After the third week

3 facts about the number 3:

• This is the end of my 3rd week of being back to the gym
• I've committed to 3 days a week and have fulfilled my commitment thus far
• I've made it to 3 Aikido classes this week

So all in all this has been a good few weeks. I'm thankful for consistency in my life. I'm thankful for people who care about my progress. So, it is Sunday AM. It is cold in the house... I think it's time to turn on the heater and do some T'ai Chi.

Onegai shimasu!

Week 3 day 2 - corrections and trivia

I just realized the last post I put up said "Day 3, week 2" when it should have been the other way... Week 3, day 2. I will correct this.

I don't have much but still feel the need to post past 140 characters via twitter. I went to Aikido last night. Sensei teaches Thursdays and Saturdays. it was good to see him and the class. Apparently, the bulk of the dojo is up for their next rank at the next test in about 5 weeks. I'm happy for them but feel a bit put out that I was not one of the candidates. However, it's obvious why I am not. They put in the time and I have not. They have dedicated 3 or 4 days a week and for the last 6 mos I was averaging 2 days a week at best. I didn't show up at all for the month of October. So, while I'm a little put out, it's clearly my issue. The training is there and it's available for me, I need to show the discipline to at least show up.

By design, Aikido does not have competitions. O' Sensei believed that the only competition and only victory can be over one's self. So rather than put out, I will work on the competition within. "True Victory is self victory, right here right now." I wish my fellow classmates much luck in this round of Kyu tests and will be there to help them as their peer.

Onegai Shimasu!

ps. Week 3 Day 3 went pretty well actually.

Week 3 Day 2 - of faith and inspiration

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

I would rather learn from the multitude of small lessons that we can find hidden under rocks, inside a smile, in the gentle nod of a person walking by, then the bigger lessons. The smaller lessons can teach us much and are much more abundant if we look.

Today, I worked out, I was tired. I am still working at a good pace, but I was more tired than the last time. I will have faith that this will get easier. I in fact have seen it happen, so I will have faith that this journey isn't a constant arrow up, but rather a set of stairs that go in an upward direction, with the occasional step or two backward.

I like to think metaphorically, my work out is not isolated from other parts of life. It is an exercise in determination, just like my work day is, just like my Aikido, just like my relationships, and just like the inner work I do to be an open and loving man. Everything compliments. Compartmentalization leads to exactly that, a house that is not a house. A weird quirk of physics where it is a house, but all the rooms are separate from each other.

So I will have faith that my work outs will get better, which leads me to believe that if I can have faith in that, then I can have faith in bigger things... which leads me to the fact that I can have faith that this burgeoning, crazy love I have for a woman 2000 miles away will work out for us. We have to think (dare i say it... dare i say it...) out of the box, (ooooh snap, i hate that corporate speak, but i said it... shoot me) and unconventionally for our relationship to take root, grow and blossom. i am up for this, and so is she.

Of inspiration, I look to my beautiful friends Jennifer and Kirk. They were high school friends when Jen moved away, got married and spent 20 years in Canada. Somehow they found each other again. This inspires me greatly to see that love can thrive through the miles. I am touched deeply by their love of each other and inspired that I can in fact have that as well.

Till next time, Onegai shimasu!

Week 3 Day 1

I've decided that 140 characters are not sufficient to relay my thoughts for my morning work outs. Read it, don't read it... it's ok! :D These are for me to reflect on. So it's ok if you roll your eyes. It's ok if you don't read. I'm going to commit to these posts for a period of 4 weeks. That will put me at week 6 by the time I'm done. So...

Some things I noticed:
Today there was a beautiful sun rise in Northern California. The hue of red and gold and blue that God painted on the sky was truly spectacular. Before I walked into the gym I took a moment to look, breath in and breath out.

I do have been doing the 30 minute circuit at my gym. This is similar to the Curves set up where there are step stations and weight machines, 10 each, interwoven so it's machine, step, machine step, etc. They have a light that turns green for 60 seconds and red for 30. On the first station for 60, off for 30, onto first stepstation for 60, and off for 30 till you're done. My first goal in this is to do this consistantly. I've committed to MWF in the AMs. I did this for two weeks and now I'm on to my third.

This third week I want to add two more activities. I haven't been to Aikido in about a month due to work being so crazy but I'm yearning to go back. I will do that today with my son. I will try and get a walk around the building a couple times sometime this week as well.

My biggest two issues have been (not just for exercise but for many things) patience and discipline. This process is a good exercise in building both.

At many Aikido dojos, we greet our partners with the term, "onegai shimasu." It roughly translates to "Shall we begin?". I think about this today, because regardless of whether class has begun, is almost over, are training partners stepped on the mat today or have been training along side us for years, we still say, "Onegae shimasu." I hear this in my head to myself, "Onegae shimasu, Mark. Shall we begin, Mark?" I answer with a resounding yes!

Multicultural Food and Music Festival

I just came back from this and feel the need to try and reach EVERYBODY that is local to come and support this event. This is a two day event, it's free and the music was awesome. My son and I arrived when a duet was performing French folk music. We had a great local representation of restaurants including Bear Korean, El Malecon (awesome pupusas), Las Guitarres (bbq'd oysters!), Siam BBQ, and possibly the best corn dog I've ever had. Sukhawat Ali Khan performed with top notch musicians playing the sitar, tablas and digiridoo. There were probably 3 or 4 more acts before we came and one more htat was going to close the show.

The owner of Masala Jack's in Cotati and Zone Music helped with this event. The only thing that was sad to see was the lack of attendance. The festival is FREE people! The restaurants represented offered reasonable prices for lunch and snacks and there were some other very fun vendors selling everything from donkey books (yea you'd have to see them) to jewelry, to other typical festival fare.

I was most impressed at How Sukhawat Ali Khan performed in the midst of maybe 150 people at most. I saw him at the Harmony Festival in 2008 and he played his heart out. That was a full crowd. He played with the same energy and love for the 150 or so people that were gathered sparcely today.

They are going to have another day of this tomorrow, October 11th from 11am to 6pm. The festival is located at Old Redwood and 116, right across the street from Zone Music in Cotati, California.

People, this is a great opportunity to enjoy some music you don't hear everyday. It's also a great FREE thing to do, especially in tough times like these. I feel so proud of the local businesses that helped put this together. My hat goes off to Zone Music and Masala Jack's for doing this. If you don't get out there, then please support these guys:

Zone Music - http://www.zonemusic.com/
Masala Jack's - http://www.yelp.com/biz/masala-jacks-original-good-ol-indian-curryhouse-cotati
Bear Korean - http://www.koreandining.com/
Las Guitarras - http://lasguitarrasdecotati.com/
El Malecon - http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-malecon-rohnert-park

Lessons from a master

Our Aikido school took a field trip today to the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco. Currently, they are running an exhibit called "The Lords of the Samurai" that had artifacts depicting the cultural and combative aspects of fuedal Japan. It was a beautiful exhibit and amongst many beautiful displays, they had a calligraphy piece from Takuan Soho, several paintings from Miyamoto Musashi and one of the earliest editions of the Book of Five Rings.

We specifically went for an iaido demonstration given by one of the worlds foremost masters of iaido, Sensei Seigen Esaka, Hanshi 10th Dan, who practices the Muso Jikiden Eishen Ryu style of iaido. The demonstration was very modest. Sensei Esaka spoke for about 50 minutes through a translator describing Iaido from a historical perspective, gave some insight of his own involvement and growth in his art, and spoke about the tenets he has found through his sincere and dedicated practice.

It is an interesting thing to have a master who has dedicated his life to his art offer up these thoughts. We tend to think that we are going to hear some secrets of the universe when a man of his caliber offers up his thoughts after so many years of training. In fact, we did hear them. I will boil them down to four (and paraphrase badly). They are very simple:

• Live and let live
• Strive to get along with everyone
  
• be dedicated to your art
• Chose to always grow in your education of life

This is a beautiful confirmation of what we learned as 5 year olds, as 10 year olds, as 20 year olds, as adults. It is a glorious fact that we do in fact have our answers right in front of us. We do not have to go to mountain tops and fast for 40 days, we do not have to dedicate our lives to practices. We have our answers and they are the same ones we were told when we were children.

Esaka Sensei's demonstration was beautiful. There were only a handful of actual sword strikes he performed. They were not particularly fast, but there was something so beautiful about his expression of Iai. His movement was so fluid, so second nature, that his sword strikes are akin to how he breathes or how he walks. I was truly moved by the mastery of his movement, the distillation of his art and the simple essence of his sword.

Watching him reminds me of the prelude to the book "The Mastery of Music" where the author writes:

Isaac Stern was on the phone, speaking in advance of an appearance with the Detriot Symphony Orchestra in which he was to play the Bruch Violin Concrto. This was the fall of 1997. The great violinist was now seventy-seven years old, and it was no secret that his once impeccable techical command of the violin, purity of tone, and intonation had all deteriorated significantly from his prime. And yet Stern's performances still often managed to startle audiences with a dpepth of emotion and intellect that put to shame many of the whis kids that populate the concert scene, whippersnappers who can breeze through the entire standard literature without many any mistakes - and without making any music either.

How, I asked Stern, did he do it? How did he manage to retain ihis artistry when the calendar had robbed him of his hard-won dexterity, stamina, and perhaps even some of his power of concentration? Stern, who could be as charming as a kitten or as gruff as a grouchy hound, sometimes in the same breath, paused for a moment. "Of course there's a difference from how I once played," he growled. "That's not the point. The question is how I use what I can do." Then his voice softened, as if he was about to share a secret. "Technique is not music," he continued. "Music is the thousandth of a millisecond between one note and another; How you get from one to the other - that's where the music is."

Esaka Sensei's performance, not the start or the end of his strike, but how he got from one to the other showed a brilliant, elegant mastery of his art. It was truly an honor to be able to witness such a wondrous display. The message he left us with today transcends cultures and history:

• Live and let live
• Strive to get along with everyone
  
• be dedicated to your art
• Chose to always grow in your education of life

Beginners Mind - Reflecting on my son's first Aikido test

My son is taking his 5th Kyu test in Aikido today. Although there will be other tests in his life on the mat, in school, in his career, this is his first in Aikido. He already has major accomplishments in Tae Kwon Do, currently ranked as a 2nd degree black belt, active in his school, displaying leadership skills, training hard and training joyfully.

I see him on the mat and it thrills me to no end to watch him grow in another art. It also makes me happy that his first test, gives him another avenue to explore: humility. I have no doubt that he will grow quickly in Aikido. He's athletic, coordinated, and picks up things extremely fast. He has a wonderful attitude and is always helpful. I hope that his test today is a reminder to always take with him a beginners mind, he keeps his mind open to new things, he continues to train joyfully, expresses the things in his heart. I hope that the short 5 minutes on the mat act as a simple reminder to him of all of these things. I also hope he doesn't beat up his uke (me) too badly during those 5 minutes. :)

Onegaishimasu! (Let us begin)