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This book was first published in the UK April 2005. In 2010, what with the recession and everything, the publisher decided not to continue with it. Accordingly, I have regained the publishing rights and rather than go through all the hassle of getting it republished elsewhere I thought I'd just upload it to the net, so here we go.
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The title Discovering Aikido has been purposefully chosen to cause the reader to realise that we are here to discover. Confucius said that what the good student learns is that only 10% of his knowledge comes from the teacher, the rest comes from himself. That sounds like common sense, perhaps, but even today in Asian education many or most students still expect that 100% of what they know will come from their teacher, so to them at least, it still sounds like some impossible-to-fathom Zen koan. The second part of the title Principles for Practical Learning alludes to both the hidden principles of Aikido and to the Practical Learning of Confucius (just Google it).
For me, Aikido is not the Way of Harmony; it is the Way of Aiki. I am not interested in mysterious ki energy. My aim is not to become some mad self-defence ass-kicking MMA fighter. Rather, I search for and practice things that will improve my aiki. This is an important beginning point and it defines the way I see everything and the way I try to do everything. I define aiki as any means by which one can manipulate one's opponent's intention or movement (energy) to his own demise and therefore one's own advantage. This website was created when the book was first published and at that time I added some 'additional extra' information to support the book. That information is also included herein.
Latest edit Dec 2020 |
