Testing 6/21/2010

[Shoshin]

I would like to congratulate everyone who tested last week at the Toyoda Center. It was my honor and privilege to participate with your test, and I wish you all the best of luck with your continued training.

Regardless of the outcome of your test, which I’m sure Strouse Sensei will be meeting with you individually to make corrections and recommendations, you all did very well and should be proud of your achievement. After all you survived a rank test at the Toyoda Center!

Having said all this I would like to say a few words about testing in general for everyone to consider. I am particularly concerned for the beginning students who witnessed the excellent brown belt tests. I can see how a new student could watch this and be overwhelmed. The words, “I could never do that,” crossed your mind perhaps. And the truth is that, now, at this point in time, you cannot! The advanced tests you saw last week were the culmination of years of practicing, learning, studying, thinking… TRAINING! The tests are punctuation marks in a very long Aiki story.

A very important thing that all Aikido students need to remember is that your sensei considers Aikido a lifetime art. He will not grow impatient with you when you cannot learn how to roll. He will not think less of you if you cannot learn a technique, or the Japanese terms, and just keep doing everything wrong. Your sensei has been conditioned to “sense” even the smallest increments of growth in his students. Even when you think you are not growing, or you may even think you are failing, this is not what your sensei sees. Keep coming to the dojo! Keep stepping onto the mat! When it’s time you will be ready for your test.

To the continuing students: Please remember that testing day is after all just another day of training. Yes you are put in the spotlight and you experience all the nerves and emotions that are associated with that, but this is just another day of training. Yes you may receive a new belt and all the “accolades” that go along with that, but you are just another Aikido student. To use myself as an example I have trained in Aikido for 14 years. I’m just another nidan of thousands. Seven years of that time was spent in the kyu ranks working my way toward the goal of a black belt. Since then I have tested just once, and I expect I will probably only have two more physical tests for the rest of my career. That means that over the span of my Aikido life I will have spent just a fraction of my time in the kyu ranks. Stepping through the kyu ranks is not an end, it’s a beginning! Essentially I will describe it as one who is becoming fluent in a foreign language. Why would anyone want to learn how to speak a foreign language anyway? To communicate with more people of course. When you achieve the rank of shodan you can then strap that hakama on and go anywhere in the world and say, “Onegaishimasu! Let’s speak the language of Aikido together.” I have had the experience of visiting dojos in foreign countries where I cannot speak the native language, but as soon as we step on the mat we can communicate flawlessly. It’s a beautiful experience. The purpose of the black belt or any ranks for that matter, is to bring people together, not place a separator between them. Bringing students together in a dojo is the job of a sensei. Teaching seminars and bringing dojo’s together is the job of great sensei. Bringing the world together, all speaking the common language of Aikido, I believe was the goal of O’sensei. I am glad I put the time in to learn the language.

Train harder!

PS: I put some words about the Germanov seminar and a pic on my blog:
http://lifelongarts.blogspot.com/

[estrouse]

Domo arigato gozaimashita (Adams) Sensei!
It was great having you around again and it was our honor to have you sit on the testing committee! Your wisdom and insight is one that I always look forward to learning from, along with the high energy that you bring to the mat! I hope that you achieve your goal of opening up a cultural arts center soon, so that we may come down and give you the same high energy that you have shown us!

[hunglea]

Adams Sensei! I really enjoyed reading your post. Testing was amazing of course! It was great to have been able to attend the Chicago seminar with you and to have you stay an extra few days in GR for testing.

Aikido is a long and beautiful journey - definitely not something for the short haul. Watching Scott and Brian test for 1st Kyu was inspiring. I used to be intimidated by all their feats, but it is achievable given time, effort, and dedication. They motivate me to keep striving for better understanding and knowledge. I hope all the beginning students (of which I am also one) were inspired by Scott and Brian's determination and hard work. Great job to everyone that tested!

Thank-you for the calligraphy Sensei!

- Hung

[BAE]

Adams Sensei! It was great to see you again and it was an honor and privilege to have you on the test committee for my 1st kyu test. I am also very honored and grateful for your gift of calligraphy. It encompasses the very virtues that we should all strive to grow within ourselves. Please accept my sincere thanks. I hope I am as fortunate to have you on the test committee when my Shodan test day comes.

To all, Adams Sensei has much knowledge and insight to offer. Adams Sensei is one of my very first instructors. It was his class that I first saw and helped motivate me to join the Toyoda Center. So be a sponge and absorb what you can from Sensei. I have to smile at Adams Sensei’s comment about rolls. My shoulders hurt most of the first year of my Aikido journey. Was I tempted to quit after the first few months when sore shoulders made sleeping difficult? Yes, but as with most worthwhile things in life I knew I had to give Aikido a fair try (after all I started Aikido in my mid-thirties and figured I had a lot of rust to breakdown in these shoulders and joints). So I stuck with it. Over time my rolls and ukemi improved along with other things. Now over six years after having started down the Aikido road, I am doing things I could only imagine back then. However, I know I have only scratched the surface. There is still much to learn.

So be patient and persevere. Think of Aikido as a life long journey, one that never has a real end but has plenty of opportunities for growth along the way. After all, are we not the happiest when we feel like we are growing and improving? Why would we want that to end?

See you on the mat!

BE