As many of you might know, compared to many I train with, I am new to Aikido training. I do not have the years of continuous training. As I continue my Aikido training, I have come to realize that while there are ranks and tests, the true determining elements in learning, training and developing my Aikido skills is a “Test of Time”.

This is not a new idea and I’m sure I’m not the only one to experience this. Time is finite. It has bounders and limits. Our existence is time boxed. How we choose to use time is crucial. For all of us who have chosen to make Aikido a part of our lives, we are told of the commitments that it asks. We are told that Aikido is not simply a recreational activity to be performed on weekends.

Take a look at your Aikido inspirations. If you look at them and admire the skills they possess, ask yourself what has gotten them to that status. They have one major thing in common; they all have dedicated themselves to Aikido. They made Aikido a part of their lives and we are witnessing the results. I don’t know about you but I want to emulate these results. I admire the Aikido Senseis and want to one day attain what they have attained.

As stated earlier, our time is limited. In accepting the challenges of commitment and dedication that Aikido asks of us, we will face the true “Test of Time”.

Continue to train hard, sincerely and passionately, my Aikido cohorts.

Rey Robles
Southern Maryland Aikido Center

Such an elegant a formulation because of its economy and simplicity, but the equation E = mc2 (another space-time continuum) also appears simple but is about as conceptually complicated as you can get. And ma-ai has its complications and nuances as well.

First maai is not a fixed single concept. It is neither a fixed space nor a fixed time. For example if two opponents are of different heights or different arm lengths or different leg lengths then the maai is different for each of them in the same instant of encounter. The taller individual or the one with longer arms may not need to take a step in order to touch the opponent and thus is ‘closer’ and the opponent needs a longer distance for effective maai.

Conversely if one of the opponents has exceptionally fast reflexes and is the speedier of the two then the slower combatant needs more distance to maintain safety. But this requirement also brings with it the problem of giving the slower opponent a greater distance to cover when attacking, which in turn, because s/he is the slower of the two, gives the receiver of the attack an even longer time to respond.

These complications of the “space-time continuum” thus lead to another dimension, a dimension of mind (insert “Twilight Zone” music and the narration of Rod Serling… but I’m dating myself! However, it is where I’m going with this though… more later… with a sudden twist at the end.)

There is a maai of consciousness… the steadiness of attention, the constancy of focus, the point of breath at either inhale or exhale.

To gain a better understanding it is helpful to observe that maai is not just one thing but at least three things. The basic description of maai given above is actually a combination of two types of maai and blurs their differences a bit. When one is keeping a distance that allows for some reaction time this distance can be more specifically labeled as “to-ma” or perhaps called “long distance”.

But when one can strike the other only by covering the distance of one step then that distance is more specifically called Issoku ittō-no-maai (Itto-ma or “chuma”, middle distance). With this physical space there is very little time to react and so concentration must be unwavering. At this distance, all other factors being equal, the advantage goes to the opponent with the stronger steadier mind. Indeed it is possible that a stronger steadier mind that can identify and exploit lapses in an opponent’s consciousness may in fact more than compensate for the opponent’s advantages in reach and/or reflex speed.

The third kind of maai in this categorization scheme is “chikama” or short distance. In this situation an opponent has gotten too close, too far inside, in order to allow for any reaction time and there is nothing that can be done to defend oneself. An example of this is an instance in which a man brandishing a knife has gotten within 10 feet of a man with a holstered sidearm. The man with the knife has an overwhelming advantage. In fact in law enforcement training the safe distance here, the maai, is deemed to be a minimum of 21 feet.

In this last category an aware and “intuitive” mind could still have an advantage by moving ahead of the attack or specifically leading it to a pre-determined spot chosen for its defensive advantage. This is one of the meanings of the concept of “leading” an opponent’s mind.

We deal with maai constantly in everyday life. It is as simple as the time elapsed between the knock on the bathroom door and the same hand then turning the knob to open the door. It seems rarely, if ever, does the “knocker” allow for any time for the “current user” to respond before s/he tries the knob. If this occurs on an unlocked door in a public place like an office or garage restroom the “current user” soon discovers that there is an “opening”!

More dangerous is a failure to maintain a safe following distance between cars on a highway. Here severe tragedy can result from chikama, maai that is too close and inappropriate. This situation is exacerbated by texting while driving. Here there is a lapse in consciousness that allows great distances to be breached before there is even an awareness of danger and response and reflex speed remain as factors after initial awareness.

And then there are the more subtle nuances of maai that are manifest in body language and the cultural overtones embedded within non-verbal communication. If you are adventurous, experiment with the invisible boundary that represents the half way point on a shared table. Spread out across that line in a cafeteria or a library… what’s the body language (or possibly the spoken language) of the “sharer”. Or what’s your comfortable speaking distance? How close do you allow a boss or a co-worker? Where’s your line? What’s your maai?

Culturing an awareness of details and allowing for the healthy sensitivity of “relaxed alertness” is the way one can take advantage of “kokoro-no-maai”… a lapse of spirit, a wandering of the mind which leaves a momentary “tsuki” or opening. Such moments are said to exist at certain points in the breath cycle such as just before an exhale is completed. One would unleash a most successful attack if coupled with a “ki-ai”, a spirit yell, an exhalation at the moment of the strike. The same would be true at the moment of response. However if one has not quite finished an exhale then this has to be completed, followed by an inhale before there can be a powerful exhale again. Thus there is an “opening” at that specific point of the breathing rhythm.

But none of this has anything to do with my point! Or maybe it has everything to do with it.

This all started while I was listening to a discussion on my car radio as I drove to work in congested morning traffic with an aggressive driver tailgating me as she did her lipstick in her rear view mirror. One of the contributors speaking on the radio used the phrase “the problem with the world today”… when it occurred to me that this was a confluence of issues in space and time that could be eliminated with an awareness of maai.

Technology has become a virulent attacker to the act of living in a relaxed manner in the here and now. Multi-tasking and web surfing and television with “57 channels and nothin’ on” and a 24 hour hyped news cycle, and tweets and postings and a virtual community that frantically devours bits of minutia like piranha in a feeding frenzy leaves no time or space for solitude… just a zombie crowd engulfed in a steady numbing drone.

The dialogue on my car radio had lost its sense of real context and seduces the listener to journey to conceptual abstractions. The “world” is the space we live in… that is immediately around us. I cannot describe the world solely as this commute. The discussion of the “world” was a provincial look at a microcosm and reduction of urban America. It certainly was not the universe. It was not the world of medieval burgermeisters, or the Omo tribe in Sudan, or for that matter of a farmer in the Midwest USA.

And “today” is just that… a “moment” that is “here”. It is not eternity… it is not “all of the time”. And yet “now” is all we have… and it is only “here” and it never goes away so it is “eternity”. A Roman gladiator only had “now”, a mugging victim only has “now”, a runaway slave only had, or because it still exists somewhere on the planet and probably in more than one place, they only have “nows”.

Sure we have memories and we have goals and plans but these too are abstracts. They change according to the now. The humiliating moment last summer when a co-worker accidently walked into the bathroom you were using becomes the funniest story at the office Christmas party. The righteous argument you had in college with the dorky disheveled and disorganized weird kid because of how much space he was taking and the noise he was making in the library becomes patty and sickening when you found out he jumped off a bridge later that day. The happy goal of buying that house suddenly becomes a burden when you’ve be laid off and your home mortgage is under water. And the lay off becomes the best thing that ever happened to your career because it created the opportunity where you stumbled into your dream job.

Practice Aikido to develop penetrating awareness… to find your place in space and time… to guard your maai… and to see the openings… to stay in the now… in big things and little things… like maybe I shouldn’t be texting this while I’m driving!

Robert A. Whelan
Shodokan

The old tea master lived a joyous and natural life in the prices’ hereditary castle, much what you would expect from a master of his great stature. Just one thing however was unusual. And that was that in all his life and training, he had never once stepped foot outside of his lords castle gates.

One day the prince was invited to a neighboring castle, and decided to show off his tea master. He began preparations for the visit and sent a servant to the tea master, requiring his attendance. The tea master immediately sought out his prince, pleading not to have to leave the safety of the castle. “My lord, I beg you not to take me, I know something awful will happen if I accompany you tomorrow.” The master could not imagine actually stepping foot outside the gates, never mind traveling a great distance to some unknown castle. But the price refused to take no for an answer. The tea master was mortified. He hardly slept a wink.

The next day, as they were about to leave the safety of his beloved castle, the tea master said, “My lord, last night I had a most terrible dream. I know that utter disaster and misfortune awaits me outside these gates. I beg you to let me stay.” But there was no changing his mind, and off they went.

As the humble master entered the gates of the neighboring castle, he turned his head to look back at the heavily fortified doors closing him in, when he bumped right into the most vicious mean looking samurai he had ever met. “Oh, pardon me, I am so sorry.” said the tea master.

The brutish samurai glared down at him saying, “You little fuck, who do you think you are. I’m going to cut your shrimpy head off for that!” “Oh no please, it was foolish of me not to look where I was going. Please forgive me.,” said the tea master with his nose in the dirt. But the huge samurai picked him up by the scruff of the neck with one hand and declared, “Tomorrow you meet at the river, crack of dawn. Bring your katana!”

Later that day the prince introduced his tea master to the neighboring lord, who in turn introduced him to his trusted majordomo. The officer could see the troubled countenance of the tea master and took him aside to inquire. When the warrior learned of the impending duel, he put his hand on the old mans shoulder, and then said a very wise thing, “This calls for tea”.

An hour later the majordomo bowed low as he entered the small tearoom, which had been meticulously prepared by the tea master. They bowed to each other and soon the great warrior was humbled to the bone at the mastery, the beauty, and the utter power in simplicity of each and every breath and gesture he observed and shared, in what would be the final tea ceremony. Then as the master offered the cup in a movement that was one with his mind, his spirit and body, his eyes held the majordomos, and the warrior was awestruck.

After finishing a few sips of the green brew, he looked at the tea master and said, “tomorrow, you have nothing to worry about. Take my sword, and when the samurai comes to you at the river, raise the katana, just as you raise this cup. Hold it over your head, and just look into his eyes.”

The next morning at dawn the tea master waited next to the river, and when he saw the muscled samurai coming, he grasped the katana with two hands and raised it above his head, focusing his whole being on the big samurai before him. Not a hair moved, he breathed the natural breath of a sleeping baby. His whole being was as one.

And the samurai instantly knew he could step no closer. He stopped and bristled, eyeing the tea master in front of him. “Mmmmmm, you are not the same man I met yesterday. I do not think it is wise for us to continue. I forgive you.”

Bob Toabe
MIT Aikido Club

Dear Aikidoka:

Please be advised that every person staying in the hotel must be listed through the hotel registration process. If you are a couple, it is not enough to list yourself alone, thinking that if you have a room then your spouse or roommate is good to go. The hotel needs an accurate listing of each person in each room in order to properly guarantee the meals as well as the beds (doubles versus kings). If you have already registered and did not list your roommates, the other people in your room must reserve a room in their name as well. By listing your roommates, the hotel matches those sharing a room together – you will not each be assigned a separate room but will be connected through the hotel database. It is never too late to add someone, as long as the next person notes that you are in their room. Multiple people can be processed at the same time if you chose more than one guest. This will make you fill out private info and check in/check out dates for them, as well as assign a credit card for each person. You can use different credit cards for each person at this point if you wish. If you do not register as more than one guest, and list yourself as the only guest but make note when asked of who your roommate will be, then each person in the room must go to the hotel link after registering for camp and register themselves in the hotel database.

Here is a step-by-step guide to booking your hotel stay:

1. register for camp through the online site (ideal choice) or download a form and mail it in (you can access the forms here as well)
2. carefully read the USAF confirmation email that you receive after registering for camp
3. follow the hotel link in your confirmation email
4. go through the hotel enrollment page – choose that you are an attendee
5. chose the number of guests – if you are only reserving for yourself, even if you have roommates, chose 1. You will write the name of your roommates in the text field, and they will then do the same process. This is where the hotel finds the info to match you as sharing a room.
6. If you do not know who your roommate will be you can chose “unknown”. When it is decided, that person will then put your name as a roommate, and the hotel will match you together.
7. If you are registering your roommates, chose the correct number – you will see that it requests the information for each person. If you continue through this process, (including check in/check out dates, and credit card information for each person) each guest will be fully registered and will not have to go in to do it again. Make sure each page in the hotel process reflects the correct number of people you are registering (#guests)
8. no matter what, write the name of your roommates in the corresponding text field
9. your hotel confirmation email will indicate how many people you registered.

So, to summarize – each and every person attending camp must go through the USAF camp registration process (including children) as well as the hotel reservation process (either separately, or by having one person list more than one guest in their room and filling out each person’s info). This will guarantee that when you check in you will have the proper room assignments, bed choices, roommates, and meal plans.

We will never run out of space for people to take class, but we can quickly run out of hotel rooms as they are booking up quickly. So please don’t wait to register for camp so you can make your reservations, as our blocked rooms are limited.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you,

Laura Pavlick and Paige Chapman
Summer Camp Coordinators

We look forward to seeing you at camp!
Sincerely,

The Summer Camp Committee
Laura Pavlick. Paige Chapman, Skip Chapman, Joe Nemeth

This app is a great introduction to the Aikido of Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei, 8th Dan, Shihan, Chief Instructor of New York Aikikai and President of the United States Aikido Federation. The app includes video clips from Yamada Sensei’s famous instructional DVD series “Aikido: The Power and the Basics”, ten advanced techniques displayed in our unique MOTION ANALYSIS “scrubby” tool, and a detailed biography of Yamada Sensei’s life including pictures from his childhood through the present time.
The video clips will be especially valuable to beginners who seek to learn clear fundamentals and important technical details from one of the most influential Aikido instructors in the world. Advanced students will appreciate the motion analysis clips where they can study the finest details of Yamada Sensei’s movements and apply these refinements to their own technique.
For full length videos and dvds by Yamada Sensei and other Aikido Shihan, as well as Doyu uniforms and other great Aikido resources, please visit us at www.aikidoexpress.com

Notting Hill Aikikai/Bermuda Aikikai
Chief Instructor: Anthea Pascaris
London, UK
url: www.nottinghillaikikai.co.uk

Providence Aikikai
Chief Instructor: David Halprin
Location: Pawtucket, RI
url: coming soon

Water’s Edge Aikikai
Chief Instructor: Margaret Bower
Location: Ganbrills, MD
url: coming soon

Myoho Aikido Vermont
Chief Instructor: Wassim Nehme
Location: N. Bennington, VT
url: coming soon

Newark Aikido
Chief Instructor: Derrell Thomas
Location: Newark, NJ
url: www.newarkaikidoonline.com

No more scrolling through the long list of seminars to see if anything new has been added or changed. There’s now an easy solution – simply visit www.usaikifed.com/events and add your email address to the event update feed box. You will then be emailed an automated notice detailing the most recent changes to the calendar. We hope you enjoy this latest improvement to the website.

As we approach the end of winter, it is time to remind you about the USAF annual renewal deadline, as well as provide a general administrative update on some of the exciting projects that will come to fruition this spring.

RENEWALS: Please remember that all annual USAF dojo renewals, individual dues, and shidioin and fukushidoin fees are due by April 1st. Late fees will apply if post-marked after this date. The forms and information are in the renewal packages that were mailed to each dojo, as well as being posted on the website through the login portal.

SUMMER CAMP: The planning for Summer Camp 2012 is well under way. All camp information and online registration should be ready to launch sometime in mid-March. Please make sure to join our USAF Summer Camp Facebook page to keep up with the latest camp news, including raffle and scholarship details.

ANNUAL REPORT: This spring, the second official USAF annual report will be compiled and circulated, reflecting information from 2011.

WEBSITE/DATABASE: The project for revising the USAF website, www.usaikifed.com, was divided into 2 phases. Phase 1 of the project was completed last year, and the site now reflects many of the upgrades in both design and functionality. Phase 2 is well under way, and a tentative completion time is mid-spring. In addition to other improvements, a few of the upgrades for an instructor/administrator include:

• Access his/her dojo members information
• Submit new ranks by modifying student records
• Add new students
• Mark students as inactive
• View member list by active students, inactive students, or all
• Create a form to electronically submit these changes
• Edit and compile member data, including addresses, phone numbers, email, professions etc.

There will also be a fee associated with each transaction (member dues $35, kyu rank $35, etc) to assist with calculating the total fees that will then be charged to the credit card on file (recorded in the database as well), or the check/money order that will be mailed in. The instructor/administrator will then receive a confirmation email with an excel spreadsheet containing the submitted modifications for their records.

This exciting upgrade will benefit not only instructors, but their students as well. Instructors will have easy access to all their students’ USAF information through one centralized database, allowing for a much smoother administrative and submission process. A more comprehensive collection of data will help assure that fewer errors occur, and therefore the student’s status will be accurate and current.

EVENTS PAGE: With regards to the events calendar, there will be 3 improvements.

• First, and available to the public, will be the ability to subscribe to the events page through an RSS feed. This will allow anyone to receive an email alert which contains the information every time a seminar has been added or a change has been made. This will enable you to know what new seminars have been posted at any given time. The email alerts will also include any seminar that is canceled or postponed.

• The second upgrade will be the addition of a “sub-page” for each event. The calendar will list the events, as it does now, but there will be a “view details” tab that will bring you to a sub-page for that specific event. The sub-page will contain the seminar information, dates and time, a downloadable pdf of the flier if one was submitted, a description section, and address and link of the host dojo. The sub-page can also be “shared”, such as posted to FB, twitter, etc.

• The third upgrade to the events page will be an instructor’s ability to fill in the data fields and the detailed sub-page, and submit their own events. This will be also be simple process and will require a login and password.

All of the information that is modified and submitted, whether for a member, a dojo, or an event, will be through an automated form, without actually touching the true data. The “super administrator,” who is currently the Director of Operations, must “accept” the proposed changes in order for the data to actually be modified.

As you can see, this spring will bring with it many new and exciting things for our membership. Though these projects may vary in scope, their unifying goal is to enhance the experience of being a USAF member, member dojo, and instructor.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and I will keep you posted as these features become available.

Sincerely yours,

Laura Pavlick
Director of Operations

To preview and purchase a calendar, follow this link.