March 7 Seminar

Training will begin for Ann Arbor Aikido with a seminar with special guest instructor Dan Messisco Sensei (6th Dan). This is a one day seminar on Saturday, March 7 from 10:30-noon and 2:30-4pm. Cost $50. You can find a collection of video clips of Dan Sensei at http://www.youtube.com/user/dendando.

Regular classes will follow every Saturday from 10:30-noon. Fee $10/class.

Best

"I am willing to accept less than the best, but never to strive for less than the best. To do otherwise is like taking aim without setting your sights on the bull's eye." D. Shaner

Chicago Aikikai 11/08

With Mitsugi Saotome Shihan and Jay Weik Sensei

26

The heavy is the root of the light.
The unmoved is the source of all movement.

Thus the Master travels all day
without leaving home.
However splendid the views,
he stays serenely in himself.

Why should the lord of the country
flit about like a fool?
If you let yourself be blown to and fro,
you lose touch with your root.
If you let restlessness move you,
you lose touch with who you are.

-Lao Tzu

True Victory

"Though one should conquer a million men on the battlefield, yet he,
indeed, is the noblest victor who has conquered himself." Buddha

Heron Standing in Water

"The bird moves when it must; it does not move when stillness is appropriate.
The secret of its serenity is a type of vigilance, a contemplative state. The heron is not in mere dumbness or sleep. It knows a lucid stillness. It stands unmoving in the flow of the water. It gazes unperturbed and is aware. When Tao brings it something it needs, it seizes the opportunity without hesitation or deliberation. Then it goes back to its quiescence without disturbing itself or its surroundings. Unless it found the right position in the water's flow and remained patient, it would not have succeeded." -Deng Ming-Dao

Thank You Dan Sensei!!!

Thank you so much to Dan Messisco for traveling into the rainy abyss to lead our keiko this evening. A great time was had by all and we hope you'll come back soon and often.

Seigo Yamaguchi Shihan

I Am That

"That in whom reside all beings and who reside in all beings, who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being - I am that."

-Amritbindu Upanishad

Acceptance and Resorption

In the sword there is no sword;
make a sword of the body.
In the body there is no body;
make a body of the spirit.
Like a firefly, round; by its
radiance, apparent.
Waiting not, scheming not,
thinking not, pausing not,
As if turning circles on a stage,
As if pressing a gourd in water.
-Kunii Zen'ya

Sakura Co. - Tools for the study of the Way

http://sakura-co.blogspot.com/

I Pray for the Freedom and Liberation of Tibet

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Guest Instructor

I am pleased to announce we will have a special guest instructor for this Wednesday's session. Doug Krohn is an assistant instructor at Shobu Aikido of Ohio under Jay Weik Sensei and a good friend. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

77

"The Tao of heaven is like the bending of a bow. The high is lowered, and the low is raised. If the string is too long, it is shortened; If there is not enough it is made longer.
The Tao of heaven is to take from those who have too much and give to those who don't have enough.
Man's way is different.
He takes from those who don't have enough and gives to those who already have too much.
What man has more than enough and gives it to the world?
Only the man of Tao.
Therefore the sage works without recognition.
He achieves what has to be done without dwelling on it.
He does not try to show his knowledge."
-Lao Tzu

43

"Once you know that death happens to the body and not to you, you just watch your body falling off like a discarded garment." Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj