Aikido Sandstorm
Aikido students spend half of their time as uke (the attacker) and half the time as nage (the thrower). Although many people are more excited about throwing than being thrown, one cannot learn Aikido without mastering the uke side. As Endo Sensei once said, "I do not do Ikkyo. We [uke and nage] do Ikkyo together." Uke and Nage are equally important in this union. Both parties have to be willing to give themselves for this union to be complete. That is why the two parties in Aikido are called partners, not opponents.
The goal of the nage is to own the center of movement. As uke, after delivering his best attack, one seeks to go through the center and re-emerge from the other side alive so that he can attack again.
Fearful people mistakenly think that they are playing safe by putting only part of themselves in. The moment they detect changes in their partner, they pull back. As such, part of them is attached to and is under the control of the nage; the rest of their body is hanging back in an off-balance position. A disconnected body is hard to move. The desire to stay safe ends up tearing the uke apart!
By hanging back, there is no way for the uke to get close to the center. If he is lucky, at best, the uke gets spun out by the aikido twister. If he is less fortunate, he may not even make it out alive. Uke may think he is avoiding danger. The irony is that hanging back disconnects his body, and thus puts him in even more danger.
As it is often the case in life, the most dangerous place ends up being the safest place. The only way for uke to survive an Aikido technique is to go through the center bravely. It is like the phoenix rising from the ashes. There is no other way. It really pays to be courageous at times.
This leads me to think of Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami:
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.
And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.
And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.”
The goal of the nage is to own the center of movement. As uke, after delivering his best attack, one seeks to go through the center and re-emerge from the other side alive so that he can attack again.
Fearful people mistakenly think that they are playing safe by putting only part of themselves in. The moment they detect changes in their partner, they pull back. As such, part of them is attached to and is under the control of the nage; the rest of their body is hanging back in an off-balance position. A disconnected body is hard to move. The desire to stay safe ends up tearing the uke apart!
By hanging back, there is no way for the uke to get close to the center. If he is lucky, at best, the uke gets spun out by the aikido twister. If he is less fortunate, he may not even make it out alive. Uke may think he is avoiding danger. The irony is that hanging back disconnects his body, and thus puts him in even more danger.
As it is often the case in life, the most dangerous place ends up being the safest place. The only way for uke to survive an Aikido technique is to go through the center bravely. It is like the phoenix rising from the ashes. There is no other way. It really pays to be courageous at times.
This leads me to think of Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami:
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.
And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.
And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.”
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