Emotions in Motion
Seishiro Endo Sensei is the one single teacher who puts tremendous effort in developing students' awareness about their emotional state and in coaching them to manage it. His teaching is significant and is very helpful in elevating one's spiritual development. Being a beneficiary of Endo Sensei's approach, one evening, I decided to have people focused on taking inventory of their feelings at different times during Aikido practice. At first, they seemed perplexed by my request and were not sure what to do with it. I sent them reminders periodically during class. It did not take long for the exercise to take effect. Having strong emotions displayed on the Aikido mat is nothing new: Some people blush. Some people get so wound up that their faces become all puffy and red. Some people let out nervous laughs. Some get so emotional that they tear up or even cry. In addition, when people become overly task-oriented, no matter how good-natured they are, they still can get
