was when I was first receiving instruction from Tohei Sensei as an uchi deshi. My first task as an uchi deshi was to be Tohei Sensei’s otomo or personal assistant at one of his lectures. The lecture ended as a great success and I performed my duties properly. No, it was just that I had the impression that I had performed them well.

Afterwards, there was a request for a lecture from a person who had attended this lecture. As we could not adjust Tohei Sensei’s schedule for him to give this lecture, they asked us to send a lecturer from headquarters in his stead, or failing this, anyone at all. Tohei Sensei said to me, “Right. You go.”

I replied, ‘Thank you. But I don’t have any lecturing experience.’

Then I was told by Tohei Sensei, ‘But I demonstrated for you, didn’t I?’

I received a terrible shock.

This was because I had been thinking that being an otomo meant to be by Sensei’s side and to attend to him and for this reason, I had not been watching how he was giving his lecture!

Tohei Sensei said, ‘You have to become able to do things when they are shown to you once.”

I remember him explaining this to me.

Since then, whenever he has me be his otomo, I have come to pay deep attention to Tohei Sensei’s way of instruction: with what state of mind does he lecture, in what position does he stand, how does he look at the audience, in what order does he deliver the lecture, how loud is his voice? In a decade, he has had me be his otomo at more than a thousand lectures and seminars, and this experience is an asset that I would not exchange for anything.

There has not been a single time when someone instructed me in lecturing and instructing methodologies. The one and only thing that I was taught was the learning approach of an instructor. I am very grateful that I was able to be taught this learning approach right from the start.

Not being ready to learn is like collecting water in a sieve. No matter how much water you pour in, the water does not accumulate. First of all, fix your approach to learning and then pour in the water. You will be in the state where the water will accumulate. For that purpose, what I am conveying to all those who aim to become instructors is not any method of instruction, but the learning approach of an instructor.

Even for those who are not instructors their approach to learning is very important. Although it is important to decide on what to study for the acquisition of degrees, the most important thing is to fix your approach to learning.

[Things to practice]
Observe your approach to learning and take a record of where you are at
Give three things you think are important in approaching learning.
Put those three things into practice.

[Things to validate]
In what way were there changes to your efficiency in studying?
What kind of changes were there in your approach to teaching?

To greet 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.

---

To greet with Ki

Greetings have always been fundamental in building relationships.

Traditionally we were given strict training in greetings through our family. However, in recent times, it is often the case that this training must be conducted at school or at work. The same thing is happening at the dojo.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to observe the annual “new employee seminar” at a major consulting firm. The instructor began by giving instructions on greetings to the new employees who came from various industries from around the country.

I still remember my surprise at the lack of the participants’ ability to greet properly -- it was beyond my imagination. I had a realization that this is a generation where training must be conducted in the work environment.

In that seminar, instructions were given such as “when you bow, bow at this angle” and “first and foremost, greet in a loud voice”. Although there were some people who improved with this advice, many people had greetings that were correct in shape only and many who mistakenly thought that all you needed was to be loud.

Although it may be meaningful to start with proper shape and form, the most important thing is to understand the purpose of the greeting.

A greeting is a Zen terminology. But instead of discussing the Zen aspect of it, I would like to address how it relates to learning about Ki.

All greetings start by sending your ki (mind) to the person you’re addressing. And this ki must be a positive ki.

If you don’t send your ki to the person you’re addressing and just speak in a loud voice, it is only noisy and annoying. It is the same as yelling “Hello!” just for the sake of saying it when you have no intention of welcoming someone.

Because you send your ki, you "realize" things. If you send your ki to the person you’re addressing, you will be able to understand their state of mind.

Whether they are energetic. Whether they are not energetic.
Whether they are happy. Whether they are not happy.
Whether they understood what you are conveying. Whether they did not understand.

If you do not send your ki, you cannot realize a single thing about their state of mind. Before you train the forms and shape, it is necessary to train to send your ki. This is why greetings are the basis of building relationships.

In your daily life, are you actively greeting people?

A: “Hello Mr. B!”
B: (to A), “Oh, Hello!”

I often see an exchange like this. Physically it looks like both A and B are greeting in the same fashion. However, in terms of the usage of ki, A and B are completely different.

A notices B and actively greets him. The reason he can do this is because his ki is extending. On the other hand, B first notices A when A greets him, and is only reacting to A. That is to say, A is “greeting” B whereas B is “reacting” to A.

I am not saying it is wrong to react. A “greeting” begins by sending ki to the other person, so if you are always reacting it is necessary to check if you are actively directing your ki.

At work or at school, it is easiest to learn by making a game out of the training. The rules are simple: whoever greets first wins. The one who react loses. By doing this you will actively direct your ki towards your surroundings.

Children may go too far and hide and ambush someone so that they can greet first. Even then, this will ingrain better habits than not greeting at all or greeting in form only.

When both people send their ki to each other, there is a communication of ki. There is a ki exchange. A “greeting” is the basic form of exchanging ki.

[Things to practice]
• Actively greet others. Instead of "reacting", "greet".
• Keep a daily log of the number of times you greeted someone and the number of times someone greeted you.
• Initially aim for a winning record. Make you goal a perfect record.

[Things to validate]
• Observe the changes in how the people around you respond to you.

Maintaining a Positive Subconscious

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this kind of 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.

---

Maintaining a Positive Subconscious

When performing Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido techniques, as is all areas of life, it is important to believe in your abilities.

This is what we call "positive thinking." The importance of positive thinking is not a recent development; it has been recognized since long ago.

However, almost no one addresses just how to make your thinking positive. Koichi Tohei Sensei has, for half a century, taught people throughout the world that how to do something is more important that how to talk about it. The manner we do things in is crucial in making our thinking positive.

Often, people who exert themselves to make their thinking positive find they cannot do it easily. There are also people who find that their efforts only result in more stress.

First, I would like to establish the definition of the "positive" in positive thinking.

Truly being positive does not mean that only the self is positive. It does not mean interpreting things in a way that that is convenient for us. Doing so leads to collisions with those around us, and only makes situations worse.

Truly being positive means being universally positive. This means that others become positive, as well as ourselves. Even if we apply all our energy and somehow manage to become positive, this positive state means nothing if it is self-centered.

A truly positive mind is a universally positive mind.

With that defined, let's move ahead.

The human consciousness contains both the conscious mind, which involves what we are conscious of in the present, and the unconscious mind, which we are unaware of. We frequently use the word "consciousness" to refer only to the conscious mind.

The subconscious is the storehouse of the mind, the accumulation of the knowledge we have acquired from past experiences. Even when memories fade, the subconscious holds on to everything. The conscious mind is formed using materials drawn from the subconscious mind. Therefore, trying to make the conscious mind positive will be a waste of effort if the storehouse of the subconscious is full of negative thoughts. Wasting effort in this way leads to stress.

Maintaining constantly positive thinking requires not mettle or force of will, but a continual effort to steadily develop a positive subconscious.

Let us now address a concrete method to accomplish this. There are several methods, but I would like to show you one for now.

First, let me discuss the use of language. By this, I mean making the words we use positive, or putting positive ki into words as we speak them.

We speak negative words without even realizing it. Saying that we "can't do" something or that something is "difficult" are the best examples of this. Saying that we "couldn't do" something, or that it "was difficult" after trying it is one thing, but there is absolutely no need to say that we "can't" or that it's "difficult" before trying.

The words we speak, the closest to us, enter deeply into our subconscious.

If we speak negative words, they will have just as negative an effect on our subconscious. If the subconscious becomes negative, our daily consciousness becomes negative as well. Once we understand this, we can become afraid to use negative language.

But when we say something negative, we can replace it by saying it again as something positive, so long as we do so without delay, and without feeling disappointed. It would be something like this:

"I don't think I can do that…" (Ah! I shouldn't say that!)

"If I (do such-and-such), I'll be able do that!"

I urge those who think that the subconscious cannot be made positive this easily to try it themselves. If you can accomplish this, not just for a moment, but all day and every day, it will be something amazing.

Next time, I will tell you about another concrete method for making the subconscious positive.

Let's practice and validate the following:

[Things to practice]

Confirm the definition of being "positive" (not just analyzing things in a way that's convenient for oneself)

Check whether the words you speak on a daily basis are positive

Always speak positive language; if you speak something negative, replace it at that instant with something positive

[Things to validate]

Whether speaking with positive language has become habitual

How people's reactions to you have changed

How your dreams have changed

U.S. National Chief Instructor Seminar

I taught Ki and Ki-Aikido at the U.S. National Chief instructors’ seminar in Maryland, USA from June 21 (Thursday) to June 24 (Sunday), 2007. This seminar is for instructors of our branches in U.S. It is held once per year and each year in a different location. This is the most important seminar in the U.S., therefore, I go there and teach annually. Seminar was held in Oregon last year, and in Las Vegas two years ago.

This year’s host was Maryland Ki Society. The seminar took place in the town of Silver Spring which is 30 minutes from Washington DC by car. Our seminar location was in a US governmental building. Therefore, security was tight. The seminar place was a little crowded because of many participants, however, it was really nice place.

The theme of the U.S. National seminar was “Keep one point”. I taught the difference between “keep one point” and “loose one point” thoroughly. I taught each participant() directly and let all participants experience the difference through Kokyu dosa, Kokyu nage, Nikyo, Sankyo, Koteoroshi, Shihonage and other techniques in the seminar.

The point to master “Keep one point” is we must realize that we loose one point whenever our attention is in our head or whenever we get nervous. When you can realize this, you will be able to calm your mind in one point.

To master this, first, you watch the other person’s posture and movement to know if the person keeps one point or not. In the beginning, some participants could not see the difference, however, as the seminar progressed, they started to understand the difference. At last, they were able to understand the difference between Keep one point and loose one point for themselves.

Of course, It is always important to receive teaching from instructor in this practice. However, what is more important is that participants are able to realize the difference between keep one point and lose one point by themselves. The seminar is four days only. If the participants just correct their bad points when I am with them, they may not be able to continue to do so after I return to Japan. They will be able to practice the correct way continuously once they understand the difference between keep one point and loose one point.

Everyone was very happy when they realized this difference for themselves. Therefore, everyone was extending plus Ki. During the seminar, the dojo was full of plus Ki. We all studied seriously, but we kept smiling. In this way a four day seminar went very quickly for me, and also for the participants.

After the seminar, I had the opportunity to visit the Japanese Embassy. This was arranged by our members in U.S. I met Mr. Kato, who is the Ambassador of Japan to the United States of America. I talked with him about Ki-Aikido and U.S. National Seminar. Mr. Kato is a person of character. He was wonderful to talk with and I truly enjoyed meeting him. I was deeply impressed to know that people such as Mr. Kato look after Japan’s interest abroad.

Next year, 2008, we will hold the World Ki-Aikido competition, which is held once in four years, in Japan. Therefore we will not have a U.S. National Seminar next year. We will hold the next U.S. National Seminar in Colorado, USA. the year after next (2009). The atmosphere of an overseas seminar is very different from a seminar in Japan. I hope many of the Japanese instructors will attend a U.S. seminar once.

Personally I could understand almost all of the English. Many U.S. instructors told me, “Your English gets the point across. It is wonderful.” You explain difficult things in simple words”. This is because of my training in my English school, “Aeon”. I really appreciate my English teacher and school.

I really appreciate from the heart members of Maryland Ki Society who were the hosts of the seminar, as well as all participants coming from U.S. and South America.

Calming your breathing

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this kind of 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.

---

Calming your breathing

I have the great opportunity to be instructing many professional athletes.

A common worry among them is not being able to have control over when they are in good condition and poor condition.

Whether they are in top or poor form is largely affected by the state of their minds and that state is constantly changing.

Even if they themselves intend to keep the same state of mind, when they are in poor shape the state of their mind has changed.

To correctly know the state of the mind is generally extremely difficult. This is because it changes before even they themselves notice it.

For this reason, I make sure that I teach them Ki Breathing..

Many people have never turned their attention to their breathing, but if their breathing becomes calm, then their mind also becomes calm.

The most important point is to always have calm breathing and to become able to notice when your breathing is rough.

However, it is difficult to notice that your breathing is rough when it is so. .
At such times we tense up and strain ourselves, before we become aware of what we are doing.

Should you notice that your breathing has indeed become rough, then the only thing for it is to do Ki breathing.

However, if you are not aware of it, then there is no way you can deal with it.

The reason many professional athletes deeply understand Ki breathing is surely because they compete in a tough environment where failure is not an option.

It is the same when performing a Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido technique.

In the latter part of July there will be the All Japan Ki Aikido Taigi Competition, and I would like all those who are planning to attend to read (the following) carefully.

Even though you intend to perform with a constant state of mind, there are times when your state of mind has actually changed and you cannot perform as you hope to.

The most extreme example of this is when you are tense and your body does not move as you wish it to.
In order to demonstrate your real ability in important situations, such as your performance, you should always calm your mind and perform with a constant state of mind.

The breath is a manifestation of the mind, so you should always undertake the discipline of calming your breathing and then do your performance in the same way; in a state where your breath is calm.
If you become able to do this, you will be very strong in important situations.

Everybody knows it is an important thing to “calm the mind.” The question is how to do so.
A concrete method for doing this is Ki breathing.

I give lectures and instruct at seminars for over three hundred days per year. If I am ‘merely’ giving them, then of course there will be times when I am in good or poor condition.

Thus I make sure I perform Ki Breathing before the instruction or lecture.

The times when my breath is rough and I cannot do Ki breathing well are, as I wrote previously, the times when I am stressed and straining.

If I give instruction in such a state, then the possibility of failure is high.

Therefore, by doing Ki breathing until my breathing becomes calm, I am able to take the lecture in a state where my mind has also become calm.

Then naturally enough I succeed.
I absolutely cannot neglect to do Ki breathing.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ki breathing methods, I would like you to urge you to read Koichi Tohei Sensei’s book ‘Ki Breathing(Ki no Kokyuho)' in Japanese. (This book has been translated and uploaded on this weblog)

After you have read this book, I would like you to turn your attention to your own breathing as your way of implementation and verification for this time.

Within one breath, there are bound to be many things to notice.

Let’s practice and validate the following:

[Things to practice]

Observe your own daily breathing

[Things to validate]

Find out at what times does your breathing become rough

Find out the reason why it became rough

Changing your habits by changing your subconscious mind(2)

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this kind of 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 four times within a month.

---

Changing your habits by changing your subconscious mind(2)

This continues last time’s discussion of “Changing Your Habits”

Concerning the practice of Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, in learning proper actions it is essential to develop new habits. I’d like to tell you about practical ways you can change your habits.

To change your habits “depth of consciousness” and “repetition” are very important. First, let me talk about “depth of consciousness.”

The dramatic experiences that come from bad habits can completely transform a person. A friend of mine drank heavily for many years, he got very sick and drifted near the brink of death. Fortunately, he recovered completely and never drank another drop.

Experiences that touch your very existence enter the depth of your consciousness. Things that enter your depth of consciousness can change your habits.

But, such dramatic experiences are not the stuff of daily life. In the first place, dramatic experiences more often come from unavoidable circumstances than from choice. Because there are so many experiences that do not come by choice, you may not necessarily be able to change your habits by your method of choice.

The idea of entering deeply in to consciousness naturally involves the subconscious, but that is a complex topic that I’d like to talk about another time.

With that, “repetition” is now the important thing to talk about. If you set your mind firmly you can change your habit through the repetition of action.

Last time’s practice-and-validation was about changing the way you put on your shoes. There are many people who, after initially putting their mind to start something new, forget after several days. That cannot become “repetition.” It’s difficult to remember to do something new, so it’s likely that you won’t.

So, how can you achieve “repetition’?

At seminars and other events, I’ve had people do the practice-and-validation exercise for putting on shoes.

One person did this: put a dress shoe on the left, and a sneaker on the right, a deliberate choice to put different kinds of shoes on each foot. With that, it was easy to remember. This person succeeded in changing the habit. As an aside, this person did get some strange looks while walking around town like that.

Another person had a different approach.

For sneakers, put an eye-catching ribbon on the left shoelace, and for dress shoes, change the color of just the left insole. Then, put post-it notes all around the house with the message “left shoe first”, working very had to engage the subconscious. This successfully changed the habit.

There is not much meaning in changing the way you put on your shoes. But, there is a lot of meaning in changing your habits through your own will power. The various methods for doing it are invaluable.

Koichi Tohei sensei has said “In any field, the top people are those who continuously strive to do quality work without tiring.” “Repetition” is essential to adopting good habits, but determination and toughness alone are not enough to sustain the effort. In order to sustain, daily methods are indispensable.

Daily methods, they are a way of learning ki.

Let’s practice and validate the following:

[Things to practice]
1. Like last time, change your normal left-right order when you put on your shoes. Knowing you can do it without being conscious of it, change your habit.
2. Think of three methods for “repetition” and try putting them in practice.

[Things to validate]
1. Which methods were effective in changing habits?
2. Can you apply the methods to changing other habits?

Changing your habits by changing your subconscious mind

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this kind of 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 four times within a month.

---

Changing your habits changing your subconscious mind.

Your personality is expressed within your Shin-Shin Toitsu Aikido techniques.

The techniques of someone who tends to be hasty will be rushed. The techniques of someone who tends to be tense will be tense. Even if you imitate the forms, this will be evident.

This is true not only for negative personalities. Positive personalities are also expressed. This is not surprising since the “mind moves the body”. You can never excel in Shin-Shin Toitsu Aikido if you just concentrate on technique. You can excel only by changing your personality.

When I give this advice to my students, I am asked, “Isn’t your personality something you’re born with?”

What do you think about that? Many feel “you can not change your personality”, and yet we want to change our habits. Therein lies the contradiction.

“Personality” is a “collection of habits.” Habits are a set of behaviors based on how you perceive and respond to things.

A shy “personality” is a type of “habit” where you find rationalizations for not doing something, and therefore do not act. Thus you cannot resolve the “personality” of being shy by looking just into the soul.

In this case it is important to say to yourself “I can do this” and then establish a habit of taking action. That is to say, you must establish habits for both your mind and your body.

It is true that we are born with a particular disposition towards some personality. However, that is not the entire story. If you are a person who can change your habits, you can change your personality.

What does it mean to “change your habits”?

“Changing your habits” does not mean, “stopping your bad habits”. Most people wonder how one can stop bad habits. This is what makes changing habits difficult.

Please imagine for a moment that ink is being added to a glass of water.

When you add the ink, the water becomes cloudy. It is difficult to extract the ink from that cloudy water. However, if you add clean water to the glass, drop-by-drop, eventually, the water in the glass approaches being clear again.

Bad habits are like the ink in the water. It may be difficult to remove bad habits. However, it is definitely possible to learn new good habits. By applying your subconscious mind, and by patiently learning good habits, you can minimize your bad habits.

This is what I meant by “changing your habits”.

The same can be said of Shin-Shin Toitsu Aikido training.

Although there are many people who try his/her hardest to correct a bad habit, this is very difficult to accomplish. It’s probably discouraging when bad habits can’t be corrected readily. However, there is no need for discouragement. You simply need to make a new habit of performing the proper movements. Once you realize this, you progress amazingly quickly.

In order to change a habit, you need to start from small things, no matter how small, instead of from the larger things. When you are able to change your habits through your own efforts, this will lead to great confidence.

When you accomplish this, you will gain the conviction that “you can change your habits”. And then, changing your habits will become a source of enjoyment.

It doesn’t matter if you succeed or not. For now, I would like for you to try to change a habit in your daily life. I will share with you the how-to of changing habits in the next article.

Let’s practice and validate the following:

[Things to practice]

1. Try to remember if you put your right shoe on first or your left. If you can’t remember, put your shoes on.
2. If you put on your right shoe first, make a habit of putting on your left shoe first. If you put on your left shoe first, make a habit of putting on your right shoe first.
3. Devise three plans to help you do this, and then put it into practice.

[Things to validate]

1. Verify that you can accomplish this without conscious effort.
2. Reflect on the technique that was effective in establishing this new habit.

Listen To Others Well

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this kind of 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 four times within a month.

---

Ki-Aikido has five principles of Aikido with mind and body unification:
　　
1. Ki is extending
2. Know your opponent’s mind
3. Respect your opponent’s Ki
4. Put yourself in the place of your opponent
5. Perform with confidence

We cannot practice Ki-Aikido without following these principles.

If you try to throw your partner forcefully, partner’s mind will resist. It is very difficult to throw a person whose mind is resisting.

To lead your partner and throw, it is important to interact with your partner in the ways that these five principles suggest.

If you have a selfish mind which says, “I will throw you”, you will collide with your partner. In this case it is impossible to lead your partner. However, if you accept your partner, you can lead him very easily. To know this feeling, it is the best to experience it. Therefore, please attend seminar of H.Q. or a Ki Society near you.

This principle also holds true in every case in your daily life.

For example, let’s say you have something which you want others to understand. If you struggle to convince them, this is as same as throwing others forcefully. Surely their mind will resist. Once their mind has resisted, you cannot lead them any more. This is the same as colliding with others, and you will not be able to throw them.

Even if you have fluency of speech, if you struggle to convince others, they will not try to understand you. If you want others to understand, you must accept them first. Basically, we say “Listen to others first.”

If you say, “Oh, this is and easy thing to do!” then please look more carefully at yourself. Do you really listen to your family and friends well? Does your family or friends agree that you listen to them carefully? Is it possible that only you think you listen to others well, but others do not have this impression?

We human beings do not listen to others as well as we think. Those who realize this will be those who listen well to others.

“Listen to others well” does not mean to just listen to others without words.

When I was small, I often quarreled with my mother. We bickered constantly. Both my mother and I concentrated on making the other understand. Therefore neither of us understood the other. Our quarrels became heavy. We gave my father (Koichi Tohei sensei) a good deal of trouble.

One day, I was called by my father. He told me, “Listen others first. What you want to say is next.” And, father added, “Listen to your mother in silence until she finishes.”

After that, I had a chance to talk with my mother. I remembered my father’s words and actually listened to my mother in silence until the end. However, the result was that my mother got even more angry and I had even more stress. I did what my father told me, but the situation got worse.

I reported to my father, “I did what you told me, however, the situation get even worse.”

Then, my father said with smile, “That's understandable. It's all over your face that you did not agree with her!”

Then, finally, I began to understand that listening to others means to accept other’s mind. After that, I tried to understand my mother’s words from the heart. As a result, my mother’s preaching became very short. I could lead her well.

My mother is not an easy person. Therefore, sometimes I still failed to lead her. However, there were less quarrels after that.

In this same way, I began to not collide with others when I did Ki-Aikido technique.

To accept and respect the other person’s mind, and so to lead others in our daily life, is as same as throwing others in the dojo.

In this way, I throw others everyday in my daily life, not only in the dojo.

This is the meaning of “have joy when throwing, and have joy when being thrown”.

Let’s practice and validate the following:
First, listen to others well. What you want to say is next. (This means not just to accept their idea, but to fully accept their mind)

The point of validation is:
As a result of listening completely and carefully to others, how does their reaction change?
Can you tell others what you want to say as a result?
　

Do Others Actually Make Us Do Something?

A Short Instruction:

The purpose of this kind of 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 four times within a month.

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Do Others Actually Make Us Do Something?

The essence of Ki-Aikido is found in the Ki principles, which are practices showing us how mind moves body. “Mind moves body” means “Mind always has an effect upon the state of the body”.

This is story about Ki-Aikido technique:

A person grabs your wrist with all his strength. Can you move the opponent freely and lead him in a harmonious way? It is up to your realization if you can do this or not.

That the opponent grabs your wrist is a fact. However, there are two ways to experience this: “the opponent grabbed you” or “you allowed the opponent to grab you”.

If you perceive this as you have been grabbed, you cannot move at all. However, if you perceive it as you allowing the opponent to grab, you can move freely. It is truly amazing for beginners. What matters is the state of your mind.

Mind does not have shape. Some people imagine that others cannot know their mind. Therefore they think that it is okay to use their mind in any way. However, this thought does not work in Ki-Aikido. Practice is better than precept, so how we use our mind in practice is important. You cannot execute a Ki-Aikido technique if you use your mind improperly.

Here is the same example of use of mind in our daily life:

Many people get really nervous in public. They feel strongly self conscious about “being seen” by other people. As a result, they pull Ki to themselves.

However, if they change their perception from “being seen” to “seeing”, the nervousness is relieved astonishingly. That is, send Ki to others.

When you pull Ki, you only think about yourself. For example, "What if I fail?" ”What if I am not respected?”

Instead, just send Ki to others, not to yourself. For example, just “see others’ personality”, or “see the expression on others’ faces”, or “see others’ fashion”. These are examples of sending Ki to others. Change your Ki direction from inward to outward.

I was often nervous in the past. However, after I learned to extend Ki to others, even the nervousness became a big advantage, and I became very strong when in front of others.

Another example is when you are asked to perform some sort of work:

Many people perceive this as “others are forcing me to work”. If you see it this way, you cannot work efficiently and will become tired unnecessarily. However, even when it is the same work, if you see it as “I do this work myself”, you can increase efficiency and will not become so tired.

In simple terms, “It is always better to do something positively and in a joyful way, than thinking others are forcing you to do something. However, many find it difficult to make this transition of mind. It is terrible that they use their mind incorrectly and then say “I am tired”. In this way they lose their own motivation.

We practice the effective use of mind in Ki-Aikido. If you apply this in your daily life, you can do things in comfort. Even if you learn one Ki-Aikido technique, its principle is very deep.

Let’s practice and validate the following:
1.When you meet others, think “Others are looking at me.”
Then, when you meet others, think “I am looking at you.”

2. When you work, think “Others are forcing you to work.”
Then, when you work, think “I do this work.”

The point of validation is:

1. When you meet others, in which of these ways was your mind more calm?
2. When you work, which way were you more comfortable?

Using the Subconscious

This is a story that I had heard while I was a student.

A master sword smith had accepted a new apprentice.
On the very first day, the sword smith showed the apprentice his very best sword.

Some people might say, “How could a novice understand that it is the best sword? He would probably not be able to tell whether it is good or bad.” This may be true, but none the less, day after day the sword smith showed the apprentice the sword.

As time went on, the apprentice became able to picture the sword even if he closed his eyes. After years of hard training, the apprentice eventually became another great master.

When we try to achieve something, we will evolve in the shape of our own imagining. If the shape is predictable, we will develop into that shape. If the shape is brilliant, then we will develop into that shape.
By imagining the very highest level for the beginning, we are able to create what is to become. The important thing is to feel and know the very best until it gets into your subconscious.
That is what the sword smith’s story tells us.

Now, what can be the best sword in our Ki-Aikido? That is the movement of Koichi Tohei Sensei. We are fortunate, because the treasured image of Tohei Sensei at the age of 49, titled “Aikido shijyouenbu”, is in the video “Souden(Ten No Maki).”

In the training hall where I teach, I always recommend that the students see this film. When we see the movement of Tohei Sensei again and again, it gets into our subconscious. Then, our the movement starts to become closer to Tohei Sensei’s.

If the instructors do not appreciate and recommend this, the movement of student will become inappropriate, or it will become closer to the instructor’s movement. If the student gains the good habits of the instructor, that is good, but usually they also gain some of the bad habits of the instructor.
When I watch the examinees in the dan examinations, I often find them performing with the bad habits of their instructors.
The essential point here is that you do your daily practice with the “best sword” in your subconscious.

From an instructor’s point of view, it is important to actually show the students. So I show my movements to my students many times. But do not be blind, as an instructor; know your limitations.
To those who would like to gain the deepest level of () Ki-Aikido movement, or for those who would like to give the best results in the dan examinations and Taigi Competition, I strongly recommend to watch Tohei Sensei’s movement again and again.

I shall explain the way to watch the movements in another article.

The Instructor’s Responsibility

I’m going to talk you as an instructor.

Recently, I saw a TV program about the training of a soccer club for kids.
In the game, a boy fell down on the ground and injured his ankle. At that time, the coach of the soccer club spoke to him anxiously:

“Injuries come with playing soccer.”

Of course the coach wanted to encourage the boy, but there is some problem in what he said.
What do you think of it?
Please think before you go on.

・・・・・
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The first thing is, it is not natural to be injured.
Even though other players may be careless, if you extend Ki while playing soccer, you can foresee the danger, and react in time to avoid injury. In this way, if Ki is extending, you will never be injured by accident.

And if you should be injured, then your important task is to think if you used your mind and body correctly, and what you could have done to avoid injury.

From the beginning, instructors are responsible not to allow a student to be injured.
There is a problem here that comes from the subconscious mind.
If the coach says to the boy, “Injuries come with playing soccer”, he will imagine himself injured unconsciously, and he will really have a serious injury someday.

That’s very terrible, isn’t it?

Koichi Tohei sensei teaches us hints, strictly for leaders:

”Instructors are responsible if anyone is injured in their class.”
If the instructor extends Ki, he can take care of everything.
He will be able to notice if there is a problem, because Ki is extending.
For example, he may notice a person moving unnaturally.
This person who moves unnaturally may hurt themselves or others if they keep training in this way. This is not always because of the person’s physical problem, but the movement was simply a bad habit.
The most important point here is to notice each student’s movement and understand their condition.
In order for this to happen, the instructor must be extending Ki.

If Ki is extended, then the instructor will see when there is danger. For instance, someone may lose concentration because of bad health, or be training at a short ma-ai (proper distance) each other.

The first time I was taught by Koichi Tohei Sensei about how to teach, he repeated only two things for two hours again and again; 1) How to chant KI SAYINGS, and 2) How to count while doing calisthenics.

Koichi Tohei Sensei feels that the beginning of the training session is the most important.

To approach the training session while extending Ki is the one of the most important points of teaching, don’t you think?

For all of instructors and other members, please practice while extending Ki.

Keep our body limber(1)

I would like to ask you a question. Do you have a pliant body or a stiff body?

Try bending your head to the side while you look straight forward.

Did your ears touch your shoulder? By the way, it is wrong if you bring your shoulder to touch your ears!

If your ears touch your shoulders, you are okay.

Next, let’s turn your head right and left while your body faces to the front.
Can you turn your head to your back?

If your back comes into your sight line, you are okay.

How was your body? Was your body limber or tight?

When you have health problems, the part which you have a problem with will become sore or stiff in most cases.

When people feel pain in their body, they realize they have some health problems. However, when people feel only stiffness, most do not recognize this as a health problem.

My friend recently said that he would like to experience Kiatsu therapy. Therefore, I did Kiatsu therapy on his neck and shoulders.

I was amazed to find that his neck and shoulders were as stiff as an iron plate.

I asked him, “You must be in a great deal of pain because you have such stiff shoulders”. My friend answered, “No, I do not feel any pain.”!

Again, I was amazed. I realized that he must have been so stiff that he actually could not realize pain.

We do not press too hard or massage the body in Kiatsu therapy. We place fingers with Ki extending to the shoulder or neck calmly, and just send Ki.

Then, the stiff part gets soft similar to ice thawing. There is no adverse effect such as tiredness or soreness.

Well, I had to help my friend to realize his stiffness. First I asked my friend to bend his head right and left.

As I imagined, he could bend only about 2 inches.

I bent my neck to the shoulder to show him.
He immediately asked, “How do I relax?”

So, I did Kiatsu on his shoulders for about fifteen minutes. Gradually, his shoulders became soft and he could touch each ear to each shoulder at last.

Next, I did Kiatsu on his neck. His neck was also very stiff. I did Kiatsu fifteen minutes again. Then, he was able to move his head turning right and left, all the way to see his back .

My friend’s job is computer programming. He works over ten hours in front of the computer everyday.

My friend said, “My body is very light just like I have wings!”.

Why it is not good for our body to be stiff?

When your body is stiff, those stiff parts contract blood vessels, causing poor blood circulation.

When blood circulation is bad, blood cannot carry enough oxygen and nutrition to your body. Then, your life power becomes weak.

Especially, when you have an extremely stiff shoulder, that stiffness can cut off blood vessels to the brain, and blood flow is decreased.

This can cause headache, chronic sleepiness or bad feeling. It might even trigger cerebral-vascular disease in some very extreme cases.

Stiff shoulders may lead to all kinds of diseases. This is often discussed in the news these days.

Therefore, it is important to keep your neck and shoulders limber through Kiatsu therapy for prevention of diseases.

A good point to consider is that you can do it by yourself, and not only receive Kiatsu therapy from others.

Sometimes, fatigue builds up in my body. Then, my shoulders and neck become stiff.

I can do Kiatsu therapy by myself, I can get rid of stiff shoulders in a short time.

I can do self-Kiatsu any time any place. This helps me a lot.

However, the prevention of stiffness is the most important. How can we keep our body limber?

I will tell you this next time.

The Practice of Self Control: Ki and Education

In Buddhism, there is the idea called “in-en-ka (cause-ties-result)”. Things have a result not only due to a cause, but it is necessary to have ties as well. The role of education is what we call “ties”.

Even if a person has very fine personal qualities, if his education is not good, he cannot grow. Just as with cultivating crops, you cannot get fruit just by sowing seed. Before you sow the seed, you need to cultivate the field. Then, you need water and fertilizer, and you must take care of the crops everyday. All this is required to get good fruit.

Education is necessary to live as a human being. Many people think, “I have never been an educator”. However, in reality, most of the people provide some form of education to others. If you are a father or mother, you educate your children. If you are an executive or manager, you educate your employees.

Education means to show the way and then allow others to grow on their own. If you expect to mold others exactly as you want, this is not education but enforcement. Many people confuse “education” and “enforcement”.

Also, some people want to get fruit just after sowing the seed. This is ignoring nature. You need patience to wait for growth and development to occur.

Anyone feel stress when things do not go in the way they would like. At your work place, if your employee does not improve no matter how you helped him to grow and develop, you might want to get angry, “Why should I repeat the same things again and again to you!”.

However, it is impossible to educate people if you have a short temper or emotionally impatient. When you explode at someone, you may thing those words are for the other person. However, in truth, you did it to satisfy yourself.

When you are an educator you must have patience.

When you need to speak to someone, before speaking, first calm your mind and then say the words which others need, not what you want to say.

It seems very easy. However, it is difficult to do it anytime, with anyone, any place. You need to train.

To control yourself, you must train to keep your breath calm.

When your breath is rough? When you are nervous, anxious, angry, which causes you to loose your mental stability. This state of your mind shows up as rough breath.

By doing Ki breathing everyday, you can master calm breathing. When you do Ki breathing, your breath is calm. But your breath is not only calm during Ki breathing but also becomes calm in your daily life. Your mind will not be disturbed by small things.

By doing this, you will be able to have a breadth of mind to accept others and wait for other’s growth. Therefore there is no stress.

The reason why I can say this is that I had made this kind of mistake many times. I used to have a bad temper and it was easy for me to be emotional. Everyone who knows me now says, “I can’t believe it!”. My family and old staff know my personality well.

By training self-control through Ki breathing, I have been able to wait for other’s development with plus mind. There is no stress, therefore, my body remains very comfortable. This is one of the greatest realizations in my learning.

At Ki forum 2006, I will teach Ki breathing as the way of self-control in the afternoon seminar. Please join us!

Start the New year with a plus mind

A Happy New Year!

Today is New year’s day.

Do you know of the priest Ikkyu who flourished during the Muromachi period (about 600 years ago) ?

Ikkyu was a free-spirited priest and he did not cling to the rules or the system.

He composed the following poem:

“Kadomatsu ha meido no tabi no ichirizuka medetakumoari medetakumonashi” (from Kyounshu)
Meaning: Kadomatsu(Japanese traditional New Year decoration) is an important milestone throughout life. It is auspicious, and yet also not auspicious.

This is a famous poem. Therefore, you might know it.

Everyone celebrates New Year’s holiday. However, this means you are a step closer to the end of your life.

A “milestone” is a landmark for tourists along the way. The priest Ikkyu likened life to the way, and liken New Year’s holiday to a milestone.

Therefore, you can say New year’s holiday as auspicious and not auspicious.

It is said that Ikkyu read this poem to satirize people who are festive. However, does this poem really mean that?

Originally, there is no New year’s day or New year’s eve in the Universe itself. Human beings have divided up time by using a calendar.

Therefore you might think, “New year’s day has no meaning.” However, that’s not it.

It is easy for human beings to be overwhelmed by inertia if we do not draw a line, by creating an ending and a beginning. By having a New Year, we can start our life on a new note.

It is good chance to set or check our personal goals.

Koichi Tohei sensei taught us; “It is important to forget everything that has happened during the previous year, whether good or bad.”

You might think, “Isn’t it okay to remember the good things, while setting the bad things aside?”
You will not repeat same mistake if you remember a bad thing.
But you will be encouraged, if you remember a good thing, yes?

However, the problem is “clinging to the past.”

For example, if you look back and think, “I had bad things happen last year, so I am sure that this year will be bad too.” or “Last year’s business performance was good, so this year should also be all right”, then you cannot move forward.

“Forget everything that has happened during the previous year, whether good or bad.” means “Do not cling to the past, and extend Ki to move forward.”

This is one of the purposes of Senshin no gyo (clearing the mind). As the meaning suggests, you can clear the mind thoroughly.

Let’s go back to the story of the priest Ikkyu.

Koichi Tohei sensei talked about the priest Ikkyu’s poem in the following way:

”The priest Ikkyu would like to tell people that it is up to your own mind whether you look on New Year in a plus way or a minus way."

It seems that the priest Ikkyu’s poem does not have a negative meaning.

It is important not to just celebrate the New Year, but to think of the meaning of the New Year, and to start the New Year with a plus mind.

Let’s study Ki principles together with a plus mind.

Ki no sato

This is Kadomatsu.

Enjoy Your Life

I heard two young ladies having a conversation on the train the other day.

Lady A: “There has been nothing fun lately.”

Lady B: “No, nothing fun.”

When I heard this conversation, suddenly I wondered.

It is good when you can feel happiness about something. However, if the happiness is a result of someone or something outside of you, then the happiness may disappear very soon after you get used to the “fun”.

You can get true fun, or happiness, only by enjoying things from within yourself.

For example, when you have a meal, you can rush to eat the meal just to take in nourishment. Or you can taste and enjoy each aspect of the meal.

Even if there is a wonderful dinner, if you do not appreciate each flavor, the dinner will not seem delicious to you.

In the same way, you can perceive your work as just routine work. Or you can enjoy your work by setting up a goal and clearly using your mind to achieve that goal.

Even if it is wonderful job, if you are not using your mind in this way, it will not be fun and challenging.

This simple approach makes you enjoy everything positively. By changing your way of perceiving things, your life can become fruitful.

This is the best use of your mind.

It is a good thing to find enjoyment in others, however, if we get used to having fun only through others, our ability to enjoy things positively degenerates. We will be dependent upon others, and won’t be able to enjoy life alone.

It is important to consider “what you can enjoy”, not “what you do”. I think if you can enjoy everything, this has great value.

It is also very important to enjoy yourself when you study something.

I teach over 1,000 people a year.

There are some people who are always growing. On the other hand, there are other people who stop growing at some level. This is true, even if I teach them the same contents at the same time.

I think the difference comes from whether a person can enjoy the teaching positively. People who are growing always know how to enjoy everything.

A clever person grows fast in the beginning. However, if the person does not know how to enjoy positively, they will soon become bored and lose interest.

Even if you are a slow learner, if you know how to enjoy things positively, you can realize many things and never stop growing.

“To enjoy” is one of the most important factors of studying.

This is just an aside:
My wife and I were waiting at the train platform. We had to wait over 20 minutes for next train.
As a result, I was slightly irritated, and said, “Why there is not an earlier train?”
My wife heard it and she said to me, “Why can’t you enjoy waiting for the train together?”

It seems that I have to train how to “enjoy positively”:)
When I look back, I realize that I lost my breadth of mind because of an overbooked schedule.

This was very important realization for me.

This is the time that we set our personal goals for next year.

One of my goals is to “enjoy everything”!

Let’s practice together.

To Look, Not to be Seen

Many people say to me, “I get very nervous in public. What should I do?”

The results will be different whether you view your nervousness as plus, or whether you view it as minus.
The question above is asking about nervousness with a minus mind

Being nervous while maintaining a plus mind develops your concentration, and you can perform to the best of your ability. However, being nervous with a minus mind prohibits you from completing your work.

If you are not one of those people who are used to standing in front of many people, or one of those people who just love to stand in public, then if you want to act with a calm mind in public, you need to practice Ki.

I am comfortable giving lectures in front of a few hundred people now, but when I was small, I used to get very nervous in public.

At my graduation ceremony in elementary school, I received the diploma from the principal. On the way to get the diploma, my right hand and right foot moved same time!

My mother says, “I was so embarrassed at that time.” :-)

First of all, I will talk about the basics of Ki.

If you send Ki to others or to the surrounding environment, this condition is called “Ki is extending”.

On the other hand, if you pay attention only to yourself, this condition is called “Pulling Ki (toward you)”.

When you appear in public, if you think to yourself “They are looking at me”, you receive Ki from all people. For example, if there are 10 people, you receive 10 people’s Ki., If there are 100 people, you receive 100 people’s ki.

Try this with your partner.

If you think, “You are looking at me”, you are disturbed by your partner’s line of vision.
If you think, “I am looking at you”, you do not mind your partner’s line of vision.

If you pull Ki, you come under the influence of others Ki. Your Ki goes to only yourself, therefore, you cannot realize anything.

In this time, let’s say to yourself, “I am looking at others”.
The point is to send Ki in a positive way from yourself to others.

Then, you do not come under the influence of others’ Ki, no matter how many people are in front of you.

By extending Ki to the outside, you do not come under the influence of others’ Ki.
When you are extending Ki, you also can realize others condition.

For instance, if you extend Ki when you give a lecture, you can adjust your topic by seeing how the audience reacts.

Since I know this and send Ki to others in a positive way, I can talk to others without excitement.

“To be seen (pull Ki)” and “To look(extend Ki)” are completely different.

In addition to the above, if state of your mind is “I show you”, this is different.

If you try to show others intentionally, your action will be unnatural in most of the cases. Then, this creates nervousness again.

If you try to show something, you cannot move anothers heart.
Actors particularly understand this difference.

I feel that this theme is very deep.

Let's practice together.

The correct image

Let’s think about the image which we have of ourselves.

We all have a self-image which we build up by ourselves, and also an image placed upon us by others, which we have unconsciously accepted.

The important thing is that human beings be sure their image they adopt is natural and true.
“Mind moves body” Therefore, it is natural that our image controls our actions.

“Mind moves body” is Ki principle.

Let me give you an example:

When I talked with one of the staff the other day, I had a realization.

This staff person started to have followers since last year. That means this staff person is not just a senior worker but a boss.

This staff person works very hard. However, he does not have a very good reputation, especially from other staff members.

I heard about this and so I had a talk with this particular staff person who has recently become a boss.

I found that his image of “boss” and mine were very much different.

What do you think the difference was?

The staff person thought that the boss should manage his followers’ work. Therefore, he tried his best to do this.

Certainly, managing others work is one of the jobs of a boss. However, a boss’s work is not only the management of followers.

The boss has a responsibility to create an environment for the workers, provide fair assessment, work together when followers have trouble, and judge things which followers cannot judge.

There are many other roles for boss, as well.

If the boss is hung up on only managing his followers, then he cannot perform the rest of his job.

In this case, the rest of the staff said, “He does not work but just gives instruction.”

His image which he has adopted, “boss should manage followers work”, is incomplete.

In the real world, many people have this partial image and still become the boss.

In this case, I did not pass on to him the correct image of the boss. Therefore, this kind of thing (happened.

Now this person has changed his image of what a boss is, and he is much more successful at being the boss.

Beside the image of boss, each of us has different images, such as “parent” “Children” “husband” “wife” “teacher” “business people” “leader”.

Each of us has a different image of “Men” and “Women”, too.

The problem is those images are just adopted unconsciously and not build up positively by ourselves.

Before we start something, we have to check own image of what that is, and then check if the image is really the correct one.

Also, it is important to know the difference between your image and others’ image.

I am sure you will find that, in many cases, there are significant differences, and you will get a big realization. By sharing our images, we can achieve smooth human relationships.

Let’s practice together.

Remember to Extend Ki!

What is necessary for realization?

Even if a group of people live under the same conditions, some of those people will realize something, and others will not. What is the difference between these people?

One of the differences is if they send Ki clearly to that which they wish to understand.

You might feel, “Oh, that’s simple!”

However, this difference is everything when we are speaking of realization.

Here are some examples:

When you listen the teacher telling a story that you have heard before, if you listen thinking “I have heard this story before”, you do not send Ki clearly to the speaker and you cannot get any realization.

Even if it is the same story which you have heard, if you send Ki clearly to the speaker, you can get a new and deeper realization each time.

When you read a book, if you read the book thinking, “This book is just the same as the book I read before”, you are not sending enough Ki to the book, and this will limit your understanding.

No matter what, if you read a book with Ki, you will get new realization.

This is very simple. However in reality, we often do not send Ki in our daily life.

There are many people who have trouble in face-to-face conversations. I receive inquiries about this from many people.

In Japan, people are taught “When you talk with others, look at them.” However, even if you try to look into others eyes, sometimes it is very hard to do.

It is said that “The eyes are the window of the mind”. The eyes show the state of mind clearly. If you look at a person’s eyes whose Ki is very strong, it is easy to receive the person’s Ki.

However, if you stare into someone’s eyes, you may not be able to remain aware of other conditions around you.

As a result, many people look away when talking face to face. This gives others distrust and makes it difficult to realize their state of mind.

If this is a business negotiation or some kind of trouble that needs to be solved, it could be detrimental.

Then, try looking around the other person’s nose, instead of their eyes.

If you do this, the other person will feel that you are looking at their face in a straightforward manner.

The most important thing is that you can recognize others small changes in facial expression or attitude because you are sending Ki to others well.

It is not until you have true understanding of what the other is saying, that it has value.

I often meet higher ranking people. But I extend Ki and look at them in the way described above, and I do not get nervous now.

This way helps me a lot.

Please try to put it into practice in your daily life.

If you always remember to send Ki, then you will realize much more.

Let’s practice together.

How to study Ki?

To master something, first, you need to copy what a good model does.

To copy a good model, it is important to watch it very carefully.

It is necessary to take notes and listen to the explanation. However, the most important thing is to watch carefully.

The person who watches things well will improve quickly.

There are many people who start things without studying the model thoroughly. In this case, there cannot be much improvement.

However, here is the important point:

We begin by watching the shape of the model. Once we understand the shape, we should move beyond the shape.

”Mind moves body”. Therefore, not only does the shape matter, but if you master the state of mind of the model, you will be able to master the essence of what the model shows.

For example, let's say you try to master Ki Breathing.

First, you will be taught a natural posture and how to exhale naturally. You will watch and copy what your instructor does.

Once you understand correct posture and how to exhale, next, it is important to watch the state of mind of the instructor and what he thinks.

To tell the truth, I had difficulty with Ki Breathing in the beginning. Even if I tried to do it the same way as my teacher did, I had difficulty in breathing.

However, one day I had a change to be taught by Koichi Tohei Sensei directly. At that time, I was interested in what Tohei Sensei is thinking when he does Ki Breathing.

I realized that Tohei sensei did not think “breath out longer”, “breath out well” or “look good”.

”Without thinking any unnecessary thing at all, just do Ki breathing with a peaceful feeling.” Since I began practicing it this way, I have been able to do Ki Breathing very comfortably.

I am still developing, therefore it is too early to say I have mastered Ki Breathing. However, it was a precious experience for me that I could at least do Ki Breathing comfortably, which I had not been able to do by just copying the form or shape of Ki Breathing.

For those studying Ki-Aikido, Kiatsu therapy, etc. it is important to watch the state of mind, not only watch the shape of the movement, or listen to the explanation.

Let’s practice together.

Accept perception gap

We experience the Universe through five (or six) senses.

Therefore, even if we see the same thing or hear the same sound, each of us experiences it in a different way in the strictest sense. Everyone knows this - even small children. However, in reality, we forget about it in our daily life.

Let’s say the food tastes bad.

It is possible to think that the food itself tastes bad. However, sometimes we feel the food tastes because of our own poor physical condition.

Or if we eat a meal with someone with whom we do not feel joy, we cannot taste the food.

If we doubt our five (or six) senses, we cannot utilise our daily life.

However, we need to know that we cannot say our own feelings are fact .

For your information, if you understand this principle about food, your home becomes very peaceful. :-)

I got an invitation to dinner the other day. At that exclusive restaurant, a lady who was sitting at another table made a complaint about the dish.

The lady said, “I cannot have dinner in such a yucky restaurant.”

When the other guests heard her complaint, they looked displeased.

It might be true that the lady felt that the cooking was yucky. However, her feeling is not true for everyone.

She was not considerate to the others.

If we think, “My own feeling is fact ”, we tend to think like this.

The cause of bad human relationships is that each of us insists own feeling is absolute and correct.
I saw “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at the theater the other day.

After the movie, I saw a couple who were arguing about the content of the movie.

It seemed that the man’s viewpoint and the woman’s viewpoint were different and each of them held their ground. Therefore, their argument escalated into a big fight.

If they accepted their partner’s feelings such as “Oh, there is another point of view”, they could watch movie with enjoyment…

I felt sorry for them.

However, it was not about the movie, we tend to do same thing as this case in other situations too.

When I visited a company, I heard such a conversation between a boss and a worker.

Boss: “Why do you cower under me so much? Are you afraid me?”

Worker: “(answers fearfully) Yes, I am afraid of you.”

Boss: “I am not such a scary person. Why do you feel that way?”

Worker: “…”

How do you feel about this conversation? (:-)

It is important to realize that your own feelings and others’ feelings are different. And it is also important to accept others’ feelings first.

Sometimes, you need to correct others’ feelings but still it is important to accept others’ feeling first.

Let’s practice together.

The Exchange of Ki

Many people ask, “What is the condition of extending Ki?”

Koichi Tohei sensei said “Ki extension is the condition of exchanging Ki with the Universe. “

Welive by exchanging Ki with the Universe.

For example, breathing.

We breathe air into our lungs, and our blood system carries oxygen throughout the body. In our cells, the oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide, which is then brought to the lungs to be exhaled.

This is also an exchange of Ki with the Universe.

Once this exchange stops, there will be big trouble.

We cannot live only by ourselves. We can say, “We are living.” However, the truth is “The Universe allows us to live”.

If we think this way, we can say everything is an exchange of Ki of the Universe, such as eating, communication, economy etc.

Exchange of the Ki with mind is also the same thing.

For example, when we have selfish mind or when we are thinking only of ourselves, we hold Ki only within ourselves and we do not extend Ki to the outside.

This condition is called, “Ki is not extending” or “Pulling Ki.”

When we extend Ki positively, Ki is extending.

Here is an example of this in daily life:

When we say something negative and have a minus facial expression, we are trying to pull others Ki to ourselves.

For example, let’s take a person who says, “I am tired.” many times.

It may seem that this person’s purpose is merely to report, “I am tired.” However, actually the person wants others to extend Ki to him and say, “Are you all right?”

That is, the person is trying to pull others’ Ki to him in a unilateral way.

If you pull Ki in a unilateral way, there can be no exchange of Ki. To exchange Ki, it is necessary to exchange Ki with each other.

It is important to extend Ki to others positively.

When we hold Ki only inside of ourselves and do not extend Ki to the outside, this prevents us from exchanging Ki with the Universe, and places our mind and body in a poor state of health.

When we extend Ki to the outside, new Ki will come inside us.

If we extend Ki, new Ki comes to us. This is the principle of the Universe.

When we are unwell, if we think about only ourselves, we will get worse.

If we do our best for someone, no matter how we feel, our health condition usually improves.
This is an example of when you extend Ki, new Ki will come to you.

“Ki training” is the process of changing from the condition which we hold Ki within ourselves, to the condition which we extend Ki to the outside.

That is the condition of extending Ki always.

Let's practice together.

Ideal Expectations

Let’s characterize the appropriate attitude towards others.

For example, a husband and wife; a husband has and ideal image of his wife. And a wife has an ideal image of her husband.

Similarly, in a company’ the executive officer has an expectation of his workers, and the workers have expectation of him.

This is the same as between parents and children, teachers and students, friends and team mates.

However, we do not share this ideal each other in many cases. We just keep it in our mind. Especially, in Japan, it is virtue to understand each other without words. This virtue is important, but sometimes it becomes a cause of bad human relationships.

This is an example.

A husband considers the role that he should play in home. If his ideal and his wife's expectation are different, the more the husband tries, the more the wife will be discontent with her husband's attitude.

As a result, the husband begins to think that even if he does his best, his wife will not appreciate his efforts and he developes a grievance against his wife. This means both the husband and the wife do not understand each other even if each of them do their best. And there will a be bad relationship between husband and wife.

The only solution is for the husband to share his ideal with his wife and for the wife to similarly share with her husband. Some people think the husband’s role is to work hard at his office, some people think it is to spend time with his family as much as he can. The balance of those is up to each couple.

I often receive marriage counseling questions from my friends. Since I am still young, I do not have much experiences. However, I always tell them to share their ideals with each other. If their ideals are different, they should not fool themselves into believing they are automatically compatible, just because they have romantic feelings.

Many people tend to think that if they get married, their differences will be solved naturally. However, this is difficult if their fundamental thinking is different. On the other hand, if the couple’s thinking is fundamentally the same, other minor problems can be easily overcome.

This is the same as in team work.

A team leader has his ideal expectation of the team members. The team members have their ideal expectation of their leader. Let’s assume that the team leader thinks his role is to show his ability to take action. And the team members think that leader should communicate well with the members. In this case, the more the leader makes an effort, the less the team members appreciate their leader.

The key to success is to share each other's ideal.

Mind moves body. In another words, the state of mind decides the quality of the action. Therefore, it is difficult to change only action. It is important to share your concepts of value with each other, first.

Do you share your ideals with others around you?

Let's practice it together.

To know yourself

We cannot see ourselves directly with our own eyes.

We need to be very aware of our own weak points, because we tend to see others’ weak points easier than own.

There are two ways that we can know ourselves: to ask others to tell us, or to look in the mirror.

Koichi Tohei sensei has told me that the most important thing is to be humble.

Some people misunderstood that to be humble means to be obedient to someone. However, this is not the true meaning of humility.

There are many books which tell us to be humble. However, the definition of humility is wrong in the most of those cases

Meaning of humility is not “show a humble attitude toward people” but “accept the Universe humbly”.

For example, let’s say that someone makes a big mistake.

Some people do not accept the reality of things and think “I am unfortunate!” “Why me…?”. Then they try to find an excuse outside of themselves.

In this way, the person ignores the cause of the mistake, and the same mistake will happen again in the same situation.

If the person is humble, he or she thinks “Something is wrong in my thinking or behavior”. Then, they will accept the mistake and try to find the cause inside of themselves.

As a result, we grow by not repeating the same mistakes.

To be humble is necessary to our growth.

To be humble is important in our communication also.

A humble person may get unpleasant but wholesome advice from others. Others let him know his own nature, which he may not be able to see for himself.

If we do not have a friend who can give unpleasant but wholesome advice, this is very serious situation. Because we cannot get any feedback, and therefore we cannot realize our own mistake or weak point.

If you have someone who gives unpleasant but wholesome advice, this person is a treasure.

If you think how many people who give unpleasant but wholesome advice you have, this will be a good measure of your level of humility.

How about you?

A practical way to know yourself is to do Ki breathing.

When your breath becomes calm, your mind also becomes calm.

If your mind becomes calm, you can see things as they are. Your bias, delusion and excuses will dissolve away.

If you get angry with someone, you can find your mistake during Ki breathing.

Ki breathing lets you know the shape of your mind. This is like you are reflected in the mirror.

The essence of learning Ki is to know yourself well.

When you know yourself correctly, you will gain confidence and correct your mistake or weak points.

Let’s try to know ourselves together.

Breadth of mind to wait for a second

Recently, I often see people who cannot wait for a second in Japan.

For example, at a red light. Even when the light is still red, many people start to cross at the crosswalk. I watch them carefully. And usually, after one or two seconds, the signal turns green. If they are not in hurry, this shows that they do not have breadth of mind.

When you feel the urge to pass someone on a narrow road, if you stop for a second and let the traffic work itself out, you will not feel the need to overtake others. However, people cannot wait for a second, and try to go through first and overtake others.

As people board the train (especially in Tokyo and Osaka), many people cannot wait a few minutes and rush to get on the train. Then, they may find themselves warned by station attendant.

When driving, if there is a car that wants to merge with the main line of traffic, you can wait for a second and let them in. However, many people cannot wait for a second and follow the car in front very closely, thereby preventing anyone from merging.

When listening to others talk, you should just listen, before you say what you want to say. But if you find others’ talk pointless, you often can’t wait for them to finish, cut them short, and then start to talk about yourself.

Have you ever seen people who cannot wait for a second in daily life? How about yourself?

Everyone has their own rhythm. And we act on our own rhythm unconsciously. If things do not go smoothly in tune with our own rhythm, we feel stress.

"Wait for a second" means to change our own rhythm. If we cannot control our mind by ourselves, we chafe, and then demand that others act according to our own rhythm. Sometimes, even when we try to fall into step with others, the others' mind resists this and things do not go well.

If we calm our mind in our one point, we can be up to the conditions even if we have to change own rhythm. In other words, we can have breadth of mind a little. This breadth of mind is very important. And it changes communication dramatically.

Some people are naturally placid. So when we deal with these people, we may not have breadth of mind that we would like. Sometimes, I do not have breadth of mind. Therefore, I check my state of my mind first to see if I can wait for a second or not in my daily life.

I will talk about what I experienced last week.

Last week, the super express train was very late because of a signal failure. I was standing in line to buy a train ticket from the automatic ticket machine. A man who was behind me seemed in a rush. Therefore, I asked the man, “Are you in hurry?”

He said that his train was leaving in five minutes. I realized that I had some time, so I let him go first. This is one of the good examples.

On the other hand, I had to warn a person on my staff because the person was careless in their work.

The staff person started to make an excuse. I yelled at the person immediately to stop making excuses. As a result, the person turned his back, and it took much more effort for him to realize his mistake.

When I first gave him the warning, if I had breadth of mind and listened his full response, it would not have required such an effort on both of our parts. This is bad example of how to be emotional and without breadth of mind.

Mind itself has no color or shape. We cannot see mind. However, “Mind moves body”. Therefore, our state of mind reflects the state of our body. We can know the state of mind through our body.

Let’s check our own state of mind in our daily life.

The Method of Realization

It is easy to lose knowledge or information without real experiences.

However, when knowledge and information become firsthand experiences, then we can realize. And this will be a treasure of our life.

I think many people know that “realization” is important.

However, even if we have a great deal of knowledge and information, if this does not connect to real experiences, we may not realize a thing.

When do we get realization?

Please think of your most recent realization. When and what was the situation that allowed you to realize something new?

One thing is certain; whenever we realize something, we are extending Ki. In other words, we are using our mind positively.

When we realize something, we are extending Ki to the object of our realization. If you are not interested in the object at all, and you do not extend Ki, there is no realization.

Similarly, when we pull our Ki, or use our mind in a negative way, there is no realization.

This “pulling of Ki” is a very risky thing to do.

When we fail in something and feel down, we pull our Ki and so cannot realize the cause of failure. This then causes the next failure. And this can become a vicious circle that goes on and on.

We cannot realize without extending Ki.

Another aid to true understanding is relaxation.

Once again, please remember your experience of realization in daily life. When your mind and body are nervous, can you realize something?

When we relax both mind and body, we become calm and free of stress, and using our mind freely, we always tend towards realization. In this way, we can receive true understanding with even the slightest of opportunities in our daily life.

When we study a thing, it is essential to study it seriously. However, this seriousness does not mean that we must be nervous. When our mind and body are nervous, we cannot realize.

It is important to understand the meaning of relaxing correctly. If we misunderstand the meaning of relaxing, we lose our Ki.

When we relax correctly, this is a mine of realization.

What it comes down to is that when we realize something, we are extending ki and relaxing mind and body.

”Ki is extending” and “to relax” sound different, however, these are the same.

Koichi Tohei sensei has resolved these as “Four major principles to unify mind and body” and teaches specifically how to unify mind body through them.

Four major principles to unify mind and body:

1. Keep one point
2. Relax completely
3. Keep weight underside
4. Extend Ki

”Ki is extending” means “4. Extend Ki” in the four major principles.
“To relax” means “2. Relax completely” in the four major principles.

These four major principles are likened to four different routes to climb mountain. In the same way that we can climb to the top of the mountain from any of those four routes, by performing one of these four principles, anyone can experience oneness of mind and body.

You do not have to do those four principles at once. If we perform one of these principles, we have accomplished the others naturally.

These four principles sounds quite different, but actually, they are one thing. This may be difficult to understand through mere words. You can experience those four principles being actually one in our various seminars and workshops.

Let’s study together.

Educating a Child

Koichi Tohei sensei is my master and also my father. I would like to tell you about Koichi Tohei sensei from a son’s point of view.

I remembered an experience from my childhood the other day.

My father often played five-in-a-row or played the card game of the one hundred famous poems (Hyakunin-isshu; Japanese game) with me. He played with me very seriously.

I played five-in-a-row ten times in a row. And I lost ten games in a row. He knocked me down without any hesitation :-)

Since I was small, I was always very chagrined at loosing this kind of game. My father noticed this and so he made me think about why it was that I had lost the game.

One time, I could not win at all, so, I cried and said, “I cannot win.” In the next game, my father purposely lost the game.

Can you imagine what he said after that?

He said with anger, “This is called ‘making someone look good’.”
I felt the sting of defeat more. So I said to my father, “I will not cry even if I loose the game. So, please play with me seriously.”
He said, “I understand.” Then, we played the game again. And he won five times in a row

Again, he gave me time to think about why it was that I lost the game. When I realized the cause of loosing the game, he praised me very much.

I think back now, and I think he believed in a child’s ability and led me to have more incentive by not giving me fake satisfaction.

I learned that when things do not go well, I consider the reason why, and continue to play the game. Without turning my back on the problem and not stopping Ki. This is my habit now.

Of course, the way to lead children is to depend on each child’s character. At least this was my father’s way, and it was the best for me.

When we played the card game of the one hundred famous poems, the situation was worse. Father got 94 cards and I got 6 cards.

I was very unhappy at loosing so many games. My father again noticed this and so he wrote each poem on a piece of paper and put these papers inside the house where I would see them.

I tried to memorize three poems a day. Therefore, I was able to memorize all poems within about a month or so. After that, I played again with my father. At that time, father got 70 cards, I got 30 cards.

I remember that I was so happy.

Once again, he did not just satisfy the child, but let me know how to play. And he played with me seriously.

Eventually, I would have a fifty-fifty chance of winning when we played five-in-a-row or played the card game of the one hundred famous poems. I think there is not so much ability difference between us now. (But I have still never been able to win! )

I focus on applying Ki to education. Because I would like to share Koichi Tohei sensei’s intangible teachings with as many people as possible.

It is the most basic thing to utilize Ki principles in helping people grow in education in the home, school education, worker education and leader education.

If you are interested in this, let’s study together.

Reserve the option to “wait” until others change

When we face a problem, we try to find a solution as soon as possible. This may seem necessary, but sometimes this is not the best way to solve your problem.

For example, let’s say you have a problem in a relationship. If you are desperate to perform fence-mending at any cost, the relationship often becomes worse.

Or, let’s say you make a blunder in your work, and as a result, trust and recognition of your ability was reduced. If you are desperate to regain that trust and recognition, you might fall even further.

Let’s say your children, students, or followers have an attitude problem. If you are desperate to solve the problem, the situation may become even worse.

We human beings always feel the need to do something right away when something bad happens. This is because we want to escape from being in the negative situation. We want to remove this unwanted situation as soon as possible. This state of mind causes impatience. And impatience causes us to misjudge what is the correct course of action.

We have all had this kind of experience.

There is an ultimate way to solve a problem, and that is “to wait”. When the situation will just get worse by forcing the action, it is important to step back, look at the situation, and just wait.

However, “wait” does not mean to walk out on a problem. Always extend Ki to the problem, giving it your attention as much as possible, and wait calmly. Usually the situation will change naturally. “Time is on your side in many cases”.

To be able to wait, we need a strong mind, that is, the state of calmness in our mind. If ()our mind becomes even a little weak, then we will feel we need to do something to feel at ease.

As stated in the above example, when you have a problem in human relationship, not only apologize to other person, but be sure to change what you have done wrong. Then it is important to wait until other person’s state of mind changes. If you want the other person to forgive you first, and forget to correct yourself, the relationship will be worse.

When you make a blunder in your work and you feel that the trust and recognition of your ability has come down, it is important to change your wrong attitude, and not just through words. It is useless to exert yourself to please others around you in an effort to correct their bad impression of you . Instead, just wait. It might take some time, but this is actually the fastest way to recover your trust and recognition.

When your children, students, or followers have an attitude problem, it is important for you to treat them with positive mind and wait until they realize their mistake by themselves. We need some time to realize things. Therefore, it is important to await their realization. If you try to change others as you wish, the situation will always get worse.

Some people may be worried, “Even if I wait and wait, if other person does not change, what should I do?” This way of thinking is the biggest reason why it is difficult for you to wait.

I will repeat, because this is important; “wait” does not mean to walk out on a problem. You should not try to change others first, but you do whatever you can, and wait until other person’s realization changes. Just as with your state of mind, others state of mind also need some time to change.

By learning to calm your mind in your daily life, you will be able to control your mind, and you will always have the option to wait.

Let’s study together.

Define meaning of the words clearly

The other day, a kindly member told me that one of our staff had a bad attitude. I confirmed the truth and I found that as the member had told me, the staff did have a bad attitude. I apologized to the member and then I spoke with the staff.

However, the staff could not understand his mistake and he could not accept his fault. Finally, he realized his fault, but I realized a very important thing through this experience.

What I realized was that my definition of the word "respond" and his were different.

First, the staff said "I always do my best to meet a wide variety of member' demands." Even if he did his best, if his attitude made our members feel bad, then it cannot be said that he meets our members' demands sincerely. I thought his argument was very selfish. However, I listened to his argument further. And I found that he has a wrong idea.

I define "respond" as "to act before the members demand something". Therefore, it is quite expected to meet the members' demand if they actually request something of you. However, I try to feel our members' Ki (mind) and act before they request something of me. In another words, it is important to always send Ki to our members and realize their needs in advance.

On the other hand, the staff defined "respond" as meaning to act when he was requested something from members. If we hear "If you request, I will do it sincerely", it sounds good. However, in this case it can also be said "I will not act unless you do not have a request." Therefore, the staff was moved passively by our members' request and did not try to catch our members' request.

In this case, it cannot be said that Ki is extending. The member let me know the staff's bad behavior. This means the staff did not send Ki and act positively.

I have told our staff to be courteous at all times. However, the staff misunderstood the meaning of "respond". Even if I told it to our staff correctly in words, if the staff misunderstood the meaning of the words, then I did not convey the meaning to the staff. Through this experience, I realized it is important to confirm if the person really understands not only the form of the meaning, but the Ki (mind).

Japanese often use the word, "Do your best". If you clarify how to do your best, you can use your mind clearly.

"I have told you, but why have you never done this?" You may have this kind of situation in your office. Instead of blaming others for not doing something properly, it is important to confirm that the other person understood your words correctly in the first place.

This is one of the example of Ki in daily life.

Sending Ki to your family

A husband came to me recently for a consultation about his marriage. I have been married for four years and I would like to help him somehow, so, I listened his talk.

He said his marriage was falling apart.

First he said that he could not stand his wife's attitude. However, he also acknowledged himself that he did not think about family and he only worked.

He wanted to talk about his putting his marriage back together again. But since they had no communication, neither of them could not find a way to mend the broken fences. He was very disappointed and had begun to think that the only solution was to get a divorce.

In Japanese we have a saying, "Even a dog will not eat the quarrel of a husband and wife". Therefore, I did not put my nose into their quarrel but I told him to attend my Ki class.

The theme of my class that time was to understand the difference between oneness of mind and body and separation of mind and body. Then, I taught that it is important to send Ki to your partner whatever you do.

I let him experience the difference between oneness of mind and body and separation of oneness of mind and body through the example of greetings and conversations. After these experiences, he exclaimed, "Oh! I understood!"

After the class, I talked with him. He said that he did his very best to listen to his wifeﾕs talk, but in his mind, he was thinking "That's a bother." He did not send ki to his wife.

His wife would get mad and they would start to quarrel when his attitude was like this.

And when he left home in the morning, he would say "I'm going to work." However, when he said this, he never looked at his wife nor nor did he send Ki to her.

Gradually, his wife did not take him to the door.

The husband then realized for himself that he did only the form of the action but did not actually send Ki to his wife. This is why he suddenly spoke up during the class.

In addition, I told him to "Change your self first before waiting for others to change". He said, "I understand".

One month later...

The husband sent me an email.
He said that by sending Ki to his wife when he listened to her talking, greeting her, eating her cooking, he could have conversations with her again.

It seems that they decided not to get divorce.

"To send Ki" is so simple that most everyone knows this, but they do not take action.

By sending Ki to each other, we can communicate with Ki (Mind).

Your communication will change dramatically by sending Ki. I realized it again through this episode.

This is the teaching that I passed on to the husband at the Tochigi Ki seminar. If you have a chance, please attend this seminar.

Let's send Ki to everything we do.

Put yourself in your opponent's place

I have recently received a number of questions regarding "Put yourself in your opponent's place". However, most of the people misunderstand the meaning of it.

"Put yourself in your opponent's place" means to "move into action". However, many people only "think" about putting themselves in their opponent's place.

In the Ki-Aikido practice, there are many students who are thinking about the opponent before executing techniques.

"Think about your opponent's place" and "Put yourself in your opponent's place" are completely different.

Here is an example.

At HQ, we hold many workshops throughout the year.

Each workshop has a staff member who is responsible to prepare the workshop for the participants.

Some of the staff begin thinking too much about participants. They see a list, and imagine each participant, and think what they will do for these participants.

However, we cannot realize necessary actions from this thinking .

Why?

Because even if the staff imagines the participants, this is just their own thinking with their own viewpoint . Image and reality is different.

Therefore, I act the same as the participants. Not thinking but acting. This is the point.

When you become the real participant, then this is the real meaning of "Put yourself in your opponent's place".

I also do the as same as the participants, such as reading my mail magazine, requesting information, writing an application form, and sending money.

Sometimes, I call our office like one of participants.

And sometimes, I actually become a participant of the seminar. I use dinning hall, changing room and bathroom which are used by the participants.

In this way, I can realize many problems.

For example, paying fees. We ask participants to pay money to our post office account. However, the post office opens only weekdays and it is difficult to pay money at post office if the participants have a job on weekdays. An application form is complex. There are no hangers in the changing room; there are no staff at the counter...

We cannot say this is "Ki Society" if the conditions are like this.

Our staff loose their Ki when they are only thinking about how to do, therefore, we try to not only to think but to act. (including myself)

When you hear me say this, you may tend to think it is a natural thing to act. However, many people do not realize the difference between "Think about your opponent's place" and "Put yourself in your opponent's place".

If you think, "I am all right", you might need to look a little more carefully at yourself.

Let's put yourself in your opponent's place together.

Let's move together

I am teaching at US National seminar in Las Vegas now. I am so impressed with participants' way of learning Ki principles with a serious mind.

The most important Ki Principles of Ki-Aikido is "do not take others and yourself relatively, but become one with others and move together."

We perceive others and ourselves relatively. We need this viewpoint and, by itself, this is not bad, but if we see things only from the relative way, there will be a problem.

When you try to move others, if you see yourself and others from a relative viewpoint only, then your movement will be "pushing others". If others are pushed, their mind will resist you. Therefore, it is not possible for them to move with you.

On the other hand, if you do not think of yourself and others as separate, but think of yourself and others as one, then you will be able to move together easily. If you and others move together, then they will not resist you. In this way, you can always lead others comfortably.

Here is an example.

When you nurse, or take care of, another person, sometimes you must move the patient. If you try to move the patient, you may use unnecessary power, and as a result, the patient's mind will resist you. Then, nursing becomes heavy work for you, and the patient also does not feel comfortable.

On the other hand, if you think "I will move together with the patient", and you do not use unnecessary power, then the patient's mind will not resist. Also, you will be able to move very comfortably. Most importantly, the patient feels very comfortable to receive the care.

In fact, our quality of movement is changed by the quality of our own mind. If you apply this to your daily life, you will understand how to lead others.

Here is an example.

If your child does not clean up, you might say, "Clean this up!". However, if the parents themselves do not clean up, but insist that the children clean up, then the children will resist. On the other hand, if the parents say, "Let's clean up together", then the children's mind will be moved to clean up because the parent's mind moves first. "Let's move together" is very important.

"Let's move together" does not mean "trying to fit yourself to others". Many people tend to misunderstand this idea. Each of us has a different mind, a different way of thinking, and a different perspective. It is impossible to fit yourself to all people. If you force yourself to fit with others, you cannot move together with anyone.

The important thing is to follow the way of the universe and move together. Even if you think "let's move together", if your mind does not meet the way of the universe, you cannot lead others.

It is not correct to think "I must be one with another person". We must be one with the Universe. It is impossible to explain this principle in words. Therefore, for beginners, please attend Ki-Aikido seminars. If we learn Ki principles through Ki-Aikido, our viewpoint will be changed. We often see our own problems disappear through Ki-aikido practice. Because we can realize so much through Ki-aikido practice, let's always study together.

Do not control others first but control yourself first

"Do not attempt to control others but control your own mind and body." This is the essential principle when we study Ki-aikido. In Ki-Aikido, before thinking how to move others, we need to control our own mind and body.

Why?

Because it is impossible to lead others if your posture is not stable. This is not only referring to physical posture. If our mind is stable, then our body is also stable. Therefore, in order to maintain posture with stability, we need to control our mind, and hence our body.

Most beginners understand this reasoning, but in actual practice, they are filled with the idea of moving others, and completely forget to control their own mind and body. However, if they continue to practice, eventually they will be able to control their own mind and body.

We can change our own view regarding leading others, through Ki-Aikido practice. Sometimes, I notice myself trying to move others first. However, I know the Ki principles. Therefore, I can correct my way of thinking. For me, the Ki-aikido practice is important to check my mind regularly.

To apply this in your daily life, remember: "Before trying to change others, yourself change first."

You can see others, but you cannot see yourself directly. To know yourself, you need to use a mirror or ask others to let you know. Therefore, we need to be very careful about ourselves. Because we tend to forget about ourselves and accuse others.

These are some examples:

When others adopt a minus attitude, or say something negative to us. We tend to think, "Why is that person so minus?" However, sometimes our own attitude or expression is minus, so others adopt such an attitude. If you want to change others to plus, you must become plus first yourself.

It is same when others do not listen when you are talking. You may think, "Why does this person not listen?" But you yourself might not listen when others are speaking. If you want others to listen to you, you must listen to them first.

We tend to seek the cause of a problem outside of ourselves. In other words, "It is not my fault." If I quote from the above example, we might say, "Others who have a minus attitude are wrong." Or "Others who do not listen are wrong." We tend to do this because we cannot see our body directly by ourselves and our mind does not have shape.

However, if you start Ki-Aikido and specifically practice many techniques, you can change your viewpoint to changing yourself first. Koichi Tohei sensei said that it is useless if the Aikido technique is only good in dojo. This means that when you apply what you have learned through Ki-aikido not only to crisis prevention, but to your daily life as well, then what you have learned will have true meaning.

Let's study together.

Mind moves body

The one of the most important Ki Principles of Ki-Aikido is "Mind moves body".

In the Aikido, you throw your partner.

Therefore, many students who study Aikido think about only the visible body and tend to forget about the mind, which is invisible. If you forget the mind, you cannot do Ki-Aikido.

We can touch and see our body to confirm its existence. However, mind has no color or no shape. Therefore, even though we know the mind exists, we tend to forget about it.

Everyone has the desire to control someone. With this state of your mind, you try to throw your partner with force, and the partnerﾕs mind resists against you.

You cannot throw or move your partner without thinking about the partner's mind.

If you do Ki-Aikido based on the principle, "Mind moves body", before you think to throw you partner, you need to think about leading your partner with knowing and respecting your partner's mind.

Others will not resist you if they perceive they are being led where they already intended to go!

If you do Ki-Aikido technique correctly, both Nage and Uke feel happy. Both of them have plus mind.

You can apply this Ki principle in your daily life.

If you study Ki-Aikido deeply, your view will be changed from body centered to mind centered.

You will realize that when we greet, talk, and bow to others, we use just our body not our mind in many cases.

When we educate human beings, we find that it is important to not try to change the person's behavior but to change the person's mind where the behavior comes from.

When we want to solve a problem, we must think about the state of the mind which created the problem.

It is very important to change from viewing the result to viewing the cause. Once you change your viewpoint in this way, you will realize many things about yourself and your communication with others.

Your posture, movement and communication with others will improve dramatically.

It is important to learn "Mind moves body" through Ki-Aikido and practice this principle in your daily life.

Koichi Tohei sensei started to teach Ki-Aikido abroad in 1953. Many foreign students became Tohei sensei's student in order to change their own viewpoint in this fundamental way. As a result, there are many foreign people who continue to study Ki-aikido even over 50 years.

Let's see "Mind moves body" from a different perspective.

You can think, "Body moves mind." If this is true, our mind is controlled by our surrounding situation and our mind never becomes calm.

For example, in the summer, some people are irritated by the muggy weather. In this state, their mind is being controlled by what their body feels.

When you are busy, you might ignore others that are important to you. This is also an example of "Body moving mind".

If you spend your daily life with the understanding that "Mind moves body", your emotion, your behavior, and the results of that behavior will be completely different compared to a life with the understanding that "Body moves mind".

Which will you choose?

Controlling Emotions

I have recently received a number of questions regarding "controlling emotions".
The question is "Why is it so difficult to calm my mind when I became emotional? (angry, depressed, nervous etc). "

This is a very important topic. Actually, it is too late to calm your mind, once you have already become emotional. When you first become emotional and then try to calm your mind, this is like using a "band-aid". Our emotions come from how we perceive the Universe. The real meaning of controlling mind is to understand the Universe and not to be emotional.

We perceive the Universe through our five senses (Six senses). Therefore, each of us perceives the Universe in different way.

Some people perceive the Universe as plus, while some people perceive the Universe as minus. We cannot say either of them are right or wrong. However, if we perceive the Universe as plus, the result is that we also become plus. It is impossible to get a plus result while perceiving the Universe in a minus way. You might feel "It is natural" to see minus. However, if we want to be plus, then this is the wrong way of using our mind in daily life.

Let's compare this to the flow of a river: if you change your view to "perceive things" as the upper course of the river, then you can control your emotion as the lower course of the river. To clean up the lower course of the river, you need to clean the upper course of the river.

For example, let's say you got ill or injured. Many people think, "Why should only I experience something like this?", or "I am unfortunate", and have a minus emotional perception of the illness or injury. When you feel minus emotion, this is the state of not extending Ki. In this state of mind, you can get dissatisfaction through the illness or injury, but never realization.

On the other hand, if you perceive the illness or injury in a plus way, your emotional reaction to it will be changed. In other words, if you perceive the illness or injury as "this is telling me something", you can realize many things which you cannot get when you are healthy.
One person might realize that he did not send Ki to his family because he was busy. As a result of his plus realization, he then starts to send Ki to his family.

One person might realize that health is important to do his work. So he may review his daily life.

One person might decide to do Ki breathing and Kiatsu seriously, and receive precious experiences through those.

Illness or injury, by itself, cannot be a plus or minus thing. However, if we change our mind in a plus way, we will be able to realize many plus things through the experience of illness or injury. As a result there will be no dissatisfaction, but only a mind of appreciation for this realization.

When you get angry, or become depressed or nervous, it is important to control your emotion. However, please look back to your way of perceiving things. Check to make sure that your way of perceiving things is plus and that Ki is extended. If your way of perceiving things is minus, then please make the effort to change your way of thinking to a positive way. In the study of Ki principles, there are many approaches to perceiving life in a positive way.

Ki breathing is an effective way to resolve emotional issues which you already have. If you practice Ki breathing everyday, you will master the perception of things in a plus way. This is the real value of Ki breathing.

Lastly, many people have a mistaken notion about perceiving the Universe as plus. To perceive the Universe does not mean to perceive it in a way that is convenient to your personal life. If the plus thing is only plus for you personally, then this cannot be called plus. True plus means that you and others both become plus together.

Let's master the true way to perceive the Universe as plus.

Ki is extending

I have chance to teach Ki principles to over 300 people a year through seminars, workshops and KiAikido classes.

Until a few years ago, my experience was that sometimes my lecture was well received and sometimes it was not so well received. Of course, it is natural that there are differences in each seminar. However, in my case, the difference was extreme. First, I thought this big difference was because of the participants. If the participants sincerely wanted to learn, then the seminar would be well received . However, this view turned out to be wrong.

A few years ago, I had a chance to teach Ki principles at a large 5 day seminar.

My ability was not enough to please every participant at that time. (Even now, of course I am still developing my ability) However, I thought that once I was given this chance, I would do my very best to please the participants. And I did teach very sincerely.

As a result, at the end of the first day I received thunderous applause from the participants. Many participants were disappointed that the class was over for the day.

I felt that it was easy to finish that first day of the seminar without a problem. I had experienced success that first day and then I started to teach on the second day. (The participants were the same as the first day.) The seminar went very smoothly the second day because I was liberated from mental pressure as I remembered the easy success of the first day. However, this second day of the seminar was not received well. I was shocked, and decided I needed to re-create my mental state from the first day. With this mental state, I taught Ki principles with ease and sincerity. Then, as a result of this change in attitude, I received thunderous applause from the participants just like the first day of the seminar.

"Gee...there is rule." I realized.

Only the human mind can move another personﾕs mind when we speak to another person. It is important to develop a high level of technique, however, this is not always enough. The most important thing is to do our very best every time. This "very best" state of mind is the same as "Ki is extending" which Koichi Tohei sensei teaches us. On the second day of this seminar, I was caught off guard. Then I realized this. After that, I was able to finish seminar very successfully.

Koichi Tohei sensei says the following. "A person who acquires a high level of technique is called skillful. On the other hand, a person who can use own mind anytime anywhere is called a master." Even if a person is able to develop a high level of technique, if this person does not use his or her own mind clearly, then this person is not called a "master".

After this experience, I do Ki breathing every time before I teach to calm my mind. And I always teach in this same state of the mind. I always check myself to be sure that I am extending Ki.

I think teaching Ki principles is similar to acting on the stage.
When the audience feels the actor's mind, they are touched by it. They will not be touched if only the actor's technique is good. When we tell something to others from the heart, the others will be able to feel the heart. As a result, both of our Ki becomes one and we feel this oneness.

In many cases, even when we greet people everyday, we do not greet them with the same state of the mind everyday. Sometimes, we greet people without our mind. It is always important to check yourself to be sure that you are doing your very best, and see that your mind is in the correct state when you do a thing.

Quality of the words

There is a certain quality in the words that we speak. In another words, there is speaking with Ki, and then there is speaking without Ki.

For example, please imagine saying "Thank you" to somebody.

There is a big difference between saying "thank you" from the heart and saying thank you without your mind.

If you have appreciation in your heart and say the words "thank you", this state is called mind and body oneness. When our mind and body are one, we say," Ki is extending."

On the other hand, if you have no appreciation in your mind, but say thank you only with your words, this is a separation of mind and body. We call this "Pulling Ki".

Last week, when I was on the express train, I heard the following interesting conversation. One person was senior staff and the other was junior staff:

Senior: "You have some responsibility in this mistake, too."
Junior: "(in a sloppy manner) I understand."

Senior: "What's with the attitude?"
Junior: "I just said I understood, so that means I understood."

Senior: "If you make a mistake, arenﾕt you sorry for your actions?"
Junior: "So, you mean I should say I am sorry. OK, I'm sorry!"

Senior: "(with anger) I did not mean that!"
Junior: "I have just apologized to you. So, that's it!"

What do you think? Don't we sometimes see this kind of scene in our daily life?

The junior staff said "I am sorry". However, he did not accept the situation and his own faults in his heart. You understand that it is pro forma apology. The senior staff got angry at his pro forma apology without Ki.

Looking back at my daily life, I realize that in the past, sometimes I have sometimes used words without using my mind clearly.

I am careful to use my mind clearly outside of the home, but in my own home, sometimes I tend to use my mind not so clearly. This is because we have an emotional dependence with our own family. Therefore we have to be very careful when we speak to our family and our close friends.
There are words to appreciate, to encourage, to appreciate the pains someone has taken, to show concern for someone, to praise, and to encourage someone. These words mean nothing if you speak them without mind.

Mind (Ki) does exist.

The easiest way to train() Ki principles is to use your mind (Ki) clearly when you speak to someone.

Let's practice together.

Quality of the sleep

We cannot live without sleeping.

Sleep has not only quantity but quality. If you sleep for a long time, it does not necessarily mean you receive high quality sleep. To have high quality sleep, how you use your mind is important.

Koichi Tohei sensei always teaches us in the following way:

When we are out the whole day, our body becomes dirty. Therefore, we take a bath or shower before we sleep. Mind is also the same. Throughout the day, we face many minus things. The minus things have an influence on our mind consciously and unconsciously. Therefore, it is necessary to clean up our mind, as well as our body, and go to sleep with a peaceful mind.
The best way to calm your mind is to do Ki breathing. Before you go to bed, please try it fifteen minutes at least everyday. You will realize Ki breathing is very effective. Try comparing a night of sleep with, and then without Ki breathing.

In addition to that, if you do "Meirei-Anji-ho", this will be even more effective. "Meirei-Anji-ho" is very easy to do. You just address yourself in the mirror. You may be surprised at how easy this is. And, if you try this, you will be surprised at how well it works.

This is an example:
You just say to yourself in a mirror, "You will wake up at six in the morning." Then, you can forget about the time and just sleep. Many people use their mind in a minus way such as saying to themselves, "I have to wake up at six tomorrow morning", or "I can sleep only five hours", before going to bed. You may not feel you slept well using this method!

Please compare a night in which you do this to a night in which you do not do this. You will find that your awakening in the morning is completely different. Just using your mind clearly, you will receive a much higher quality of sleep.

Lastly - How to wake up in the morning:
To wake up with mind and body oneness, you must not sleep "twice". From the scientific point of view, if you sleep twice, it is easy to become tired. In other words, once you wake up, do not go back to sleep.

You may say, "I have to wake up, but I want to sleep." This condition is a separation of mind and body. It is an illusion that you feel good when you sleep twice.

Please compare waking up at once and then sleeping twice. You will realize that sleeping twice actually makes you very tired.

Mind (Ki) has no color and no shape, therefore, we cannot see it. To acquire how to use mind (Ki ) correctly, it is important to repeat the experiment and the verification. Knowledge is not enough. We must actually practice it. Then you will be able to acquire it.

In this way, the quality of the sleep will have already been decided before you go to bed. Since I started to practice sleeping through Ki principles, I have a very high quality sleep. Sometimes, my work allows me to only sleep two or three hours a night, but I still awake refreshinged.
The following are 10 points which I teach at my seminars. Many people use these points to improve their quality of the sleep. To get high quality sleep, please use these points for your own experiment and verification.

1. Before you go to bed, you will do Ki breathing. (To calm your mind)
2. Just before you go to bed, you will do Meirei-Anji-ho. (To have plus mind)
3. You do not eat a meal at least three hours before you go to bed.
4. Bathing immediately before going to bed is avoided.
5. Self Kiatsu (Shoulders, neck, leg, etc)
6. Make your head cool, your feet warm. (Do self Kiatsu on the soul of your foot)
7. Bath in the morning sun.
8. Do not sleep twice.
9. Use your body well in the day time.
10. Do not nap too much.

Put yourself in your opponent's place when you teach others

There is a study called "The Learning Pyramid". This is a study of which way is the most effective way to learn things. (See Pyramid learning).

The more the teaching goes beyond mere word content, the more we tend to learn effectively. On the following list, the number on the right side is the percentage of learning rate.

- Lecture 5%
- Reading 10%
- Audio/ visual 20%
- Demonstration 30%
- Discussion Group 50%
- Practice by Doing 75%
- Teach others 90%

The most effective way to learn is to teach others.

Before I knew this, I had asked my students to tell other people what they had learned at the class. (I had done this within the class structure.)

TThere is a certain way to teach others. We had schooling for the students of the Ki development institute from May 1 to May 5th, 2005. The theme of the schooling was, the"Quality of teaching others."

Koichi Tohei sensei defines "teaching"as "to letting others discover for themselves".

When we teach, we tend to transmit the experiences or knowledge of teachers. However, teaching does not mean to just say something which the teacher wants to say. Especially, young teachers try to tell everything to the students. If you do this, the students may get confused and not be able to understand correctly.

The correct way to teach is to put yourself in your opponentﾕs place. To do this, you will need to see other peoplesﾕ condition correctly.

When the students do not understand the teaching, their faces tend to be clouded over with anxiety. When the students understand, their faces extend plus Ki.

The best way to study Ki is always through feeling other peopleﾕs state or condition of mind.

And if you tell something to others, others may not understand as you do. It is very rare that others understand things exactly as you intend. If others do not understand as we have assumed they will, we tend to become impatient about them and even, at times, emotional. In this instance, we must keep one point.

I have been teaching Ki principles for 10 years now. I teach Ki more than half of the year. However, I never get used to teaching Ki principles. Every time I teach, I learn something new.

To learn Ki principles more deeply, let's teach Ki principles to others correctly.

Cutting bamboo (Take kiri no gyo)

The first bamboo sprouts of the year are emerging from the ground at Ki no Sato.

If you come to our seminar this year, you will be able to enjoy bamboo shoot cooking at Ki no Sato. Sometimes, the young emerging bamboo shoots can even raise a large stone. The life force of bamboo surprises me so much.

Also, this is the season for the Bamboo cutting seminar at Ki no Sato. Originally, Tenpu Nakamura sensei did bamboo cutting. This is one of the three tests which Tempu sensei gave to Tohei sensei. Tohei sensei was able to pass this test on the first try. After that, Tohei sensei passed this on for everyone to experience.

In bamboo cutting, two people support the ends of a five or six foot length of bamboo. Each end of the bamboo is inserted into a very thin piece of paper, which in turn is held by the sharp blade of a knife. Then, another person cuts the bamboo with a wooden sword. If you try to cut the bamboo with your strength, the thin paper supporting the bamboo will tear on the blade of the knife immediately, the moment the wooden sword touches the bamboo. Also, there will be no damage to the bamboo. However, if you relax completely and use your mind clearly, you can cut the bamboo without tearing the thin paper. This is up to your mind whether you can cut the bamboo or not.

You can learn the following points from bamboo cutting:

- You can learn to use your mind clearly (positively).
- You can relax when you are at an important occasion.
- You can learn correct posture and correct relaxation.
- You will improve your ability to see things deeply.

The most important point is that even if you are young or old, man or woman, experienced or non-experienced, anybody can do this. Students from 9 years old to 84 years old have cut bamboo in the past. On the other hand, if students have experienced cutting the bamboo in the past and not used their mind clearly, then the students would not have been able to cut the bamboo.

I have demonstrated bamboo cutting over thirty times. I have never failed to cut the bamboo. However, one day I was practicing cutting bamboo. On this day, I could not cut the bamboo. (I was so shocked!) This is because I thought, "This is practice" and I did not use my mind clearly. I then realized that it is more important to cut bamboo with Ki, even if only once, than to cut bamboo one hundred times without Ki. This was a great realization for me. I have not lost my Ki since then.

Koichi Tohei sensei said, "Even if you can cut bamboo in this way, this does not mean you are a great human being." The purpose of cutting bamboo is not just to cut bamboo. The purpose is to know the importance of using our mind positively and to master correct relaxation. Then you will be able to apply these principles to your daily life.

You will be able to realize many things through bamboo cutting.

Dead calmness and living calmness

Last week, I told you that correct concentration is calming your mind.

If your mind clings to something, you will not be able to use your mind freely. Then you will not be able to see the whole picture, and you will not judge well. This limited state of the mind is called obsession, not concentration.

Koichi Tohei Sensei defines the state of the mind which clings to something as "dead calmness". On the other hand, if the mind is free from clinging to anything, this is defined as "living calmness".

Here is one example.

One of the apprentices (uchideshi in Japanese) accompanied Tohei Sensei to a lecture. The apprentice was not yet used to accompanying Tohei Sensei, and therefore was very nervous.

There was a vase on the table. The vase was very near the edge of the table, almost ready to fall. Tohei Sensei realized this and said to the apprentice, "Look at that vase." Tohei sensei wanted him to move the vase to a safe place.

However, the apprentice misunderstood the instruction. What did he do? He answered to Tohei sensei, "What a beautiful vase it is!"

The apprentice's mind clung to the vase, therefore, he could not realize other things. His mind was closed to the other possibilities of the moment. If your mind is in a state of dead calmness, you only see partially and you will have difficulty realizing what is. In this way, you will not be able to judge correctly.

However, we often mistakenly use our mind in this way. We cling to many things.

"Only I can do this job". When you keep your work to yourself, this is one of the expressions that the clinging mind comes up with. (Clinging to your own abilities.)

"Because I am old (or young), I cannot do that." "Because I am a man (or woman), I cannot do that." This is also your mind clinging to something. (Clinging to age or gender)

If you are afraid to loose your status, this is also your mind clinging to something. (Clinging to money, wealth, status and honor)

"I could make it in the past. So I will be able to make it this time." "I could not make it in the past, so I will not be able to make it this time, too." If you cling to past experiences (either good or bad), and you do not make an effort to improve, this is also your mind clinging to something. (Clinging to the past)

The problem is that without awareness, our mind clings to something. Once your mind clings to something, you will not be able to use your mind any further. Therefore, you need to be careful about it.

By doing Ki breathing, our mind becomes naturally calm, and our mind does not cling to anything. When I am facing a big decision, I do Ki breathing.

Let's practice Ki breathing together.

Concentration and Obsession

I have recently received a number of questions regarding "concentration".

If you want to achieve good results in some activity, then it is important to concentrate. However, many people find that when they concentrate on something, they become tired easily and cannot continue.

What do you think?

Koichi Tohei sensei explains the difference between "concentration" and "obsession" in the following way:

In Japan, as elsewhere, there is an old saying that "Some people cannot see the forest for the trees". If you fix your eyes on the small picture, you will not be able to see the big picture. Also, in this state of limited seeing, you will tire easily and find it difficult to continue.

This condition is obsession, not concentration.

Concentration means that your mind is calm, and that you can see things as they are; life can be perceived as it is.

It is easy to understand if you compare the state of the mind to the surface of the water in a pond. Koichi Tohei sensei wrote about this in his book, Ki Sayings.

"Like the calm, still surface of the water that reflects the moon and a flying bird, true living calmness is the condition of our mind that reflects all things clearly."

When your mind is calm, it is like a calm still surface of the water. In this condition, the moon and a bird are clearly reflected on the surface of the water as they are.

When your mind is disturbed, it becomes like ripples on the water, and neither moon nor
bird can be reflected on the surface of the water clearly.

Tohei sensei taught me this, and I it showed me the way to the ultimate state of consciousness.
I practiced calming my mind when I had concentrated on something, not straining to concentrate. Once I practiced this, I found that, astonishingly, I was able to truly concentrate.

- When I teach Ki principles at a seminar or lecture
- When I make an important decision or judgement
- When I solve a problem or demand
- When I meet a person
- When I study, or when I read books
- When I write articles
- When I play a musical instrument

Before I wrote this article, I did not begin by sitting down in front of the computer. First, I calmed my mind, then I began writing this article.

If we cling to something, we fail to see it clearly, because we misunderstand this as concentration. However, you will not be able to continue concentrating in this way. You will loose your Ki and become tired.

If you feel that "When I concentrate on something I become tired", then I hope you will understand the difference between concentration and obsession. If you understand this, you will be able to change the way you use your mind.

Again, true concentration means to calm your mind naturally.

As I told you this last week, the best way to calm your mind naturally is to do Ki breathing everyday of the week.

To judge correctly, it is important to see the whole picture, not just a part of it. If you only see partially, or in a limited way, then you will not judge well.

I will talk about obsession more in the future.

Let's practice together.

Ki breathing (2)

Koichi Tohei sensei's book, "Ki breathing" is now on sale. Advertisement will be on the news paper on March 31, 2005.

Also, the Ki breathing workshop will be held at Ki Society H.Q. and Tokyo main office on April 2, 2005.

I will talk more about Ki breathing.

It is essential to keep your mind and body healthy in order to become successful and maintain harmonious human relations. But, in order to do that, people often try to control themselves by suppressing their emotions.

However, if you attempt to control yourself in this way, this causes you great stress. If you feel too much stress regarding some issue, you will not be able to last long, and will give up easily.

When I teach a seminar or hold a lecture, many people ask me "how to control emotions".

Many people know that it is important to become the master of their own emotions, but they do not know how to do it.

Koichi Tohei sensei's answer is very simple: Practice Ki breathing.

As long as we live, we need to breathe. Breathing is essential to life. But we often take breathing for granted. Many people don't realize that there are varying qualities to the act of breathing.

There are basically two types of breathing. One is deep and calm breathing. The other is rough and shallow breathing. Besides after hard exercises, at what times does your breathing become rough?

- When you are nervous
- When you are upset
- When you are angry
- When you are inflamed
- When you are frightened
- When you are sick
- When you have hay fever
- When you have bad posture

When your breath is shallow and rough, it is impossible for your mind to be calm.

When your breathing becomes calm and deep, your mind also becomes calm and your emotions are controlled naturally.

You might be surprised to know, but I have had a tendency to get angry quite easily. (I guess my wife and Ki Society staff know about this very well.)

But thanks to learning Ki breathing, I no longer get angry easily. As a result of Ki breathing, I am not forced by my emotions to judge others. And I have learned that, when teaching other people, I can have patience with their development.

I have received an email from one of the students of the Ki Development school. This student taught Ki breathing to her friend who suffers from insomnia. Now all the students share her happiness that Ki breathing helped to improve her insomnia very much.

I do Ki breathing every night before go to sleep. In this way, I will be able to sleep very deeply even if I am able to sleep for only a short time.

Koichi Tohei sensei explains Ki breathing below.
"Most of the people take a shower to clean their body after they come in at the end of the day. You also receive stress in your mind throughout the day. Therefore, in a similar way, it is necessary to daily clean your mind, by practicing Ki breathing."

When your mind is clean and calm, you will be able to sleep extremely well.
Let's practice Ki breathing together.

Listen to others talk with Ki

The fundamental principle of communication is to listen well to others.

However, in many cases, the person who says "I listen well to others" does not always do so.
What is the reason that we so often do not listen to others well?

When we think for sure that "Only my opinion is correct", then we ignore others value and we insist only on our opinion.

If we think "I have already heard this story", then we do not listen to others complete their thought.

If we have our head in the clouds or are obsessed with something, we cannot listen to others well.
When we feel pressed or cower in front of a scary person, we will not be able to understand what is being said.

When we are exhausted, we do not have an open mind and we do not feel like listening to others talk.

Also, if we become emotional with another person, we will not be able to listen well. If others' talking is unclear and it is irritating to us, this is the same.

When we are not able to listen to others, this shows our state of our mind.

We tend to have this bad habit with relatives. I do my very best to listen well to Ki Society members talk, however, sometimes I unwittingly do not listen my wife's talk well.
However, I have been learning. Therefore, when I find that I do not listen to her, I mend my mistake and listen carefully.

If we do not use some part of our mental capability, then that part deteriorates. If you do not practice listening to others talk well, then that part of the brain remains undeveloped, or even may deteriorate. Therefore you will unconsciously not be able to listen well to others talk

This is frightening condition.

There is great value in "listening to others talk".
If you have a mind that accepts others and listens to others talk, this shows that you can extend Ki to others, and that you value them. You will be free from prejudice, and your mind will not cling to anything.

There are a lot of ways to apply Ki principles in our daily life, but I think that "listening to others talk well" may be the most valuable and important thing to us. We cannot put anything above it in daily life.

Let's practice it together.

Ki breathing

What is the most difficult thing to realize? The answer is the self. This is because we cannot see ourselves directly.

To know yourself, you need to look in a mirror or ask other people about yourself.
This can also be applied to our condition.

Our mind and body are constantly changing. Often, we do not notice these changes. Even if we think that we are the same today as we were yesterday, our condition of mind and body are different everyday.

There are days when every thing goes well, and then some days when things go less well.
This happens not only because of good or bad events around you, but also because of the changes in your condition.

When we feel that food has a bad taste, the food may actually have a bad taste, in some cases. But sometimes we feel the food has a bad taste because our condition is not good.
It is important to correctly notice subtle changes in your condition. If you notice these subtle changes, you can rest before catching a cold or you can do something before your mind becomes minus.

Well then, how will we be able to notice such subtle changes correctly?

The answer is to check the condition of your mind and body through Ki breathing.
If you practice Ki breathing the same time everyday, you will find sometimes you can breathe comfortably, but sometimes it is not comfortable to breathe.

If you are uncomfortable when practicing your Ki breathing, this might be signal that something is wrong with your condition. Similarly, this may indicate that you are undergoing some sort of stress without being aware of it.

When you practice Ki breathing correctly, your blood circulation becomes good, and your life power is fully activated. Because of this, you will be able to realize the subtle changes of your mind and body.

There is a famous pianist who is a student of Koichi Tohei sensei. The first thing the pianist does when he sits in front of the piano is to do Ki breathing. To perform piano always at the same level, it is important to know the condition of the mind, then calm his mind and play.
It is very important to always maintain a calm mind in any area such as a business, education, art, sports.

Let's practice Ki breathing together.

Stay Sharp!

We had a special training in our Ki Development institute in late February. This was a five day seminar, and this was one of the big events of Ki no Sato.

Those of you who attended the training already know this, but three of our staff were down with the flu. Each of those three had a big event before the seminar, and they took their day off for this big event, then they let their mind drift.

Tohei sensei said, "to catch a cold means you to try to catch a cold by yourself."
Many people think that they cannot help but catch a cold. However, it is not a thing which you cannot help. If you think this way, you will catch a cold often!

When we have something very important to concentrate on, we seldom catch a cold. We tend to catch a cold when we have a holiday rather than having a very important task. Then, we have to spend our holiday in bed. Some of you may have experienced this.

We catch a cold in this way because we loose our Ki.

We have a habit of dropping our Ki when we finish something. The important thing is to immediately switch your mind to what is next. All you have to do is to first set your Ki to the next purpose, then you take your holiday and relax.

For example, if you take your holidays on the weekends, you make preparation for the next working day before the holidays. Then, you will enjoy your holidays without thinking about your work. You can give your mind to your holidays 100%.

When Koichi Tohei Sensei returned from battle field after World War II, he did not rest but he started to work in the field the very next day. He knew that if he let his mind drift, there would be a great effect upon his body. In reality, some soldiers who went to Onsen (hot springs) and rested quietly soon after returning from the battle field found themselves becoming weaker and weaker little by little, until finally they passed away.

So be sure to set your mind to the next purpose after you have completed a task. This is an easy way to use your mind, yet this has a great effect on our lives. I used to catch a cold a few times a year, but I have learned how to use my mind and practice Ki breathing, I have not caught a cold in years.

If you are very busy, please try this.

It is useless to simply possess the knowledge of Ki principles. First, we, the Ki Society staff, must practice Ki principles.