Ki Training
What is the relationship between people?
Most relationships between people are, ”You understand me and I understand you.”
I personally found no one who understood me in all my life. So I was always interested in the world rather than people and the only relationship I could have with people was, “ I understand the world and let’s try to understand world together.”
This attitude did not create so called friendship but created partnership and neighbourhood. If you see the past of human society, partnership and neighbourhood were most important.
It is only the last 100 years in rich countries that people want only friendship. In the society of poor people partnership and neighbourhood are still most important in their lives.
3. November 2020
Last Judgement
When I watch TV, I notice that journalists and politicians are trying to judge if what the government did was good/right or bad/wrong.
If you try to judge what you did in your life, it is normally impossible to know if you did well or not. Of course you sometimes made a mistake but you cannot judge if what you did in a certain period of your life was right or wrong.
Government sometimes/often makes mistakes but it is impossible to judge what it did in a certain period such as one month or one year etc. You can study the world history and you will see that it is impossible to judge different governments except to say that killing without any justification is bad. Since almost all government killed unnecessary, it cannot be used for judgement. If you are interested, study the world history very seriously.
Old wisdom says that only God can judge and even God can judge only at the end of the world.
So what we should do is to imagine the future and create the future all the time. You naturally imagine the past in order to imagine the future.
It is very important to understand that the past is also imagination. Of course there are some undeniable facts in the past but we are always imagining the whole past integrating those facts. No one can say his imagination of the past is absolute or right.
Everyone imagines the future in order to create one's future. Everyone should imagine different way. That is why it is useless to discuss or consult others. You can just learn from other's imagination to improve your imagination without criticising and judging others.
1. May 2020
Objective and Subjective
There is a common idea that you have to learn to be objective. This is very European idea and for example in Japan nobody cares about it. I suppose it is because Christianity was controlling everything in Europe and so people used science in order to fight against it. Science is based on objectivity. Since there was no domination of religion in Japan, people did not have to fight against religion in Japan so they are not interested in being objective.
I think European people should learn how to be subjective. Being subjective should not mean to be emotional or narrow minded. I see you. I am subject and you are object. So if I want to understand you, I have to be objective and I have to be subjective to understand myself.
"Flexible mind" is a concept from objective world basically psychology. If I see a stone and a cotton. I can see a stone is hard and cotton is soft. But a stone does not know that he is hard. Cotton does not know that he is soft. I do not know if my mind is flexible or rigid. I can see if your mind is flexible or not.
"freedom" is also a concept from objective world. Most Europeans think Europe is free. United Staters think United State is a free country.
If you think and live just like everybody, you think you are free because you do not encounter any conflict. But once you start to think different way or live different way, you will find a lot of obstacle in Europe or United States and you say there is no freedom. As long as there is no conflict or obstacle, you do not know whether you are free or not.
When you live without any conflict inside your mind and body, you do not know if you are free or not. As for the outside world, you always try to understand the world and live inside it so there is never a mental conflict in your life So "free mind" is nonsense.
When you see yourself, there is no conflict. That is all. This is being subjective.
13. April 2020
Kenko Taiso with Jo
8. April 2020
Ki Breathing and Seizaho
(呼吸法 & 静座法)
4. April 2020
Kenko Taiso (健康体操)
31. March 2020
Do not express yourself but communicate
Most people only think to express themselves toward others.
In that case expression does not create communication.
This is the difference between humans and animals. Animals behave based on instinct but humans act based on imagination and education.
Animal languages are made for communication and so they are part of instinct.
Human languages are developed as a way of expressions so they have to be learned from parents.
Humans develop their imaginations through learning languages and so have to learn a correct language to communicate with others.
This is the first step of education.
After school education you should continue to develop both your imagination and language.
You need to define the meaning of each word you use and also create a new word or new definition in order to develop your imagination. That is why you have a right to define word you use and eventually create a new word.
Since humans have imaginations, you should learn to express yourself inside yourself without expressing toward outside.
25. March 2020
Strength of Silence
Silence makes your body strong. However, you have to understand the difference between therapy and Ki practise.
When you have a problem, you have many thoughts and emotions which disturbs and damages your body. In that case talking about your problems relaxes your body and stop damaging it even though talking makes your body weak. It is the basic of every medicine and physio/psycho therapy. This make your body weaker but help you to get rid of the bigger damage. Typical example is chemotherapy against cancer, But all therapy and treatment makes your body weaker, some a little bit and some a lot.
Ki training is not a therapy in the sense that the first priority is to keep your body as strong as possible. So you never talk about your problems.
Silence makes your body strong. But it is possible that your thought and emotions may damage your body so you should have a training mentality of making yourself stronger by ensuring hardship. Naturally you should have a strong mind for that.
Yamoka Tessyu was a samurai and a kind of the last Zen master. After him it is not sure that a real Zen master appeared in Japan. He had a son but he did not make his son practise Zen saying that his son is not strong enough. Instead he found him a job of a gardener of the Emperial Garden in Tokyo.
Any training requires certain strength of mind and body. I am inventing training methods which requires minimum strength but you should not forget that you always need certain strength to train yourself.
How can you prevent your thoughts and emotions damage your body. That is seeing your body.
25. March 2020
Questions & Anwers:
Question:
How do I find the correct angle for feet in according to my own hip bones. I practise Kenko taiso many times and I would like to correct it if it’s wrong.
29/4/2020
Answer:
Those details are not so important. It is more important that you find it by yourself rather than doing it correctly. Your fixed mind on correct way of doing things is not good for you. Anyway it is impossible to explain how to do a physical exercise correctly by explaining with words. Explanation with words will create more harm than good.
To have an open mind is more important than doing one exercise correctly. To understand your teacher is more important than making progress in what you are doing.
29/4/2020
Question:
In Ki Breathing, why inhalation and exhalation have to be equal or approximately equal
29/4/2020
Answer:
It does not have to be. It is so if you develop it well.
29/4/2020
Question:
The way for democracy not to become a dictatorship would be for most people to develop internal democracy?
If democracy is not to become a dictatorship, must it be constantly created?
28/4/2020
Answer:
If you study the world history, it is not sure if we should create democracy or not. You may create a bad world by trying to create democracy.
That is why you must first think of creating your life without forgetting the relationship between your life and the world.
28/4/2020
Question:
What is the difference between observing and perceiving?
28/4/2020
Answer:
Consult an English dictionary.
28/4/2020
Question:
What are the origins of Ki breathing, where it comes from?
27/4/2020
Answer:
It was invented by Tohei sensei and I developed it.
27/4/2020
Question:
I have problems with Ki breathing, my inhale is much stronger (and last for 30+ seconds), than my exhale (it last for maybe 20 seconds), how to make my exhale stronger and equal to my inhale?
Also, is it better to practise every day shorter Ki breathing before sitting practise, or longer, let's say once a week?
26/4/2020
Answer:
Shorten inhale ( 20 seconds) and try to make exhale longer. After you can exhale 30 seconds, try to make inhale and exhale equal.
It is better to practise every day short time and once a week very long.
26/4/202
Question:
Is to see thoughts and body the result of practising to observe thoughts and body during many time so you do it without attention?
25/4/2020
Question:
By seeing our thoughts, thoughts will disappear, by seeing our body psyche will disappear. But, when we practise, we should observe our thoughts (and body) - that means that we dont want our thoughts (and psyche) to disappear while we practising, or we dont want them to disappear right away?
In every day life we want to see our thoughts, and seeing means that thought will disappear - so in times when we are not practising we want thoughts to disappear?
Or in times of practise, by observing we learn how to see thoughts (and body) in times when we are not practising?
25/4/2020
Answer:
Seeing is without choice. It means that if you see thoughts or body, you are seeing them all the time. From ancient times human society have seen that this phenomenon of seeing thoughts or body rarely happened. Seeing thoughts normally happens to a child between 5 to 15 years old.
In Tibet this becomes the tradition of Dalai Lama. They choose the future Dalai Lama among the children. Actually they are looking for a child who can see thoughts. It is not sure that they can find him because there is no practise or training to make it happen.
Seeing body can happen between 25 to 35 years old and this can happen with some training and that is Zen training. Even if you train Zen, only one out of thousands will become able to see body and that was called "Satori". So none of you will be able to see your thoughts or your body. That is why I am not trying to make you achieve something.
Then why am I talking about seeing thoughts and body? It is because Ikkyu who created the foundation of the Japanese culture could see thoughts and body. I have to explain seeing thoughts and body for in order to explain the Japanese culture and Aikido.
Even though none of you will see thoughts or body, it is possible for all of you to observe your thoughts or your body as a practice. That is Ki Training and it helps you to create your life and the world.
Since you only observe or look at your thoughts or your body occasionally, you still live with psyche but you will have some freedom and independence from it. Hopefully you suffer less from your psychological problem.
If you have no problem, observing or looking at your thoughts and body will give you more intelligence and health.
So it is not important whether your thoughts or psyche disappear or not. I just explained what may happen to your thoughts or psyche while you practice. There is no achievement and no wanting something. I am just explaining what may/can happen when you practice.
The purpose of Ki Training is to understand yourself and the world. You should not try or want to achieve something. If you really understand something, your life will change and that will change the world.
25/4/2020
Question:
To see means you don’t choose what you see, you don’t pay attention to anything. To look means you choose, you pay attention to something. To observe means you choose, you pay a lot of attention to something.
Sometimes we speak about to see thoughts and body and other times we speak about to observe thoughts and body. Do this one means that we are seeing thoughts and body and at a given moment we observe a particular thought or internal movement/act of the body?
24/4/2020
Answer:
See thoughts and body should be happening all the time. When you practice, you try to observe your thoughts or your body.
24/4/2020
Question:
What do you mean by seeing the thoughts?
24/4/2020
Answer:
In daily life we are occupying our mind with a lot of things like TV, music, phone messages and so on then we cannot see our thoughts.
Then, if we stop that for a moment and pay attention, we would "see" that we are thinking something like "I need to cook" because maybe we are "feeling" something like being hungry.
24/4/2020
Question:
Beyond the thoughts, there is the imagination with the ability of creating. Is there any more beyond the imagination?
23/4/2020
Answer:
You are still stuck with Christian philosophy. There is nothing beyond thoughts. Imaginations are under the thoughts and not beyond.
Existence means something that can be perceived. You cannot perceive anything under imagination.
23/4/2020
Question:
To have not psyche is to see without interpretation, so to see the reality. Is it correct?
22/4/2020
Answer:
Right.
22/4/2020
Question:
Is there any way for knowing if the angle between the two feet, in the 7th and 9th exercises, is correct?
22/4/2020
Answer:
I already showed how to create a correct posture in my previous seminars. I cannot explain with words. If you do not remember. I will show you again in the next seminar.
22/4/2020
Question:
Can you please clarify to what extent we should use our abdomen in breathing. You once said you never mentioned 'belly breathing' but I think many people probably do use their abdomen when breathing, particularly when beginners. Only using our chest can cause tension and limit our breathing.
In your book you say to keep your chest and abdomen still when breathing out, which I understand. When breathing in you say to keep your chest down so that the diaphragm must work again. At this point do we not need to use our abdomen to start inhaling?
22/4/2020
Answer:
Your question is based on scientific objectivity. I put a Lecture about objectivity and subjectivity because this is the biggest difficulty for Europeans to understand oneself or the world in general. You cannot understand yourself or the world by objective study. It means that university study does not make you to understand yourself or the world. That is why I am teaching outside of the university.
Objectively abdomen is always working just like any other part of the body. The question of Ki Training is how to use your subjective perception in order to develop yourself. Please remember how I taught breathing. I always teach belly breathing in the beginning. You lie on your back and breathe deeply by moving your belly up and down without moving your chest. When you lie down on your back, belly breathing is correct. That is why doctors who deal with sick people lying on a bed see only belly breathing. After you can move your diaphragm well by moving your belly up and down. You must practice breathing while standing up.
When you stand up your belly muscles must be used to keep the posture or to keep a correct body movement. That is why you must learn to move your diaphragm independently from belly movement. Belly basically do not move while you stand or move on your legs. That is why you must practise breathing without moving your belly. If you do not use belly muscle, you cannot control your diaphragm by belly muscles. That is why you control your diaphragm by breathing in/out in relation with chest movement. That is the standard way of Ki Breathing practise. You should be able to control your diaphragm without moving your belly. Of course your abdomen muscle is working but it must work without your conscious control.
The basic knowledge is that you cannot control your diaphragm directly. You must learn how to control it indirectly. After you practised well Ki Breathing, your diaphragm works very well. Then you do nothing and let it work harmoniously. Then you are unable to perceive your breathing because your diaphragm movement is very calm. This is No Breathing and it is good because then you can perceive yourself better.
22/4/2020
Question:
Jo Taiso has less exercises than Kenko Taiso. In particular it hasn’t the third exercise, the two neck exercises and the penultimate exercise.
I think that the third exercise and the penultimate exercise of Kenko Taiso cannot be done with the jo because the jo evidently disturbs these two movements. Instead, the neck exercises cannot be done with the jo because in order to be useful they necessarily require the form of the hands put on the hips.
Anyway, without having the form of the hands on the hips, we do with jo the following exercise, the one of bending knees and then going up on the forefoot.
So the question is: in Kenko Taiso the form of the hands on the hips is not so essential in the exercise of bending knees and then going up on the forefoot? Otherwise, why we don’t do with jo the neck exercises but we do the following one?
21/4/2020
Answer:
Each exercise should have its own meaning and utility. So Kenko Taiso with Jo should have its advantages against Kenko Taiso without Jo. The advantage is not only for health but also for Jo techniques in Aikido. So bending knees and going up on the toes have a meaning in Aikido techniques of Jo. Moving head without moving the rest of the body or Jo has no technical meaning but only for health. So it is useless to do it with Jo.
21/4/2020
Question:
To have not psyche means to see one’s own body independently of one’s psyche. Is it correct?
21/4/2020
Answer:
Your question has a logical conflict. If you have no psyche, you cannot see independently of it because it does not exist.
There are only thoughts and body movements which can be big or very small and subtle. This very subtle body movement is normally interpreted with names based on the past experiences as feelings, negative, positive, etc. That is psyche. So do not interpret what you see. That is seeing the reality. After that you can express what you see with words if necessary. However, it is better not to express this very small subtle movement of the body because you then distort it and it can disturb your body. That is why you should not express your feelings and emotions unless it is necessary.
21/4/2020
Question:
When you see your body, you see your internal movements and your acts in the environment as a whole. Is it correct?
21/4/2020
Answer:
Correct.
21/4/2020
Question:
In Kenko Taiso, in the 7th exercise, for flexing the knees we bring the heels closer together. Why?. In the last exercise, we flex the knees also. Must we bring our heels closer together also?.
21/4/2020
Answer:
Kenko Taiso is for the improvement of your daily activities just like Aiki Taiso is for Aikido. In your daily life your feet are rather near to each other when you are standing straight. If you bend your upper body, you have to widen the distance between your feet. So in the two exercises you mentioned, your feet are close to each other because your upper body is straight. As for the angle between your two feet, it depends on your hip bone.
21/4/2020
Question:
Apart from physical activity, what other differences are between Ki Training and meditation?. Do they share some similarity?
21/4/2020
Answer:
In order to know the similarity, you have to know them very well. I know Ki Training very well because I am the one who is creating it but I do not know meditation. Meditation is Indo-European tradition and I do not know it very well. So I do not know. I can only see the difference.
21/4/2020
Question:
When you see yours thoughts, your activity of thinking stops. Is it correct?.
21/4/2020
Answer:
Right.
21/4/2020
Question:
Did the question also arise if there is a connection between imagination and intuition?
20/4/2020
Answer:
This is what we call an intellectual amusement. It is useless for your life. Think seriously how you should live. Do not try to understand me. You must understand yourself.
20/4/2020
Question:
Taking into account your recommendations. One of the things I tried is to see inside and outside when making toitsu taiso notice the thoughts that arose, the most stupid, uncontrolled but for a moment a space between them. Can it be a little glimpse into the imagination?
20/4/2020
Answer:
I am not a school teacher who is trying to make students to achieve a result. The purpose of the whole teaching is to help you to create your life. Do you like the result or not? Does it help you to create your life?
20/4/2020
Question:
In the Kenko Taiso with jo video, the last circular movement starts from the right while the four first movements start from the left. Is there any reason for this one?.
20/4/2020
Answer:
No reason.
20/4/2020
Question:
Is Ki training a philosophy according to the definition “a way of seeing and doing the things”?
19/4/2020
Answer:
No, Ki Training is a training. Training is a physical activity and therefore not a philosophy. You understand something only through physical activity. Philosophy is only an expression of what you already know. By studying Philosophy, you can express better what you already know and that is also very important. Ki Training like any other training helps you to discover something you did not know.
19/4/2020
Question:
To see your thoughts implies to be thinking. To see your body implies to be observing your internal movements and your acts in the environment. Is it correct?
19/4/2020
Answer:
Completely WRONG. Seeing thoughts is different from thinking. To understand the difference is the first step of seeing thoughts. Most people think and do not see their thoughts.
Seeing is different from observing. Seeing means that you do not choose what you see. Observing means that you choose what you see. In normal English, seeing is without choice and looking is with choice. So you must see and do not look nor observe.
Science is based on observation. That is why modern people who got education based on science do not understand seeing.
19/4/2020
Question:
To have not psyche means to have no-thinking mind. Is it correct?
19/4/2020
Answer
Wrong. The only reality is thoughts and body. Psyche is mixture of thoughts and very small subtle movement of the body. This body movement is so small that science cannot measure it from outside. It can cause some difference of blood pressure, body temperature, breathing, etc which is used for lie detector machine but they are only phenomenon shown outside. Psyche can only created by the person oneself. The problem of psyche is that you do not really see your thoughts and your body so you do not understand yourself. That is why psychologists often help you to understand yourself a little bit better.
No-thinking mind is another nonsense often used by meditation people. Those people are unconscious of their thoughts and misunderstand that they have no thoughts. You have to see your thoughts. Then you will notice that there is imagination under thoughts. This imagination is real you and you can know it by seeing it between your thoughts. Also important thing is your thoughts develop if you see your thoughts. It is very important to develop your thoughts. Most people only repeat the same thought over and over and copy others' thoughts and get brain washed or manipulated.
19/4/2020
Question:
Is a better life one where you live more comfortably?
19/4/2020
Editors note:
Answer:
Human right means a right which other animals do not have. Animals and plants have a right to survive. I do not know if a bacteria and virus have a right to survive or not. This can be a scientific question.
Anyway human beings have a brain which can develop imaginations so human right is a free imagination and creating one's own life according to one's imagination. So each human being must define what is a better life for oneself.
19/4/2020
Question:
With Ki testing I can feel whole, an entity, present, aware, accepting and stable without being stiff.
There is a sense of self. What is this self and what is no-self?
Why do we do Ki tests? What do we strengthen thorough Ki testing?
18/4/2020
Answer:
Sense of self or no-self is psychological concept and I do not deal with psychology.
A sense is same as a feeling and it is an interpretation of the body movement. That is why it is not a reality and I cannot say anything about it. I just say a self and no-self are illusions.
About Ki test please read Q& A on 26 March.
18/4/2020
Question:
Would it be better to acknowledge your fate, not worry about progress and improvement and be content with your lot?
17/4/2020
Answer:
A material stays as it is if you do not improve it. Life never stays as it is. It goes up or goes down.
So if you do not improve yourself or your life, you will surely go down. If you are content with your lot, one day you will find it going down.
17/4/2020
Question:
By trying to continually create a better world aren't we leaving ourselves open to a life of failure where we are always chasing the next dream and are never satisfied?
Would it be better to acknowledge your fate, not worry about progress and improvement and be content with your lot?
17/4/2020
Answer:
I never said or wrote that one should try to continually create a better world.
First, it is impossible to do continually something. Second, you should never try to do something.
Life is continuation of act. Your act is an expression of yourself in a perceived environment. You should never try to do something. All act is natural and relaxed if it is really an expression of yourself. If your act is genuine, it naturally create a better life and better world.
So I teach to act correctly so that you create a better world through creating better life of your own. You create a better world through creating your life.
17/4/2020
Question:
Please, there was a place for making questions about Kenko Taiso with jo. I red a question about taking the jo from underneath for ope ning the arms. Sorry, I’m not able to find that place. Where is it?
17/4/2020
Answer:
Look at the video.
17/4/2020
Question:
In the past, Psychology didn’t exist; people didn’t go to a psychologist. How did the human being loose the ability of seeing oneself?
17/4/2020
Answer:
Psychology developed in a Christian society because people were suffering from the society. Animals do not have the ability of seeing oneself. Human beings developed the ability of seeing oneself slowly but each human being must develop his ability of seeing himself because it is not given at his birth.
17/4/2020
Question:
If you are really observing your body, you can not name anything. To name use language and the observation does not use language. At the moment you think or name, you are using words so you are not observing. Is it correct?
17/4/2020
Answer:
Right.
17/4/2020
Question:
Thoughts, feelings and emotions usually create physical reactions or disturbances in the body.
If we observe our own body inside and outside without naming anything else, we create harmony and eventually the disturbance disappears.
Does happen eventually the same with other physical reactions non-related with thoughts, feelings and emotions such as pain caused by a knock, tiredness caused by a heavy work, etc…?
15/4/2020
Answer:
If you see your thoughts and your body, feelings and emotions do not exist. What people think feelings and emotions are just body movement related with thoughts. So in reality only thoughts and body exist. Then thought does not disturb body so your body is never disturbed psychologically. That is why psychology does not exist if you see yourself. Of course most people can be helped by psychologist because they do not see themselves.
Your body is disturbed physically from the environment or from illness. However, most people disturb their body more than necessary with their thoughts, feelings and emotions. When you do not have psyche, the disturbance of your body is much smaller than normal people.
15/4/2020
Question:
My concept of observing the body was wrong because I didn’t include outside.
Before, when I observed the body or a part of it, I had reactions of heat, relaxation,… If I observe the body inside and outside, the experience is different (perhaps I’m wrong also now).
Can you explain what I was doing before?. May be related to Teateho in some way?
13/4/2020
Answer:
Very good. You are practising.
You just continue to try many different ways as long as you do not get damaged by your practise.
This is same with all practise that you must train yourself without damaging yourself. Any person who is training seriously risks some damage. That is why you can ask me a question and I can see if there is a serious danger or not.
Of course there is no guarantee but I think you can continue.
It is not related to Teateho at all.
13/4/2020
Question:
What is the concept in Aikido to be flexible in the present moment?
How can you practice to come closer and closer to this state?
What is the connection between being conscious in every moment and having this type of free will?
13/4/2020
Answer:
If you want "to be flexible in the present moment", you want to control yourself.
Psychology or meditation may want to control oneself but then you are not free.
You just have to understand yourself which is your imagination. Since you are unconscious of your imagination, you have to practise to see your thoughts and your body. Then you just act correctly in each moment of your life. There is no control whatsoever.
You should not try to be conscious of something. It is again a wrong idea that many meditation teachers are talking.
Consciousness is a psychological concept is it is useless in your life. Do not use consciousness for your life. You can use the concept to understand others but not yourself.
13/4/2020
Question:
How can you develop a free mind, I mean free of the old schemes and habits and experiences, and be flexible in the present moment?
13/4/2020
Answer:
Your definition of a free mind is wrong. As long as you are searching for a wrong mind, you will never get it.
Freedom is not to be free of or from something. This is the basic mistake which almost everyone makes.
The only freedom is seeing your imagination and your body. There is nothing else. So just practise to see your thoughts and your body until you can see your imagination.
As long as you want to do something about " the old schemes and habits and experiences", you will never be free. " be flexible in the present moment" is also something you should not seek for.
13/4/2020
Question:
You wrote in an answer at the 7th of April, that "You are based on the past and all acts based on the past will eventually develop into a fight."
Can you write a little more about this?
13/4/2020
Answer:
It is useless to explain more. You just have to practise. You must discover everything by yourself.
I am just telling you what is behind the mountain and you have to walk over the mountain to see what is there.
13/4/2020
Question:
Is observing the body the same as observing the space that the body occupies?
12/4/2020
Answer:
The purpose of the Lecture is making you to practise and train yourself so that you create your life.
I am not a school teacher who is trying to make a child to understand the school text book. You must first think hard for some days and then formulate your question as much as you can so that you know what you understand and what you do not understand.
You can also write your ideas of what the sentence can mean or indicate. Formulating question is the mental training and this mental training of formulating a good question is the purpose of this Lecture.
Mathematically speaking, formulating a question is the answer.
12/4/2020
Question:
When i do meditation, i can suspend the internal dialogue in a certain time of approximately 20 minutes. If it comes back again, i come back to suspend it.
In a previous answer you say... "when you listen all the talkings in your mind and you understand completely and you accept it, you will be in silence."
I cannot "listen all the chatter in my mind and understand it completely" but i can be in silence. Is it bad for me meditate without facing myself?.
11/4/2020
Answer:
There is no method such as cooking recipe to prepare a good meal. You must try by yourself.
Everything I write or say is only an advice to stimulate you. You must do everything with your own responsibility without any promise of success. This is fundamental of life. There is no guarantee in life. I only talk about possibilities. It does not mean that it will happen. Love for a woman can happen but no promise.
You must decide by yourself what to do. As long as I see from your question, there is no danger so you can continue.
11/4/2020
Question:
"You cannot see your thoughts and body at the same time."
"When you see your body, you are not seeing inside your body but seeing both inside and outside of your body."
Can you explain please more about this,? what is see inside the body ? When you see the body inside and out side, If you cannot see Your thoughts ?
What it means see your thoughts for you ?
10/4/2020
Answer:
You must read my answers for other questions and try to understand them. Modern education is based on science and science has developed in the direction of using materials for weapon and money. That is why the expression of the reality and the reality are very similar in modern education. So the students are supposed to understand what the teacher writes or says.
Life is something that cannot be expressed with words. Of course some part of it can be expressed by words and that part is studied at school. In Japan teachers used the word Ki which means something that cannot be expressed by words. Ki is important because the basic part of life cannot be expressed by words. The most important part of the whole universe cannot be expressed by words. So they said Ki of the Universe.
What I write or say is not important. I write or say so that you can see your reality in your life. Your question shows that you are brain-washed by the school education of the modern society and have lost the contact with the reality. Your question, " What it means see your thoughts for you ? " shows that you are interested in the expression of the reality and not the reality itself. This is the typical school education. You have to try to see the reality and the important reality in your life cannot be expressed by words. Just try to practise in your life. My job is to make your to practise.
Love is most important in human relationships. What people say is not important as long as love is there. The important question is if there is love or not. This is the reality that you have to see in your life.
10/4/2020
Question:
About "seeing your thoughts and your body is the basic practise for freedom".
Is a positive practise perceiving our thoughts and feelings in a big space that include us or it is good enough to perceive our thoughts and body?.
In Aikido practise, do i need to perceive my body and my partner's body or do i need to perceive the space around us too?.
9/4/2020
Answer:
You cannot see your thoughts and body at the same time.
When you are not doing difficult physical activities, you can see your thoughts.
When you see your body, you are not seeing inside your body but seeing both inside and outside of your body.
If you are doing Aikido with Uke, you have to see the whole space which includes both you and Uke.
9/4/2020
Question:
What is the origin of Shin Shin Toitsu Do?
Has Tohei sensei developed it from Nakamura sensei's teachings?
Some of Nakamura sensei's Ki Training looks familiar.
9/4/2020
Answer:
Tohei sensei developed it from Toitsudo of Nakamura Tempu.
Of course he developed in his way without the idea of keeping Nakamura's way. So we can say it is created by Tohei sensei.
9/4/2020
Question:
In the video for Kenko Taiso with Jo, you start by holding the Jo from underneath for the first two exercises.
I normally just do the exercise by holding the Jo from above. Why is it good to also practise holding from underneath?
9/4/2020
Answer:
It is absolutely necessary to hold the Jo from underneath for the first two exercise. That is why I showed it before starting the exercise.
By holding it from underneath, you open your both arms, which is necessary to stretch your whole body.
9/4/2020
Question:
You wrote, Since it's difficult to understand our own original mind, we need to understand the relationship between the body and the thinking mind when this (the thinking mind) tries to control the body.
When and How do we understand whether the thinking mind is controlling the body?
8/4/2020
Answer:
Your thinking mind always control your body. If you see your thoughts and your body, your thinking mind disappears and so it does not control your body.
That is why seeing your thoughts and your body is the basic practise for freedom.
8/4/2020
Question:
Please explain more the difference between the reality and the expression of the reality.
7/4/2020
Answer:
Some people ask me a question about what they read in my book or what they heard from me during the seminar. I cannot answer because I do not remember what I wrote or said.
Academic people like university professors are based on writing books and giving lectures or. So they have the responsibility of making people to understand through books or lectures so they should be able to explain what they wrote or said.
I am not academic but Aikido teacher so my basic communication is a teaching Aikido in the dojo.
So what I wrote or said are only a help and I know very well that people do not understand what I wrote or said. This is the difference between the reality and the expression of the reality.
What I write or say is just an expression of the reality and not the reality itself.
Academic people basically deal with the reality which can be expressed rather precisely. So they can communicate through books.
However, there are many reality in this world and in your life that cannot be expressed by words.
My job is to transmit the reality which cannot be described by words. This is ART. The definition of art is human activity which cannot be described by words. Literature and poesy are complicated. They use words but they transmit something that cannot be described by words. That is why people create many different version of Shakespeare during centuries.
So I can only answer you in order to make you see the reality. I am not interested to make you understand what I wrote or said.
7/4/2020
Question:
"You must be able to distinguish a pain which is not harmful and one which indicates damage."
How can we learn this?
How can we train to see our body (instead of focussing on "feeling pain" or "feeling no pain")?
5/4/2020
Answer:
First to do is not to give a name to pain but try to understand it by its form.
Stretching exercise is a good training for it. You stretch any part of your body and stop when you start to feel something. Remember the form of this something and practise so that it goes away. Then stretch more.
Another method is Teateho. You press your body and try to understand what you feel. Again do not call it pain but observe the form of it.
Then when you have pain in your daily life, do not call it pain but try to see the form of it and observe the change of form in time.
5/4/2020
Question:
Once I read in a aikido book that the vocal sequence A-E-I-O-U was defined as a form of "kotodama". Is this name correct?
Can you write something about kotodama?
3/4/2020
Answer:
Most Japanese Aikido teachers do not know Japanese culture. A-E-I-O-U is purely vocal logic and has nothing to do with any religion or Kotodama.
Once I saw on TV that an African teacher of French language in the ancient French colony said that he had to teach AEIOU to his students. So French language is also based on AEIOU.
Naturally Japanese also understood it and used it as Kotodama. Kotodama is a concept of meaning of sound. Ancient Japanese language was based on talking and not writing. Writing needs a flat dry surface like a stone or rock. Japan is basically wet country and it was difficult to find a dry surface so people depended more on talking than writing. On the contrary dry country like Egypt developed writing
Since we do not have ancient writing, it was necessary to understand the ancient ideas from the sound. This idea of trying to understand the past from the sound of language is called Kotodama and Shintoism priests had to study it.
3/4/2020
Question:
What training and technique can be recommended, as help and preparation for clarifying doubts, before making important decisions?
3/4/2020
Answer:
Seizaho.
You just sit down with relaxed but correct posture and try to see all your doubts and questions without trying to make a decision.
After all your doubts and questions disappear, a decision will come. Naturally that will take a lot of time, That is why you must practise daily before you are obliged to make a decision.
If you practise Seizaho daily, you can make a decision immediately,
Ki Breathing helps you to create a correct posture.
3/4/2020
Question:
If expressing is “making something” I think we can say that everything we do in our life in a certain way is “expressing ourselves”.
So, if we live expressing most of the time only what is necessary or, in other words, we are doing just what we should do, can we say that we are living our life not only as adults, but as “artists” too? I mean, have people who live in this way the same attitude, for example, of the actor of theatre?
Is that the reason why you translated the title of your book in Italian as “Aikido, art of life”?
2/4/2020
Answer:
Yes, expressing oneself in each environment is called "act" and life is continuation of act. If we improve our act, life becomes an art.
2/4/2020
Question:
When we practice some of the Aiki Taiso, particularly the kneeling and stretching exercises we can experience pain.
With the stretching exercises in particular it seems that we need to experience some pain in order to progress and to improve and strengthen our bodies.
Learning to accept pain is probably good training for old age anyway. There is a point however that our bodies could be damaged if we push this too far. So should we feel pain when doing these exercises and if so how can we best protect our bodies at the same time?
2/4/2020
Answer:
There is a difference between a pain happening and creating a pain by yourself.
If a pain happens, you have to deal it positively.
But it is better not to create a pain by yourself when you do any training. It is better to stop if there is a pain.
So when you do stretching exercise, you must do it without having pain. You stop just before you get pain and stay there and relax. Then you normally can stretch a little bit more.
In this way stretch your body without creating pain.
2/4/2020
Question:
Who decides whether you are expressing yourself or communicating. The receiver or or the sender?
31/3/2020
Editors note:
Please also see Q&A from the 30/3 on how to define communicate and express yourself.
Answer:
Nobody decides. It is a fact. Anybody who can see a fact can judge whether someone is expressing or communicating.
Communicating means expressing only what is necessary to make others imagine what you want them to imagine. So there is no guarantee that you succeed to communicate or not. But at least you can try to communicate and it appears in the way you express yourself.
An actor of theatre must communicate to the audience so he must only express what is necessary for that purpose.
When you express yourself, you are choosing what you like to express and not what is necessary to express.
So the difference is whether you do what you want or what you should do. This is the basic difference between children and adult.
Children do what they want and adults are able to do what they should do. Now if you are adult, the question is if you can enjoy doing what you should do. You enjoy your life if you are able to enjoy what you should do.
31/3/2020
Question:
Since many years ago when I sit down in silence, I sometimes feel a "presence" which accompanies me by my, always on my left side.
At the beginning i'd search for rational reason, but since long time ago I stopped doing it.
What symbolism could we find out from this, if there is any?
31/3/2020
Answer:
I do not know and I do not think that you should try to find an answer. You just live with it. There are some things in life that should not be answered but just live with.
31/3/2020
Question:
I'm confused about statement "So you never talk about your problems."
Often most of us revolve in a certain pattern of thinking and acting and sometimes it is necessary to see the opinion of another to step out that circle. Is this a wrong way of perceiving?
Should we always lean just on our inner voice nevertheless it's bringing the same answers that once wasn't good.
30/3/2020
Answer:
I am explaining what Ki Training is.
Training is essentially to develop yourself.
In your daily life. it is also good to ask help from others. It is evident that human beings must help each other in order to survive.
Plants and animals seem to be independent but all lives must help each other in order to live. So it is a good idea to have a good friend so that you can talk about your problem.
However, many people depend on others and forget to stand alone and sometimes it is necessary to stand alone in your life. That is why I am proposing Ki Training and also Aikido training.
In Europe there is an old saying "God helps those who help themselves."
30/3/2020
Question:
Please define "Communicate" and "Express yourself"
30/3/2020
Answer:
Communicate means to make others imagine what you imagine.
Express means to make something so that others can perceive.
So you are not communicating if you are expressing yourself without choosing what you express.
Animals and babies express themselves and do not communicate. However, animals express themselves with instinct so expression becomes communication.
Human adults must learn how to communicate because human expression is not based on instinct.
It is a pity that many adults are not well educated and are not able to communicate but only express themselves.
30/3/2020
Question:
"Ki training is not a therapy in the sense that the first priority is to keep your body as strong as possible. So you never talk about your problems."
Should it be translated as indicative, with the meaning: "that is why one (usually) never talks about one's problems"?
Or as imperative, meaning: "that is why you should never talk about your problems"?
30/3/2020
Answer:
It means that you should not talk about your problems but try to find a solution and eventually talk about the solution of the problem.
30/3/2020
Question:
I read that the Samurai were encouraged to imagine their death daily. It makes sense since their way of life was closely connected to death at any moment.
Does it make sense for modern people to do the same, in the sense that it could enhance the quality of life, or bring more freedom?
Like seeing one's body independent from thoughts and emotions?
People in the Western world are not taught to be prepared for death and most of them have great fear of it.
Is it generally different in Japan regardless of the Samurai?
27/3/2020
Answer:
Most books about Samurai are nonsense and you should not believe what they write.
There are many different people in the world and also in the Samurai people.
There are always fanatic people and there must have been fanatic Samurais just like fanatic religious people who exist in the modern world.
What Samurai did has nothing to do with Ki Training. What they did was more like modern fanatic religious people train themselves in order to commit suicide attack.
Modern Japanese people are just like Europeans concerning about death.
They do not think about it. It is better not to believe books about exotic people but look at yourself and your life.
It is evident that you are going to die one day and so you should prepare for it.
People died around 40 years old in Samurai era and fanatic suicide bombers also die before 40 years old. So they think of dying while they are still young and strong.
However, it is different with you. There is a big chance that you become old before you die so you have to prepare yourself for your old days when your mind and body gets weak.
Dying when you are old is very different from dying while young. That is why it is useless to think about how Samurai prepared for their death.
In our days it is more important to prepare for old age than for death.
27/3/2020
Question:
Is it necessary to ask myself who I am ?
Or, what I am ?
27/3/2020
Answer:
"Who I am or what I am " is meaningless.
I do not know who started this kind of stupid idea but anybody who has a little bit of intelligence should stop saying this nonsense.
You must start to talk with your own word and think by yourself instead of repeating what other people say.
If a Zen master or Psychotherapist asks his disciple or patient "Who are you?" or "What are you?", it may be a help.
At that moment one thinks about the question and changes his mind and find a good solution.
But it is completely useless to think about those nonsense questions all the time.
It is like a medicament. It can help when one is sick but it is harmful to take it if you are healthy. Do not eat aspirin for breakfast.
27/3/2020
Question:
You write “talking about your problems relaxes your body and stop damaging it even though talking makes your body weak”.
Actually I don’t understand how it happens. I think that talking about problems means giving name to feelings and emotions while observing without names creates harmony so a disease can disappear and the body can become stronger.
But I don’t understand how it can become weaker just talking
27/3/2020
Answer:
Strength of the body cannot be measured because it is always changing.
That is why science and psychology do not understand mind. So the body is getting stronger or weaker in each moment.
When you are silent, your body is working on the disturbance inside, so it is strong.
The moment you express your problems, your body stops working on that disturbance, so its action is getting weaker.
In a way the body stops being strong if you start talking about the thing your body is working on.
It is similar to any physical activity, If you start talking while you do something, your physical activity gets weaker.
So if you really want to work as hard as possible, you do not talk.
27/3/2020
Question:
It is relatively easy to understand the silence of not speaking but what about our internal noise - the random chatter in the mind?
In Seizaho is it possible or desirable to limit or silence this internal "voice"?
27/3/2020
Answer:
You must listen to your "random chatter in the mind" because that is the real you without pretending or hypocrisy. As long as you call it "internal noise", you are refusing to accept yourself.
You must face yourself who may not be as great as you would like to believe. Understanding one's own stupidity is called being humble.
When you listen all the "chatter in your mind" and understand yourself completely and accept it, you will be silent.
27/3/2020
Question:
What is the meaning or which is the way to do? of, to express yourself inside yourself without expressing toward outside ?
26/3/2020
Answer:
Do not talk and observe your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
In other words, listen yourself.
26/3/2020
Question:
Many people are feeling very fearful at this time (including myself).
Previously you wrote:
'"..fear is just a name you put to some type of physical reaction. If you want to control it, you must know not to move your body. In other words do not express your fear...'"
Could you please explain what you mean when you say 'do not express your fear'?
26/3/2020
Answer:
I wonder what you mean by "feeling very fearful” Is it just repeating what other people say or do you really feel physically a FEAR?
If you really feel it physically, you must observe your body without naming it as "fear" or anything else.
This is a part of Ki Training and the introduction is Ki test.
When a teacher does Ki test to you, you understand your body without naming any feeling, emotions, etc.
Ki test is supposed to teach you to see your body and understand it without using names.
If you see your body without naming anything, you will see some disturbance in your body just like a doctor can see disturbance using machine. You can see it without using any machine because it is your body. The difference is that doctor's observation does not change your body but your observation of your own body normally creates harmony and eventually the disturbance disapears. It means that your fear is gone.
If you are really observing your body, your body will not move. That is why Ki test basically makes you not to move your body.
26/3/2020
Question:
By keeping silent is one not just ignoring the problem?
Is it better to address some problems directly and try to find a resolution?
25/3/2020
Answer:
When you try to solve a problem by directly talking to another person, you are not expressing your problem but a suggestion or explanation which eventually create the solution. In that case your body does not change.
25/3/2020